So im patiently awaiting the arrival of my Orbital Double Din kit, and my Pioneer z1 is begging for some speakers and sub.

Goals: Nice crisp sound, with a decent hit. nothing crazy, and I am trying to be weight conscious since this is a race car first.. audio machine second.

Ive been contemplating this setup.. please offer all suggestions and comments

JL VR650 Components for the front, VR650 Coax for the rear. The combo on ebay runs $260 shipped. Not too bad.

Sub would be either a 10w3v3 JL or a Rockford fosgage 12" P2. Everyone tells me the 10" p2 doesnt hit, so the 12" is required

As for amps, ive been told that I can spend less detail on them, especially for the sub.. I would probably just go with something basic like alpine, or even the local audioshop told me that lightning audio would sound fine in my car.

Im debating whether or not to 4 channel amp the speakers, but wouldnt be a problem later on, since ive read that the stock speakerwire should suffice.



Any suggestions are welcome. This setup should be ~7-800 complete, and I will do all of the labor my self.

Speakers -260
Sub - 60-150
Box- 50
Sub amp-50-150
4 channel -200


edit : i realized i could get JL amps for the prices i put. How are the e1200 and e4300 for the sub and speakers...?

$620- $810

Thats a reasonable range for me to be spending, especially since the Z1 was 1500+ accessories.

Thanks for all of the help in advance.

PS. Does anyone know if the JL tweeters fit behind the A - Pillar?

 

i can do the memphis car audio pr series components and coaxals for 260 shipped with a lifttime warranty. as long as there is no physical damage on the speaker. send back to memphis and soon you will get some new ones. for LIFE

 

for the sub, i would strongly suggest JL 10". i've used and still using mb quartz for the front, so i'm not sure about the other brand speakers. hope this helps a bit.

 

keep the ideas coming! thanks

how do the memphis audio compare to the JL stuff?

 

The power handling isn't as high as the JL's from what I remember without looking it up (on each of their reference series at least) but Memphis makes great stuff. I have a couple of memphis amps laying around and have been thinking about going all memphis in the evo. I still have bad feelings about JL speakers from circa 1991 when I was sponsored and had to have their mids and tweeters replaced weekely or at least before every competition because they sucked and would blow ALL the time. I know they've come a long way since then but I honestly haven't owned any myself since. I have friends that still swear by them though and I myself have heard them plenty and agree that they do mak nice stuff these days.

 

i was actually running a all jl system back in 2000 and the problems that they had before are still present now. expecially with the tinsile weave. they rip all of the time. i was actually running 3 8w6's before here is a pic. memphis makes outstanding ****. they are so good with their entry level **** that the cover is for life. in my ****in opinion i think thats pretty awesome. i do have a system for my evo at the moment. here is it. i just have to put it in a make a box for it

1-mch1300 this is what they call the BIG memphis belle 300wattsx4 for speakers and 1000watts rms for the sub. i really like this amp because its just an ultimate 5 channel. also for the sub channel, its 1 ohm stable.

4-pr1204 power reference subs 4 12" single voice coil subs

4 6.5" components speakers.

also here is a pic of the box that i was building in my bros stage 2 roush. this was actually 4 12"s also

 

i guess it depends on ur preference. as in my earlier post, i'm using/used JL 10" w3 sub and mb quartz front speakers. i also have zapco 4 channel amp 50 or 60 watt x4, ppi 2 channel amp 250 watt x1 bridged, eclips rear speakers, and an alpine cd head unit w/6 cd changer. i made my sound setup just the way i like it......nice and clear w/o punchy bass.....just deep bass that ppl can feel it.

 

I went to magnolia hi-fi, its a high end electronics place. I had them compare their best JL's with the diamond subs they had there. WOW I was amazed at how crisp and hard the diamonds hit. For sure Im getting the diamond 15.

 

thatsfunny that u say magnolia. i start working for them on wednesday

 

JL didnt make mids and tweets in 1991. If you recall, most winning cars of that era were PPI amps/Quart highs/JL subs. Memphis can't come close to JL sound quality.

 

JL did have compnents back then. Not many used them. The owners of JL started in a retail store in Fl. and they were PPI dealers, Quart dealers and of course used their own subs that they developed and were marketing. Add in Streetwires and you have the combo that every great car they built was using. JL stopped components for a while but after a board of directors wants to see increased profits they introduced amps and speakers made overseas to increase their product offerings and their bottom line. It is so easy to buy products overseas design a package and bring it to market, especially when you have a known brand name and a dealer base. They all do it. Think if JL as baby Rockford, they just bought a few existing companies like Lightning Audio and MB Quart to boost the RF bottom line.

 

I said circa 91 but it was 91-92 that I was using them so I know they made them. I thought they were garbage. Altough the 4 15's and 8 10's that I had backing them up were great.

 

actually, all of jls equipment is designed in house(i have been to the factory) and know many of their employees (i have sat on panels for a few companies to develop new products, including polk audio as well)
jl audio makes their amps in arizona. every sub except w1s are made in florida. they actually made the version 3 w3 a single voice coil sub so they could continue to make it in their factory here.



as far as recommendations
jl vr stuff is very good. they are not bright speakers, they use a soft dome tweeter, they are very smoothe. they are actually my favorite jl stuff, but most consumers dont like them as much, as they do not have have the tsss, tsss sound.

boston sl60, sl65 are very good, i would highly recommend them in that 300(retail) price range.

do not buy mb quart products at that level, if you buy the 500 and up products, you wont be happier.

the memphis stuff(mids and highs) is known to be very bright(worse than quartz old stuff)

for the money i have heard their amps perform well, but do not come close to sound quality of jl slash series(there is a new "a" series hitting this month that are toned down slash series amps, replacing the e) the alpine v12 amps are great, but i would put a few more bucks in to get jl audio slash, and with the new a series stuff..... i would definitely give those a try. the polk audio amps are absolutely great for the money as well.

the w3 is a great sub, it is somewhat expensive(at retail) but you get what you pay for. it sounds great and has decent volume. most subs at that price range do not sound good, they are just loud, i have some experience with diamond, and they are very good subs as well.

if you were here i could help you out.......
pm me if you have any questions about it

 

I've seen the factory in Korea where the amps are made and the label on the amp proves it. They are put on a boat and sent to Long Beach and take a train ride to Arizona where they are warehoused but definitely not built there. I've visited Jeff Scoon there too. Most subs are also made overseas and all components are. IT is easier and cheaper to warehouse on the West coast and ship to retail then send to across the country to Florida for warehousing.

Almost everything comes out of Asia these days and most of the time the "Name Brand" is just a more expensive version of the same product from a lesser known company without huge marketing budgets to cover. Polk amps are a me to product and there are at least 3 other "manufacturers selling the same thing in a different box"

I bet ADS or PPI are much better than Directed Audio too. (lol)

 

Check out diamond audio component speakers. I have two sets that were in my Eclipse that are waiting to go on my Evo.