I barely no anything about audio systems and i'd like to know more. I would like to know stuff about speakers and good brands, also some help with amplifiers and subs. any help would be great!

 

This is my opinion, everyone's will vary

Pioneer headunit and coaxial speakers (6x8s)
Infinity components
Kicker subs
and I don't really have a preference for amp

Those are just for a normal persons system, not for competition stuff.

Subs 10" is for more crisp bass while 12" is for hitting hard

 

i recently learned about car audio by talking to a guy at best buy. Basically an aftermarket stereo will make your car sound a lot better on its own, he said it produces four times as many watts then stock. Add speakers which will allow for louder sounds and more crisp sounds. Front and rears are both 6x8's and an amp will "amplify" the sound of the speakers, a 4 way will amplify all four speakers and from what the guy told me it will do wonders. A sub will give you the bass.

 

Uhm I would say for sure kicker amps i love mine ive had about 5 now they all work 2 have been submerged and still work fine [they were off] and they are strong to... on the sub note i use the kicker L7 15 but in the ranger i used a jbl 12 with a kicker 400.1 and it did okay for a single cab... but on the door speakers i say alpine or infinity...

 

Get on an audio forum and read read read.

 

Just dive in head first. Crutchfield has great costumer help. A local audio store will give you tips and suggestions if you ask the right people.

Subs produce bass. The sub itself does not really make the bass. (free air subs do though but thats another story) The enclosure for the sub is very important. When you buy a sub it will have what its recommended cubic feet of air space is. The sub will do best in a box that range. There are calculators on the web to get dimensions for that cubic feet. Sealed boxes are easy to build and hard to mess up building. I like ported boxes though, for the ability to tune for certain Hz that the sub likes usually 34-30 I have seen some tuned to 28hz.

Amps sent power. Easy right. Not in a long shot. Amps are very ticky to what they want. Good power cable from the battery, the right size inline fuse between the battery and the amp and a good fuse in the amp itself will make sure it gets the power it needs. A class D amp is mainly a bass only amp. A/B can do some bass but have selections for treble and higher tuning for mid sized speakers and tweets. Channels on a amp means how mean speakers it can run. 2 channel has 2 postive and 2 negative posts for speaker wires. You can run more then 2 speakers on a two channel amp.

Thats just a general high light on amps and subs. 12volt.com is a good site to do some learning on.

 

Well, I've been mucking about with car audio since decks were cassette with twin shaft!
So, when you are looking for an upgrade to your factory units, try to find a head unit that has the features you want, these days almost everything has cd/mp3, aux (audio plug) in and USB plug in.
Since I use amps for all my speakers, I want to use pre-amp outs instead of the speaker outs on a deck.
So I found a unit that has at least 4 ch RCA outs (Front and Rears) getting a deck with 6 ch RCAs would be sweet (Front, Rear and Sub).
Selection of an amplifier isn't too hard, but DON'T GO CRAZY with the power.
The MOST you'll need in any vehicle is 100W MAX / channel, beyond that and you won't hear much of an improvement and you'll damage your hearing.
OK, for the Subs, you'll want maybe 300-500W MAX.

When choosing speakers, you want speakers able to handle at least 20% higher power than you amp can supply, so if your amp can supply 100w Max, you want speakers that can handle at least 120w Max, that way you won't damage your speakers by over powering them.

Try to buy name brand components as there are brands at flea markets that are showy, but will not give the proper clarity to your sound. It's like driving a yugo or a porsche, each will get you around, but which is the better made car?
I'm also not saying to buy the most expensive, as you will overkill your system.
Your local audio store (try to find a car audio place - not just the auto section at wally world [Wal-Mart]) should have decks setup to listen to, but you also have to remember that they are setup in a large volume space, and your truck/car is a small volume space, so they may sound different in your vehicle, but you will hear small differences between decks and speaker setups.
So first thing is to select a good mid-range speaker (usually a 6x9 gives good all around sound) then try all the decks with the same speakers (maybe take your favorite cd in to use to listen), then once you find a deck that sounds good, start trying different brands of speakers in the size you need (6x8 for us) but those are usually special orders, so go with the 6x9s, and find a manufacturer that you like, then get the right size in that one.

I know it will take some time, but you will be much more satisfied with your setup than if you just mish-mashed a set together.

My last stereo (The one I'll be installing into my truck):
Head Unit: Sony CDX-GT51W
Main Amp: Sony XM-4045 (4ch 45w RMS/ch)
Sub Amp: Sony XM-10020 (2ch 100w RMS/ch)
My last speakers (which I will be changing for this setup):
Front: 5 1/4" Rockford Fosgate Punch (50w RMS)
Rear: 6 1/2" Sony X-Plod (60w RMS)
Sub: 10" Rockford Fosgate Punch (150w RMS)

For this setup, I want to use 4 6x8 Rockford Fosgate Punch + the 10" Sub

 

http://www.bcae1.com

 

I would go for a new head unit to start, they start at ~$70 on up to whatever you want to pay for whatever features. Then to get better sound quality amp the speakers which will not only produce much better quality but also more power. Here's a link to the best bang for the smallest buck around. http://profilecaraudio.com/amplifiers.htm Then if it's amped then the speakers will decide how well it can sound from the shotty stock speakers to expensive but wondrous speakers. Although most aftermarket speakers will be a huge upgrade over stock go for whatever you can afford.

 

alpine type-s 6x8's sound extremely clean with a good bass cone in them as well as bringing out good highs. i would put 6.5's in the front doors by using a 6x8 to 6.5 bracket. 6.5's can handle a lil more wattage and have a better all around sound. as far as amps and subs go, i would put an alpine m-500 amp with a rockford shallow mount sub and truck box. not sure what the model number on it is but the box and sub come together and the box is made for that sub plus it is a P3 sub. i have it in my truck and it sounds clean. as far as head units i would put an alpine 9886 or pioneer 5100 in it. i would buy the head unit first, then speakers, then go with and amp and sub. install on rangers is cake.

 

one good thing to know is that MAX power is all bullsh*t!! that is mainly used for the lower brands to advertize (such as sony, kenwood, dual, jensen,audiobahn, any other off brand that you can think of). max power may happen if the amp gets struck by lightning. the number that you want to pay attention to is RMS power. this is what the amp is going to push all the time at a certain ohm load. so if it says 500 watts @ 2ohm RMS and 250 watts @ 4ohms RMS. those are the numbers to take into consideration when matching up subs and amps, both will have these ratings on them.

now as for the higher end brands such as alpine, JL audio, rockford fosgate, MB Quarts, Orion etc. they will rate there amps in RMS power, so a rockford 500.2 amp will do 500 watts on 2 channels at 2ohms. a alpine MRP-500 will do 500 watts on 1 channel at 2ohms, and 300 watts at 4ohms and so on.

so dont tell me that your 1200w sony xplode speaker and amp are really doing that amount of power cause they are not!! look at the Rms ratings of you amp and the ohm load of your sub and that will tell you how many watts your actually getting. i dont know how may times people come into work saying their 1800w kenwood amp burned up and they need something that powerful to replace it with, cause if i sold them the BD1000.1 rockford amp that will do 1400w on one channel at 1ohm and 1000w at 2ohms it would blow there subs all to hell!!!

when doing you own audio/electrical work the best tool that you can buy is a DMM (digital multi-meter) this tool is a must have, it will keep you from burning up your new electrical components and make sure that all your ohm loads are right too. they are like 40 dollars at sears.