Mixing Audio Manufacturers

[S T A R 3 3]

I've recently started looking into a car stereo and so far I've pencilled in around $1600 worth of stuff. But they're of mixed manufacturers.

12" pioneer sub

JL splits

Alpine mono block amp

JVC double din screen CD/DVD (WHICH WAS A STEAL for

$650!

)

Just wondering if having different names would affect anything? I chose these due to prices...

[Trav33]

What model JVC head unit do you have?

[S T A R 3 3]

KW-AVX700

Originally around $1300.. then marked to $650 coz it was the last one in JB

Edited January 14, 2007 by S T A R 3 3

[Trav33]

Thats a nice looking unit, im wondering why i chose to start my carputer project now! Thats an awesome price you got too mate. (sorry to hi-jack your thread!)

[S T A R 3 3]

It's all good.. and yeah it was a STEAL! Would have been nice in black tho, but I'm not complaining.

[donut_kng]

I've recently started looking into a car stereo and so far I've pencilled in around $1600 worth of stuff. But they're of mixed manufacturers.

12" pioneer sub

JL splits

Alpine mono block amp

JVC double din screen CD/DVD (WHICH WAS A STEAL for

$650!

)

Just wondering if having different names would affect anything? I chose these due to prices...

As long as its all quality stuff I wouldnt be worried, so therfore you should be fine. Where alot of people go wrong is spend big on speakers and subs, then buy a $100 1200w boss audio amp from strathfield and then wonder why it sounds sh1t.

[S T A R 3 3]

As long as its all quality stuff I wouldnt be worried, so therfore you should be fine. Where alot of people go wrong is spend big on speakers and subs, then buy a $100 1200w boss audio amp from strathfield and then wonder why it sounds sh1t.

hahah thanks for the piece of mind, I can sleep easy now. All I need to do now is buy it and install them.

Cheers guys!

[mikel]

I agree, from a sound perspective, it makes no difference.

From a resale perspective, if you're planning on keeping the car, depreciation will balance things out.

A single brand "looks" better to the buyer-but if you've got a great price for the gear-enjoy it.

There's no technical reason why consumer gear can't be mixed and matched, provided you follow basic guidelines:

1) any distortion means you're driving some component (head/amp/driver) too hard - back off before you melt something

2) it's a misnomer that a 50W amp can't blow 100W drivers - distortion kills lots of things - refer point 1.

3) based on point 2, it's better to have an amp that's slightly higher power than your speakers, as that way you're likely to be driving clean power up until the clipping point of the speakers (ie your speakers clip before your amps do). Nothing blows a driver like clipping at the driver's limit. Tricky with splits as you don't really know the power split between woofer and tweeter (same issue with coax drivers) - again, if you hear distortion, turn down the volume.

4) for truly staggering sound you can't go past active crossovers - a separate amp per driver, with an electronic crossover splitting the sound at low level feeding each amp. More expensive in amps and a crossover.

Fantastic sound but in my expeience (in home stereos - I haven't gone nuts in my car stereo), drivers (esp tweeters) tend to destroy themselves occasionally (you have a power amp at full gain connected directly to each driver-any glitches get amplified and go through the driver voicecoil).

The reasons for going active are numerous but not necessarily warranted in a car unless you want ultimate sound.

cheers

Mike

As long as its all quality stuff I wouldnt be worried, so therfore you should be fine. Where alot of people go wrong is spend big on speakers and subs, then buy a $100 1200w boss audio amp from strathfield and then wonder why it sounds sh1t.