cdvmagic

Now I really found the Stereo that I like.
It's an Alpine they have everything from the head unit to the cd changer so I'm happy.
But the Amp I want to buy has 150watts of power.
Can the stock speakers handle that?
Because everything is gonna cost $2000 without speakers soIm willing to use the stock speakers but I want to know if it can handle 150 wattsX4.
This Stereo is way better then Pioneer Avic Z2 it has a true I pod interface and it can play cds with mp3 or wma and the guy at the store told me this is really the stereo you want in A Lexus because it has the best sound quality.
I liked everything about it exept the 6 cd changer because now I have 12 and I'll have to go with way less cd's but no problem I can use my ipod

Neofate

iTrader: (1)

I'm curious why you are using an amp? If you are going with stock speakers, let the alpine unit power them, and use the stock amp for the sub.

That is what I am doing.

But, The stock speakers in the LS400 run around 18-20Watts RMS.. I've heard of people putting 3-4 times that on them and the speakers working fine. I don't know what the stock speakers are rated for RMS wise, but I doubt it is for 75watts RMS. People have done it, and its worked fine. Personally I wouldn't and am not, because if it wasn't designed for it, why do it?

Your unit sounds nice,.. But 2grand sounds steep for a deck and an amp. I hope your Deck is a doubledin or Single DIN with pop out LCD with touchscreen and so on. If not, sounds like alot of money.

Take care,

cdvmagic

THanks neofite and yes it is a double din deck with a screen and nav.
I wanted to go with an avic z2 but that one really lacks usebility.
THis one can play dvds read mp3,wma and everything.
But the deck only has 18x4 so I'll lose alot of power if I run my speakers from the deck but maybe i'll try 100wx4.
It'san Alpine iva w205 deck.

Robert_J

Even at moderately loud volumes, you are only pushing a few watts through the speakers. But what you have to watch out for are those times where you want to crank it. I can easily run a 3", 10w speaker with my 2,400w home sub amp without any issues as long as I set the gains appropriately and send that speaker the frequencies it can handle. Here's a good tutorial on how to set your gains - link.

-Robert

El Boricua

Hey whats up guys. I got a 91 ls400. First i want to say thanx for all the info helping out the peeps in need. What i did to my car was changed the pioneer stock head unit, and replaced it with a Alpine. The head unit is powering the speakers, and it sounds killer. Really clear. I can really turn it up loud and have great sound. So i added 2 12" Kicker, and it sounds great still. People get in my car and trip out on the sound it has, loud or normal. Mostly i crank it up. OH maybe anyone could give some feed back to this question. I read somewhere a while back, and it said that the 91 lexus ls400 was rated to be the most quietest car made that year? While your driving you barely hear any noise. Anyone here that? peace

Neofate

iTrader: (1)

The only reason I mention powering the stock speakers off the Alpine head unit which is 18x4 RMS, is because I JUST did this myself with the Alpine 9886.. (Which has the exact sound processing technology your unit does).

Granted I am driving a 94 LS 400, so the factory setup might be different, but I also changed out the factory "Pioneer" Deck. My setup is as follows:

Fronts Factory 4inch mids coaxials. Rear Factory 4inch coaxials. Sub: factory 8inch powered by factory amplifier.

I wired my head unit in to powerthe 4 , 4inch door speakers. 18Watts is more than enough to power these.. it sounds phenomenal, and is, in fact, louder and clearer than the stock headunit was able to provide.

I had a bit of a problem with the sub, with the alpine headunit going to the stock amp the voltage was lower, and thus the sub wasn't performing as well as it did stock. So I put in a Rockford power driver inline to the amp running the 8inch factory sub and it hits harder than stock (as can be imagined).

So dont' be afraid to to run your factory speakers (minus sub) off the headunits built in amplifier. Unless, for some reason, your factory system is rated at 40+watts on the regular door speakers, which I can't imagine it would be.

El Boricua:

We did the same thing in our cars, except you have now gone a step further and placed an aftermarket sub in

People are amazed at my factory setup as it is now with the alpine unit. They can't beleive it is all stock/factory and is 13-14yrs old. Very clean sound, and obviously a tight punchy bass with the 8inch sub.

As for the 'quietest car' .. Yes, Lexus was the king of the road noise category for years, and really still is. The design the car around this feature. They use two-three times the padding that most other cars use,.. along with a host of other design features (including extensive wind tunnel design) to keep noise to a bare minimum.

Even on my 94 LS that could use some bushings/shocks it still rides much quieter than many brand new cars. People still compliment how quiet and smooth it is, and it is old!

They used to do commercials on the LS400 (I think).. that would have outside ambient noise going on, (jackhammers etc) and the guy would roll his windows up and it would be insanely quiet. That was the whole commercial. And it is true.. Their ads are pursuit of perfection, even nuances have nuances..

I quote (from a 2004 ad)

cdvmagic

Thanks Neofate but i din't think I would wanna do that?
See even the Toyota Echos have 50wx4 running to the speakers so I'm not gonna drive a Lexus with 18x4 it's to little power.
And I have the sc400 with Nakimichi nobody knows the exact power of the amp but it's between 100 and 150wX4 and if I run 18x4 it'sgonna sound crap compared to my stock unit so I'll be waisting money to get poor sound basically.
I'm gonna run 1 100watt amp to the 4 speakers and another 600 watts amp to the sub.
That's the lowest I can find but I'll use the gain setting to minimize power.
I already know what I'm gonna buy it has to be the best actually I wanted to build a Mark Levinson unit for the car but that's to expensive so I chose Alpine.
Alpine have a very high sound quality I know it doesn't even compare to mark Levinson but it's the best I can buy.
$2500 for the whole system without the speakers but it's gonna be worthwhile.
I actually didn't want to go over 1k but if I do something I'll do it the correct way I'm not gonna cut back on prices to end up with cheap sound

Robert_J

Wattage ratings by themselves are almost usless. I'd much rather have a 18w of power from 20hz to 20k hz with .1% distortion than 100w rated at 1k hz with 1% distortion. That's like saying that one vehicle with a 500hp motor will beat another one with a 100hp motor in a race. What if the vehicle with a 500hp motor was a semi truck? Just because it has more power doesn't mean that it will reach your goal of winning a race.

You have to look at the overall picture. Look at the distortion ratings. Look at the frequency range when they measured the wattage. Back when I was first getting into car audio, I bought a lot of Pyramid crap. I didn't know. I got a 400w amp for $49.99 while idiots where spending $500 on a 100w. When I bought my first 50w Precision Power amp and it blew away my 400w POS amp, I started looking at more than just power.

-Robert

Neofate

iTrader: (1)

Robert is right --- You need to look into the specifications (sometimes fine print) before buying into wattage ratings.

My recommendation was based off how the LS 400 operated. It was/is amped stock, but only the Sub is amped separately. The door speakers are run off the headunit. If your system is running 150Wattsx4 *RMS* power then that doesn't sound right. 600Watts RMS is a very powerful amp.. and I don' t think the factory would utilize something so high.. but maybe it does.

If it is 100-150Watts peak power, then it is probably more like 30-50watts RMS..

I can only speak for the LS 400 model, I haven't researched the SC's..

But, you are right, don't do a half-**** job.. you will regret it. Though look into the exact specifications of your factory speakers before blindly buying an aftermarket amp.

cdvmagic

I know Robert is right that's why I'm gonna pay $550 for a 100w amp.
Alpine is the best car audio stuff on the market you can buy they are like the Lexus of car audio systems that's what the guy told me at the retailer so these type of stereos are the one you should put in a Lexus if you wanna go aftermarket.
And for you Neofate I think youshould buy that amp too one for the 4 speakers and one for the sub that will surely eleminate the popping sound and make your system sound a lot more rich and maybe even increase the value of your car.
That;s why I don't like to buy bunch of huge subs too put in the trunk like most people here on this forum do just to be so loud I like rich sound quality and I think Robert is the only one who knows what I mean.

Robert_J

That's an opinion that you will find a lot of people disagree with. I'm partial to the hand built M and AM series from PPI from the early 90's.

I'm not about loud, just quality. That's why i'm building a 15" IB driver for my Maxima (the wife drives the ES 350). TC 7 motor with a copper sleeve on the pole piece to lower inductance. I'm going to get Scott Atwell to build a recone kit so the driver has a Qts of .5 to .7. Why a 15" sub and mention SQ? Because you don't have to push it much to get average output. As long as you stay in the operating parameters, you keep distortion to a minimum. Same reason I'm going with four 18's in my home theater. I don't need the output but with four the distortion is so low it is non-existant.

-Robert

Percy

Alpine isn't the best car audio stuff. They're more mainstream, and some of the models are slightly higher end, but they're not in the same league as say Brax, TruTech or even the legendary McIntosh. I've had Alpine gear before - many head units and also their amps. They sound good for what they are. Forget about the marketing hype and claims as well as the fancy slick ads and ultra overdone websites.

Adding anything aftermarket usually decreases the resale value of the car, at least in a dealerships eyes. The average customer will look at aftermarket wheels, ECU and even a sound system as "oh..the previous owner must have really torn apart the car". Many dealerships will prefer things stock. You can upgrade your current sound system, but keep the original parts in case you want to sell the car.

Wattage ratings - there's alot more than just the "splash" number that the companies give you. Let's take the top end company - McIntosh. You're talking nearly 2 grand for a 400 watt, 6 channel amp. Sound quality, if hooked up to a set of high end speakers (Dynaudio!) and a high end source is superb. Their wattage ratings are CONSERVATIVE. In fact, they don't even list a "peak" number. The signal to noise ratio is in the low 100s. The Alpine that you mention (IWA205?) is only at 80 for the s/n ratio. Also, McIntosh will measure in the low 100s ANYWHERE on the audio spectrum. Alpine will measure at the 1khz region, where the s/n number will be the "most impressive". If a company doesn't specify "FROM 20-20khz", then they are measuring at the 1khz region. It's a very old marketing trick.

Alpine will also list the PEAK power with a 14.4 volt source. Makes the numbers look better.

As for the Mark Levinson electronics (in their amps) versus Alpine - let's put it this way, the Alpine would WIPE THE FLOOR with the Levinson. The Levinson amps use some of the cheapest parts internally. Do a thread search. I took apart one of these amps and the power semiconducters are a LAUGH. Your alpine would be worlds better, electronics (amp wise) than ANY of the Levinson amps. Don't even compare the Alpine to the McIntosh. ML=Chevy. Alpine=nice japanese car. McIntosh = Bugati/McLaren/F1.

Your absolute best bet in SOUND QUALITY is to get rid of the stock paper speakers. Plain and simple. They're BY FAR the weakest link in any audio system. I replaced my stock speakers with Dynaudio speakers and they're edging out the LS430 ML equipped and fully tuned system. Mind you, that's Dynaudio with stock GS400 head unit, stock amp. The speakers are THAT good.

Welcome to the world of car audio. Get rid of the stock speakers. Just take them out and store them somewhere safe until you decide to sell the car, if you ever do that. Drop in some high end (NOT MB QUART - had these and dumped LOTS of them) speakers and be prepared for a shock in the clarity of sound.

If you want to do it right the first time, and if your goal is that of SOUND QUALITY, look no further than Dynaudio. http://www.dynaudio.com Many clublexus members that are into car audio took my recommendation and haven't looked back. They're pricey, but hey, it's for a LEXUS. I had these in my old GM car, and they couldn't figure out how I was beating out many competitors with supposedly "high end" alpine rigs. I have nothing against alpine, but when people are literally blinded by the flashy ads and web pages, it brings me an opportunity to "enlighten" them.

Percy
The guy that literally WROTE THE BOOK about Lexus car audio.

Robert_J

I always forget about Dynaudio. I've never heard their aftermarket car speakers but I have heard their factory system in a VW. It was amazing for a stock system. Their home speakers are something else. In a properly treated room with a DVD-Audio or SACD or even a quality turntable it's like being in the recording studio with the artist.

-Robert

Percy

Robert,

Many of the higher end studios will use Dynaudio. They're extremely accurate!

And for those that listen to them the first time on some well recorded female vocals, the difference is nothing short of incredible.

Stock speakers would be a 1/10. MB Quarts would be a 3 out of 10. Dyns would be a 9.9 out of 10. Just simply amazing.

Neofate

iTrader: (1)

Hehe.. You don't have to spend that kind of money to get a good amp. But to each his own.

My alpine unit powers the factory 4inch coaxials in the doors with extreme clarity, low THD, and nice dB range. There is absolutely no need for an amp on these factory speakers in the LS 400.

Putting an aftermarket amp would eliminate the popping sound when I shut off the car,.. but only because I would no longer be using the power driver. I can disconnect the power driver and the popping is gone,.. (It is just giving a few volts to the Sub).

I am eventually going to replace all speakers all the way around.. but first comes sub. I am doing it in order of priority.

And, no I don't think Robert is the only one who understands a 'clean' sound need. Alot of people want huge 15's that rattle the trunk and sets off the car alarms in the parking decks as they drive by. -- I am not one of those, I simply want a clean sound, with proper bass levels for that sound.

I compare it alot to a clean Home theater setup, but playing music not watching movies. You want your powered sub in there, but you don't want it rumbling like you are watching jurassic park.. A nice punch is all that is needed.. and sounds best.

What amp are you buying for $550?

Good luck on your system.