Ok, so I really dont know a damn thing about amp's or sub's or any of it. I do however know what sounds good and what doesn't. ;-) So here's my problem. I have a 99 pontiac firebird. Around last christmas I had a speaker blown so I went to get new speakers and also got a new in dash unit. Up until then I had the factory speakers & everything. Anyway, so after I got the new speakers and in dash unit installed everything was good except now there is not any bass at all. Im not sure why. Before with just the factory speakers & all, it sounded great. Lots of bass even. And now I have no bass. What do I need to do to fix this? Do I need a sub & amp? And why when it was all factory it sounded better? Any suggestions will help. But keep in mind its for a 99 Pontiac Firebird. There really isnt much room for anything.
In short your factory speakers were taylored for your vehicle from the factory what happened to you happens to most people when they change speakers out like that. I would go with a small amp and a single 8 inch or ten inch woofer. Whats your budget for this and ill help you find something.
If the speakers are mounted to sheet metal, they're losing a lot of output. The speakers will need to be isolated from the sheet metal, using mdf. I had a similar issue in my car. I used 1/2" mdf to mount my components to and wow what a difference it made. Did a shop put the speakers in for you?
Well right now my budget is limited but if I could find exactly what I need at a reasonable price, like say a couple hundred, than I think my mom will get me what I need as a christmas present. Where would you most likely put a small amp & subwoofer in my car? I mean, there really isnt much trunk space. Just curious. Like I said before I really dont know anything about all this. And yes, a shop did put the speakers in for me. I was considering just going back to that shop and talking to them about it. But I just would rather have a little more knowlegde about it all before going back in there and they end up charging me all crazy for stuff I dont need or whatever. Especially when I feel as if they charged me enough as it is. I dont know. I just really would love all the advice you all can give me.
Oh and I dont know if the speakers are mounted to sheet metal. I dont think so but really I dont know. My speakers all sound fine except for the bass. There is no bass what so ever coming from them. I started kinda researching different kinds of speakers last night and I'm starting to think that even just putting different speakers, like better quality or something, could make a big difference. I've been looking for all the paperwork I got from the shop that replaced my speakers so as soon as I can find all that maybe that will give a better idea of what I'm workin with right now. Also my car had the factory Monsoon premium stereo system, well before I went and changed it up. :-( I'm not sure what exactly was part of the Monsoon stereo system, maybe someone can fill me in on that. Just trying to let you know everything I can think of so you can better help me! :-)
Ok, so now I have found this website that tells what the Monsoon stereo system is. http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/stereo-electronics/612644-monsoon-faq.html And as far as I can tell my car should have an amp already installed. Am I wrong? I'm still very much confused about all this but I'm trying to figure it all out. I plan on going outside to check out what I can find in my car. But considering the fact that it is extremely cold outside I am going to have to wait until morning.
If you want the system to sound a lot better, and you're not really after a LOT of bass (like huge speakers and all) do two things. get a decent 4 channel amplifier for the front/rear speakers (50 watts x 4 would be fine) because no head unit puts out more than about 20 watts or so in reality. Most are closer to 12-15W. Don't pay any attention to the 50 and 60 watt per channel claims on head units.
Secondly, get a small self-powered subwoofer, like a bass tube, or Infinity BassLink.
This will add some low end and make the rest of the system sound a LOT better too.
also, when you got the new radio and speakers, the factory amplifier if it exists, was bypassed. That amp is designed only to function with the factory stereo system. It's not a universal sort of amplifier that can accept input signal from any radio. That's done specifically to prevent any modification to the factory system without relacing everything.
Thanks guys!! I finally got some help from brother so hopefully I will have a better sounding system soon. There is a factory amp and yes it was bypassed. So my brother is gonna help me find an amp & everything I need. He is pretty good with this stuff so all we need is to find a place to purchase what I need at a reasonable price. Thank you so much for everything! You guys are awesome!!
So I bought two kicker comp 600 peak power 12 s that came in a kicker box pre wired from best buy.Then I got a wallmart edition pioneer 760 watt amp it sounded great untill I turn it up past halfway, then the amp cuts off and smells like smoke.So I took it back I had it bridged I guess at 2 ohms not sure witch way they came wired. Audio shop guy tells me the alpine 500 watt mono will work good. I got it and it sounds nowhere near as good as the pioneer it seemed to have way deeper and clearer sound. I don't like this amp WHAT IS A GOOD 1 that will sound good or how can I rewire my subs to the pioneer so it don't kick off
Are alpines good amps? How can I wire kicker comp 12s above 2 ohms and still bridge the amp. How can I wire them to a pioneer 760 without making the amp cut off
If those are the yellow ones get you a Memphis PR2.50 amp and bridge them....that amp surprisingly will push them hard I had two kicker tens hooked up to one and man do I regret lettin them go