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ok, after talking with the audio geeks on their forums i have found that getting an amp is the best option for me. they have recommended that getting an amp (audison srx2), sound deadening and then tweeters will greatly improve the sound quality in the car
i think this would be the best solution.
replacing the HU will give you pretty much the same results....amping the stock HU will not sound that great and will require more wiring than just replacing the HU alone. The stock dash controls can be retained by simply adding Modifry's DCI....piece of cake to wire (if you can tell colors and read). The HU should be the first thing to go, as it is the "weakest link."
Originally Posted by blacks2k,Jul 13 2005, 09:22 AM
ok, after talking with the audio geeks on their forums i have found that getting an amp is the best option for me. they have recommended that getting an amp (audison srx2), sound deadening and then tweeters will greatly improve the sound quality in the car
i think this would be the best solution.
ok Blacks2k, it's your call.
but the headunits of the s2000 are particular in that they are truly terrible. in most other cars you can get away with an amp and new speakers, but with an s2k, no way. many have tried what we cannot talk you out of. your stereo will be louder, but it will sound awful, probably worse that it currently does. the stock hu has a terrible signal.
All you will be doing is amping the bad signal....flaws and all. The flaws in the system will be MUCH more apparent, as they will be louder. Also, if the HU does not push a clean signal, you risk distortion to the speakers, and that is what causes speakers to blow (other than overpowering). If you amp a terrible signal to some nice speakers, they might conk out on you. Headunit is the easiest way, and all it takes is a soldering iron, a philips head screw driver, and about 20-30 minutes. The DCI takes 10-15 minutes with the soldering iron. (For a complete beginner with no prior experience....I would know....I did it two weeks ago)
Black -- if you have the funds, do the HU. it DOES make a difference. connecting an Audison amp (even a base model) to the OEM HU is an insult to the Audison and a waste of your money.
Thanks again Phil....I thought thaat "distortion" was an unclear signal that, when run to a speaker, makes the speaker send out a garbled signal....kinda sending the magnet nuts and eventually fraying the rubber surround. I guess I was wrong. Thanks again.
John
ps-but the point is still the same.....get the HU first for the best sound.
I thought thaat "distortion" was an unclear signal that, when run to a speaker, makes the speaker send out a garbled signal....
there are really basically 2 types of distortion out there. clipping and mechanical.
mechanical is too much power the 'traditional' way, which will blow a speaker.
clipping is when you clip off the top of a signal by having the signal exceed the amp's dynamic range, which can cause big DC voltage spikes, which will also blow speakers.
check out this page for a lot more info on clipping: http://www.bcae1.com/2ltlpwr.htm
and modifry's post on that other thread hits it dead on:
The Mac-man is dead-on. The only change I would make is to say that in ALL cases speakers are blown by too much power.
Speakers are not like your ears - they don't 'hurt' if the sound is distorted. It is no more damaging to produce distortion than pure sounds. Speakers simply do what they're told as well as they can.
If distortion blew speakers then most of the rock bands of the 70's would never have made it. What confuses people is that speakers frequently blow when the sound is distorted, so they assume the distortion is the culprit. Not quite true. The distortion is a by-product of over-driving the amplifier, but the other by-product is increased power output. An amps power output can double or triple when it's driven to clipping, and it's this additional power that blows speakers.
The typical distortion problem is amplifier clipping, where the volume is increased to the point where the amp can no longer supply enough voltage, so the tops of the sine waves are flattened out. The flat part is pure DC current - and nothing fries a woofer like DC current, unless it's DC current at the maximum voltage the amp can produce. (and by definition that's what you get at clipping - the amp's voltage is as high as it will go) That flat part of the waveform is putting about twice the power into the speaker than it would normally receive if the amp were not clipping, and it's the additional power that kills the speaker.
The same holds true for tweeters, except it's not the flat part of the clipped waveform but the sharp corners at the ends of the flat - those are very high frequency so the cross-over does it's job and sends them to the tweeter. And since the amp is clipping, those corners are also at the maximum voltage the amp can produce, so the tweeter gets hit with several times the amp's normal power rating and 'poof' - no more tweeter.
If you had a speaker rated for 50 watts and drove it with a 10-watt amp driven into disgusting distortion it would never blow, because there's not enough power to blow it. But if you do it with a 50-watt amp, you could possibly put 100 watts into the speaker and cause some major damage.
either way, if you overpower a speaker causing distortion and blow the speaker, the distortion is a symptom of the overpowering and not the cause.
sure, it depends on how you look at it, but you seem eager to learn John, so i'm going to try and help you whenever i can.
Thanks Phil.....I am really trying here.... I am picking up a lot of useful info. I thought that distortion killed the speakers because, I thought, distortion was a "dirty" signal and the speakers were being given too much info at once, and trying to process it all at once. I thought that distortion was a garbled signal, that when processed by the speaker, came out as a "static" kind of sound, which is chaotic in nature and puts more stress on the surround....but apparently I was incorrect. At least now I know.
I saw someone had an 8" sub in the side well of the trunk...would this low end make it into the cabin OK? Thanks 
All you will be doing is amping the bad signal....flaws and all. The flaws in the system will be MUCH more apparent, as they will be louder. Also, if the HU does not push a clean signal, you risk distortion to the speakers, and that is what causes speakers to blow (other than overpowering). If you amp a terrible signal to some nice speakers, they might conk out on you. Headunit is the easiest way, and all it takes is a soldering iron, a philips head screw driver, and about 20-30 minutes. The DCI takes 10-15 minutes with the soldering iron. (For a complete beginner with no prior experience....I would know....I did it two weeks ago)
