new system

[band77one]

i used to have a system in my camaro, 1600w poweracoustiks amp, 2 12' kickers, and a tsnumai capacitor, i just got a new box and i want to put a new system in, as i miss my old one haha, i was wondering if anyone can give me suggestions, as i bought my first system from my friend and was able to hear it before i bought it lol

[Knipps]

SmokingSS & quikz28 are the two to ask about it in my experience

[qwikz28]

give us an idea of how much your willing to spend, what kind of music you listen to, and what you want it to sound like (punishingly loud, or subtle with good quality) and we can work something out for you

[bcgetfresh]

if you like A LOT of knock i have a 2k power acoustick amp and 2 12" 1000watt pioneer subs for sale. If you like really hard bass its a great setup. Im selling cause my girl says its too loud :/ going with a quite setup

[TheBandit]

Budget? And don't use capacitors. you don't need them, there just a bandaid for a bigger problem. If your car can't handle the voltage: 1. Big Three 2. Optima Battery 3. H.O. Alt.. I;d check out Audioque, AA (Ascendant Audio), and Fi.

[band77one]

what do you mean by Big Three?

[band77one]

qwik im not looking for something to shatter all the windows and blow my tires lol, i just am not familair with audio stuff, im not looking to spend thousands of dollars either

[98tadriver]

i had a sealed box with 2-10" pioneer 400w speakers and a 2- 250 watt amps pushing them back when i had my 3rd gen. it was cheap and hit pretty hard. i remember i let my brother take the car down the road and i could hear it bumpin at least 1/4 mile away. :)
i think im going to do something similar with my 4th gen :)

[qwikz28]

qwik im not looking for something to shatter all the windows and blow my tires lol, i just am not familair with audio stuff, im not looking to spend thousands of dollars either

that system bcbgfresh is selling isn't too bad. gp99gt had a pioneer system and loved it. the big 3 is a wiring bottleneck in our cars. its 3 wires running around the battery and alternator that are really beneficial to upgrade. i have a capacitor but i use it mainly as a distribution block for my wires. i haven't gotten around to upgrading the big 3 yet either. i will probably do it over the summer

[qwikz28]

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=883797

check out this thread

[band77one]

thats a lot of work for a couple a wires. cant i just put in a better alternator lol i really am not trying to do all that

[TheBandit]

i would do the big 3 before an alternator. you save a lot more money and you'll be surprised at how much of a difference those few wires can make. trust me.

[bcgetfresh]

im running my system with no upgrades to the wires, no compasitor, its all off the battery and it hits really hard. Only time you need to start upgardng to all that is when your lights start dimming everytime the bass hits. you dont NEED a compasitor unless you have some showroom power. A friend of mine owns his own custome audio shop and ive heard many different audio setups and have seen many guys come in and get a compasitor installed and it makes no difference at all. Just make sure you get good wires that run the the amp and subs, that makes the difference in sound quality

[TheBandit]

^^ exactly.. but you dont need a capacitor period, no matter how much power you have.. if your doing comps with 15,000watts then you get multiple batteries, not capacitors. you should do some type of upgrade if your putting any type of strain on your alternator imo, cause you'll shorten the life of it

[band77one]

well i guess ill put the system in and see what happens, i mean for 3 wires that looks like some aggravation and since a capacitor is basically worthless i wont get another one

[qwikz28]

well i guess ill put the system in and see what happens, i mean for 3 wires that looks like some aggravation and since a capacitor is basically worthless i wont get another one
thats a good starting point. i wouldn't say a capacitor is useless though. i mean, i use mine as a distribution block, and it still functions as a capacitor so its an added bonus.

[sweetbmxrider]

on my 95 v6 camaro, my headlights would dim when the bass hit. i would actually watch the volt meter drop. it had a newer battery and a newer alternator, old ones were old and alternator had a little i'm dying whine. stock "big three" wires. i put in a cap, my headlights don't dim. caps definitely are not worthless, they just need correct application. they are jl audio 8 inch subs with a 250 watt amp and streetwires 4 gauge wire throughout.

[qwikz28]

on my 95 v6 camaro, my headlights would dim when the bass hit. i would actually watch the volt meter drop. it had a newer battery and a newer alternator, old ones were old and alternator had a little i'm dying whine. stock "big three" wires. i put in a cap, my headlights don't dim. caps definitely are not worthless, they just need correct application. they are jl audio 8 inch subs with a 250 watt amp and streetwires 4 gauge wire throughout.

the argument is not that they serve no purpose, but rather they are the INCORRECT way to solve the headlight dimming issue. the Big 3 and better alternator are the correct problem solver.

What I did is a better amp, capacitor, and soon a Big 3 upgrade.

[TheBandit]

just because your headlights stopped dimming when you got a capacitor doesn't mean that its serving a purpose, it's actually hurting you. like qwik said, the correct way to boost voltage is to upgrade your electrical system not to put a bandaid (capacitor) in.

[band77one]

my lights were dimming with the old system, tooo, but hopefully a better alternator will help that, i mean, those wires look to be too much of a pain.

[TheBandit]

a better alternator as in a bigger one correct? you need one that is going to put out more amps

[sweetbmxrider]

correct me if i am wrong but a bigger alternator puts more of a load on the engine. this would rob me of hp. so if i put a cap in, i can take it out no problem when i go race, and not rob myself of potential power. i agree the 3 wire upgrade is great, but throwing in a high amp alternator has potentially more of a drawback then a cap.

i don't see how you put in a better amp, qwik, to stop the headlight dimming. by better do you mean more efficient or higher power? either way you still draw from what i assume is a stock alternator therefor correcting nothing. either i'm reading this all wrong or there is some contradiction here. and i am in no way disagreeing with the 3 wire thing.

[Tru2Chevy]

A higher amperage alternator can put more load on an engine, but the difference is negligible in a street/strip car.

If you were running in a heads up class, or you were always after the best ETs possible, then I would be concerned with it (although at that point, you shouldn't have a stereo in the car anyway), but otherwise just stick a higher amp alternator in there and call it good. The big 3 would also help a lot.

- Justin

[qwikz28]

the Big 3 may be a pain to do, but its only a couple of bucks and a few hours of your time. whereas the alternator is a couple hundred bucks and also a couple hours of your time. now, if your already changing your alternator, the big 3 will take less of your time! just some food for thought....

[TheBandit]

seriously though you should just do the big 3 and watch how much of a difference that makes. Yeah it may be a pain but your going to hurt everything by drawing that much off the altenator. how low was the voltage going when the lights were dimming?

[sweetbmxrider]

well i only get two numbers on my gauge (18,8 ) so i don't know exactly but it would go from a little above the half mark, approx 14-15 and drop to a little below the half mark, 12.5-13.5. it was only deep bass like from rap songs that did it. i'll prolly do the three in my z but for the v6 its a beater so i don't really care plus the system is out of that one and in the z. when i start driving next week ill see how the alternator performs. it looks kinda old so i'll give it a load test tomorrow at work and see what's what. if i replace it, i'll do the three.

[GP99GT]

i dont feel like reading this whole thing, but Soundstream makes good amps for a budget price.

[qwikz28]

i dont feel like reading this whole thing, but Soundstream makes good amps for a budget price.

and they also make 2 ohm speakers for those who just want to replace speakers and leave the stock headunit and amp.

[band77one]

my alternator was replaced like 2 1/2 years ago, my gauge used to dip really low, sometimes all my lights would go out, but even now with just a head unit and speakers sometimes the gauge dips real low, i think its broken lol

[TheBandit]

my alternator was replaced like 2 1/2 years ago, my gauge used to dip really low, sometimes all my lights would go out, but even now with just a head unit and speakers sometimes the gauge dips real low, i think its broken lol

Now you realize, and correct me if i'm wrong, but when you drop to a certain voltage (12?) and under i think, your no longer pulling off the battery, your pulling straight from the alternator and putting a huge load on it.

And for budget amps check out Hifonics they are cheap and are about 85% efficient which is decent for a cheaper amp.

[band77one]

well i dont know what kind of battery the car has in it i replaced that like 3 years ago when i first got the car. i think when i get the system, ill will wind up replacing the big 3 and putting a better battery in there so i dont run into any problems. we'll see though, thanks for the advice guys.

[TheBandit]

Just saying, if you go to Napa, autozone anywhere like that and just get a replacement battery it isn't going to do anything. You need a yellowtop, or something along those lines.

[band77one]

hence why i said "better battery" and didnt say "replacement battery"

[TheBandit]

Was just making sure :wink:

[band77one]

i know. but it will be easier now that i got a new job workin in a body shop, actually its all custom chit. so we'll see when i put my 327 in