# Would you hold my hand?



## idreamidrive

I own a 1992 Mitsubishi Galant Vr4 that I am currently trying to update the audio in as my wife has hated how it sounds ever since I brought it home 5 years ago. I know nothing about audio, but I can tell when something sounds off. I can't fix it myself but hoping hanging out here will fix that.

How the car currently stands is that exterior noise is loud (roof rack is not helping and stock exhaust) and the stereo sounds wrong if I am listening to anything besides classical music.

I replaced the stock head unit becuase it wasn't providing power to the rear speakers anymore. Replaced the head unit with a pioneer MVH-X380BT. It fixed the lack of sound to the rear speakers and was working great up until last week when I tried to switch a FM station and it won't switch, it tries to go but then goes back and flashes at me. A factory reset did nothing to fix it, and a call to pioneer said I was pretty much screwed if I wanted to listen to the radio. I have been using BT and my phone for music source now.
Sound still sounded like crap and I had some speakers laying around from a parts car that I threw in. The rear speakers that I never installed are Pioneer TS-A1670R, 3-way coaxial, full range, max 180w, 35w nominal and the fronts (dash and door panel) that I installed look like the same.
So I have the pioneer front speakers and head unit with stock rear deck speakers. I need some advice on where to go from here. Trunk space is limited with three kids under 5, hence the roof rack, and don't really want to give up any space right now. I was thinking an under seat sub and probably a new HU (prefer double din to take up the whole space, but don't know how to mount it), and then replacing the rear deck speakers at least. Amp? Crossovers? Please hold my hand and walk me through this.


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## Theslaking

Buy a HU with some DSP capabilities and a 5 channel amp. Run a two way with a 6.5 or whatever fits in the door and tweeters.

What fits where? How much space under the seats? What's your budget? What's your must have's?(APTX Bluetooth, Disc drive, etc)


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## robi17

yes, It is right


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## seafish

robi17 said:


> yes, It is right



Yes, you are right...you ARE a chatbot!!!


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## Holmz

Maybe start off with a new muffler and some classical LPs, since classical sounds OK.

If you are going to keep it a while, then sound treatments might make sense for a starting point?

Or just shove in some other radio and some second hand speakers?


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## karmajack

Not sure I'd put too much effort into a 26 year old daily driver.


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## idreamidrive

karmajack said:


> Not sure I'd put too much effort into a 26 year old daily driver.


Way to be an ass...


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## idreamidrive

Holmz said:


> Maybe start off with a new muffler and some classical LPs, since classical sounds OK.
> 
> If you are going to keep it a while, then sound treatments might make sense for a starting point?
> 
> Or just shove in some other radio and some second hand speakers?


Excuse me for maybe not understanding the term "muffler," are you referring to something audio related or the thing that limits the sound coming out of your cars exhaust system? If it is the later, I only said stock exhaust to mean that it hasn't been enlarged that would produce any drone inside the cockpit.
As for sound deadening, start in the doors? at the roof (remember roof rack)?
I plan on keeping the car for many years. I am into 90s rally cars, and it is the only one that came USA bound that seats 5, is turbo charged, and all wheel drive that I know of...


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## idreamidrive

Theslaking said:


> Buy a HU with some DSP capabilities and a 5 channel amp. Run a two way with a 6.5 or whatever fits in the door and tweeters.
> 
> What fits where? How much space under the seats? What's your budget? What's your must have's?(APTX Bluetooth, Disc drive, etc)


Budget would probably be $1k without the headunit.
Headunit I am currently using is just a media drive and seems to be working fine for our needs except for the fm currently not working. I don't own cds or cassettes anymore. Is a dvd drive even worth owning these days? As for must haves: fm, aux, bluetooth. Would be nice to have, but dont need: android auto, usb
As for speaker sizes: front dash are 3.5" (but can fit a 4"), doors 5.25", and rear deck are 6.5"
Under the seat area is 16" wide x 10" deep x 4" height. I was looking at the Kicker 11HS8 before coming over here. Only thing bad is that the HVAC vent is right there, but I could build something to make it go around it, or just not use the lower blower setting. If that would be blocked off, I would gain another 3" or 4" in depth.
I could build a box in the trunk, but would like it to be up against the rear seat as possible and not limit the getting into the spare tire hole. I was measuring exterior box dimensions and getting width of 32", depth of 6.5", height of 15", and then the diagonal of 16.35" and then using 3/4" mdf. This seems to give me a cu*ft area of .4 which looking at low profile subs would put me in the 8" area. Which seems kind of weak for how big the box looks.


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## idreamidrive

Did some reading on DSP and if I read it correctly, I might have been able to keep my stock HU and added an external DSP and had great sound? Is that correct?


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## idreamidrive

This looks like a nice sub enclosure for my trunk area (I have no specs on it as the guy on my forum never posted any), but it limits me putting in a stupid folding stroller into the trunk, as I have 2 year old twins this needs to be an option right now.


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## P0234

Fixing the FM radio is the easy part. Don't let these clowns shove you down a rabbit hole of DSPs, big amps, subs etc if all you want is just a decent sounding radio and media player.

I think you need to clarify what sort of sound system pleases your ears. Is it a particular car you've driven (stock stereo), some $50k home theater your buddy has, etc.

If it were my wife's car, I'd get a good head unit with a powerful amp built in and replace all the factory speakers with some mid line pioneers or kenwoods. You could probably do that with a little more than half your budget and have a local stereo shop do the work for you. If that doesn't do it, it'll be easy to add a slim sub under a seat or the trunk.


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## DavidRam

^^^ Yes, please don't let us "clowns" help you maximize your budget and give you a sound that amazes you, vs a half-ass upgrade that will always leave you wanting more...


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## DavidRam

idreamidrive said:


> Did some reading on DSP and if I read it correctly, I might have been able to keep my stock HU and added an external DSP and had great sound? Is that correct?


Sorta... A dsp will give you the ability to dramatically improve your sound, but it's not a plug-n-play type thing. There is more to it and some learning needed to make that happen...

Edit: I will never again build a car audio system without a DSP, ever. Once you hear what you can do with one, it's very hard to live without it.


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## karmajack

Plus a DSP wont solve your FM issue. 

A HU with some DSP capabilities. Maybe some front component speakers. Use the Pioneer TS-A1670R in the rears. Assuming you want rears for the kids, but most folks here will say forget rears altogether. For improved solo listening, you can disable the rears through the HU's controls. And adjust the listening position to wherever. 

As for bass, I really hate to recommend a space saver self powered sub...I would bet even a 8" shallow mount in a box with better amplification would sound better than most self powered units. A JL Audio 10TW1-2 only needs .35 cubic feet sealed. With top-mount depth of 4-3/8". 75-300 watts RMS, 600w peak. That seems to be able to fit your dimensions for a box. Pair that sub up with something like a JL Audio XD300/1v2. Small, efficient, and clean.

The CP110LG-TW1-2 is JL's prebuilt box with a 10TW1-02 in it. Ported. 20-7/8"W x 13-1/4"H x 6-3/8"D.


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## Iamsecond

Those cars are pretty cool. I liked them when they came out. Personally I have a 2000 4runner that I would rather drive than our 15 jgc limited. Everyone has their own tastes. 
I was curious about a couple things. You have an aftermarket hu. Are you running 6 speakers at the moment off the hu? That might be some of the issue. The 3.5 can’t play full range like a 5.25 or a 6.5. In cases like this I used a capacitor on the positive terminal to block lower frequencies to the smaller speakers. 
The best way to get better sound is a component set up front and the tears as they are and then add a sub of some sort. It really is determined by what you are after. 
I put a kenwood media player, db drive euphoria es5 6c components up front (not popular around here but great sets) and a jl 10w0-4 in a atrend box designed for that sub. An alpine 4 channel amp and a kenwood excelon 500-1 amp and it sounds great. Very loud but sounds nice. Granted ther is no dsp for time alignment and all the fun stuff but she loves it. My son put basically the same set up in his Jeep. I drove her car to the store today, because her car was at the back of the driveway and I am still amazed how good it sounds. I have all the dsp and all the dodads but I still enjoy listening to their cars and also realizing how much less it costs. Your budge is very doable. Maybe a five channel amp, with two channels to the dash speakers, two channels to the front doors, hu powering the tears and the fifth channel for a small sub in the trunk.


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## vet883

Enjoy your car , my daily is a custom 16yr old truck. Prefer it over wife’s lexus , and the kawi doesnt have a stereo. My experience in audio is that no matter how deep I go down the rabbit hole , I want to try something new , even if I’m totally satisfied.you might want to start small,like a middle of the road head unit powering entry level components.i believe if your not looking for a proper sound stage you probably don’t need a dsp. But if your really into realistic music while driving then I welcome you to A A . Audio Addiction.good luck


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## Iamsecond

Yeppers. I am the same way.


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## Gramps

Hey champ, the vr4 galants are awesome, a friend of mine has 2 of them and also the driveline in his cordia (awd turbo, its bloody nuts!! Lol)
I too like the older stuff, i have a 86 mazda 929, i try to drive it as much as i can, i way prefer that over my 08 forester and the mrs 2014 Holden Colorado.

As for your audio, keep it simple, a good headunit, they are available now with dsp and time alignment built in for pretty cheap $$, if you don’t listen to cd’s than go mechless to save some $$ (no cd slot, just aux and USB inputs)

Try get a h/u with 2 x rca outputs, this will allow you to run a 4ch amp to power your front speakers and a subwoofer, the rear speaker can simply run off the h/u and fade them our a little, this will save you some room and $$ on multiple amps, or if you want to run the rears off an amp you will need a 5ch amp and preferably 3 x rca outs off the h/u

A punchy little 8” sub in a small sealed box wont take up too much space in the boot, I’m totally hearing you with the kids situation, we had 4 under the age of 10 at one stage, and space is always lacking!!

IMO, for a daily driver, and simply to upgrade your existing system, never wanting to compete in competitions, stand alone dsp is overkill, a h/u with a dsp built in will be a huge improvement on what you have, but don’t think its necessary for a simple upgrade, i have never had a dsp and i won every comp i entered in the late 90’s in the novice class.

You can have a great sounding system without going overboard, and don’t just assume you need to buy new stuff, you can get great quality used gear at half the price of new stuff, then put the $$ saved on a boost controller, boost gauge and a nice cat back exhaust and air filter, open up that 4g63 and have some fun!!

Krem


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## Theslaking

https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/Digital+Media+Receivers/MVH-300EX
Solid Bluetooth, Android Auto, FM radio. 

BM mk V 12″ Subwoofer | Stereo Integrity
3.5 depth, loves to play in .5 cubes, sounds fantastic.

Still have 400+ to find an amp wiring and maybe a better top end.


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## P0234

DavidRam said:


> ^^^ Yes, please don't let us "clowns" help you maximize your budget and give you a sound that amazes you, vs a half-ass upgrade that will always leave you wanting more...


You know, one of the hardest things in life is understanding what will make someone else happy, not projecting what will make YOU happy.

If after reading OP's post and thinking he wants a full on system with a DSP, active everything, all custom, you have a long way to go.

But please show us this fantastic system and how OP will get it installed for under his budget....


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