GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

wondering whats the best system around the 3,000 range im thinking JL audio

That's a very open ended question. What's 'best system' mean. Lots of bass? Good sound quality? Nice features? Ability to navigate, plug in an iPod, XM?What are you looking to do.

..... all but XM and Nav

Well, you mentioned JL, go with JL. There is no 'best'. It's what you can get for the money that sounds good to you with the features you want.JL is good. Polk is good.Pioneer is good.Alpine is good (but expensive)Higher end JVC is goodSome Panasonic is goodAs far as headunits go.

^^^err, JL is good, Polk and Pioneer 'used' to be good. Panasonic is just plain crap. JVC's LCD headunits are nice. If you want big bumps...go with 2 12" Kicker CompVR's and an 800.1 Kicker amp. That there will run you $800. If you want clarity and big boom grab yourself a 13" JL W7(best sub on the market) If you just want to show off with some little bass and don't plan on keeping them long you could always save money and go with Rockford or MTX, Overrated, cheaply priced and horrid quality. Kicker, JL, Eclipse, or Boston Accoustic are what I'd suggest looking into.

Quote, originally posted by tangerine »^^^err, JL is good, Polk and Pioneer 'used' to be good. Panasonic is just plain crap. JVC's LCD headunits are nice. If you want big bumps...go with 2 12" Kicker CompVR's and an 800.1 Kicker amp. That there will run you $800. If you want clarity and big boom grab yourself a 13" JL W7(best sub on the market) If you just want to show off with some little bass and don't plan on keeping them long you could always save money and go with Rockford or MTX, Overrated, cheaply priced and horrid quality. Kicker, JL, Eclipse, or Boston Accoustic are what I'd suggest looking into.I gotta back Polk, at least their midrange speakers are the best I've heard. I went to Tweeters and listened to everything they had and ended up buying the speakers with the best sound quality throughout the ranges, and they were 6.5" Polk Momo's. Nothing there sounded better, and they had everything from Pioneer all the way to Boston Acoustics.

Yeah, Polk's recent EX series does leave something to be desired, but for the price they still have a nice sound to them. Their MOMO series, even though it's not as good as it used to be, still has a nice, rich sound to it.'Old School' Rockford Fosgate amps are still some of the best ones out there, recent stuff from Rockford and MTX, as said, are not so good.

Ya I'm fond of the Polks too.

isnt rockford the ones that say punch on the sub itself because if they are ive seen some subs that said power on it with the same font like the punch ones have and the powers are really big subs

i was also wondering witch of the all of the kickers are the best the solo x, solo-baric L7, compVX, solo-baric L5, compVR, or the comp

Well.. once again, what do you mean by 'best'?The 'best' is the Solo X. If you have room for a 100 pound sub and can muster up the 2,500 watts (12") it needs to run, go for it.We can't tell you what's best. You have to see how much you're willing to spend for the whole system and trade off how loud you want it to be. 200-300watts worth of sub (RMS) are generally enough for people, if you want to go 'crazy' with it, go for it.

my brother Has 2 10" Polk GXR .... they sound nice he's sellin them along with a Q-Logic Box.. that fits our vibes very nice...he's sellin real cheapless than $200 i think

i liked boston acustics 3-4 way speakers.. high quality yet fairly priced.

i went down to a friends buddys dads warehouse to cheack out some amp and sups and i asked about the 12' kickers(compVR) for only $80 but he also showed me these 12' hollywood excursions for $60 (forgot the watts)he said there better then the kickershttp://www.hollywooddigitalusa.com/ex_woof.htmlthink thier better then kickers? might get two subs an amp and box for 250$

I have all alpine and it is clearer the the rest i think plus, I've never had any problems

The hollywoods are made of kevlar/paper. Not exactly 'great' stuff, plus they take half the wattage of the Kickers.For the extra $20 i'd get the Kickers.

2 kicker CVR's will rape your car. I had 2 with the 800.1 amd and my roof was rippling when I turned teh bass knob up. Solo-X are nice but almost $1000 a sub. 3 weeks before my Vibe was totalled I had just finished my install of 6 Kicker Solo L7's and I didn't get a block away from the shop without getting pulled over because a cop said I was rattling his car so bad 3 blocks away he couldn't hear his engine. I miss that car and hope to eventually replace it when these lawyers get on the ball. 11 months yesterday since my accident and not 1 dime. but anyhew, if you get teh CompVR make sure you get the Kicker box with the 5 inch port, it truely brings them to life. and yes my bad on the Polk, I toltally forgot i got a sneak peak at the new series they just came out with and it even blows JL away. If you go kicker figure $6-800 for the subs and enclosure as well as amp (if you go 2) $199 for front speakers, $99 for rear and $112 for amp for speakers roughly. then of course installation which is typically $70ish everywhere unless you have connections or someone is pricing themselves out of business.

he also showed me some other subs with a bigger magnet for the same price of the CVRs dose that really mader much?

Depends on what the other subs are and what their power requirements are. More than likely you'd also need a larger amplifier for them as well.

larger magnets are for more power output. Its maily competition grade subs with large magnets so they can run high power and keep fro ejecting the cones.

I would go with TREO SS or SSX subs, OZ audio mids and highs (Matrix component sets), and a tube amp or two to power 'em. All the Bass you could want and some of the clearest highs you have ever heard.

my friend been telling me to get some cerwin vega subwoofers i didnt get to look at them but they were preety big for $80

$80 for Cerwin Vega? Stolen?

I like my subs (which you can't get anymore) but they are way way overkill lolTwo Rockford HX2's (the older good ones) 500 watt RMS per suband a Diamond Audio D3 600.1 (600 watts @ 1 ohm )Like everyone else I recommend Polk for mid range speakers

Quote, originally posted by tangerine »$80 for Cerwin Vega? Stolen? i think there older ones

Yeah, Cerwins' been around long enough that they could easily be older versions. Not that older is worse in these cases. As long as they aren't blown, should be good.

3 G's isnt alot to spend to do a system right...I put in the Pioneer Double Din Navigation Head Unit, 4 MB Quart Premium Tweeters, 2 6inch MB Quart Premium Mids up front, 2 MB Quart 5 1/4 in the rear and 2 Kicker 10 inch subs in a custom molded box under the storage area where the spare used to be...I also put in a Precision Power 800 watt 5 Channel Amp...The system rocks...and its crystal clear which is more important than loudness to me at least. With Installation and parts I got alittle over 6 Grand into it....you can see the head unit and shots of the subs on my cardomain site or just check out the sub picture attached....Nitro

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I would say go with kicker, but are you willing to shell out the money I just shelled out about 7gs on my system, Kicker ZX750.1 amp(500.00), Kicker 650.4 amp(500.00), Kicker CompVX 12" 4ohm(250.00 built just like the solo but just a round sub), Kicker SS components 2 sets(899..00 X 2), Kicker S series RCAs and Video cables(300.00), Kicker amp kit 0/1 gauge and all Kicker wiring (500.00), Tsunami 10 fred cap (200.00), custom box (2000.00 for anyone else 3500.00). Kicker makes a great line of productes, I will be posting pics of my car audio set up, its still in the shop getting worked on. The Solo X yeah its spendy about 1000.00 for the sub but you also need 3 kicker 1500.1 amps to run it which run about 1000.00 a amp. If you like sound quality I would go with a sealed box, SPL go ported or sloted but you will get a poor sound quality b/c these boxes are made for BASS and no vocals. If you want to know more about Kicker just PM me and I can talk kicker all day I have used Kicker for about 7 years now and I think by far it the best(there are other good brands out there as well), but its also spendy. If you do end up getting a Kicker sub I would IMO get a Kicker amp do to the quality. Also the rulel of thump is if you have a amp that says 1000 watts and you pay 200.00 for the amp you are getting about 200 watts this is where the rule of thumb plays you pay for a 1.00 a watt so if you pay 600 for a amp then you are getting 600 watts. They also say on this site you have to pay to play.

^^^You got seriously assraped on your prices. your 650.4 amp is only a $400 amp, and those SS component systems are only $199.99. I hope your box has a a nice size port on the side of its box with that sub.

Sorry budd the SS components run 899.00 at http://www.hifisoundconnection...30046 These are one of the best speckers that you can buy on the market check out that link it will tell you all about it. As for as the 650.4 it runs 500 misprint on my part here is the link http://ikesound.com/category-c...num/2 go and check out those 2 places and you will see I am not BS. Also the Box no it will not be ported I like sound quality and not Bass the only time that you need a ported or sloted box is if you want SPL which it drowns out most of your vocals.

Then they must have MAJORLY skyrocketed because thats the speakers I ran in my car and they were only $199.99, and as far as the box goes ported boxes do not distort vocals if setup properly, and 2ndly if your interested in vocal quality rather than hard bass and you've dealt with Kicker for 7 years you'd know they are poor for vocal and built for bass output.

Depends on the set up that you go with. I have heard sound quality cars that are running all kicker that have placed in the top 3 so kicker does not just make things for bass it depends on what type of set up you wantie you want lots of BASS go with a ported or sloted, sound quality go with a sealed. As for the SS components the price that you are talking about is just for the woofer I am talking about the woofer, tweeter, and the crossover (which weights about 3-4 pounds) I do not think that you can find the SS components for under 800.00 unless you go to ebay then you do not get kickers warrenty. All of my stuff has a warrenty through kicker so I would rather pay a little extra to get the warrenty. I will get all the prices of what I have from a local dealer here in WA with contact information to prove that this stuff is not as cheep as you think. I will post pics of my set up when I get the car back

here are the prices of the audio system that I have. note that these are the MIN price that is set by Kicker and they can not sell any less then this if you are an authorized dealer.Kicker ZX 750.1 amp 499.00Kicker ZX 650.4 amp 499.00CVX subwoofer 349.00 or 449.00 with boxSS 6.5 Components 600.00 last year they were 1400.00

lol...sealed boxes are not how you get your sound quality out, obviously you've never seen a properly built ported box. The ports are there to allow air flow to allow all of the sounds to come out cleaner and louder with clear vocal and deep bass. Someone miss informed you on what a box does, Kickers do not respond well to sealed boxes.

I beg to differ on that one. You know you would just have to here what I have then. Also to be honest with you....you should contact kicker tech and see what they have to say about that because they have told me differently. IMO a ported or sloted box is mainly for rap if you listen to everthing then a sealed box is a way to go.

You beleive what their tech people tell you? Its all people who barely speak a lick of english and read from a book to answer questions . If you check out the 06 Kicker Catalog they will state the same thing, and any salesman who knows what he sold you should have told you that as well. I'v been building sound systems since I was in junior high as my 1st job and fell in love with the audio world and ever since they built cars for sound competitions for myself and customers and have learned a thing or two about box setups. I hope your atleast going to fill your sealed box full of foam or cotton for the kicker the sound its best in a sealed box. There is a new spray foam you can get that will fill it and keep your box from rattling quite well and its only $2-3 a can.

The that I have is made out of 3/4 in Fiberglass. As far as Kicker reps not speeking hardly a lick of english that is wrong, everytime that I have talked with them they have spoken perfect english.

Quote, originally posted by tangerine »lol...sealed boxes are not how you get your sound quality out, obviously you've never seen a properly built ported box. The ports are there to allow air flow to allow all of the sounds to come out cleaner and louder with clear vocal and deep bass. Someone miss informed you on what a box does, Kickers do not respond well to sealed boxes. It has been a while since I posted, but this one got my attention. You are right.......somewhatNo air actually flows out of the vent. There is a distinct and unique air mass contained in the vent @ the tuning frequency that oscillates back an forth, hence the gain @ the port frequency; but no air from the inside of the box actually gets outside of the box @ the tuning frequency. If you really need the math on that, I'll have to dig out my Benson (Audio professor @ Sydney) book on Vented Enclosure theory.Ports only do one thing...they allow the woofer to extend further @ the tuning frequency to allow a gain @ that frequency thereby offering more extension into the lower octaves. They serve no other purpose. Period.Kickers in the past were suited PRIMARILY for a small sealed enclosures. But now you are correct...at least up to the 2005 models any way, they are geared toward the vented alignment, but look at the predicted curves....can you say spike? teepee? One Note Wonder? These things pound like all hades, some folks actually like their sound, but I personally can't stand 'em. I gotta give my hats off to dallarosaj for trying the sealed box.........hopefully they got more transient and the new '06 model is more suited for more alignments.

wow it was a pissing match until the post right above this one... and I actually lernt some'thin...Thanks man... But people are so worried about their speaker brands... never mention the amp behind it or the eq settings... it all plays a part doesn't it?

Quote, originally posted by binary »wow it was a pissing match until the post right above this one... and I actually lernt some'thin...Thanks man... But people are so worried about their speaker brands... never mention the amp behind it or the eq settings... it all plays a part doesn't it?Yep.......except the EQ thing...IMHO, EQ's are a bandaid for poorly designed filters, placement, timing errors, wiring, etc...In my car the bass is set at zero, treble at zero, and no eq period. I can play all styles of music, take the volume to the max setting on the deck and it sounds great. Ask anyone who has heard it. The system is only as good as the weakest link.

Quote, originally posted by idontknowwhatimdoing »I can play all styles of music, take the volume to the max setting on the deck and it sounds great. Ask anyone who has heard it. The system is only as good as the weakest link.I've heard his system and he's right. It sounds great at any volume and the bass/treble never seem to be out of balance. Derrick really knows his stuff.

Thanks Damon..........you're next on the list.......what's happening next Saturday for you? Wanna get some mat layed in there? Maybe start a mold