Quote Originally Posted by jhnkvn View Post
The thing here is that you've spent ~80,000php for equipment and misc. stuff alone but you have not fully exploited yet the potential of your system. The basic car audio is pretty easy plug-and-play but if you begin climbing into the price-range ranks.. time and effort takes a more important role.

There are a lot of people who simply go the plug-and-play route and they're satisfied naman.. I mean, it's a huge jump from stock speakers after all.. but it still isn't the best of what your speakers can do especially if you begin shelling out nearly 40,000php for the speaker set alone.

This is why you'll need to tune it. The logic of this is pretty much like aftermarket performance tuning: you get a car, you modify it by adding performance upgrades (intercooler, intakes, exhausts, a turbo system, etc.) and then visit the likes of Autoplus in EDSA for ECU tuning. Without the ECU tuning, your car will perform better.. but you're not taking advantage of the best it can give.

Again with aftermarket performance tuning, the advantage on why these big-name car audio shops are still in operation today aside from their workmanship is because they know how to tune and.. really.. how to tune it really well. Of course, they also charge a hefty fee for it depending on the complexity of the system (they are in business after all). You can say their competitive advantage is their skill -- this makes it hard for people to copy them.

*I believe the standard tuning rate for a 3-way system is around 15-20k. A 2-way system should cost less because there's less drivers.

Mickey has great tuning skills but you aren't tapping it. How come? You haven't given him the tools to do it... yet.

By tools I mean the use of DSP -- digital signal processing. These will be the likes of EQ, crossover selection, phase adjustment, and time alignment. You will see this in two forms: one is built-in on "audiophile" head units and the other is via an external DSP processor.

So how much does "audiophile" head units go for?
For 1DINN head units: Around 16,000php SRP. Examples include Pioneer 80PRS and Alpine CDA137s.
For 2DINN head units: Around 38,000php~. Examples include the Alpine ICS-X8.

What about external processors?
First, you need any head unit. Preferably a basic Pioneer or Alpine head unit. This will cost you ~20,000php (X5000 Pioneers) but will shoot upwards depending on how lavish you are with the features. Then you'll need to pony around Php16,000~ for the external processor (Mosconi 4to6 and Audison BitTen). The more "advanced" processors to handle 3-way configurations will cost Php30k upwards.

So what are you missing out?
Truthfully, this is a hard say. Because audio isn't something you type but it's something you experience. Unless you have heard a true "SQ" car, you won't know what "SQ" really is. Right now with your equipments, you just have 1/3 of SQ: tonality.
Wow! appreciate your response sir! Very detailed and educational for everybody else! I totally agree with your post.

I initially planned on getting the Alpine ICS-X8 (or the Pioneer x8550 - the new one is 8650 that can play flac!) but thought to wait it out and just get the new one when it comes out. Will not get the processor though and hopefully the audiophile 2-din will be enough for the EQ / tuning.

Currently, the tonality and fidelity of sound is very good. no distortion at med-high volumes. subwoofer provides the low frequency missing.

Will contemplate on the other points you raised. Thank you very much and will provide you guys an update in the near future!