Mcintosh, Boston Acoustics, Focal; what whould i use for my install?
 

Hi everyone,

I am in a little bit of a "nice" dilemma. I have a lot of car audio equipment, and I am trying to figure out what to install in my car. Here is my list of audio equipment.

Head unit:

Alpine 9815

Speakers

Focal K2Ps
Focal K2s (Only the 6 1/2" mid)
Boston Acostics 6.1 pro series (6 1/2" mids and 1" titanium tweeters)
DLS components (5 1/4" and 1" tweeters)
Focal 165 CA (5 1/4" coaxial)


Subwoofers

2x 10" Boston Acoutic (Proseries from the late 1990s)
11" Focal utopia sub
2 x 11" Focal polyflex subs
10" 10w7
10" DLS sub

Amplifiers

2 x Mcintosh (2 x 50w and 2 x 100w)
2 x Audison LRX (4 x 65w and 2 x 80 w)
Soundstream Vangough 600.1 (2 X 250w or 1 x 600w bridged)
Zapco AG350 (2 x 150w or 1 x 350w bridged)

The music that I listen to is mostly Acoustic (John Mayer, Dave Matthews), but I still enjoy a little bit of quick and long bass notes (Nelly, Kanye West).

I originally wanted to go with simple and clean SQ (Boston acoustic components up front, 2 x 10" Boston Acoustics subs and 2 X mcintosh amps, but I have been having second thoughts. I am now thinking about adding the 5 1/4" DLS speakers in the rear (using the 2 x 50w mcintosh), and adding the Zapco AG350 to run the subs.)

I am still trying to decide on having a front and sub sq setup or a front, rear, and sub sq setup. I have heard 2 sides to the 4 speaker vs. 2 speaker set up, but don't know which one to believe. Here are the stories that I have heard.

1) Having one set of components provides better sq; simpler the better
2) Having one set of components and a set of rear speakers provides better sq; takes more effort to coordinate all 4 speakers, but provides a "live" environment.

Opinions, suggestions, anything would help at this point.

BTW: I drive a hatchback

Sell all that junk and buy ONE good set up. ;)

The 9815 is agood HU to start with.

If you can fit a 6.5" driver up front I would try to use one of the 6.5" comps. If you have the space you can always try a 3-way setup but they are more difficult to tune and if you don't have experience you may want to stick with a 2-way setup.
If the K2p set is a 6.5" set then it would be high on my list as I really like it with a good deal of power on them. I also really liked the old Proseries comp sets but the oldest one I heard was the 6.4 set so if your 6.1 set is close to the 6.4 set in performance it would be right in there with the K2p for duty.

Amp wise I would try to use the one's with the most power and in the case of your sub setup the one that matches the ohm load.

For subs they are all pretty good choices. Any of those choices will likely get loud enough so pick the one you like best. Personally I'd likely any except for the Poly's (I'm guessing the Boston's are either 10.4's or 10.5's and if the DLS is a UR10 or Iridium).

As for a rear fill you can always put somehting back there and fade it out or remove it altogether if you don't like it. It' snot you're going out and buying more gear so it's there to play with and experiment with. Some people don't like rear fill and others do.

Holy Crap!! Junk???? Whatcha talkin about junk..


Focal's are junk.... Zapco is junk??? Boston is junk? etc etc.

\

that is what i see
what hatchback ?
do you need the car for a dayly driver ?
do you need alot of room in the back ?

I drive a 1974 260z. I really want to keep the system stealth. It is a daily driver, and I golf quite a bit so golf clubs need to fit in the trunk. I have a custom install booked for the 8th of October, so I am trying to finalize my install based on

1) Sound quality (trying to determine the best setup for the type of music that I like listening to the most)
2) Budget

So far, this is what I have finalized

1) Kick panels for the front ( Boston acoustics or K2Ps)
2) Amp rack (are fans necessary if I am only running the Mcintosh amps?)
3) Sub(s) in wheel well (Haven't determined if I should use the boston acoustics or the 10w7.

I am not as good with fiberglass and resin as many of you probably are, so I opted to get a custom install done through one of my friend's, friends. He is giving me a "good deal".

Do you guys think that this is a good deal.

He quoted me $1700.00 for

1) Kick panels in the front
2) Rear fiber glass panels, using the trunk's strut braces, for rear speakers
3) Ventilated amp rack (fans)
4) 2 Subs dropped in wheel in custom enclosure with
5) The sub enclosure and rear fiber glass panals wrapped in vinal
6) The fake floor in basic carpet
5) Nustart alarm with install
6) Wiring (I have all the necessary wiring except the speaker wires)

I figure i can drop the price by $500.00 because

1) I already have a clifford matrix 3.5x ready to be installed
2) If I opt to not do the rear speaker panals, it should save me a little.
3) I have all the rcas, power wires, ground wires, etc. from my old setup

So this brings my "simpler" setup to $1200.00. What do you guys think about the pricing of this install.

Also, if any of you live in the lower mainland, Vancouver B.C area, and has done a high quality, similar setup to the one that I am planning on getting done, let me know.

Let me intruduce you to my good friend Mr. sarcasum.

Yeah, I've heard of him before.....

and it's sarcasm, haha.

Thanks for the help. Much appreciated. I have finalized my setup and it's going into the shop next week.

Boston Acoustics :)





:drool: