hey hey. i just turned 15 and my dad gave me his 84 ranger for my birthday. its in pretty decent shape except for the radio which was suck *** in the first place. i need some ideas on what i need. im wonderin if i even need subs because its so small i was thinkin i could probably get by with some nice 6x9s. i listen to strictly rock and absolutely nothing else. im also wonderin where i could mount this stuff. im lookin to play cds and a radio would be cool too. so i also need help with picken a reciever. and would i even need an amp. well hit me with some suggestions. i dont know a hole lot about stereos and was thinkin i gotta start somewhere and you guys probably know whats best. and also i cant spend more than about $850. thanks

 

You can get yourself a great little system for $850 easy! Just shop around and you'll find deals. If you can install it yourself you'll save even more. You can probably find and nice pioneer cd player (or some thing similiar) for $100 - $150, a couple of 6x9's in truck boxes behind the seat for about $75, a small amp about 200 -300 watts for another $100 - $150, a couple of 10" subs with box for about $150, and another $50 for wire and stuff. That is way under your budget if your do it yourself! Good luck!

 

i was lookin at some alpine 6x9s.they look pretty good. next i dont know if i really need subs. if i dont get subs do i just get a 2 channel amp? and also i saw an amp thats 165 watts to 2 channels but its 1000 watts. i dont see how this works. neway thanks for your help!

 

Alpine 6x9's are really sweet, if i had the money, i would have bought them over my JL 6x9's. I still like them though. putting 6x9's in boxes is a really good idea if you like, they sound really nice.

as for amplifiers. Read the RMS power ratings. Cheap amplfiiers will often times throw a peak power rating on the label to make it seem big. If you wanted to power your 6x9s, buy a nice 2 channel amp around 150-200 watts If you wanted to power subwoofers, buy something around 400 watts or more. good brands.... zapco, jl, jbl, kicker, apline, etc.

if you need a fair amp for a small wallet budget, Lightning Audio give a nice lil bang for your buck.

head units, go for premier or alpine. anything premier has great quality, You can find lower end models for around 150-200


Good luck, any more questions, feel free to ask
welcome to FTE

 

maybe a head, an amp, and some 8" or 10" full range truck boxes behind the seats

If you can install yourself, you should be able to build a great system for $850 or less

remember, you can spend lots on a flashy head, but for the best sound, you're better off to get one for $150 - $200, and get better amps and speakers

if you decide you want a sub, it sounds like a 10" would be fine for what you describe

 

I second the Pioneer head units. They sound very nice and have tons of customizability to suit your personal sound preferences. If your budget is $850, you can splurge a little on better components. Get a head unit with the features you are looking for: physical layout, ease of use, customizability(soundwise). I like the Pioneers because they offer a low/mid/high equalizer plus a seperate bass and trebble boost with adjustable frequencies. You can also modify the steepness of the curve applied, Q value. You can get one with all those features for around $200. I think you're looking at about $300 for one that will play a CD with mp3's. You don't need to stay with a particular brand. For the most part it's really a matter of the features provided and at what price.
As far as speakers, that's really a matter of personal preference. I too like the Alpine speakers, primarily their Type-R component sets(Type-X if I could afford it). A little audio lesson: Components are speakers that have a seperate woofer and tweeter, physically seperated, and coaxials are your combined woofer and tweeter, 2way, 3way speakers. Coaxials are a nice, easy all in one package, but components souond better, sometimes much better.
The Type-R components have a nice warm tone to them yet are quite accurate and produce very good sound quality. They have nice seperation of frequencies(not monotone sounding). They can get deep and their highs are never harse. They are a personal favorite of mine and aren't too bad in price, $130 for their 6.5" components. They have a coaxial 2way 6x9 Type-R. Oddly, it doesn't really have any more bass than the 6.5" and the 6.5" sounds better. Try not to go with the 6.5" coaxial 2way one though. Going to coaxial, you lose a lot of bass, not sure why.
If you're looking for pure sound quality and the most accurate reproduction, have a look at Infinity speakers. They have crystal clear sound but are lacking a bit in the lower frequencies. They are more natural and flat sounding. The tweeters, although very detailed and accurate, can be harse or overpowering at times. The higher end Kappa line is worse than their Reference line in this area. I'd suggest the Reference line if you're looking for SQ(sound quality) speakers. They're cheap too, only about $60-$80 a pair. To get anything better, you're looking at twice the price or even more.

When looking at amps, brand isn't a big thing, but some are better than others. Check out thezeb.com for some good cheap amps. e-mail him about your specifications. When looking at speakers and amps, always look at RMS wattages. If it doesn't say RMS, it's probably max. For example, a speaker may say 50watts rms, 150watts max. A 4 channel amp may say 1000watts, but in reality, it may only produce 100watts rms to each speaker and 250watts max. RMS is root mean squared or the average continuous value. A speaker rated at 50watts rms is designed to handle 50watts continuously. A 50watt rms amp is designed to output 50watts continuously. For sound quality, you tend to maximize or exceed on the rating. For example, my Type-R 6.5" are rated for 50watts rms. To get the most output(volume) with the greatest clarity(accuracy) I will need to run a 50watt rms amp. Now I can go above that, say run an amp with 100watts rms. I make life easy for the amp and provide all the power I ever needed to the speakers for utmost clarity even at high volumes. However, if I'm not careful, I can overpower the speakers and actually wreck them, blow the speakers. This is where you need some caution when running a setup like this. I personally like to match both together, a 50watt rms speaker to a 50watt rms amp, but that's me.

 

some love pioneeer, some hate them
as far as amps, brand isn't that important as long as it is a reputable brand
DON'T GO TO A FLEA MARKET
they have lots of amps that sound like a big name- rockwood, kenford etc, thay are junk
+1 for infinity, they rock
components are better, but a well installed coaxial is better than a poorly installed component

 

I wasn't sure at first either if I wanted subs, but trust me, you will. I listen to pretty much all rock and subs add a good tone to the mix. If I were you I'd look for a 4 channel amp, run the 6x9's off two of the channels and bridge the other for the sub. You really have to pick out the speakers first and get the amp around them, good luck.

 

most of the amps i see you either keeps the 4 channels or you bridge it and you get 2 channels so how do you do like no bs said?or basically how do you bridge just 2 channels

 

also the head unit has watts too. so since an amp is used do we just forget about those watts or do they have any effect on total power? and also what would be a good 4 channel amp for 50 watt rms alpine 6x9s and a 75 to 375watt rms infiniti 10" sub?

some people have suggested putting the 6x9s in boxes behind the seats. wouldnt that muffle the sound?

 

here is what i would do. depending how much $$ u have will be a factor but here it goes. get a new HU. Pioneer, Alpine, Kenwood, Eclipse are all good and the low-mid lines can be had pretty cheap but i do like the Pioneer DEH-35-5500 series.

next would be a nice 4 channel amp. then i would add a set of component speakers up front and either a 8" or 10" sub behind the seat. run the front speakers off 2 channels and bridge the other 2 for the woofer. u dont really need 6x9s behind the seat and it usually sounds muffled (been there, done that). also IMO, 6x9s are a waste.

how much u have for a budget?

 

850 give or take some

 

ok. so far, here is what ive come up with. im gonna throw some alpine 6x9s in the doors, a 10" infiniti sub behind the seat, and a pioneer head unit in the dash. now i need you guyses help picken a good 4 channel amp. ive got about $320 for an amp.

 

i would highly stay away from the 6x9s, especially in the door. friend has a 84 ranger also and he wanted to throw in some speakers in the doors but when we looked at it, it didnt seem worth it. i would get a infinity reference component set, either a 5 1/4 or 6 1/2. mount the woofer in the door or kick panel pod and a tweet up top somewhere.

as for amps i like the US Acoustics USX series, good realible cheap power. 85x4 is like 180 at sounddomaim.com with a 3 year warrenty.

 

i believe you and stuff but just so i know why is it not worth trying to put them in the doors and also whats so bad about 6x9s.