Critique My Budget Build
 

So I've been lurking on the audio forum for a while now, trying to get an idea of what people are doing, and what is recommended.
It seems as though I'm way out of my league on budget, knowledge and experience. I've learned a lot about things I thought I knew decently, and the organization and advice here is extremely helpful.

So I've already started piecing this system together, by which I mean I've bought the head unit and nothing else.
I have some plans and have a general idea of my goals and I know my budget, so I think I have a good start. I'll list what I have going here, will probably be editing this as I get advice or change my mind,

I plan to do all of the work myself, I've done the install and setup of HU's, subs, amps, and door speakers, etc in several other cars so I'm not worried about that. Only thing I have no experience with is sound deadening, but thankfully I found This thread by WolfSongX. I'm going to do my car based off of that guide. Probably just doors and select areas around the rear speakers, possibly dash depending on how much GTmat Onyx I have left from the doors. Not looking to silence so much as remove rattle enough to not be distracting.
The last daunting bit is wiring. The way I intend to run the speakers, I don't see how the stock wiring will work so I plan to pull all new wiring for all speakers. Basically, 5 channel amp so one for sub (obviously), two for the components passive crossovers, and two for the dash and rear, wired in parallel to show 2 ohms to the amp and push ~50 watt rms to the speakers, meaning 25 watts each, which is exactly what they are rated for. I do realize this will screw with front-rear fade and probably auto Time Alignment, but there will have to be a sacrifice somewhere.

Budget: ~$1-1.2k

Goal: SQ for my favorite genres of music, not competition level system by any means and not trying to blow the doors off. Genres I listen to include: rock, electronica, some rap and some alternative.
I wasn't expecting to get the ultimate do-it-all deck, just something that was easier to use while not looking at it. So I went the single din route and hooked up a phone mount in the pocket for when I need maps/ nav.

Now on to the components:

• Head Unit: Pioneer DEH-80PRS (installed already, what a difference this alone made over the terrible stock HU)
  
• Component Speakers: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Alpine-SPR-60C-Audio-Component-System/dp/B004VBIEZW"]Alpine Type R SPR-60C[/ame]
  
  
• Dash & rear speakers: JL Audio C2-350x
  
• Amplifier: Kenwood KAC-7005PS
  
• Subwoofer: Pioneer TS-SWX2502 (not 100% on this yet)
  
• CLD Sound Deadener: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/GTMAT-Automotive-Sound-Dampening-Butyl/dp/B00BBFRBMS"]GTmat Onyx 10sqft pack[/ame]
  
• CCD Door card separator:[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Stinger-RKO12-Overkill-0-25-Inch-Damping/dp/B001TH8OCE"] Stinger RKO12 Overkill 0.25-Inch Foam Damping Mat[/ame]

The price on amazon for the Alpine Type R's is so good it almost seems wrong. I've had good experience with Alpine in the past, and those speakers seem to get universal praise on every site that sells them. Best of all is the neodymium magnets that makes them smaller and lighter(Track day bro! RCR reference). Although I've noticed JL audio, Hertz and JBL seem to get recommended on here a lot, I can't justify spending half of my planned budget on the speakers alone. But that is why I'm posting this and asking for your input. What do you think? What would you change?

What are you going to use to power the sub? That one isn't powered.
Bigger box helps a lot.
Does your budget include the Head unit? How much was it?
I would hold out on the rear speakers and maybe the front dash speakers. Those would be the least important.

The budget includes the HU, I already bought that, so I'm hoping to get the rest for around ~$800. I paid about $350 for it with shipping and all install hardware.
I even got the best kits dash kit, even though the Metra one was included for free because the fitment was better, and gave a cleaner look installed IMO.

The amp I linked is a 5 channel amp that has a dedicated Subwoofer channel rated for 300 watt RMS @ 4 ohms which happens to be the exact rating for that subwoofer I linked.
I do realize a larger enclosure would help as would a full size sub vs a shallow mount, but I would like to retain as much trunk space as possible and I don't really have room in my budget for a ~$600 JL Stealthbox or even the ~$300 custom side fit enclosures I've seen posted on here, although I'd love to do that.
The dash/rear speakers are indeed less of a priority. But the way I figure, now is the time to do them if I'm already going to have half the interior panels ripped out to do wiring and sound deadening.

I'll say it, $1,200 is exactly the cost of an OEM Audio+ . People love them.
http://shop.oemaudioplus.com/BRZ-Sys...YS400-1300.htm

So, what crossovers do is split audio response. The design of the crossover for the SPR-60C seems to include an onboard passive lowpass cap for the woofer and an inline passive highpass for the tweeters, you will 'wire them in parallel' anyways, however the amp will only see load from the points being used, which brings me to my next point. it has 12 dB/octave (high -pass) and 6 dB/octave (low-pass) crossover points, this means either somewhere there's a gap or somewhere the amp has to work extra hard because both speakers play the same thing.. which incidentally happens with all cross over systems but it would be more noticeable with crossovers that don't match I would think. anyways I bring all this up because I think using them then proceeding to wire the rear in parallel to the front load will lead to awkward speaker responses, and potentially overloading the amp.


The JLs have a sensitivity of 83db and the SPRs of 88db. My thought is that they will audibly disappear. my rears are hardly noticeable at 91db all around, and from the front only if I balance back to hear them. something to consider. Also the rear brackets I think has holes for 4" speakers.. but not all will fit I know from personal experience, the infinity REF4002 has an under frame that's to wide.


amp looks good to me, good match for the sub.

I was hoping you'd comment on this.
I really looked into the OEM Audio+ system, it was a very serious consideration. But I ended up choosing to go custom against it for a few reasons.

First, the least important of my reasons, I have never had a good experience, or been a fan of the "all-in-one, perfect sound system in a box."
Now I know this is a little different, but I really like to know about the components going in to my system, how they work and where they come from, etc. It got great reviews, but most of the ones I found were speaking well of the $1500+ systems, and the base one didn't seem to be the greatest value for money IMO.

Second, it is designed to work with your stock HU. So either it has to compensate for that units lack of SQ, and may act goofy with another unit or it does nothing to correct for the stock units lack of quality signal and then that makes me think it's even worse value.
The biggest issue I have is not with the OEM Audio+ system at all, but the with the stock HU. I can't change the damn track while driving! I've never been a fan of touch screens for this sort of reason, and I would have really appreciated some physical buttons for the key functions. The rest of its functions meant nothing to me: Nav, I have my phone hooked up to do that, XM radio I've never cared for and wont pay for, and we have no local HD radio stations in my area. So there was really no benefit, in my mind, to keep the stock unit.

Lastly, I didn't plan to buy everything at once. I plan to piece it together over a month or so. I realize I could have just saved the money and bought it all in a month when I had enough so that wasn't really a deal breaker, the rest was though.
Also the sound deadening, which from what I've read has a huge impact on SQ, especially from the door mounted woofers. If you consider buying the cheapest OEM Audio+ package, an aftermarket HU, and the sound deadening, I blow my budget big time. So going that route would have been (OEM Audio+)$1,200 + HU $200 + Sound deadening $150 ~= $1550+. Just more than I wanted to spend.

I guess I should have been more clear about that. I meant that I will buy 4 of the JL 3.5" speakers, two for the dash and two for the rear, and wire only those in parallel with each other, one channel for the each of the L/R sides. The component with their crossover will receive a dedicated channel from the amp for each side. The JL's will be identical, so I figure putting them in parallel with an amp rated to push 50 watts rms on a 2 ohm load should help fill out the mids that the Alpine Type R's will be missing with their crossover designed to separate the lows and highs. If the wiring is still confusing I made a horrible wiring diagram pic in paint to help explain and for my own reference.

So I looked into the sensitivity issue, I definitely get where you're coming from, I might look into replacing those with some with a sensitivity a little closer to that of the Alpine's. That being said, they are more for fill and sound staging, to make it not feel as though all the sound is coming from the door and dash than to actually help with overall volume. They will also be receiving another 10w of power over the Alpine's because of the ohm load created by having them in parallel. Also will be on a separate channel so I can turn them up or down in relation to the Alpine's if their is a an issue.

About the crossover db/oct difference. I don't think it should be too much of an issue, that should just mean the tweeter has a more aggressive fade out of the low frequencies it can't play and the woofer has a less aggressive fade out of the higher frequencies it can't play, right?

I should point out that they actually tune the system to work with various headunits, but as you've clearly pointed out, replacing the headunit along with getting the OEM A+ system fails to meet your budget requirement.

That said, if one is willing to pay the price, it's a really nice system. I currently have the Reference system mated up to a Ca-Fi HU.

Well that is nice to know! I had a feeling it would work with any other HU, but I couldn't remember reading that anywhere and it seemed the majority of reviews and posts on here were from people who were using it with their stock HU.

now I have a clearer understanding, however wiring the JLs such yields 25 w to each and the Alpines will have 40w to themselves. It's my thought that the JLs will not make an audible difference in this configuration, however I could be mistaken.

As a side note, you could attempt something like I have done and get a 3way cross over and run them all off it in the front channel. I have a pair of audiopipe crx-303, the woofers and tweeters from the R could be wired with the JL as the mid on the crossover, however I think that will lead to the JL being 180* out of phase.. not the worst problem in the world, but it will quiet the JLs output some.

edit: the phase shift could be accounted for by adding a cap to the JL somewhere below the crossover cutoff, so it has the same phase as the rest.

That was actually one of my backup options, sort of. I was thinking, after reading all of the posts on here about how the rears didn't do much, weren't really necessary and you'll never have people back their anyways, that you could go without them pretty easily. So I thought maybe do a 3 way crossover, and just run them all in the front, doors and dash. In that case I wouldn't bother with those JL's, I would find something else suitable for a 3 way component setup. The only real reason I had for not doing that was that I've been in enough trucks that had nothing but the door speakers, and while they were decent in SQ and had a good range when paired with a sub, I couldn't get over how I could tell exactly where the sound was coming from. Instead of being surrounded by it, I felt like I was sitting next to the source, which I was. But maybe by keeping the rears it would lessen that sensation.