Hi Mark,
I had the standard Radio/Cassette in mine when I bought it about 8 months
ago. First thing I fitted was a Clarion CD Head unit (I didn't fit a
stacker as I didn't really want to lose trunk space). This puts out 45
Watts into 4 channels. I bought some component speakers too, 6" woofers and
satellite tweeters mounted at the top of the door panels. This was adequate
but a couple of months ago, I decided I wanted MP3's as well. I bought a
2nd hand laptop with a broken screen, the plan is to put this into the car
at some point (I'm still blowing up power supplies at the moment though).
Anyway the first thing I had to do, which probably made the biggest
difference, was to fit a seperate Amplifer. This I bought 2nd hand also -
Its an Earthquake Annihalator and pushes 70 Watts RMS into 2 channels. This
I use for the component speakers. I noticed straight away that although
this gave me more clarity on the sound, I couldn't turn up the levels too
loud as the speakers are only rated at 45 Watts RMS. Last week I fitted
some Alpine Bass Shakers(basically Aura Pro Shakers). These need about 40
to 50 Watts RMS to drive them, they don't actually deliver any sound (well
they do but very minimal) so Amp quality is really not an issue. For this I
have a SONY XM-2042 which is a 20 Watts RMS x 4 Channels - this is bridged
to give 40 watts to each shaker, currently hiding under the carpet behind
the seat. I love this effect though, so the are going inside the seat back
and I bought two of the smaller units which are going under the seat, not
sure where I will power these from yet, probably the same amp. They really
do need a crossover/low pass filter though, they work really well on nice
bassy tunes, but my taste in music is very eclectic, and they don't buzz at
all for Burt Baccarach (probably best) so I am going to fit this active
subwoofer crossover tommorow and try this. Its adjustable too, between
80khz and 150khz I think...
Thursday, one of my Clarion Woofers gave up, my fault of course. So got
some Jaycar Speakers (can't remember which make but I think Fletch
recommended them a week or so ago), these are 6 1/2" Carbonfibre coned,
rated at 80 Watts RMS (Boy can you tell, the magnet is probably about 4"
diameter and they weigh a metric tonne) Fitting is straightforward, they
will fit in the door holes (in a 1990 anyway). Had to drill new mounting
holes though, and with the speaker surrounds refitted, one side buzzes
madly - need to sort that out tommorow, its because the built in grills are
designed for 5" speakers and protrude into the speaker slightly. If you
watch these speakers working, its amazing, they must move about 1/2" on deep
bass frequencies. They are clear and perfect. And at $100 each they are an
absolute bargain
The guy I was speaking too in Jaycar reckons some
people have been using them as Subs so it may be worthwhile thinking about?
Ideal for the rearshelf sub mod??? Anyone tried this?
Next mod, I have another amplifier currently in the boot but not hooked up,
its a 4 Channel Precision Audio 75Watt PMPO 4 Channel (not very auspicious!
I always feel very dubious about anything that is displayed in Peak output
rather than RMS) this was an absolute bargain though. This will be hooked
up to new 3 1/2" speakers in the headrests, the ones I want though are about
$200 a pair from Driving Sound so I may have to look for a cheaper
alternative - this is for low volume rear fill anyway!!! And of course if
I can get the smoke back into my power supply, I've got the Laptop to fit -
complete with 10 Gig harddrive, most of my MP3's I've encoded at 196kbps so
the file sizes are large, but I should still get plenty of music on there...
Oh, sorry for the novel
Graeme
D4NGER
I need time to work on the