How much should I spend?
Hello and welcome to the first of a series of beginner articles. As with many forums it is a common occurrence to have the same questions asked repeatedly by people who are just starting out. Because of this, unfortunately detailed answers are not always supplied each time.
This series of articles will aim to answer several basic questions in depth, therefore enabling beginners to make informed decisions and reach their audio system design goals.
How much should I spend?
What is the total amount of money you should spend on your system? It is a question often asked but in the end its a decision that only YOU can make.
One piece of advice here is not to settle for something less then what you really want, the audio bug has a strong bite and many lose out by selling recently acquired gear to upgrade.
One question that we can provide some opinion for is, where should I spend my money? This depends on the goals of your system and where you are on the scale of street beater to sound quality fanatic.
Typically the younger newcomers to car audio are driven by the hard hitting bass lines that car audio can provide. To a few this will grow into SPL (effectively bass output) competition and the endless pursuit of a higher DB reading. If you jump into a car and judge a car audio system primarily on how much you enjoy the bass then this category is for you. Of course that’s not to say that you can’t have great sounding speakers as well!
My recommended approximate budget spread for street beater systems is:
25% source units
15% speakers
35% amplifiers
25% subs
Sound quality can be a very technical objective. On the one hand it’s about enjoying great, balanced, toe tapping music at all levels of the frequency spectrum, on the other its about recreating the sound exactly, or as close as possible to, how it was recorded/produced in the recording studio.
My recommended approximate budget spread for SQ based systems is:
30% source units
30% speakers
25% amplifiers
15% subs
Why the differences? Amplifier power in one of the keys to a good street system, typically a single amp running the entire system won’t cut it here. In many circumstances the amplifier arrangement will consist of a powerful mono block (single channel amp) and a smaller amplifier for other speakers. Speakers have a much smaller percentage for these systems however it’s always a good idea to stick with components (aka splits, separate mid and tweeter with crossover) as a minimum even if they are entry level.
On the other hand sound quality based systems typically have bigger investment in their front stage (front speaker arrangement). Subwoofers play only a small percentage of the frequency spectrum which your entire system produces, normally only 2 of the 10 or so octaves. Amplifier power is of less concern although amplifier quality becomes more important. An SQ system can easily run of a single amplifier if required. Source units may be required to have additional features while subs can be less powerful and smaller in size and number.
Many people who have been in car audio circles for a long period of time tend to lean towards sound quality systems. It is important then to realise that information sources such as internet forums may be slightly biased in this direction. Moral of this story is that if a street beater system fits in with your goals, objectives and style then go for it!
You may have noticed that installation costs have not been included in the above recommendations. This is mainly because these costs will change dramatically based on who is installing your system and the design goals (stealth or show) of your system. However, it should be noted that installation design is often more important then the audio products that you purchase!
Many an expensive audio system has been beaten in SQ competition by a well thought out and designed but less capable system. Likewise many expensive SPL systems have been beaten by cheaper systems with well designed subs boxes. Don’t sell yourself short on the install, make sure your system is achieving what it is capable of.
Of course not all systems can be stuck entirely in one of the two categories outlined above and luckily it is relatively easy to move from one towards another. As a real life example, below are the figures for my own system, built with a strong SQ emphasis while still able to hit a solid bass line.
25% Source
30% Speaker
30% amplifiers
15% subs
While no one can decide how much to spend for you, hopefully armed with this information you will be better informed on where you’re hard earned money should be spent to reach your system goals. My only $$ recommendation? Budget as much as you are happy to and delay the inevitable upgrades!
That’s it for the first in this series of beginner articles, watch this space for the next “What should I buy” arriving shortly.
