YNVDIZW124

A crossover divides the signals and freq to each speaker. If you have components they come with crossovers because the speakers and tweeters take different signals. That's why people talk about highs, lows, and mids. There are two kinds of crossovers the ones that go on the amps and the ones that connect to the speakers. When you have a set up like this your going to do a lot of tunning to make it sound good.

OR You can just connect all the stuff to the headunit but you'll find out how it sounds.

So do you want to come to l.a and look for a head unit? speakers?

AMG_Fred

well i think i am going to get the JBL gto speakers. im not sure if what ash told me if they were multielement or component speakers. i dont' know if component speakers will fit in there without some good cutting. and for the headunit, i am thinking of getting the pioneer DEH-P7700MP for $245. is that fine? and what do you mean by tuning? how is the tuning actually done? I'll go to L.A with you if we can find better prices for the same or better products for the same price

AMG_Eric

that is the best buy price for a pioneer 7700. now if u watch for the sales every other week they offer FREE install.

YNVDIZW124

By tuning i mean if you have a crossover or eq you need to adjust it to make your system sound good without distortion at higher volumes and gain db's. Like i said the 3 band eq on your headunit is not going to do it. The only thing about looking for a headunit make sure it has 5v rca pre-outs if your going to have amplifiers. Also i don't like using multi-element speakers because components come with a better crossover and the ones with the tweeter in the middle (multi-element) only have a capacitor to filter out the lower frequencies.

it's your money so I guess just you should just go to best buy or circuit city.

AMG_Eric

um who has 5v pre-out? i only know of 4v.

ashman

Pre out voltage in my opinion doesn't do much. if the amps are good, then higher voltage preouts should not do much except maybe make it louder.

I personally prefer components over regular 2 ways or 3 ways or multi-element.

Frankly I think he should be able to get good sound to start with without going with sound processors etc. He is on a budget as far as I know, and to start he can go with some good aftermarket speakers and a decent headunit. anything is better than the stock mb speakers.

if he wants components, I can get him components, they cost more, but they are better in my oinion.

you can get good sound off just a headunit with the 3 band eq, you dont have as much range of adjustment as you would with amplifiers and sound processors, but you can get the sound to sound good.

I think my system sounds great, and I don;t have any fancy sound processors, just my pioneer headunit with its settings and my amps doing their little adjustments.

if I was going to do a sound system for competition, I'd go with crazy sound processors etc, but for everyday use, most anything will work and can be made to sound good.

I did a system in a jetta, with infinity kappa speakers, and an infinity 10" perfect vq sub, with 2 jbl amps, and a pioneer 4600mp head unit, and it came out sounding great.

I also did a range rover with pioneer 7300 flip up screen, p9000r master brain with dolby digital, THX and DTS, jbl crown amplifiers, jbl gti series compoents, A center channel, tv tuner, navigation and the works, and it sounds great when playing movies, better than most movie theaters, but the owner likes music to sound different and he adjusts it not to my liking, but it still sounds great, and 99% of the people that listen to it think it sounds great.

I like my music clean, it doesnt have to be booming loud, but I like to know it can be. In my car I have achieved what I feel to be great sound at a good price.

I did a tahoe with All MB quart, 2 18" Cerwin vega strokers, 4 optima batteries, 7 amplifiers, 15 farads worth of capacitors, all being run by an Alpine F1 status, which has a crazy 170+ band eq on it, and the truck sounded insane, but you could hear and feel those woofers from quite far away. Frankly nobody could listen to something that loud all the time. the thing hit around 160+ DB. but the owner never got a chance to fully play with it and enjoy it as he sold the car literally a month after he finished the system and gutted the whole thing and sold all the equipment. The headunit and sound processor alone cost $7000.

Good sound doesnt have to cost a lot in my opinion.

AshMan

AMG_Eric

lol ash u gotta listen to my new ranger. a sony head unit with on board power to stock ford speakers and a walmart amp runnin a great box. it sounds great. it makes me wonder why i thru down 3000 on my mbz.

ashman

that just goes to show that its not about how much you spend, but rather how you hook it up. Seriously, you can get great sound for little money. most people can't tell the difference between stuff anyway. I could put in some $20.00 speakers and a radio and people would probably think it sounded great.

AMG_Eric

i totally agree and still feel like a moron for spending 3000 on my mbz. live and learn i guess.

neanderthal

dont take what alon is saying to mean you can use any cheap equipment and get good sound. you still need decent stuff.

on a $400 budget (or is it $600 with the 2bills you will put in?) i would get
1) a head unit with all the features you want. im not partial to brand. id try to be flexible with that and get the most power i could out if it as well. 15W X4 RMS with a fancy display vs 25W X4 RMS with no fancy display and id get no display any day, all day. you dont drive looking at the display. you need to hear the system, not see it. so pick your priorities in this area. look on ebay, wait for sales at circuit city/ best buy et al, even those places that advertise in the pennysaver often have last years stuff (different colors ) at competitive prices.
2) good speakers. components for the front definitely because your hearing isnt as acute from behind you; high definitions sounds are mostly percieved from in front. you can cheap out a little with the rears if you get a subwoofer but try to get two way same name brand if possible.
3) and amp and subwoofer. again, you can cheap out on features a little to get a better overall compromise.

for $300 i had an amp and two speakers installed in my 124 from one of those places that advertises in the pennysaver. granted it was the woofers from a component set, and they were going in the door vs just a box in the trunk, so i could have gotten a much better bang for my buck, but i need the trunk space coz i play rugby and keep all my ***** that i carry to games and tournaments in the trunk.

when i mentioned needing an alarm the installer told me he did work on the side and when i wanted it to come see him and he'd do it for less.

id try to stay away from best buy and cos install. alon can probably help you out more than i could with what to buy, look for, etc.


---------

my cousin crashed my car so i might be getting another one if its not worth repairing.
if it comes with the stock system, i will do as above.
* decent headunit with aux input (for ipod- to be wired through fader switch.)
* component fronts preferably with tweeters in the A pillar. ideally these will go where the drivers mirror control is, and i can wire up a power mirror from a later 124 model.
* component rears (may come later)
* amp with free air sub mounted where the first aid kit is.

AMG_Fred

yes^^ i just got the pioneer deh7700mp for 260 ( with taxes) and i will have to send in a 30 dollar main in rebate. i like it a lot and will pick it up tomorrow ( bought online at circuit city ) and yes, i pm'ed alon asking if he could come install for me this sunday, no response yet though, im hoping. and true components will sound better up in the front but will they fit? i don't have the speakers in the doors and only the 4" slots up in the dash. i will be purchasing the GTO 5.25" component speakers for the rear and the 4" ers for the front. no amplifier at the moment, maybe later on if i feel the need for power or if it even will help much; thank you for the advice though. thanks for all the help everybody, i appreciate it a lot. Have a good day, and just fyi, my birthday party was fun

YNVDIZW124

I told you i could help you install your sounds system but u never said anything?

Um sounds like you always know what your talking about amg-eric try a google search for 5v pre-outs and $3000 for your sounds system ???

there are from 2v-16v pre-outs and the only thing pre out voltage does is give your amp a stronger and better signal that makes for less distortion at higher volumes when adjusting the gain on your amps. Pre-out voltage has to match your amp and if too high can cause distortion and clipping.

I would expect for people that are going to spend some kind of money to buy atleast a "FANCY" eq or crossover for their amps. You recommend mb quarts and all kinds of expensive equipment but not kind of signal processor (eq, crossover)? Also the you say alpine f1 status but that's a line of high end equipment by alpine?

TRUE goood sound dosen't cost alot but depends on your definition of alot.

AMG_Fred

sure, ill be glad to have you install the stuff for me but the only thing that i have now is the pioneed 7700 head unit. i liked it. alon was going to get all the wires and i asked him to get me the speakers. so the only thing you could install at the moment is the head unit. not sure if that worth your while. and i didn't want circuit city to do it since i won't let those kids touch my car with a 10 foot microfiber ( don't want to get any scratches now ) stick. :P i asked alonn on july second if he could drop by this upcoming sunday to install all this but up to now i havent heard anything from him. im worried that he may have gotten hurt in an accident or something. but ynvd, for sure when i have money for an amp, and am going to do it, ill call you up for sure. and maybe also the euro head lights when i have money for that. i just dropped all my money on the stereo system ( im poor and i didn't get a job this summer ) well ill stop hassling everybody, i just needed to type something here about this. Have a good day everybody

neanderthal

one more thing.

dont be afraid to have a "long term plan" for your stereo. you dont have to buy everything right now. you can do it every coupla months. head unit today, speakers (good quality coz you can afford em if you wait) two months later. good amp and sub two months later than that.

obviously, if you want to do that, talk to your installer, that way they can get stuff prewired for you if theyre doing the speaker wiring. if youre doing the wires for eh rear speakers, and youre running wires through the side of the car, why not just drop a in some lines for the amp?

last tip; good speakers fed by *****ty wires will still only give you marginal sound. imagine a high performance turbo engine breathing through a straw. dont forget good speaker wires.

AMG_Fred

"good speaker wires"

ill tell alon about that. thanks for all the info, and i was thinking about a long term plan, i wanted to put in an amp later on, im not too sure about a sub since i like trunk space and im not a fan of cutting up a car...

ashman

I was away for the weekend. this weekend is no good for me. I have tons of work to do.

My definition of good sound not costing much is just that, I don't consider cheap stuff bad at all. I already posted what my sound system cost me. IT doesnt have to cost alot to get good sound. it is all in the "EAR" of the listener.

most people cant tell the difference in sound between having a fancy sound processor and not having one. most people are not audiophiles.

I've listened to sound systems done up with various sound processors, and they can sound good, but I have also listened to systems without the sound processors, and they too sounded very good.

A sound processor/eq/crossover whatever you want to call it is not necessary to get good sound. it can improve the sound or make it so someone can adjust it to their preference better, but it is n't going to make the sound that much better. It simply is going to do its job by allowing the adjustment and seperating of frequencies more.

Starting with some mid price range speakers and a decent headunit will be leaps and bounds better sound than the oem mb stuff. and can always be upgraded later on to have amplifiers added, crossovers, processors etc etc.

I think most people are missing the point. This is a budget system, not a system without a budget. if money was no object, you can throw in all kinds of stuff, but since there is only $500.00 budget, one can only get what they can afford, and what they can afford is something that will sound much better than The oem system.

Don't forget, lets say he bought the pioneer 7700 installed at most places he would be looking at probably $65-$125 for the install alone depending on the shop plus the price of the headunit. Then add speakers, which most shops will sell at retail, and his budget of $500.00 has now been surpassed by a few hundred already. Adding the wires for the amps, is a good idea, and running new speaker wires, but it is not necessary unless he is putting in an amp. the stock wires will handle just fine off the radio's power. Why put in pricey speaker wire unless he is putting in an amp? I used my stock wiring until I put in my amplifier, and it worked great. I only rewired because I had to run from the front speakers to the back. and I never ran new wires into my doors I left the stock wiring and tapped into it , because it was easier and the system has no problem working with it. Good speaker wire can run from $50.00 to the hundreds depending on if you play the name game, and depending ont he gauge. thin gauge would be pointless but it is cheaper. Oxygen freecable is great, but pricey. thicker gauge works well too, but it too can be pricey, and most of the time you have to buy it in big rolls.

I have done cars where I left the stock wiring and it still sounded great and I have done cars where I replaced the speaker wiring. it was a lot more work, and it really didn't make a difference to my ears or the customers ears. I did a BMW x5. put in dyn audio speakers, and used the oem wiring, and bypassed the factory amp and put in a butler tube amp. I simply wired in the dynaudio crossovers to the speakers, and then wired those to the amp, and it sounded great. The customer was totally happy and that is all that matters. and I didn't have to run more than 5 feet of wire for power, ground, signal or speakers.

AshMan

CDP

Hey Alon,

I just picked up some new Boston Acoustic Speakers for my car. Do you think I can custom fit the 6 x 9's in the rear and I believe 5-6" in the fronts. My brother gave them to me and quite frankly, they are really good speakers.

AMG_Fred

ok thats fine. but will the oem wires that are in there now be fine? because sure it sounded fine in the x5... but those cars are fairly new. my car is near 20 years old! (1987 ) its fine that you can't make it this weekend. when i come back from vacation you can install them. how about August 6th? That is the first saturday of the month as on sunday i will be busy. but the week after that ( entire week ) i have free

YNVDIZW124

The only reason i said i can install them is because your in the one2club but im not begging you for me to install it. Also i was going to take you where i get all my sound equipment and use my re-sellers permit but you already spent your money. Good luck and hope it sounds good!

Riot Nrrrd

LnkPrkSoldier - here's my relatively simple inexpensive setup in my '89 300E:

- Kenwood KDC-MP8017 head unit (plays MP3 CDs, but no AUX input port)
- Rio RX 4160 amp in trunk (I can't even find this company/unit on Google!)
- Bazooka 10" bass tube in trunk
- Stock MB speakers in front (I think?!?), replaced the rears (6x9's?) with Boston Acoustics CX5 5 1/4" speakers; was going to put side speakers in the doors but I never got around to it

The Kenwood head unit was purchased later on (after MP3 players became available, obviously); the rest I got it installed out your way back in late 1997 - at Stereo 1 Warehouse on N. Azusa in Covina. Total price for the Rio, the 10" Bazooka tube, the Bostons and installation was $500 back then. I think the Kenwood was another $400-something, plus installation. (As others have said, you're probably gonna need a little more than $700 for all this stuff ... )

I didn't have much money back then (actually most of the stuff was a present from my now-ex) and besides the Kenwood I haven't really needed to upgrade it - I'm not much of an audiophile in my old age and I don't spend that much time in my car anyway (10-mile commute to work and I don't go on long car trips, I'd rather fly).

Anyway, my general recommendations:

- A head unit that plays MP3's, and it would be nice if it had an AUX input so you could plug in an iPod (or similar)
- A bass tube! I love my Bazooka ... it puts out more than enough bass in the trunk to make me happy
- A decent wattage trunk-mounted amp; you want more juice than just the head unit
- Replace the rear seat speakers with decent 6x9's or decent 5 1/4"'s
- Professional installation

Good luck!

YNVDIZW124

Shhh i've made systems with used amps and headunits for $200
OPTION 1
$50 for a USED/EBAY pioneer headunit
$0 for AUX input mod using the ip-bus
$40-50 for NEW 512mb flash mp3 player
$40 for two NEW sets of pioneer 5.25" speakers 75w rms
$30-60 for a USED/EBAY 4 channel amp
$10 wiring
Total Around $200-$250 and plays mp3 and can be downloade to flash drive with out need of burning cds!

OPTION2
$40-60 AIWA MP3 PLAYER CDC-MP3YU
$40-80 500w rms amplifier from ebay
$50-60 sub with box from ebay
$20 set of pionner mid range speakers 75rms
$20 for wiring

Total Around $200-$250

ashman

Frankly pioneer speakers are mediocre at best.

One could buy a bunch of used stuff on ebay, but you usually get no warranty, and you take the risk of it not working.

I can't make the 6th of august I have work on that saturday. maybe the sunday, or the week after.

Chris, 6x9s will be hard to fit in the deck on the w124, you may be able to make them work, but cutting would be required of the deck metal and possibly the deck lid.

I'd have to look at them and see if it can be done without much toruble.

AshMan

Let me know.

AshMan

neanderthal

thats high strength steel in the hatshelf. that i can tell you. i ended up butchering my cars hatshelf to try and fit the 5 1/4 speakers there. ive installed stereos in my other cars before and had to cut metal too, but never has it been that hard.

i dont think 6X9s will fit back there.

a nice modest system would be similar to mine
head unit powering front and rear speakers
(factory amp powering door speakers where applicable!)
amp powering sub.

AMG_Eric

i think i have 5.25 in my rear decks. i am not sure i will check when it gets back from TJ this weekend.