sound system cost?!

fgee · Post by **fgee** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 8:07 pm

dunno if theres beena thread on this..

anyway was wondering how much some of you guys with 480's have spent putting in decent sound systems?

music is essential in a car imo and good speakers as well

any advice on a reasonably cheap set up?

chris1roll · Post by **chris1roll** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 8:19 pm

hmmmmm, did it over a period of time since i passed my test in '99

Headunit (new) Â£150
CD changer (new) Â£150
Kenwood 6x9's Â£80
Amp (sec/hand) Â£30
Sub (sec/hand) Â£25
sub box (yes i was lazy and bought one) Â£30 ish
Infinity front speakers (new) Â£90
Parcel shelf/door pods (home made) free!
Oxygen free cabling, acoustic carpet for shelves/door pods etc Â£60 or thereabouts alltogether.

Â£615.....

hmm, doubled the value of my car!

Didn't realise it was that much! that doesn't include replacing the head unit with a s/had unit when the original one broke (Â£40)

Big Brother · Post by **Big Brother** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 10:16 pm

I would like to improve my sound system so I'm interested in this too

Website · Post by **coyote1980** » Sat Jul 02, 2005 10:28 am

fgee wrote:music is essential in a car imo and good speakers as well

any advice on a reasonably cheap set up?

Well, it all depends on how much quality you want. There are a few priorities to keep in mind:

- would you mind a silver head unit in an all black dashboard?
- would you mind having lots of flashy lights in a well-designed 'quiet' dashboard?
- do you want to have so much base that the car will bounce even while standing still?

What I was most happy about was replacing the front speakers with Pioneer TS-E1395 (13 cm, 160W, 3way) speakers. They are perfect for me. As a head-unit I managed to get hold of a CT-906 Volvo radio/cd player, this because to me it is more important to have a head unit that blends in with the dash than a headunit that has lots of 'functionality'.

I hear quite some good stories about Sony xplode speakers, but I hate the fact that they painted them red. The Pioneers I bought have a silver tweeter on them, looks good imho.

Somewhere else (here: link) someone has put photos of selfmade rear speakers. I like this setup because it doesn't require drilling holes in the panels.

So basically you're up for setting priorities in looks and quality

Don't know if my story helps you in any way

Dan the 480 Man · Post by **Dan the 480 Man** » Sat Jul 02, 2005 12:55 pm

I know mines a 440 but...

Headunit-Â£120
Front and Rear Pioneer Acelerate 150watt 13cm speakers -Â£30 p/pair
2x JBL Gto 6000 Amps @ Â£150 ea,
Sony 100watt tweeters (front)-Â£20
2x Rockford Fosgate 12" Subs Â£79(with free boxes, but worth Â£30 ea)
1.0 Farad Powercap-Â£60
iPod wiring-Â£40
All powerleads/RCA leads-Â£60
Wood-Â£10
Black Carpet-Â£12

Ouch...where the feck did i get that money from?

And that's not including the iPod!

But thats an extreme setup-its very loud but not overpowering. You can here it from the outside but not as much as you think-inside the quality is superb.

But if you're after somthing subtle thats quite discreet but still gives you a bit of punch, then you could 'amp up' a pair of 250watt 6x9's for example, replace the front speakers with 13cm's. You would have a very good setup with good sound quality but nothing thats going to make you go deaf or break the bank. Depends what you're after really. Mine is quite a large setup really, but i very rarely have it up more than a 3rd...too loud gives you a headache, and pedestrian crossings can then become very embarassing!

I know eBay can turf out some real rubbish, but it's worth looking on there. And if it's just purely for your own enjoyment, you don't have to go for the big names either. Speakers are worth spending the money on, but you can pick up pretty cheap amps across the board now, which still perform ok. It will boil down to 'you get what you pay for' though. If tyou're going to pound out the tunes all day, then you want to spend the money otherwise it won't last as long.

Bloody hell...sorry, went off on one a bit then....!
Hope thats a little help!
Dan

fgee · Post by **fgee** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 10:46 pm

some very sound advice appreciate it

i'll prolly start off with a couple 6x9's and save up for the more expensive stuff
hopefully any 480 i buy will have a cd player in it...but u can get em cheap i guess

on that subject is it quite easy removing a cassette player to a cd player?
one of my mates' cars had a cassette and he had to get an audio geezer to rig up the cd player..could do without that hassle thou

Bakke · Post by **Bakke** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 6:35 am

Sony head unit black panel : 500â‚¬
Sony cd changer : 250â‚¬
Sony DVD player : 275â‚¬
7" TFT : 150â‚¬
2 x Caliber CWX : 269â‚¬ (each)
1 x Caliber CCE6 : 239â‚¬
1 x Caliber CCE5 : 229â‚¬
1 x Caliber CA510 amplifier : 499â‚¬
1 x Caliber CA190 amplifier : 270â‚¬
1 x DLS Power Cap : 250â‚¬
Cables, fuses, ... : 100â‚¬
------------------------------------------------
Total ICE 3 300â‚¬

Jamo · Post by **Jamo** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 11:45 am

Not prepared to break it down but lets just say it's 4 figures.

Big Brother · Post by **Big Brother** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 1:50 pm

J is that on your Audi or late 480?

Jamo · Post by **Jamo** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 2:25 pm

volvo-bigbrother wrote:J is that on your Audi or late 480?

The 480 was

Â£200 head unit.

Â£150 Amp

Â£100 Sub

Â£30 Box

Â£75 in RCA and speaker wires

Â£100 speakers

Murf · Post by **Murf** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 5:10 pm

on that subject is it quite easy removing a cassette player to a cd player?
one of my mates' cars had a cassette and he had to get an audio geezer to rig up the cd player..could do without that hassle thou

dead easy, a half hour job. prob a bit longer if you do it properly and solder all the connections.
pop down for a visit and i'll fit one for you if you dont fancy it

Dan the 480 Man · Post by **Dan the 480 Man** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:41 pm

Agree with Murf-headunits are well simple. People are just very easily baffled by wiring. Thats what instructions are for!

You can get adaptors for CD players for the 480, but if you're 480 is late enough to have an ISO adaptor, then it's just literally old one out, plug new one in.

lee · Post by **lee** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 11:10 pm

The first thing one must ask ones self is "WHAT IS IT I WANT"

Do you want big bass, do you want rear fill, do you want clear mids and tops, do you want a show system.

My advice is this:

If you are going to run any number of amps spend the money on the cables. I bought my cable some 6 years ago and just my RCA cable were Â£60 each. But these have the best sheilding at the time. I have never had to piss arse around with them as they are good and proper, unlike some of the shit cables that are out there.

Then amps. What are you going to use then for. If its just bass then there is no need to spend big money for a bass amp. If its mids and tops then spend the money. Gensis amps for mids amnd tops if you have the money. They are british, handbuilt and have the best crossover in the world.

Power caps. Do you need one. Most probly no.

By the way i used to install audio for a living.

98kellrs · Post by **98kellrs** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 11:20 pm

guess im the lazy one...all i've got is a pioneer CD player and upgraded pioneer 13inch front speakers 120w. nothing special, but it works (or at least it will when i find the time to install the speakers!)

Jamo · Post by **Jamo** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 11:45 pm

lee wrote:
Power caps. Do you need one. Most probly no.

I think the answer to that is yes mate!!!

Lee helped me build a new box for my sub for the car.

We tested it out and on heavy bass tracks my voltage gauge was dropping to 12v with the engine running. To say my new sub is power hungry is an understatement!! It blew the damn fuse on the distribution block for the amp!

If you want to see how bad you car system is try playing this track in your car: 36 Mafia- Late Night Tip

I guarentee that 99% of your systems out there will struggle!

Murf · Post by **Murf** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 12:15 am

i think your forgetting that we all drive Volvo's guys!

as long as your speakers can handle Status Quo thats all you need!!

hmph, fancy schmancy amps and stuff!

480_rocket · Post by **480_rocket** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 4:01 pm

I managed to blow a 20A fuse which I was quite surprised at as my amp isn't that all powerful.

A capacitor is a good idea if you're running a big amp. From what I remember lead acid battery isn't good on quick bursts of power. The power load taken by car amps are very high current in short pulses.

I actually run large capacitors, I think around 110,000Uf after the pwoer supply in my amp, between the powr supply and amplifier chips.

rpruen · Post by **rpruen** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 10:53 pm

All the stuff I have lying about that will go into my 480 sometime.

Alpine Headunit and 12 CD Changer Â£535 (was top of the range at the time)

Rockford Fosgate Fanatic-x 6" midrange Â£225

Generic but chunky 8" Wooffers Â£80

Titanium dome tweaters x 4 Â£120

RF 4 1/2 inch midrange Â£99

Alpine 2x65W RMS amp Â£180

Pioneer 4x120W RMS amp Â£450 ish

ALpine 2x145W RMS amp Â£300 ish

3rd order bandpass 3 chamber subwoofer box Â£120 (modified)

10" subwoofers Â£85

Then there is all the stuff that got left in the other car.

Richard

Murf · Post by **Murf** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 11:33 pm

Then there is all the stuff that got left in the other car.

if it was an early CRX i'm guessing mostly rust??

Volvo 480 Club Europe

sound system cost?!

sound system cost?!

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