Car Audio Equipment


Listed in the order that each item was purchased.

Panasonic CQ-R75EN
Model Panasonic CQ-R75EN Cassette Player
Features
Am/Fm Tuner
4 Track Cassette player, FF/Rewinds auto track stop
Dolby B NR and C NR Noise reduction
30w x 4
No Remote
CD shuttle compatible



Panasonic CX-DP600EN
Model Panasonic CX-DP600EN 6-Disc CD Changer
Features
6-Disk CD Changer
Removable disc magazine unit CA-MP600D holds 6 12cm discs
ACC OFF, Eject function
CD Changer can be mounted at 5 angles : 0, 22.5, 45, 67.5, 90 degrees


\
Proton Tweeters
Model Proton Tweeters
Features
I ran these through High pass filters I made myself


Sakyno 6.5" 3 way mids
Model Sakyno 6.5" 3 way mids
Features
Cheap 6.5" mids from the Bruma Fleamarket



Sakyno 6x9's
Model Sakyno 6x9
Features
Cheap 6x9's from the Bruma Fleamarket


Sakyno 10" freeair sub
Model Sakyno 10" freeair sub
Features
Cheap 10" sub from the Bruma Fleamarket


ACR Hi-Pro
Model ACR Hi-Pro 15" Subwoofer
Features
400W PMPO, 4 Ohm speaker



\
Starsound SSA-1060
Model Starsound SSA-1060 2 Channel Stereo Amplifier
Features
2 Channel Stereo
400W PMPO
Class
 Class AB



Pioneer GM-X404
Model Pioneer GM-X404 4 Channel Stereo Amplifier
Features
4 channel Stereo
30W x 4 RMS
60W x 4 PMPO
Class
 Class AB
 


Sony CDX-MP30
Model Sony CDX-MP30 Front Loader MP3 Player
Features
Front Loader MP3 CD player
52w x 4
Am/Fm Tuner
Includes remote RM-X114











Sony Xplod xs-GF1621X
Model Sony Xplod xs-GF1621X 6.5" 2 Way Speakers
Features
40W RMS
170W PMPO




Calibra CAN21X tweeters and Crossover
Model Calibra CAN21X tweeters and Passive Crossover
Features
Tweeters with Passive crossover



Infinity 605CS
Model Infinity Reference 605CS Component speaker system
Features
6.5" Mids
Silk Dome Tweeters
90W RMS
270W PMPO
Passive crossovers





Pioneer TS-A6977
Model Pioneer TS-A6977 6x9" Coaxial 4-Way
Features
60W RMS
220W PMPO




Blaster ABV 155W
Model Blaster ABV 155W 15" Subwoofer
Features
200W RMS, 4 Ohm speaker
800W PMPO




Pioneer TS-W303C
Model Pioneer TS-W303C 12" Subwoofer
Features
160W RMS, 4 Ohm speaker
500W PMPO




Blaster S14100A
Model Blaster S14100A 4 Channel Stereo Amplifier
Features
4 channel Stereo
100W x 4 RMS
400W x 4 PMPO
Class
 Class AB



PWM 200
Model PWM 200 2 Channel Monoblock Amplifier
Features
Monoblock Amplifier
2 channel 400W PMPO
Class
 Class AB

ICE Power IMV-1700AXT
Model ICE Power IMV-1700AXT Dvd Player with 4.3” Touchscreen
Features
Built in 4.3" Wide TFT Color Touch Screen
USB Front Loader
Built in TV Tuner
RDS
50w x 4
DVD/VCD/Mp3/Mpeg4/CD Playback
Motorized Screen
Am/Fm Tuner
Includes remote


JBL CS310E
Model JBL CS310E 10" 3-way speakers
Features
90W RMS
270W PMPO




XTC Slim 10
Model XTC Slim 10 10" Subwoofer
Features
Slim Fit Subwoofers
130W RMS
400W PMPO




Starsound SSA-D2500
Model Starsound SSA-D2500 2 Channel Monoblock Amplifier
Features
Monoblock Amplifier with Remote gain control, 2ohm Stable
356W RMS x 2CH @ 4ohms, 540W RMS @ 2ohms, 1080W RMS @ 1CH Bridged 
2800W x 2 PMPO
Class
 Class D


Targa TAG-4Q
Model Targa TAG-4Q 4 Band Equalizer
Features
Four band parametric equalizer with 18dB boost/cut
Specific bandwith for each band plus high frequency shelving
Subwoofer level and Frequency adjustable

Master Volume control up to 7 Volts RMS and Individual left and right sensitivity controls




Audiobank 3Xi
Model Audiobank 3Xi Electronic Crossover
Features
Front, rear and subwoofer pass
Remote Subwoofer gain control



Audiobank AB-55S
Model Audiobank AB-55S 5 Channel Stereo Amplifier
Features
5 channel Stereo Amplifier (200W x 4ch + 300W 1ch)
200W x 4ch + 300W 1ch (subwoofer channel)
Class
 Class AB







Sony MEX-BT4000U
Model Sony MEX-BT4000U CD/MP3/USB/AUX/Bluetooth Player
Features
Bluetooth in-car CD/MP3 player with USB, Walkman, iPod/iPhone connectivity, SensMe and Zappin
CD, MP3, WMA, AAC
Play CDs or stream music via Bluetooth
RDS
52w x 4
2 RCA Pre Out's, Front + Rear/Subwoofer Switchable
Time Alignment,Rear Bass Enhancer, EQ (EQ7), Loudness, High Pass Filter,Low Pass Filter, Automatic Level Optimizer
Am/Fm Tuner
Sony Remote Control included, Sony RM-X231












Targa XXX TG-1524D 15" Subwoofer
Model Targa XXX TG-1524D Dual Voice Coil 4ohm 15" Subwoofer
Features
High Performance Dual Voice Coil Subwoofer
1250W x 2 RMS





Q-Pertors 3.0 Farad Capacitor
Model Q-Pertors 3.0 Farad Capacitor
Features
Auto turn-on/off, 12 to 16Volt, 20Volt Surge, DC Voltage Meter






Audiobank Hennessy AB-25
Model Audiobank Hennessy AB-25 2 Channel Stereo Amplifier
Features
2 channel Stereo Amplifier (100W RMS x 2ch, 200W PMPO x 2ch)
 







BMW OEM 8" slimline underseat boxed subs
Model BMW OEM 8" slimline underseat boxed subs
Features
8" slimline underseat boxed subs
Central bass loudspeakers, Neodym driver, D=8.5" / 217mm, Harman/Becker



Kenwood KFC-S503P
Model Kenwood PS Series KFC-S503P 5.12" Component speaker system
Features
5.12" Mids
1" Soft Dome Tweeters
45W RMS
240W PMPO
Inline crossovers
Polypropylene Cone with Diamond-Array Pattern
Ribbed diamond shapes help increase rigidity, improve voice coil motion response and reproduce better bass and mid-range response and sound clarity as a result.

1" Soft Dome Tweeter offers wide bandwidth and tremendous detail
Includes a flush mount bracket with “Swivel” function for a better adjustment of tweeter direction.
Also includes a free-location mount bracket for effortless installation.

Specifications
Sensitivity: 86dB at 1m
Frequency Response: 63-24k Hz
Impedance: 4 ohms
Size(WHD): 132.0mm x 132.0mm x 65.3mm
Mounting Depth: 60.0mm
Net Weight: 760g (with Grille)
Magnet Weight: 245g







Reference Audio RA-BLADE 7080.4
Model Reference Audio RA-BLADE 7080.4 4 Channel Amplifier
Features
4 channel Stereo Amplifier (80W RMS x 4ch, 320W PMPO x 4ch)
Class
 Class AB
Extras
 Gain controller compatable (Not included)








Pioneer TS-G1315
Model Pioneer TS-G1315 5.25" Dual Cone speaker
Features
5.25" Mids
25W RMS
100W PMPO

IMPP (Injection Molded Polypropylene) Rigilite™ Composite Cone (Silver Grey) for Richer Bass Response
High Energy Strontium Magnet (Woofer)
Shallow Mounting Depth for Wider Installation Coverage

100 Watts Max. Music Power (25 Watts Nominal)
Sensitivity (Efficiency): 91dB (1W/1m)
Frequency Response: 40 - 20,000Hz
4 Ohm Rated
Dimensions: 6-1/8" x 2-5/8"
Mounting Depth: 1-3/4"
Strontium Magnet















Ground Loop Isolator





Head Unit Power Filter and Fuse Box



High level to low level converter




Crossover Frequency Table
Speaker/System Type
 Crossover Freq. & Type
 Notes
Subwoofers
 70-80 Hz (low pass)
 Good low-pass frequency range for subwoofer bass & blocking midrange sounds. Best for pure, clear bass sound that "hits."
Car main (full range) speakers
 56-60Hz (high pass)
 Blocks low-end bass that causes distortion or speakers to "bottom out." Great compromise between full-range sound and midrange bass capability.
Tweeters or 2-way speakers
 3-3.5KHz (high pass, or high/low-pass)
 Most 2-way or 1-way (tweeter) crossovers use a frequency near this as most tweeters can't handle sounds below this range. Same for woofers above this range.
Midrange/woofer
 1K-3.5KHz (low pass)
 Woofers and many midrange speakers do not perform well above this general range. They're poor for treble and a tweeter should be added.
3-way system
 500Hz & 3.5KHz (Woofer/tweeter crossover points)
 Similar to 2-way systems the upper freq. would be the same. Midrange drivers in a 3-way system often do not perform well below 500Hz or 250Hz in many cases.



There are 3 types of crossovers:
Active (electronic) crossovers – work in the signal path (line-level signals)
Passive (speaker) crossovers – work in the amplified speaker path after an amplifier
Digital (software) crossovers – they work with sound in the digital music domain

A crossover (audio crossover) is an electrical or electronic component circuit made up of parts that react to certain frequencies and designed to eliminate unwanted ranges of sound from reaching speakers.
Crossovers allow a desired range of sound to pass unaltered and effectively block ranges of sound past a limit called the cutoff frequency.
Crossovers do not totally “block” sounds you don’t want to go to your speakers, while they sort-of do, in reality, crossovers are filters that greatly reduce the amount of unwanted sound frequencies sent to speakers.

Crossover Slopes

Crossover slopes is the steepness of the cutoff on your amplifier or other components.
Crossovers have a "slope" measured in increments or 6 decibels (dB) per octave. An octave is a halving or doubling of sound frequency number.

The steeper the slope (the higher the number), the better a crossover blocks unwanted sounds. -12dB/octaqve is a good steepnes for most purposes and very common in car audio components.
The steepness is also called the "order", named after how many crossover sections are used. Each crossover stage adds another -6dB/octave steepness.

The slope how effective a crossover is at allowing fewer unwanted sounds to reach your speakers, with higher numbers being more effective.

12dB per octave (“-12dB/octave”) is very common in car audio. While it may seem like the rule of “more is better” applies here, the truth is that most of the time a 12dB or 18dB/octave crossover slope is all you’ll need.

A 12/dB setting is good and will do the job in most cases for subwoofers (low-pass) and full-range speakers (high-pass).
However, 18dB/octave can be better for some subwoofers depending on your particular subwoofer, the enclosure, and how your vehicle alters the sound.

6dB/octave is a bit poor and will allow sounds to pass that can “muddy” the sound and just isn’t good enough for bass speakers.
Most of the time, the main goal is to have the same cutoff at the same frequency. The goal, in perfect conditions, is that the speakers match up just right so there’s not much overlap in their sound as well as no gaps in the sound.







Wiring for a Passive Crossover


CLASS A AMP
These draw all of the power all of the time, meaning the output can really hit you fast. It’s like having a bucket of power that’s always full and ready to do its job. These are said to have superior sound and the very best quality, but are generally inefficient and run very hot. That means, for the current it’s eating up, a lot is being lost to heat – hence a relatively low output. True Class A amps are rare and very costly.

CLASS B AMP
Class B amps make the power as they need it. Compared to Class A amps these are a lot more efficient and, in turn run, very cool. They do bring a problem with them though and that’s distortion at low levels, causing all sorts of problems for subwoofers. These are relatively inexpensive and used to be very popular but have been largely overtaken by A/B amps now.

CLASS A/B AMPS
These are the best of both worlds. A/B amps cut the distortion at low levels by running as a Class A, then switch to a Class B when you whack ’em up. Nowadays these are the most popular configuration on the market.

CLASS D AMP
Plenty of people (including some manufactures) call these digital amps, but strictly speaking that’s wrong. They are however mega efficient ‘digital switching amps’, serving up massive power and properly cool running. The problem they bring is mega distortion in the mid and high frequencies, so they’re generally reserved for powering subs. They’re all about the bass (no treble).

AMP CHANNELS
The channels are the output to the speakers. And generally, er, speaking, the amount of speakers you decide to run will tell you how many channels (or amplifiers) you need. There are various amp configurations on the market, from a single channel Class D monoblock, right up to seven or eight-channel monsters, but by far the most popular are the one, two and four channel amps. Talking in general, each speaker (unless it’s a multi voice-coil sub) will need one channel (both positive and negative connections) to run it.

BRIDGING
This is all about versatility and the most common way to run a subwoofer (assuming you’re not simply using a single channel amp). It’s basically a way of making two channels into a single, more powerful channel. For example you could take a four-channel amp (4x100Watts) and run two speakers with a channel each (at 100Watts) and bridge the other two to run your sub (at around 200Watts). Most two and four channel amps are bridgeable, but it’s always worth checking to make sure. Most five and seven channel amps have a separate dedicated sub channel ready to do the job anyway.
You can run multiple subs in series or in parallel, but this will change the resistance and the load on the amplifier – that’s where it gets really complicated, especially with multi-voice coil subs.

MULTI-AMPLIFIER SETUPS
So, does it matter if you run two amps when one larger amp could do the job? To be honest, apart from the extra wiring, no it doesn’t. Some prefer to run a dedicated two-channel or monoblock for a sub and a two or four channel for their speakers. Others may prefer a single five-channel amp. Either will work and it’s down to personal preference, the look of your install, how much space you have or what sort of sound you’re looking for.

POWER RATINGS
Amplifier output is measured in Watts. So a 200Watt two-channel will generally be a 2x100Watt amplifier, a 200Watt four-channel 4x50Watts and so on. Bear in mind amplifiers with a dedicated sub-channel will state that too, so a 600Watt five-channel could be 4×100+1x200Watts.
Just to confuse things even more, there’s the higher peak power figure manufactures love to throw around. This is the power that, in perfect conditions, a scientist probably got out of it for a millisecond on a test bench. Then there’s the RMS (or Route Mean Square) figure, which is a clearer indication, and generally regarded as an amp’s true power, because it’s the continuous output. Usually this is the figure you’re looking for.
Then you have to consider the efficiency. Amps are better nowadays but most are still only between 50 and 80 per cent efficient, so that could take our amplifier down to 2x120Watts true power – not quite the 2x500Watts you thought you were getting, right? The short of it is, go to a reputable manufacturer. They’re much less likely to want to bamboozle you with silly figures.

IMPEDANCE
This is the electrical resistance of the speaker (or load) on the amplifier and it’s measured in Ohms. It’s a complicated business, especially if you’re getting into the really heavy stuff, but it’s one of the most important figures you’ll find in car audio.
Put simply, the lower your speaker’s impedance, the more power it’ll suck out of the amp to drive it. It’s like having a bucket of water with two holes. The bigger hole will allow more water to flow out because it offers less resistance than the smaller hole. That’s why an amp may be rated at 500Watts @ 4Ohms but 1000Watts at 2Ohms – there’s half the electrical resistance.
Most audio experts say it’s best to run your setup at the lowest possible resistance the amplifier can handle, to avoid a loss in potential power – a 1000Watt 2Ohm amplifier running at 4Ohms represents a 50 percent loss. Even so, be careful and stick to the manufacturer’s guidelines. If you ran the amp above 1Ohm the speakers would be trying to suck out 2000Watts. If it’s not designed for that it would probably just burn up.

WIRING IMPEDANCE
Most car speakers and subs will put a 4Ohm (or sometimes 2Ohm) load on an amplifier when they’re wired normally over one channel. This only changes when you start wiring in multiple subs in series or parallel. It becomes increasingly important to think about how you wire your speakers in, because doing it in series is used to increase the load and wiring in parallel will decrease it. With two 4Ohm subs, for example, in series they would place an 8Ohm load on an amplifier, but wired in parallel that load would drop to 2Ohms. So, if your amplifier is rated at 1000Watts @2Ohms, parallel is the one to go for, at 8Ohms you’ll only be getting 250Watts.

STRAPPING AMPLIFIERS
Only serious bass heads need apply here. But sometimes a speaker needs far more power than a single amplifier can deliver. Obviously it’s only really when you want to run a 2000Watt sub to show off or compete in a sound-off competition, but the way it’s done is by strapping multiple single-channel amplifiers together to run a single channel. Basically it’s like bridging but with two amplifiers and usually reserved for high-end units. This process doubles the output at twice the resistance. So if you strapped two 1000Watt, 1Ohm amplifiers together, you’d get 2000Watts at 2Ohms and it would look a little something like this (see above)…

POWER CABLES
The rest of the wiring is pretty simple. Unlike a headunit, a powerful amplifier demands a lot of current and that’s why they connect directly to the battery using some pretty hefty cable. The more power an amp uses, the thicker this cable needs to be to keep up with demand. Again it’s like water flowing down a pipe, the thicker the pipe the more water will flow. Cables come in gauges from about 12 gauge (about as thick as a human hair) to 0000 gauge (which is the stuff they use to hold up bridges). Most car audio installs use eight, four or two gauge, sometimes 0 gauge in really serious applications. Luckily there’s plenty of all-inclusive wiring kits on the market that’ll be power rated.

REMOTE WIRE
The remote, fondly known as the ‘blue’ wire is the other thing you need to know about. This connects the headunit and the amplifier and is used to tell the amp when to turn on and off. Without it, the amp would be running and drawing power all the time – a great way to kill your battery. The exception is a new range of posh amplifiers with ‘signal sensing’ technology. These simply turn on automatically when the headunit sends the music signal. Clever stuff.

RCAS
So how does the signal get to the amplifier in the first place? That’ll usually be via the RCA leads. These plug into the headunit pre-outs and the corresponding plugs on your amp. Some of the more upmarket amps and headunits have multiple pre-outs meaning you can send and tweak an independent signal for the sub, front and rear speakers. This is particularly useful in setting up a system for supreme sound quality.

EARTH
The earth, or ground cable, is the yang to the power cable’s ying and the place where many go wrong, by fitting one that’s too thin. For the perfect setup it needs to be the same gauge as the power cable. Think of the power circuit as a river (cables) going in and out of a lake (the amp). They need to be the same size and capacity to effectively flow the same amount of water in the same time. Get one smaller than the other and it’ll cause all sorts of trouble (it’ll flood – Jules).

FILTERS
So how do you know that the right ‘beefed up’ frequency is getting to the right speaker? This is all done with filters. The best quality amplifiers come with built-in highpass and lowpass filters and these are used on each channel to let the low frequencies ‘pass’ to the sub while filtering out the higher frequencies. And the higher frequencies pass to the other speakers while filtering out the lows. It’s a simple system, but it makes all the difference.

LINE DRIVERS
The fact we usually mount amps so far away from headunits causes problems in itself, because the weak signal from the source has to travel the length of the car before it can be amplified. Because of that it stands much more chance of picking up interference through the RCA leads along the way. To combat this many high-end systems use a line driver close to the headunit, which is basically a kind of mini amp that makes the source signal stronger and more resistant to interference. These also help to get rid of any background hiss, by raising the voltage of the signal. Although many high-end headunits already do this with their special 4.5Volt pre-outs.

POWER CAPS
If you’re thinking about running serious power it may be worthwhile looking at capacitors too. A power cap is wired between the battery and the amplifier and used as a powerbank, a huge bucket of stored current, that can be drawn quickly when the amp needs some extra grunt for those serious bass drops. The idea is that it’ll take the power out of that and not straight from you battery, to avoid putting strain on all the other electrics. Ever noticed someone’s lights going dim when the bass hits rock bottom? They haven’t got one of these.

    

       

         

     


MENU            HOME