Hey all, I needed some advice/ideas for a system I'm setting up in my car.

First off, I really never cared too much for big sound and mega bass and stuff like that in a car...but since this is no ordinary car and I got a pretty decent amp as a donation I think its time.

At the moment, this is what I have:
McIntosh 6 channel amp (1 thru4 take inputs from 1&2), 5-6 can be bridged and also take input from 1&2. RCA type plugs. This is the only reason I'm actually going through with this, as its a very nice amp.

I like the simplicity of the stock head unit, and am not too certain its worth changing it and having to dick around a bit with the controls. BUT, if someone has a suggestion for a high quality head unit (also not too common...like the car), I am willing to listen. The shop I'm dealing with claims they can adapt the remote controls using an IR transmitter, provided the replaced head unit has an IR remote control feature. Which brings up my first question...is it true?

My second question is regarding whether or not there is a kit that transforms the stock output harness into an RCA type harness.

With regards to the speakers, I was recommended MB Quartz 6" mids with mathcing tweeters (I believe they are called the Q series..whatever the "top of the line" is). The tweeters will be mounted at the center of the mids for imaging (as opposed to the A-pillars which tend to be too bright). However, my brother insists that competition grade dynaudio is more worth the (more) money. For subs, I was thinking a pair of the low profile Honda subs, one under each seat. Experiences and suggestions are desparately needed here.

Another issue I also need advice with is: will an EQ be necessary for this setup? If so, which is compact enough and possesses considerable quality?

Lastly, the mounting....the plan is to use the tool space in the trunck and moving all the stuff into the spare tire in a heavy duty nylon bag. The amp bolts to a plate (or plywood) in the depression, covered by a thick plexiglass piece to admire the amp. Cooling for the tubes also has to be considered, so space must be left for ventilation. I am not too sure about this though, since I occassionally have need to transport my 50 some pound toolbox, and I'm not sure if the plexi will hold and/or be durable enough.

If you've read this far, thanks a lot and I hope you have some ideas and/or sugesstions.

Bassem

 

Any audio item suggested is obviously one of many opinions...with that aside...check out my website, as it has some faily useful information.

If you want the bass feel, but not necessarily the wasted space of a sub and all of the associated wiring, look into Bass Shakers by Aura. They cost $30 and are, IMO, wonderful.

If you plan on using the McIntosh amp with the stock head, you'll need a line-level converter which converts the speaker level signals from the stock head down to RCA level signals for the amp.

For the remote (yes, it's true), you have two main options:
1) Purchase Pinky's mod for $150 which is a wiring harness with a PAC SWI-3 IR unit pre-wired (you program it once installed).
2) See my website for where to purchase your own PAC SWI-3 (this is what the shop is going to do anyway) for about $30-$40 and wire it according to the schematic on my page.

Everyone has their favorite speaker, but I've personally found MBQ's to be too bright and tinny for my tastes, almost to the point of painfulness.

An EQ is not necessary, but can be useful depending upon how much you want to tailor your sound stage.

You can plexiglass an inch thick, so weight shouldn't be a problem with a correct install. Upon a third reading of your post, I noticed you mentioon tubes...I originally thought you meant bass tubes, but now I realize you meant a tube amp. I have no idea how prevalent tube amps are in car audio, but car's offer a pretty harsh ride (especially a sports car such as the S2000), so I wouldn't expect those tubes to last too long (although I could be wrong on this one...never seen it done before).

 

Bassem,

I would definitely check out a new head unit. Don't worry about the steering wheel controls. Go to Modifry.com, the guy there designed a unit that makes the steering wheel controls for an aftermarket HU even better than the stock ones. I just installed it myself and it works flawlessly. The best thing about it is that the mode button can be used for 'next track' which is awesome. Another good thing about aftermarket is you can add bluetooth. Why, because you can not hear your phone ring in an S2000. It's worth it just to be interrupted to know it's ringing. Now I have used extensive sound deadening in my S so I'm not worried about the road noise and my bluetooth works great. The next reason is to avoid having to deal with converting your stock HU down to low level outs. The HU itself converts to high level outs so you would have to convert back to run to your amp unless it's got a built in high level converter. During the process, however, you are losing sound quality. I hope I've convinced you to go aftermarket.

You mentioned you were going to go coaxial for the speakers because the stock locations for the tweets are too bright. I think you may have an issue there my friend. If the stock locations sound too bright you are using poor speakers or you are not properly setting up your system. A high quality tweet with high quality amplification will not sound too bright in the stock locations. Your other issue is that if you use coax speakers your leg will be blocking the left tweeter all the time. It will not sound good.

As you are sensitive to bright sounding speakers I would take a look at the Infinity Kappa Perfect speakers and use the Modifry spacers (another awesome s2k product on the same site as earlier). They are great for a budget. If you have more to spend take a look at the Hertz 165 speakers or the Focal lines although both have very good accurate highs which if not set up well could make you feel like they a bright. That brings you to EQ. If you decide to change the HU you can get one with some simple equalization that at the very least will allow you to quell the brightness of the tweets.

I hope this helps.

-James

 

Holy thread revival I'm sure he's figured out his HU issue by now lolol

 

 

Wow, that's hilarious. I assumed since it was at the top of the screen it was new. Well, I'm only 15 years late on that one.