Car Speakers vs Pre-built...

[heavywater]

Hello,
I was wondering weather car speaker brands e.g. FUSION, Pioneer or Sony etc. Are clearer than prebuilt systems like Samsung, Panasonic or LG?

Also If I acquired a Yamaha or Pioneer amplifier with either 4.1 or 5.1 and at least 50Watt's per channel and I had 4 midrange speakers and 4 tweeters (car speakers) could I hook them up with out any trouble and would they be at all clear?

Please don't blame me for being n00bish but I have to learn 1 way or another.

P.S If i didnt give you enough infomation please ask me.

And BTW i have already got the wood ready to make the boxes if thats the best way to go.

[Tobes1990]

Car speakers are designed to reproduce sound in a completely different environment to a home theatre. Don't bother.

[heavywater]

So what can i do?

[RobotChicken]

get Z5500d and some bookselfs

[heavywater]

I listen to alot of music and play lots of games(more music than games though) ive kinda made up my mind that im going to get an Asus Xonar Essence or that other 1 so that leaves me with $800 to get somthing good can anybody help me?
I just heard my friend's Z-5500 today and I thought that the Bass was very sloppy just like on some of the reviews so what would that mean? is it a frequency issue or somthing else? e.g. 33hz - 20Khz is that bad? also i would like to make my own speaker set up not buy it pre made is that possible for what i want?

Thanks anyways.

[RobotChicken]

The bass was sloppy because the intergrated sound was used.

Get a real soundcard.

[heavywater]

Really? what causes it?

Is it SNR or what?

[dephilile]

Originally Posted by RobotChicken

The bass was sloppy because the intergrated sound was used.

Get a real soundcard.

wouldn't it be due to enclosure design for the sub?

[heavywater]

I am going to get this sound card but i need to know what the best combonation of speakers, subs and an amp can anyone help?

[thaFunkster]

Ive got Z-5500 and Xonar DX.

Sound is good, but bass is still slightly sloppy.

The reason it is sloppy is not the frequency response, 33hz is ok, the lowest sound a human ear can hear is 20hz, and that is the floor shaking, vibrating, almost inaudible effect you get in the cinemas. Only expensive subs do that well.

The issue is that logitech designed it this way, the phyiscal sub enclosure, and I assume the electronics that power it. Its designed to impress with overly boomy bass, and unfortunately, unless you have a really good graphic equaliser, its hard to compensate for that.

Personally, I hooked up some dream acoustics surround speakers, including floor standers that hit 35hz (supposedly), now I have the floor standers handling part of the bass, and it gives a much nicer, more balanced sound overall....

Have a look at Tomshardware.com.

I was reading an article on some speakers a while back where he explains about the box. And he said something along the lines of you can get some cheap crappy 6x9 drivers from a 1981 toyota corrolla, put them in the right enclosure, and they will produce a really good clear sound - ie. It's more about the enclosure design than the woofers or drivers you use.

Its an art that you need to learn about if you are going to do it right.

---

Pair that soundcard with some Audioengine A5s, and the sub to match and you will be good to go. I havnt heard them myself, but everyone on this forum speaks very highly of them. That would come to about $800, and they have their own amp inbuilt.

[heavywater]

Ok thank you Funkstar you are of a big help to me now i know that i can get CAR speakers/SUBS and put them in a proper enclosure and ill be all set now ive been looking at some SUBS tonight and i have found that FUSION have some SUBS that can do 20Hz - 2.5Khz but the one i was looking at was the Fusion Reactor 15" for $199 RRP it does 25Hz - 2.5Khz would that be sufficiant for what i want (mostly rock and techno music) or would it be better to get the 20Hz - 2.5Khz one also do i need more than 1 SUB or is it just for the penis extention factor (room size is 8.3x3.6m solid concrete) as for the midranges should i need more than 1 per box + tweeter's and the amplifier geez its gonna have to be a fucking power station and a half what could i do for an amplifier somthing that will supply 350w (for SUB) and about 70w per channel (5 channels)?

[heavywater]

Now that i think about it with $800 i will only be able to get 2.0/2.1 not 5.1 so that kinda sucks but if i didnt get the sound card i would have another $200 so does anybody know what i could get with that?

[Comma]

Just because a system says it can do "20Hz to 20KHz" (Generally accepted hearing range of the human ear), doesn't mean it produce those sounds on the correct level. Any quality product will note the frequency response with an accepted level.

My system (Studio Monitors) can do "53Hz -20kHz +/- 2.0dB", however it's a 2.0 System with 5" Woofers/1" Tweeters. So the sub-bass range is acceptable. Take note that a Bass Guitar's general lowest note (In Standard Tuning) is around 40Hz, human voice is between 80-1000Hz. Most of your "action" happens in 200-2000Hz range (Rock Music, my opinion, feel free to dispute this)

Wattage is also a major misconception, since a 100W System can only twice as loud (+3dB) (In theory) as a 10W System. Once again, my system is 2x30W and it goes plenty loud for home use. Not saying more power is needed, but you're rarely going to max out a high wattage system, except at a club/party, without feeling uncomfortable or damaging your hearing.

When looking at what system you really want to get, ask yourself this.

What am I using it for?
-Games 5.x (For newer games)
-Movies 5.x (Assuming proper audio encoding)
-Music 2.x (Generally. There are some surround sound albums about...)

What size room am I filling?
-Get appropriate Wattage for size. Overkill isn't worth it.
-Lowest dimension will determine standing waves.

All the following will determine your listening experience and it will ALWAYS be let down by the worst.

File Quality - DAC - Amp/Receiver - Speakers - Acoustics.

I'd say a general person would build okay enclosures for speakers, but for the $1000 (Assuming $800 + 200 for soundcard), you can buy some very nice 2.0 / 2.1 setups, or a above average 5.1 system for a computer.

[heavywater]

Thank you very much for that Comma so do you really think i would be able to get a 5.1 setup from $800 + $200 Sound Card or should i go for a $1000 setup and no sound card the room is 8.3x3.6m another point is if i get a very nice 2.1 setup and make it 5.1 and maybe even 7.1 in the future once i can get some more mullah saved up would that be a better move?
The more i think about it the more i think i might go 2.1 by the way by 2.1 i mean homemade speaker/subwoofer boxes is that what you mean or do you mean getting somthing like 2x3" speakers and a seperate sub?
I have been researching the amplifier the most because it seems to be the most costly item i did see some older but never used Yamaha 5x100w amps for $399 i will try to get the links ASAP.
One last question for now the Fusion subwoofers did they seem appealing at all to you or would you suggest another brand?

Thank you very much.

[thaFunkster]

Ok, first up, if your talking about music, as Comma implied, there is no need for a sub that hits 20hz. That is only needed for movies and maybe games.

In reality, most music wont produce notes below 40hz or so.

As for your budget, have you considered a Xonar DX as a $100 card?

Other than that, if you are not going to get a card, then you will be using onboard sound which is crap if you are pairing it with a high end system. The only good use for onboard in this case is if you use digital pass through, and run a digital signal out to you hi fi system.

Now, if you run digital out, then it means you can get surround sound in movies, but only stereo in music and games, so think about that when considering whether you want a 5.1 system.

The other option is, and I seriously recommend you to take a look at this: get the Audioengine A5s, and the sub, which I think will cost you about $800. Should leave you enough for your soundcard, or if not, then you can get a Xonar DX, which produces a very high sound quality.