need advice on new beat

[Cream]

i have a 89 325is with premium sound, im thinking about changing out all the speakers, head unit, and subs in the back. For the speakers im thinking about alpine type R 6.5" component speakers. not sure what to do in the rear, meybe 6.5" components also? for the subs in the back, i have heard that 2 8" is good and i have also heard that 2 12" acually are less loud in the e30. and last im thinking about getting a in dash flip up dvd screen but i heard sometimes the screen doesnt clear the wiper switch, so what size screen would fit good? also what are some good brands out there? i have heard running all the same brand head unit, speakers, sub, amp sounds best, but i have also heard that brands dont matter as much now days as they use to. any help would be appreciated =D trying to spend around 1000

[StereoInstaller1]

Hey man, welcome to R3V.

I am building custom sub boxes for E30s, but not for long.

Link is: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=100820

I have shipped one out so far...it is in route.

Skoobeesnak should be posting pics soon.

[netcsk]

A larger speaker, given the same quality will never be quieter than a smaller speaker. More surface area means more sound production.

[jle30]

I have a Car Audio shop in Long Beach CA. I have been an Alpine dealer for many years. The newly redesigned Type R speakers for 2007 are very nice speakers. They have good sound quality and can give you a lot of volume. The down side is you need to put a good amp to them to utilize their potential. The Alpine type R subs are also very good and in the properly constructed box can be very loud. I would recommend one type R 10” or 12” in a ported box with the alpine V power 400w amp. This is a great combination and one I have installed and tested in numerous vehicles. To get an in dash screen and stay within your $1000 budget would require you to purchase a very cheap screen. These types of screens are not only unreliable but also yield poor sound quality. You would be better off buying a less expensive but still quality CD player; one that has three sets of RCA outputs and a decent built in equalizer.

[Cream]

I have a Car Audio shop in Long Beach CA. I have been an Alpine dealer for many years. The newly redesigned Type R speakers for 2007 are very nice speakers. They have good sound quality and can give you a lot of volume. The down side is you need to put a good amp to them to utilize their potential. The Alpine type R subs are also very good and in the properly constructed box can be very loud. I would recommend one type R 10” or 12” in a ported box with the alpine V power 400w amp. This is a great combination and one I have installed and tested in numerous vehicles. To get an in dash screen and stay within your $1000 budget would require you to purchase a very cheap screen. These types of screens are not only unreliable but also yield poor sound quality. You would be better off buying a less expensive but still quality CD player; one that has three sets of RCA outputs and a decent built in equalizer.

thank you! great advice, what do you think about custom fitting 6.5" in the kick panels and what size would be good for rear? do shops usually over charge in labor for this? the front and rear stock are both 5.25". also i have a older forgate version 5505 500w, i believe it is 2 channel though, would this be a good match the type R sub? are alpine 4 channel amps good to run if i do front and back speakers? for decks what brands would you recommend? i had a alpine and liked it alot but i have heard poineer is good also.

thanks for the input! :p

[jle30]

I do not know the specs on that Fosgate amp but 500 watts rms will perform well with a type R. you need to make sure the ohm rating of the subwoofer is correctly matched to the amp. Installing 6” speakers in an E30 is not an easy job and requires many hours to perform properly. I charge $60 an hour and a quality shop in the Bay Area may charge even more. Remember that the more experience and skill an install has the more he will charge. This will also yield a better quality install and can make the difference between a good and bad system. Some times the quality of the install is almost more important then the equipment being installed. Alpine does make 4 channel amps that will work well for your needs. I personally like the alpine radios and have found them to be more reliable then most other brands. Pioneer does make very good radios and I recommend them also.

[Cream]

one of my uncles referred me to one of his audio shops he use to work at that does very quality work but is more pricey, however if anything goes wrong he will fix it for me and the price is hooked up compared to what they charge other people. He said that bigger speakers will be too much work so he recommended 5.25" md quarts components in the front, and 5.25 coax speakers in the rear running from a 4x50 alpine amp, and a 12" alpine type r sub/w box for the rear running from my fosgate amp. alpine head unit model 4884. with keyless entry/alarm the total is $1475. $725 for the parts, $300 for alarm, and $450 for labor. he gave me the regular price too which would cost other people $2070, $1000 for parts, $395 for alarm, and $680 for labor. what do you think of this setup jle30?

[jle30]

That all sounds good. The price seems reasonable. Make sure they use good quality wiring. The radio is the alpine CDA-9884? If so this is a good radio. If you have a little more money you should consider the 9887. This has an amazing eq. The only problem is that the installer needs to know what they are doing to tune it. What shop are you planning to go to and what kind of alarm are you buying?

[Shoomakan]

I installed a Polk Momo 12" in the back, and 2 Polk Momo mid-low's in the kick panels, along with tweeters up front.

I can tear the clothes off girls with that, tried and tested. ;)

Oh, and all the components I have are 250w RMS. Each. :P Mated to a Rockford Punch 500 and a Punch 250, small for speakers/tweeters, big for sub.

[Cream]

i have my old alpine 9856 deck, should i sell it and upgrade for the 9887? what quality wiring do you mean? like the gauge? what is good? my old car had monster cables. i need to see what the max whatt rms the speaker will take and if it can hold 100w do you think that would sound much better for the md quarts 5.25"? the shop is in a honda dealership that is seperate from honda but they do all the audio stuff for the honda shop that they hooked them up on rent to move in there so they dont have to drive the cars back and forth. they've been up for about 20+ years and 1 or 2 guys do all the labor work. kinda expensive to what i've seen around but like you said how you wire it is just as important as the equipment. not sure what alarm though i just told him keyless and he said the alarm would be just a little and worth it for the labor what brands do you recommend?. i have a clifford srt 2 way lcd pager in my honda hatch and was thinking about putting it in the bimmer but my uncle said that its not good since the wires are all cut and it would be unreliable. what do you think? the clifford is nice and has lots of features plus it cost me $600 to put in it there so it wouldnt be worth it when i sell my car.

[jle30]

The 9856 is a good radio but the 9887 has a much better EQ. monster cable is good but there are a lot of other quality wire manufacturers. Four gauge is good for what you are doing.
“my old car had monster cables. I need to see what the max whatt rms the speaker will take and if it can hold 100w do you think that would sound much better for the md quarts 5.25"?”
I don’t know what you mean by this.
The Clifford alarm is great. If it is the matrix 50.5x it is the same alarm I have in one of my cars. You will need to get a new set of harnesses from DEI for the alarm and it will make the install just like it was a new alarm. DEI only charges dealers around $20 for all new harnesses, LED and Valet switch. I don’t know if the shop you speak of is of any quality. One way to tell is to ask the installer what he has in his car. If the installer has a nice stereo system or has plans to build one then you know he is an enthusiast and you can almost certainly get a quality install. If the installer does not then he views it as only a job and will likely do a poor install. Also remember that even a quality shop can have bad installers, make sure that the person that is given your car to work on is the one that you wanted. 80% of the installers I have ever met are completely incompetent. Also if the shop does not solder the wires when they do an alarm install run away!

[StereoInstaller1]

80% of the installers I have ever met are completely incompetent.

I think you are being generous. 95% of the installers I have met in my 28 years as a professional installer are incapable of anything past basic installation, the kind of work that can easily be done by a high school kid with basic hand tools.

Also if the shop does not solder the wires when they do an alarm install run away!

We were doing fine until you said that...I crimp all connections. I use quality connectors, properly sized, and a quality tool.

So does EVERY single car manufacturer on earth these days.

The reason is that flux will "wick" up each wire, no matter what type of flux, and cause corrosion somewhere down the road.

I 100% agree that a shitty solder joint is better than a shitty crimp, but a quality crimp beats quality solder any day.

Luke

[jle30]

It is very unusual for an installer to use a quality crimp connector or use them correctly. DEI recommends soldering the wires when performing an alarm install. Also when you put a ring terminal on a four gauge wire the best crimp in the world can be made stronger by adding solder.

[Cream]

do you think 50x4whatt amp will be sufficient for the md quarts 5.25" or should i upgrade for a 100x4whatt?

[jle30]

It would sound better to have a good amp that puts out 50x4 then a cheap amp that puts out 100x4. There is more to consider then just watts. My E30 only has 35x4 and every one I show it to thinks I have a lot more. I am planning on installing the new Alpine PDX.5 which is 75x4 and 300x1 for a sub. It’s not out yet so I must be patient. If you are interested in more information you can get my shops contact information on our web site. It is www.soundtechlb.com. The site is under development so the one that is up is just temporary to fill the domain name.