Learning Car Audio

[snackeyg]

Sorry if this seems like a stupid question or is in the wrong section, but I'm looking for any advice I can get on learning car audio. If I should learn by doing, from other people, if there's a school somewhere. Just anything to learn and start being able to do build and stuff. Thanks for any help. I'm pretty inexperienced btw.

[LoudNLow931]

This forum is a great place to learn stuff, Just surf around here and read alot. And don't be afraid to ask question even if you think they are stupid, that's how you learn.

[tlee2]

The combination of reading stuff on here and doin it hands on youll be suprised of how much you could learn in 1 month

[matt402]

the12volt.com iz a good learning site...

[Crump]

I learned by hanging out at my REPUTABLE local shop and asking ?s over there, watching them work, and then eventually trying myself. I definitly learned how not to do a lot of things which isnt bad so to say, but the biggest thing I learned from this forum is soldering. I always solder 1/0,4, and 8 gauge this way you dont have to worry about a connection coming loose because of a bad crimp that wouldnt survive a pull test. Dont be afraid to invest some money in tools, having the right tool for the job saves you from having to stop midway through doing something. Hope this helped.

Edited March 8, 2010 by Crump

[corey0928]

I thought I knew a decent amount before but I quickly realized I didnt know as much as I thought but have learned sooo much just from reading on here and trying them myself

[STEvil]

Keep a salt shaker with you at all times.. not just to toss over your shoulder or sprinkle on the info you get from here and other peoples/sites, but to also toss at morons

[IH8PunkRok]

ill take a crack at this.

first and foremost we will cover power:

-generally bigger is better when it comes to wire

-power wire should really never be smaller than 4 guage (1/0 is a standard anymore)

-speaker wire is usually between 16 and 12 guage (some use 8 or even 4. i use ten)

-remote wire is small. i have 18 guage. it doesnt carry a lot of current so its not that important

-if you run over 1k wrms then you should consider and alternator upgrade. look for a 200+ amp alt that does over 100 amps at idle. its a good start

-big 3 is a good way to increase voltage. there is a video tutorial in the electrical/battery section

-batteries are needed to keep your system going. more batteries requires more charging (upgrade wire, then alt, then batteries)

-capacitors are not used to aid in a weak electrical system. they are meant to store a small amount of power in case the battery cannot deliver it fast enough to the amp (ie fast kick bass in metal or techno)

-fuses are better than circuit breakers. they should be no more than 3 feet from the battery and should be how large the amp says it should be in the manual

-power is the most important part of the system but provides the least entertainment so it will seem like a waste. but it is not

next we will cover deadening:

-there are many companies the create sound deadening for your car, second skin, rammat, fat mat, dynamat, and then there are cheap brands from home depot or lowes

-benefits of deadening are it reduces rattle and increases general sound quality by reducing road and engine noise

-it is not necessary to a good system but the sound is night and day when deadened correctly, positively.

now we will cover source units (Head Units):

-many types are available. (single din, double din, flip-out, etc.)

-depending on what you want you will find something you like

-some units have really good amplifiers and are coveted among audiophiles (Denon, Nakamichi, Mcintosh)

-some are great quality but somewhat rare to find (old RF, Eclipse)

-then there are the generally accepted good (Pioneer, Alpine, JVC, Clarion, Kenwood)

-then there are some you should not touch (VR3, Jensen, Boss)

-most head units have low volt pre-outs

-good pre-out voltage is around 5 volts up to 8 volts, more is iffy and less is iffy

-units may have usb inputs, aux inputs, cd players, dvd players, casette tape, no mechanism (cd, dvd, tape) at all, and then there are iPod connecting units.

-most of the power that comes from HU's is not enough to accurately power speakers and makes them sound bad

-they are a bitch to wire sometimes

now lets talk about the mids and highs (fronstage):

-there are two types of speaker divisions, coaxials and components

-coax's are one driver that include both a midrange (woofer) and a tweeter. they are generally cheaper and do not sound as good.

-component systems normally have 2 drivers (midrange, tweeter) and a crossover. the crossover limits frequencies sent to the drivers so they only play those that they were designed for. because of this they usually have a better sound

-2-way, 3-way, and more. 2-way means two drivers (midrange, tweeter) playing a set band of frequencies. 3 way means 3 drivers (midrange, tweeter, subwoofer) playing a set band of frequencies and so on. the less a speaker has to play the better it can play it and thusly make a better sound.

-active and passive. passive means you have a crossover after the amplifier (split frequency bands after amplification), active means splitting the frequency bands before amplification. if done active then there needs to be a seperate amp for each frequency band (one for tweeters, one for midranges, one for subs etc.)

-speakers can range from <$20 to >$1000 per driver

-if a coax speaker claims it is a 3-way speaker be leary, if it claims more it is lying.

subwoofers:

-range in size from 6.5" to 24"

-range in price from $20 to your first born son

-power handling of subs goes from 100 watts rms to 10k rms or more

-there are so many sub choices that it would take me a year and 22 days to explain them all in good detail. lucky you are on a subwoofer and amp focused sight

-require some type of enclosure

-shake your car

-most fun for the money

-come in single and dual voice coil normally but have been known to have quad coils

Amplifiers:

-many kinds of amps (4 channel, 2 channel, monoblock, 5 channel, d class monoblock etc.)

-generally monoblocks are for subs. d class are more efficient

-2 channel and 4 channel are for mids and highs. normally class a/b amps. inefficient but higher sound quality

-5 channel are used for entire system amplification, mids highs and subs

-things to look for when buying an amp

-<1% thd at rated power

-rated power at 14.4v or less

-stable at and ohm load you can make

-fuse ratings

-massive ranges for all types of amps. research heavily before you buy and do not be cheap

Enclosures:

-sealed and bass reflex (ported) are the most common

-comlpicated enclosures like horns, bandpasses, t-lines and infinite baffles require a bit more research

-for ported enclosures i recommend Torres' calculator which is available for download here

-there are people you cna buy designs from on here. just ask and pay

these are the basics of car audio and you can learn from here.

some topics you may want to read up on:

-clipping

-SQ

-SPL

-T/S parameters

-unloading subwoofer

-burnt coil

-unstable ohm load

-peak of ported enclosure

-impedance rise

-cabin gain

-Termlab

-resin and bracing enclosures

-unsafe installs

-ground loop noise

-HID's

-bumping courtesy

-laws and regulations

there is a lot of info out there and it is quite a fun trip. have fun out there and good luck with your installs!

[IH8PunkRok]

oh and you also want to research which brands are good and which are not. there is a lot of confusion about this part

-jensen, boss, sony, pyramid, pyle, rockwood, kenford, soundstorm are some i can think of. stay away from those

and a rule i learned. do not be cheap. if you buy the good stuff the first time itll save you money in the end

[snackeyg]

Wow thanks for the post. I learned a lot from that.