From: kmr4@po.CWRU.Edu (Keith M. Ryan)
Newsgroups: rec.audio.car
Subject: Re: What to put in a 92 T-Bird?
Date: 12 Sep 92 19:08:38 GMT
Reply-To: kmr4@po.CWRU.Edu (Keith M. Ryan)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc5.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, cccsims@underdog.ucdavis.edu (Jonathan Sims) says:

>
>
>   I'm looking for repsonses from people that have T-Birds and what they've
>had success installing in them.  The limits I have are: I don't want to
>cut holes in the rear deck and and want to keep it all under 1500$.
>

>92 T-Bird LX V-8: "Nothing like a car that gets 17 MPG!"
>

	Over the summer, I helped an old highschool buddy do an installation
in his new 92 Cougar, sister car.

	First we had to plan out what his signal sources is. He listens to 
both CD's and cassettes. He wanted a CD changer, but did not have the money
right now. So, we looked at cassette tuners with CD changer controls.
He settled on the Alpine 7392 [ I may have the number wrong ] for about
$275 on sale. There are several good cassette tuners in the $250-400 range.
	Next, we worked on the speakers. Now, I am very partial to the sound
and quality of Boston Acoustics. However, I always like to do alot of listen-
ing. The not so local store [ about 75 miles away but well worth the drive]
has a neat set up. In addition to having a large selection, they have 3 dis-
play vehicles. However, they have them set up with special adaptors that they
can swap out speakers, amps and head units in five minutes or so. [ although
the are not suitable for long term applications in a everyday driving car,
it gives a much much better indication of what they'll sound like in a car,
as opposed to the usual room ] Jonathan alwasy jokes that since I always end 
up back with BA, why bother! Anyways, after my friend did some serious listen
ing to a variety of brands, mainly Alpine 6560's, Infinity cs-6 Kappa, MB
Quart 218, Polk #, he settled on BA Pro 6.2's. He had dismissed many other
brands by what he has heard on the street. [ a guy who owns maggies in homes
listening to RF's or Pyle's?? ]  After haggling a bit, we managed to get 
the BA Pro 6.2's for $375 w/ 20 ft of 10 ga speaker wire . ( sure, we could get 
them cheaper mail order, but I respect and trust the shop immensely ) 
	Why spend so much on speakers a "basic" system? The speakers make or 
break the system. I have heard systems using just a $200 head unit and a small
40 watt amplifier driving an excellent pair of BA's or MBQuarts which sounded 
much better than many systems costing several thousand dollars!
	
	We decided to work on a clean installation, given special care to the 
staging. So, we decided to determine if he'll need an eq until later. For the
sub, we used a single BA Pro 12.0LF, which we bought for ~275. While this may
seem expensive for one 12, the quality of the bass is supirour.  It is in a 
sealed non-parrallel box in the trunk.

	For amplification, he bought an Alpine 3543 for ~450, prior to asking 
me for help. It seems strange to me to buy the amp before deciding what speak-
ers you are driving, but it is a good amplifier. We set it up running in multi-
mode. It drives the mono subwoofer and the stereo satallites. It drives the 
6.2's with 100 watts/channel and supplies the sub with about 300 watts. We
fiddled around with the passive cross over, changing the slope etc. We ended
up with the sub going out at ~60 Hz at 12 db's and the satalites at ~80
at 6 db's. This kept the staging the strongest and still retaining a great
punch. The cost of the components for the crossover was about $75. This does
not include the time that we spent on constructing it. ( ever wind your own
inductors? it takes a long time to do it neatly )

	He spent another $200 on parts, wires, wood etc.

Alpine 7392       ~ $275
BA Pro 6.2        ~ $375/pr
BA Pro 12.0LF	  ~ $275
Alpine 3543	  ~ $450
crossover	  ~ $75
parts		  ~ $200
total		  ~1650

ops, 5mw so I'll have to cut short... sorry for the typos!

His system is basic, yet covers all the bases quite well. It can play loud
enough for almost all. It is very smooth, and does not need any kind of 
eq'ing, or a center stage. However, for a more basic system, one can for-
go the expensive subwoofer. He plans on adding an alpine CD shuttle in
about a year. It will be very easy to upgrade and add on to. And, it is
all stock appearance ( besides the box in the trunk ) He finds that he 
does not even NEED rear speakers. He's quite happy with it. Note, this
was self installed with my help. 
-- 
	Over heard in a cosmology class:
		"What happened before the Bang? 
		 What happened before the Bang?
			Who cares what happened before the Bang!"
Newsgroups: rec.audio.car