Huh.. the midbass for focals have always been lacking from those heydays. Perhaps it's just a matter of tuning.

But personally I've never heard a Focal setup that I've liked. Not even the Utopia BE which is kinda sad considering that's their flagship.

Hmm.. the Utopia BE was actually in my own car. I was testing all the different speakers my installer had before settling for Dynaudios.

Quazacolt : Yeah, I have a pretty good relationship with my installer Peter from CV Audio. He's a great guy and his motto "Never leave my shop if you're not smiling".

I tested the flagship Utopia BE cuz I buntut gatal, not that I was going to pay that sorta money for a speaker set! But he did offer me a pretty tempting price la, lucky for me I didn't like it. The crossover is crazyass huge I tell you. But those knobs and all are pretty nice.

The flagship Rainbows are amazing though. Thank fully the Dynaudios were cheaper back then so opted for the cheaper alternative.

ICE is a never ending journey - true. But it helps to start off your journey with the best of the best so you don't upgrade so much. Buying entry level stuff is a waste of time knowing what I know now. Either you spend good $$$ and be satisfied with a damn good setup now that'll last you at the very least 10 years or you keep saving the money until you can afford it. Upgrading is a very expensive thing to keep doing!

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Added on April 5, 2012, 8:49 amyeah, perhaps my installation technique wasn't suitable for it. The K2Ps didn't sound that great for me. I had aluminium speaker rings and back then my dynamat was in better condition (than now). Anyway - that's ancient history la. I'm happy with my Dyns.

This post has been edited by izso: Apr 5 2012, 08:49 AM

I've only heard the brand Coral from Howie. But that's not necessarily a bad thing since Howie is capable of working magic with all sorts of brands.

I'd recommend the entry level Rainbows. They are not bad for the price you pay for them. And the best part is they work really well without an amp too.

Morels generally are quite power hungry so if your amp isn't up to par, it won't 'sing' well. But if you can make them 'sing', Morel's are pretty good.

If you want to audit the Rainbow, I have it in my Myvi. Also, CV Audio Uptown Damansara has the exact same setup in their company car, a Myvi as well. I've actually pitted my Rainbow setup against a few other Myvis with significantly more expensive setups and quite frankly came up as a pretty decent 'winner', considering the amount spent on my car was less than half of theirs. They had HU, amps, woofers, components, all mixed and matched. I just have stock HU, custom door panels, Rainbows, underseat woofer and that's it. Recently added the tweeter pod though.

Come come let me poison you cukup cukup.

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Added on April 12, 2012, 7:33 amIf you don't mind 2nd hand sets, the Alpine 9855 is going for RM480 to RM800 these days depending on condition and seller. That one has pretty decent SQ, has EQ, X-over and if you have the Ipod wire, it'll connect to your Ipod too. And it's higher range than the Alpine 133 or whatever the model was you were looking at.

This post has been edited by izso: Apr 12 2012, 07:34 AM

The Rainbow I have installed is the entry level SLX I think. I didn't bother to ask back then since I had it installed as a guinea pig (ie-experiment). It worked surprisingly good without an amp and with the stock HU. It's recommended to be done with the door panel though which is different from the door panel you find in most shops. The speaker holder and all are placed higher up nearer to the arm rest rather than the usual low down at the door panel position (see picture)



The price should be in the RM1300 range including speaker wiring and all. Could be cheaper since I had this installed close to 3 years ago.

CV Audio doesn't sell imitation stuff. If they do they'd be in a lot of trouble since 90% of their customers are all luxury cars and sports cars. In this sort of community all you need is one person to complain and everyone else will know what happened and then you can say byebye to your business.

Not too shabby for the price I paid for it. Considering it did better than a Audison + MBQuartz + P80 setup, I'm pretty proud of it. LOL.

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Added on April 14, 2012, 3:24 pmIf you know nuts, best you find a reliable installer and let them do the work. If you pick and match yourself whilst knowing nothing, it'll be worse! Where do you stay? If PJ area I recommend CV Audio Damansara Uptown, Audio Creations nearby Ara Damansara that side. If KL recommend EA Autoworks in Bukit Jalil area. These 3 shops I've had good customer experience with.

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Added on April 14, 2012, 3:28 pmGive a noobie a Ferrari and he'll drive it like a noobie. Give a pro a Proton and he'll drive it like a pro. Give you STP and it makes you happy, give you something else will it make you happy?

Thickness of material does not equate to how good it is. Knocking the door is the dumbest way of testing imho. The purpose of dampening materials is supposed to dampen the vibrations that cause ambient noise or that mess up the sound that emanates into your car. If the STP silver does the job, who cares what their stupid product Dayana or whatever does? If their product works too, good for them. If it doesn't it doesn't matter cuz the STP is doing the trick for you anyway. Right? STP have been around a loooooooong time doing dampening and soundproofing. If you tell me their products are hopeless I'd tend to think you're either an idiot or you don't know how to use their products.

This post has been edited by izso: Apr 14 2012, 03:28 PM

Erm.. I don't know what car you drive, but for Myvi the front door panels don't hold any speakers. So for a Myvi to have to have midbass in the door panels, you'll have to custom. And I had it done up so I don't kick it which is a common thing amongst people who have their midbass installed in the usual lower down location (in any car). Sound wise I can't comment because I don't have another Myvi with the exact setup except for the different door panel mould placement to compare with.

If you already have some space in the door panel for a speaker, then there's obviously no need to customize it unless the speaker hole is too small. On average I recommend going 6.5 inch midbass or 5 inch midbass (or larger!) anything smaller than that tends to lack in terms of midbass. But that's my personal opinion anyway.

Sound is very subjective. I once sat in Howiechoo's tuning sessions with one of his competition cars. I couldn't hear what it was he was trying to remove! He said there was this 'high frequency sound' which I completely was tone deaf to.

I duno much about SS or Etone but I'd be surprised if you can get Alpine for RM500... unless you're talking 2nd hand?

If you could top it up to 1k I think you might be able to get get the Alpine PDX monoblocks or something along those lines. Perhaps even the JL smaller monoblocks. But whatever it is you get, make sure the amp supports the impedance requirements of the sub. dual voice coil 4ohm means your amp needs to support 2ohm minimum. Dual voice coil 2ohm means 1ohm minimum. If single coil the just see whats the impedance and whether the amp supports it or not. Otherwise whatever brand you use you'll hurt the amp.

Chicken brands are called that because they never deliver what they promise. Not because they are unstable or heat up faster or whatever. In some extremely bad chicken brands, they advertise xxxx but give you zzzz then something spoils because of it. In most cases it's just a matter of "1000w RMS" but only deliver 250w which isn't so bad.

Oh and if you have golden ears, you'll be able to hear the difference in bass with the different amps. Compare the Alpine PDX Class-D Monoblocks with a class-AB monoblock and you might hear the difference. Of course class-AB is more expensive and can be quite rare.

You got some heavy duty gear. Love that amp btw! Do something about the HU tho

As for sub, what sort of music do you listen to? There's a few subs out there that you can look out for. Not all JLs are boom boom boom, they are pretty quick subs so properly tuned you can get pretty good bass, I particularly like the W6v2 and used to own a W3v2. Both did great with the infamous Pirates of the Caribbean #1 theme song which will show how fast/slow your sub is. At that time the W6v2 was powered by a TRU Hammer (not my setup) and my W3v2 was fed with a Orion HCCA G4. Might be worth mentioning that both amps are Class AB though. I personally feel class AB works better than Class D even for monoblocks. Personal opinion.

The other SQ subs that people swear by are Scanspeaks, Seas lotus and Morel but personally I find them too soft for my liking. Perhaps it's the way they were setup but none did too well in my ears with my kind of music but to be fair I don't think these SQ subs were designed for electronic bass music.

Suggest you test these subs yourself before you settle for one. Right now I'm using a Boston G5 with a JL1000/1 and I'm quite happy with it. But my meat might be your poison so can't really advise.

It's slower compared to the W6. But boy will it go low and loud. That's plenty for my Prince, Anjunabeats, Avincii and super ahbeng Initial-D CDs. My biggest issue is getting it to sound right. The JL 1000/1 has got so many functions, knobs and buttons I dunno what does what. I mean what's infrasonic?? Then there's like 2 separate gains for one channel and this amp has two outputs wtf. It's a monoblock for crying out loud. Anyway, I'm liking the G5 but I prefer the W6 but since the price is almost 800 different, I'll stick with the G5.

Don't compare with the W3 though. In terms of tone, clarity and all the W3 is actually better but in terms of speed and sheer volume W3 is no fight. I like hard heart stopping bass!

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Added on April 25, 2012, 8:54 pmI guess value for money Peerless XXLS is not too bad. The G5 is in about the RM1500 range since it's supposed to be clunked together with the W6 so it's in a "higher class" hence the higher price. Morel Primo is a SQ sub. You'll have difficulty with hard hitting bassy songs i think but musical wise, it's not as good as the scanspeaks but it holds its own la. Is pretty power thirsty though.

For KL, CV Audio Uptown Damansara has G5, W3 and W6 and if not mistaken W7 also. Unless my G5 is their last unit they should still have the G5.

This post has been edited by izso: Apr 25 2012, 08:54 PM

I dunno how to compare with those other Bostons since I've never heard them. Mind you - it's fast but still audibly slower than the W6.

Not really. The IDMax also quite an amazing sub. Only problem is finding a seller willing to let go and whether the sub needs refurbishing since it's not a new one.

I haven't heard other brands like Fi and some other exotic brands that lots of people swear by. But personally I like the W6 la. I just don't like the price.

Yeah. And never audit someone elses car.

4k not entry level la. Quazacolt wanna tipu you into spending more money!

*Cabut*

LOL!

Aiya.. don care how much, a system that produces music that sounds good to you is a good system.

Dude, easiest way to decide is to hang out with people with the same car model and try their setup. Incidentally Howie from EA Autoworks has a ICE-d out Inspira, but not showcar level ICE. You should try it out

Lennox - Howie has a verrrrrrrrry cheap and surprisingly good 4" solution for your Myvi (I assume it is). I've heard it and for the money paid for it, it's pretty damn impressive. Don't compare it with those full range component sets but if you're not fussy you should consider it for the price it's offered at.

Btw, Dynaudio's have 2 models, one model has a 8" basket and the other is slightly smaller (not sure exactly how small). Meaning that 8" mid will not fit in your door panel unless it's modified (the door panel).

Suggest you spend some time trying out different setups before deciding on one. All of the brands mentioned by Quazacolt are premiumly priced except for Boston Accoustics, Dominations, Focal and German Maestro. These brands have entry level speakers which aren't too exp. The others are in the 1.5k range and above.

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Added on May 8, 2012, 7:53 amOh and I'd recommend Rainbow too.

http://www.rainbow-audio.de/

This post has been edited by izso: May 8 2012, 07:53 AM

Then give howiechoo a buzz and consider his 4" setup. It's pretty decent.