Styling Sub and amp setup

[FSJay]

Hi guys, I'm thinking about dropping a half decent sound system in my stilo, the thing is I'm way out of my comfort zone when it comes to subs and amps & to be completely honest don't really know much about it!!
Can anyone suggest any ideas of setups? I'm looking to spend about £150 on all the kit.
Cheers chaps

 

[benyboy95]

Have you got a standard head unit ?

 

[FSJay]

I have mate yes, but only because when I brought the car it didn't have one at all! Was Looking at changing that Aswell

 

[sswaras]

I would say start looking around on ebay and gumtree for local adds might get sone good stuff and good price. That what I did saved me a lot of money. For 150 you will get your head unit amp and sub also some wires. That would cover your basic set up with. It all depends on brands you will go for. My set up was cheap as I got everything second hand over couple months. Being a bit more specific for head unit gor for pioneer, alpine or kenwood. Subs and amps is all up to you as it will all depend on the power. And a good 4gw cable set. That should be good for your budget.

 

[gadge]

£150 will get you a reasonably good active sub enclosure which is basically a pre wired box with the amp built in - a plug an play if you will. You'll need some decent wires to conect it all up (£20 for a wiring kit I'ld say). The only stumbling block you'll have is that the amps these days, certainly cheaper amps are that they are connected to the head unit via RCA jack leads which your standard head unit won't have. Not a problem mind you as you can buy RCA converters to conect to the audio output wires so you can retain the original factory head unit (which I must add is actually a pretty good unit if you get the mp3 equipped version that were in the dynamic and some abarth versions) or just buy an after market one as mentioned above

Have you considered building your own? It's not as hard as you think and will save you a few quid plus it's very rewarding once it's done. I built my whole set up myself which included a separate carpeted sub box and amplifier box and custom made door speaker adaptors to take slightly bigger mid rangers. I reckon I did the whole thing for about £230 and it looks and sounds very good indeed

 

[sswaras]

Your set up depends on if you keeping the original head unit or not. If you are you define better off with active sub and thats it door speakers should be ok without changing as I used them for a while until I changed mine. But if you going with aftermarket one then you better off getting everything and changing to get the best sound. My total set up cost me around 110 thats not including head unit. But it was bought over some time.

 

[Pedro94]

Please help me
code fiat stilo 1.8
m021023

 

[gadge]

Pedro94 your in the wrong section you need to be in the ICE section where you'll enjoy more luck with your question

 

[FSJay]

Ok thanks for the response guys, I like the idea of building my own, although I don't know where my imagination would stop!! I'd preferably like to change all the speakers including front doors, what size sub would be sufficient enough to deliver a good sound, I don't want to fill my boot space with massive subs but considering a couple of 10" or maybe even x2 20" if there's room

 

[sswaras]

I got 1x12'' and I still got half of the boot left so weekly shopping bags still fit without a problem. I got 2x12'' subs for sale at the moment. If you need your boot space go for 1 x 10'' it depends on how much of the bass you want. Changing all the speakers will give you better sound quality as the original one are just a bit of paper with a fridge magnet at the back

 

[FSJay]

Back end space of the boot isn't an issue, just enough at the front to fit a small pushchair in.
I've not measured yet so only thoughts, but thinking of modifying the sides of the boot above the wheel arches and perhaps putting x2 10" subs in the useless gap & making an MDF parcel shelf and dropping a couple of 6x9's on that?

Just out of curiosity how easy is it to hide/run the wires from the boot to the HU and vice versa?

 

[sswaras]

I didn't had any problems , just used the original loom of cables that are runing under the pastic covers when you open the door. It had enough space for the wires. Have you checked the original sub side box that comes with some stilos ? Well when it comes to 6x9 its preference , I wouldn't use them I have used component speakers in front and 2way speakers in back doors and sounds great.

 

[FSJay]

What's this side box you talk of? I had no knowledge of this lol, I'm thinking components actually if I'm going to do it may as well do it right

 

[gadge]

Not all stilos came with the factory sub jay but some did like mine. It's mounted on the passenger side do the boot and used a little 6" 100 watt bass speaker.

I have only got an 8 inch sub purely because I didn't want stupid bass in my car (I'm getting old ) but for you I'ld say a 10" would be ideal. I've ran them before in the past and there excellent for clear bass but not over the top. 12's are a step up and bigger amps will be needed plus a bigger box of course (2 foot by 2 foot iirc )

 

[FSJay]

Ahh I see! Mines not got that but is that because I've got the cigarette lighter? Yeah i think il settle for 10" now just to source parts and install! Let the hunting begin!!