Thread: New to audio/saving for a new system

I'm enlisting in the air force soon, and after I'm done with basic training and I get a job in the air force I'm going to buy a 'new' GP. I'm wanting to get one that has the 97-03 body style. The reason I'm buying a 'new' one is mine is a Michigan car, so rust = very yes. Once I get my GP the first thing I'm going to do is save money for a new audio system.

The key phrase here is "money is not a problem". I want best of the best (not necessarily to show off (although that will be fun to do) but to have high quality audio).

I want the best deck, I want the best tweeters, door speakers, back speakers, subwoofers and amp(s). I really know nothing about branding. All I know is that sony sucks, and that 2 of the radios that I've heard that I really like the sound of is Alpine and Pioneer.

I want a DOUBLE DIN radio, I want it to have a lot of functionality and I want it to have good quality audio and I want it to last a while. I want to have GPS (not a question, I want it to have it) and I'd like a backup cam (yes I know matt5112 its not an SUV) because I want to have dark rear tinting like I do with my current GP and as with my current GP its a pain in the butt to back up at night because I can't see ANYTHING out of my rear window. I want to be able to plug an ipod in, I want it to be able to accept flash drives and/or SD cards and I want it to be able to play dvd's.

With this said, IF I could get some help formulating the "best system" I could possibly get that would be awesome!

Think of this as "If money weren't a factor, what would you put into your GP" kind of thread, but I'm going to use it to help me figure out what to get. As I've been told I know that in order to put in a double din I need to customize the dash a bit, but thats fine.

Custom door panels are not out of the question and neither are custom speaker boxes(whatever would be good, give me the best look and sound.).

I'm what many would call an audiophile. I'm also a musician, I enjoy my music, and I like enjoying it to its fullest extent. I want a system that can reproduce the widest range of frequencies as I can. Go as low as I can and as high as I can, and I want a system with good response. With that said when you guys post, if you can post pictures/model numbers if you can.

**ps, if I have enough money I want to put a LCD tv in my trunk so I can hook up consoles and play dvd's out of my trunk (if ever I want that functionality at a party) so if you have any ideas for that, I'd appreciate that too!

Okay, first things first,
DO YOU KNOW WHAT SOUNDSTANGE IS AND DO YOU WANT IT?

ANswer that first...

I do not know what it is. I'm very very new to car audio.

This is NOT specfic to car audio but rather home audio.

Its the "impression" of hearing sounds as they're supposed to appear in different locations to one another.

Ah, well I've never dealt with home audio either. I've never done any work with speakers or sound systems, I've never had the money too. But yes, that is important to me.

Get some cheap headphones and listen to your favourite albums and listen for the position of the sonuds and decide weather or not that is imprtant to you for sound in your car.

Well, and I don't know if this will make a difference or not, but there is a theatre near my house that has 1 theatre in it that is THX certified. Which means THX came in and calibrated each speaker so that the "soundstage" was "perfect" (didn't know thats what it was called before). I DO notice a difference in that one vs the other ones and its a difference I like. It is important for me to have my speakers calibrated so the "soundstage" is good.

Also, why cheep headphones?

movie theatres won't help you here, movies are different from music by a LARGE degree.

I say cheap so you aren't tempted to say "that'll cost me too much money"

I want you to be able to understand what I mean by "soundstage" before I say, "THIS IS WHAT TO DO TO GET IT"

IF you don't care about soundstage, then i'lll have a different recommendation than if you did care about soundstage.

Maybe try listening to your favourite CD's at a local hi fi sound store on some of their better sound systems and see if you can figure out what i mean by sound stage.

The wikipedia entry on soundstage should help as well.

deer gafford, lemme post this **** again when i'm sober.

shokay?

Yea, when your sober maybe you could explain things a little better to me :P

Stereophonic sound - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stereophonic sound, commonly called stereo, is the reproduction of sound using two or more independent audio channels through a symmetrical configuration of loudspeakers in such a way as to create the impression of sound heard from various directions, as in natural hearing.

Take the song Americana by The Offspring.

The drums in the intro if listened to on headphones will sound like the sound of the drums are coming from their respective locations in the drum kit.

In most cars, you don't get that effect.

All I'm saying is, do you want to attempt to get that?

Thats what I thought but I wasn't sure, and yes, I would like to attempt to reproduce that. All my music I rip I make sure to rip them in stereo and I make sure that both channels stay independent, so I'd like to try to get that reproduced if possible.

Joint stereo actually doesnt hurt that all that much, the fact that MP3 cuts off everything above 16 kHz should be more of a concern to you.

At least go for AAC which cuts off at 18 kHz.

Originally Posted by TurboTrav

hope you got alot of money like at less 4-10k

? Why would you need that much?

1K should be enough.... At most 2.

Originally Posted by matt5112

? Why would you need that much?

1K should be enough.... At most 2.

I would think that 4 or 5 would sound more correct. I'm seeing at a lot of the 7" screen double din radios cost 800 - 1300 alone, then I'd have to drop some more on an amp, some more on door speakers and rear speakers, then drop some more on 2 or so subs.

Theres 2 reasons I want to get ideas on what I want to put in my car. I don't know brands or quality of brands (except that sony is crap) and I want to know an estimate of how much I should expect to put into my car audio system. One of the reasons why I said that I wanted people to just put down "if money isn't a factor what would you put into your OWN GP" Then I can look over other peoples ideas/suggestions and formulate a system from that.

Originally Posted by m1sterb0b

I would think that 4 or 5 would sound more correct. I'm seeing at a lot of the 7" screen double din radios cost 800 - 1300 alone, then I'd have to drop some more on an amp, some more on door speakers and rear speakers, then drop some more on 2 or so subs.

Theres 2 reasons I want to get ideas on what I want to put in my car. I don't know brands or quality of brands (except that sony is crap) and I want to know an estimate of how much I should expect to put into my car audio system. One of the reasons why I said that I wanted people to just put down "if money isn't a factor what would you put into your OWN GP" Then I can look over other peoples ideas/suggestions and formulate a system from that.

I see... wanna get bling, you gotta pay.

If money wasn't a factor...

I'd run some 3/4" tweets, some 5/4" tweets, some 6.5" pro mid ranges, some 10" AE speakers woofers and a pair of TC Sounds LMS-X 12" subs in the rear deck.

Power doesnt matter to me, whatevers cheapest.

Crossover device would be using a carputer with a pro sound card in it. 7" touch screen for the carputer as well.