New Stereo on a Budget

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Trollhole

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I've got to be honest I hate my stereo in my 80. Other than a new pioneer head unit and front door speakers its pretty much stock. There are some 4" crappy speakers in the rear door but let's be honest 4" isn't going to do much. I don't have much money to spend on this stereo but I want AC/DC and Zeppelin to rock better than my boom box from the 80's. So away I've gone to try to improve upon the crap I currently have with the change in my piggy bank.

First off I needed an amp. Something that can power 4 door speakers an a sub. 20 years ago had I put my budget on a $150 amp and I would have gotten something that buzzed, smoked, and produced noise not music. Today you can actually get an amp for very little money. After looking at reviews and wanting a 5 channel amp I set my sights on a Planet Audio AC1800.5. For $150 you get 1800watts. Not bad as it comes loaded with all kinds of features. It was the first thing to show up on my doorstep from Amazon.



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And let's be honest having the ability to adjust just the base and treble for a system with so many different size speakers and so many different places was not going to do. So I bought an eq. For a whopping $30 I got a sound storm laboratories 4 band eq with sub crossover input gains. Hopefully i'll be able to get all the speakers to sound well together. But even better it has knobs. It's a real pain in the ass adjusting the sound on the go trying to use buttons and on screen labels. We all know the Beastie Boys are going to require a whole different set levels than Doc Watson.

As well I picked up two sets of sub $12 tweeters. The reviews were good for the money.




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Now on to those 4" speakers in the rear doors. I wanted something that would provide some punch to the system. I'm thinking I can get these $42 pioneer 6x9's to fit in there with a little creativity.



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Next comes the big addition to the system and something even the stock system was missing. A sub. And not just something screwed to sheet metal but a properly built ported enclosure. So I splurged a little and bought a 10" pioneer Ts-w259s4 champion series multiplex e-thump xboom blingchasm for $57. It too got great ratings from the teenagers and the YouTube videos of it vibrating graduation tassels and CDs was just pure impressive. I don't have it yet but it's coming so you will have to settle for a staged pic.


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Now that I've got most of the stuff it's time to start making it fit. So off with the rear quarter.

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I was really impressed with the factory sub. It really has held up well. In fact so well that the PO unplugged it's awesome sound a long time ago.

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What are you using for an HU?

Even with busted stock speakers, the difference in sound quality after installing my new HU was night and day over the stock unit :)

And of course it only got better as I added new speakers and subs :cool:

Pioneer DEH-2400UB Wife got it for me Christmas last year. Only thing I car about is that I can play pandora through it and the music on my phone. I need nothing else.
 
Be prepared to cut your rear doors. I put Rockford Fosgate 6.5" T165 speakers in and had to sawsall the indented portion of the sheet metal around the existing mounting holes. Magnets on the 6x9s you purchased, I imagine, can only be bigger. Killed me to cut the 80, but I forgot all about it when I turned on the music.

Interested to watch your build. :popcorn:
 
What year is your 80? That rotted surround on the rear sub has me worried. I just got my '97 and new audio is not in the budget for a long while yet. I hope everything holds up till then.
 
Guaranteed rotted out sub woofer. Mine was just as bad as the OP’s. Just disconnect it. I removed mine and the bracket. Also, I took note of the color scheme of the remote wire to the amp for future reference when I install my Zapco amps.
 
There is no way in this world or the next that your amp produces 1800 watts.

it'll do more than the head unit, but in reality the decimal point should move to the left.

What size fuse is on it? 1800w 12v is 150 amperes.
 
RMS power ratings for his amp are 210 x 4 and 420 x 1. So in reality, 1260W bridged into 2 ohms. I have owned PlanetAudio amps in the past, I was really impressed with their output.

FWIW, It has 3 25amp fuses.
 
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There is no way in this world or the next that your amp produces 1800 watts.

it'll do more than the head unit, but in reality the decimal point should move to the left.

What size fuse is on it? 1800w 12v is 150 amperes.

Pretty sure everyone knows a $150 amp that says it makes 1800w doesn't. But I really like the fact you tried hard at finding some sort of flaw in my cheap build.
 
I think the point he was just trying to make is that there is no way the amp could put out 1800W unless it is some how making it's own power. 75A*14.4V = 1080 max W.

But I do definitely agree with you that you can get a lot more for your money today when it comes to car audio than in the past. I remember when the likes of Phoenix Gold, Soundstream, PPI, etc would be $2-3k plus for a big amp. Glad to see you putting together a nice system that will definitely overpower big tires! :)
 
Just get some long sheet metal screws and put that equipment anywhere you want. The longer the screw the better your mounting options! haha
looking forward to seeing your progress
 
I think the point he was just trying to make is that there is no way the amp could put out 1800W unless it is some how making it's own power. 75A*14.4V = 1080 max W.

But I do definitely agree with you that you can get a lot more for your money today when it comes to car audio than in the past. I remember when the likes of Phoenix Gold, Soundstream, PPI, etc would be $2-3k plus for a big amp. Glad to see you putting together a nice system that will definitely overpower big tires! :)

I know what he was saying I was just trying to be a smartass about it. Who knows maybe it has a flux capacitor in it. Back in the day I had the big alpine 1000 watt amp pushing two JL Audio 15s and an alpine 3554 pushing the rest. Nowadays I don't care about loud or earthshaking I want something that sounds decent and doesn't break the bank.
 
The PO of my 80 did the sound system on a huge budget. Extension cord for speaker wire. But it works so I haven't changed it yet.

I have not paid any attention to my sound system yet. Should a 91 have an amp and sub?
 
Subscribed!
I hear ya on the quality over quantity thing, I don't miss my 4 12" setup, and constant gluing back the rear view mirror because it shook off. LOL

I like it, I'm defiantly going to do mine when cash/time is available.
 
The PO of my 80 did the sound system on a huge budget. Extension cord for speaker wire. But it works so I haven't changed it yet.

Heck, back in 92 i was winching my way out of a hole and got the winch controler wire tore apart by my front tire. I took an old extension cord and put it inline where i had cut the wire and to this day it still works great.
 
Pretty sure everyone knows a $150 amp that says it makes 1800w doesn't. But I really like the fact you tried hard at finding some sort of flaw in my cheap build.

*shrug* it'd already been pointed out that the speakers won't fit.
 
*shrug* it'd already been pointed out that the speakers won't fit.

Yes the 6x9 are not going to fit in the rear doors as is. I thought I could find a simple spacer but that isn't going to happen. So I'm going to build my own out of resin, felt and glass mat. So while I'm customizing my door is there anything I should add to it to make it more function over looks. I need some ideas.
 
Yes the 6x9 are not going to fit in the rear doors as is. I thought I could find a simple spacer but that isn't going to happen. So I'm going to build my own out of resin, felt and glass mat. So while I'm customizing my door is there anything I should add to it to make it more function over looks. I need some ideas.

there are a lot of 6x9 spacers on amazon. I guess i don't know how complex the problem you're trying to solve is.

Other than that, the usual. peel-n-seal on the sheet metal, etc.
 
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