[MOSFET]

First off, your son is ABSOLTELY CORRECT in his assertion that the single
biggest factor in ANY sound system today is the speakers. The reason is
very simple, ALL head units today do an excellent job at reading CD's,
MP3's, DVD's, or any digital media. There is no appreciable, or for most
people, discernable sound difference between players of different
manufacturers, they ALL use state of the art digital to analog decoders.
However, FEATURES (USB connectivity, iPod connectivity, bluetooth
capability, GPS mapping capability, DVD capability, ect.) vary greatly from
manufacurer to manufacturer and it is these features you might want to
consider more carefully than how it sounds because, again, speakers make ALL
the difference and aftermarket speakers can be bought for nearly ALL stock
or even "Premium" systems in today's cars, the exception being Bose, who are
notorious for using unusual speaker impedences (32 ohm) for there premium
systems and therfore a simple "speaker swap" will not work (BTW, this advice
is based on a VERY frustrating personal experience involving a Nissan Maxima
with the "Premium" Bose system).

In any case, going back to your original question, speakers in fact make the
biggest difference in the quality of a sound system. Speakers vary WIDELY
from brand to brand and even within brands the different price points
determine the quality of sound. As in everything else, you get what you pay
for. A quality set of seperates (you get seperate woofers, tweeters,
outboard crossovers, and a proffesional installation job with sound
deadening in the doors, ect.) can rival the best home speakers these days.
I can certainly make that assertion as I spent about six hours in my car
today and every SINGLE SONG I played sounded truly remarkable (full three
dimensional soundstage with EVERY instrument etched in space right in front
of me as if the musicians were in my car).

I use a set of Alpine Class R seperates and they are bi-amped (I use one
very powerful amplifier to drive my woofers in the doors, and another amp to
drive my tweeters in the sail-panels).

Now this is where this discussion get's a little tricky. Although it is
true that speakers make the biggest difference in sound quality (this
generally holds true for home systems as well), there is certainly no
definative "best sounding" speakers. There are many reasons for this.
First, some speakers sound better than others with diferrent types of music.
While my speakers sound FANTASTIC to me because of the type of music I
listen to, they may not to you because you like a different type of music OR
a different timber of sound. Music is VERY subjective. Not only do we all
have different tastes in music, we also have different tastes in how we want
our music to sound (i.e. I may like my sound more laid-back with lots of
midbass, while you might prefer a more bright, upfront sound with much less
midbass).

There is yet another factor to consider, and that is a speaker's efficiancy,
or how many watts it requires to produce X decibels at a given frequency at
a given distance. Yet again, this varies widely. However, in general, the
better sounding speakers will have lower efficencies, meaning you have to
supply them with more wattage than other speakers to produce the same volume
level. The reason for this is because the better speakers will employ
larger magnets for greater control over the pistonic motion of the cone
(therfore your msuic will sound extremelly tight and controlled) as well as
greater excursion (meaning the cone can move a greater distance from front
to back, this usually means you can produce louder sounds from such a
speaker). But like I said, this comes with a price (beyond the price of the
speaker itself). You will have to supply such a speaker with sufficient
power to sound it's best. My Alpine's are excellent examples of this, I
have owned MANY high-end seperates over the years, but these Alpines,
without a doubt, require more power than ANY OTHER speaker set I have ever
owned; I supply my 6.5" woofers with 125 watts RMS each (a vintage Rockford
Fosgate Punch 225.2), 275 watts peak each and the tweeters with 50 watts RMS
each (a vintage Phoenix Gold amp, the model number escapes me), 100 watts
peak each). And frankly, I could probably employ an EVEN MORE powerful
amplifier for the midbass drivers as they NEVER bottom out or distort! If
you DO NOT, you may prefer the sound of a more efficent speaker as it will
sound louder with less power.

Anyway, I sure hope I didn't confuse or complicate the issue. I guess it
really boils down to some rather simple rules of thumb:

You get what you pay for and it is true that speakers WILL have more impact
on the sound than any other component. I mean, the simple fact is that ALL
modern amplifiers, as long as they are not driven to clipping, will sound
the same to 99.9% of the population. The same is true of CD players or DVD
players.

And second, different speakers will appeal to different people based on the
type of music you like, how you like your music to sound, and how much power
will be driving the speakers. HOWEVER, believe it or not, it is better to
error on the side of too much power than not enough. Your speakers will cry
out in pain before they blow if too much power, and then you can simply back
the volume down. But not enough power WILL mean not taking advantage of the
full potential of the speakers.

I hope all this helps. I'm sure others have their own thoughts. The best
advice I can give to ANYONE is simply bring an armload of discs and LISTEN
to as many speakers as you can before you buy. I probably could have
distilled this WHOLE diatribe into that simple advice.

MOSFET

wrote in message
...
Question on Auto Sound Systems
*******************************

I am not knowledgeable on car audio systems at all.

I have a few questions:

1. What has a greater impact on the sound quality of a car audio
system ?
Is it the speakers or the sound unit ie CD changer/player/radio ?


2. I have a Lexus which has a Nakamichi sound sytem. It sounds
fabulous.
When I test drove a XJ8 2005 Jag, the car guy said it had an Alpine
sound system giving me the impression that it was a premium sound
system. However, I did not care for it. So I am confused.

My 15 year old son says if I want better sound, all I have to do is to
upgrade the speakers. Is that true ?
He says it is very easy to install better quality speakers on a Jag.
Again is this true ?

I thought the CD changer made a greater impact on the sound quality.
My son claims the speakers make all the difference.


3. What are the standard and premium sound systems in 2004 / 2005
Jags ? ( specifically XJ8)



Thanks for your help in advance,

Irfan Ballard

California