Sound System setup/upgrade (on a budget)

**glenn manikis** · May 30th, 2013 01:01 PM

Originally Posted by beni23

Why not go targa? 1,800 lang yung separates ng targa tapos 900 lang ata yung coax. From what I have heard, maganda rin daw tumunog ang mga yan for its price.

mas maganda pa sir tumunog yung pioneer na full range pair mo sa mbquart na tweeters.. mas may mid bass at boses pa po...

**mateomarco** · May 30th, 2013 01:02 PM

Originally Posted by beni23

My current setup is nakamichi separates + Teac sub + Q amp. HU is stock AVT IM 988tn. Medyo bitin pa, tingin ko sa HU na.

Naku sir, try the pioneer hu na 4 volt, may igaganda pa tunog nyan...

I heard yang teac brand before...okay ba sir?

**jhnkvn** · May 30th, 2013 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by gutz_3110

hi guys,

this is going to be my first time to change my currently all stock sound system. crappy sounding kasi 2nd hand yun unit na nakuha ko. bear with me please, i'm a newbie and totally clueless when it comes to pricing and looking for reputable shops.

objective: to have at least a decent sound system (malinis lang gusto ko and not necessarily malakas)
budget: 10k max.
preferred brand: pioneer

im looking at around 5k for the HU with USB. 2 front speakers and 2 rear speakers. gusto ko sana same lang yun size para hindi na magbubutas or anything. kindly recommend me any brands in mind. may nagsabi kasi sa akin kapag pioneer, dapat pioneer din speakers and amp...matching daw etc. im totally clueless. hindi naman ako maarte saka limited lang budget ko. i dont want to go any higher than that was mentioned. hope to hear from you guys! thanks!

What's your car? Can you simply swap the head unit with a 1DIN head unit easily? If yes, then I would suggest you get your preferred head unit according to your needs (ex. if you play from an iPod regularly, get one with iPod integration). It wouldn't really matter if you purchase a 6,000php one or the 2,000php.. sound quality is the same. You're simply paying for the features.

As to what head unit brand, Pioneer and Alpine are behemoths in aftermarket head units. There are some less-marketed ones such as Kenwood but, again, just go with the one which features you want.

As for the speakers, if your preferred brand is Pioneer, then by all means go for Pioneer speakers. I would just suggest separate components (tweeters and midbass separated) on the front so you can mount the tweeter off your windshield. Reason for this is that our ears uses high frequencies for imaging, doing this helps heighten your soundstage to near ear-level. A great way on how to replicate the benefits of this is to find any speaker: place one near your feet and then placing them on a table near your sitting height.

If you're having trouble mounting it, then simply get pods and just double-tape them on your dash. If your manufacturer or installer can't provide you with pods, go buy some styrofoam balls, cut them up... then use those as pods. Ugly if you don't have it painted but it would work even better than most conventional pods manufacturers produce. This is because a round pod is great in diffusion.. the only thing better than them are tear-dropped shaped pods.

And no, there's no such thing as matching.

Personally, if I had 10k, I would wait around until somebody's selling a secondhand Alpine CDA-9887 for around 7,000php and use the rest of the 3,000php for speakers.

**mateomarco** · May 30th, 2013 02:47 PM

Just to add with regard tweeter placement, i recommend use of bluetac...works wonders for me!

About Blu Tack

**jhnkvn** · May 30th, 2013 02:57 PM

There's a very exact reason why I do not highly recommend any budget speakers. It's because in the reproduction of audio inside the car, speakers aren't your main enemy.. it's your environment. I daresay more than a thousand of my total Tsikot post count revolves around it. It's like playing an first-person shooter game armed with a keyboard but without a mouse to aim the crosshair. You're doing it wrong.

If anybody wants any proof, the most important in a car is DSP or any form of signal processing. I'll go snatch from files from Harman International's white papers.

BELOW is a near-field measurement of a speaker just taken a few centimeters away from a woofer.

BELOW is the measurement of a speaker that's taken at the driver's seat.

Sure, good speakers helps. But you're simply throwing money away in most cases.

**jhnkvn** · May 30th, 2013 02:57 PM

Originally Posted by mateomarco

Just to add with regard tweeter placement, i recommend use of bluetac...works wonders for me!

About Blu Tack

Yes, Bluetac is a great alternative too!

**gutz_3110** · May 30th, 2013 11:03 PM

salamat sa mga inputs. laking tulong. ayan na, napapaisip na ako magdagdag for the sub and amp...hayayayayyyyy...

**7138** · June 25th, 2013 03:29 PM

i had the same dilemma of the TS 2 days ago, and kahapon, naisipain ko ng palitan yung stock speakers which really sounds crap.

nagpainstall ako ng Targa X502C seps sa harap, and Targa X502 coax naman sa likod, budget setup lang, just to replace the stock ones,
and when i tested it, definitely way better compared to stock, hindi na nga ako nageexpect ng sobrang ganda before install, kasi mura lang,
pero it exceeded what i want for my "background" music. not an audio junkie, pero for the price i paid, sulit na sulit yung binayad ko.

makalansing lang yung tweeters ng targa seps, binabaan ko nalang sa equalizer ng HU. ngayon relax na sa tenga.