RNS510 + audio upgrade suggestions?

[G-rig]

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[benno]

It's surprisingly good actually (Waywell 6050). SQ is a notable improvement from stock, although that could be just the increased power. I've yet to put my amp (Audison SRx2) and speakers (MB Quart) in as I'm waiting for the dynamat group buy to be finalised. Also, I'm actually relatively happy with the SQ and upgrading the speakers and amp isn't going to make a massive difference I suspect.

Address book sync stopped working when I updated to 3.0 firmware on my iPhone though. Apparently a firmware update is in the making for my camera issue.

It integrates reasonably well with the MFD though, and is very feature rich.

[G-rig]

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[RF 4MOTION]

Finished my system upgrade, sounds amazing. Go to www.photobucket.com/rf4motion to see the images

[spiff]

RF 4Motion. I like that look. Very clean and it's a nice location for the amp. Looks like a lot of hard work went into it.

Unfortunately, I'm not that savvy and I don't have the expertise, space and tools to get that level of work work done myself.

I just came back from the store. Went to take a peek and talk to the guy there.

The Eclipse headunit is an AVN726EA, but since i'm not going to change my headunit, this is just for anyone who is interested when I was told that the Eclipse unit has the same features as the RNS510 and would retail for around $2k.

They (Alberts) have a large range of Alpine speakers, 3 amps, subs..They also seem to have a huge range of Soundstream and Rockford gear. No Maestro, but they do have some MB Quartz stuff (not a lot said the guy).

He said ultimately, it's going to be determined by what fits (they will have to pull the doors off - no charge - to see what fits).

What he recommended were:
- Alpine speakers (S or X type?)
- Alpine amp (he mentioned a model .. a small one that would fit under the front seat but would be decent enough. I didn't want anything too big)
- Soundstream stealth R1-12 R1 Reference subwoofer (it's a shallow sub that i want to fit against the side of the boot. fibreglass mould or mdf box?)
- Line converter (they only have Alpine KCE431R)

He said there would not be a point having rear tweeters. I don't think the factory speakers including a tweeter in the rear anyway, though there's space for one.

He said some stuff about 2-way, 3-way which totally went over my head when I asked whether I should be considering those.

All up, maybe around $2k? But we'll have to sit down and talk details and look at what can and cannot fit before finalising the gear and price. Not even sure which speakers for now. He showed me the Alpine SPX 17 REF which were in a showcase [can't be demo'd]. He also mentioned there were PROs. Is the difference discernible? Any thoughts about the gear recommended, or whether MB Quartz or Soundstream speakers would do an equally good job? From reading the forums, it seems that a lot of people have Alpine's and they seem to like it.

I did listen to some Alpine playing while there and the sound is nice and clean, though it will sound different in a car environment.

Sorry for being so new to this. You guys have been a great help getting to where I am.
spiff

[RF 4MOTION]

Spiff. Maestro and MB Quart are the same thing, they changed their name recently. Of the speakers you mention, Quart / Maestro are the high end speaker only brand... if you can afford them, you should get them - not to mention they are made in Germany. The Quart DSG216 and MAESTRO CS6508 is the model to be aiming for and Alberts should do them for $350 - $400 approx, a great investment. Use a good quality 4 ch amp for your front and sub, out of the brands they sell, stick with Alpine or Rockford. You should use the same brand sub as the amp you choose, it will work best together as one is designed using the other. Dont skimp on accessories or the install, sit down with the salesperson and go through it thoroughly, afterall you are spending good money and they are pulling your car apart. You want to know exactly who is doing what! I am not sure which Alberts you are visiting but the mention of Soundstrem makes me think Os Park or maybe Joondalup?

[spiff]

Osb Park. I might have a look at the MB Quartz you're telling me about. He mentioned the Rockford sub probably wasn't going to give as much clarity as the Soundworks sub. Not sure what amps soundworks make. I was going to consider alpine amp, alpine speakers or maybe the mb quartz speakers, soundworks sub.

from what i've been told (ballpark) a few times..my budget should probably be closer to $2000 than $1500 (my original budget). got to put some $$ aside for the vt201 gps tracker from mongoose.

oh, by the way. the guy said i probably needn't bother with a tweeter on the back. does that mean i'm not going to look at the same speakers on the front as in the rear doors?

[Mr ©harisma]

I wouldn't worry about what brand does what. In the last car I had:
Pioneer HU
Boston Splits
Audison Amps
Oz Audio sub

worked perfectly fine.

What you need to do is audition the bejesus out of the gear you think you like. As funny as it sound - being blind folded is not only kinky, but will remove any stigma associated with a brand. I won't mention names, but I held a brand in high esteme until we did this and my ear responded to a set almost half the price....

Work from the front back. Get your splits sorted and amp / deadening etc. Then get a sub / amp combo you think will work after a shop audition, but try it in your car, before you commit.

[spiff]

Work from the front back. Get your splits sorted and amp / deadening etc. Then get a sub / amp combo you think will work after a shop audition, but try it in your car, before you commit.

what?? you can have them install gear in your car just to try it first? do most shops do that? i thought it was a lot of work to put stuff into the car.. especially if they have to build boxes for the subs.

[Mr ©harisma]

what?? you can have them install gear in your car just to try it first? do most shops do that? i thought it was a lot of work to put stuff into the car.. especially if they have to build boxes for the subs.

Yeah mate, the fronts should be your main priority. Get them sorted with the amp first ( factor this in if you are getting a nice 3/4 channel amp or 2 separate amps ). Most shops won't let you try them in the car so demo in boards or as best as you can to find ones you like. If possible, try and demo in someone elses car.

Then use you amps rear channels or sub amp to run subs. Any decent shop will have prefab boxes so you can get an idea of what the sub sounds like with your fronts in your car.

The actual installation of the physical item(s) is not what takes the time. It's the custom MDF baffles, deadening, tuning, trim removal, running wires etc that take the time. Simply dropping in a mid woofer and blu tak'ing a tweeter takes 5mins, likewise mounting the woofer in a prefab box and sitting it in the boot / hatch.

[benno]

I auditioned the Concept CS6508s (I think) against various Alpine and I think Focal splits and the 6508's sounded miles ahead of anything else, including Alpines at two or three times the price. To my ears, anyway. I bought some but haven't installed them yet.

Spiff, you can fit up to an 8" driver, a 3-4" mid and of course your tweeter. The mid can be problematic, you can't have one that's too deep.

[benno]

They may well be nice, but i've heard from the audio shop that MB Quart aren't really as good as they used to be and made in India now.

My CS 6508s are made in Germany.

[G-rig]

Ahh, no probs benno.. I didn't get a chance to audition them but hard to know what to believe these days (could have been the shop swaying me towards the Dyn's).

[GHW]

I've pointed out I've had a lot of Alpine gear and liked it, abut it is one brand out of many so no point tking it personally. It's good gear as everyone knows .

If you're talking about the alpine bluetooth i didn't have any luck with it as it didn't work with my HTC Touch Cruise or iPhone 3G and I tested both the 350BT and 400BT.

BTW - absolutely wrong, the 400BT works with both.

[Maverick]

Sounds to me like you just wanted an excuse to slag Alpine, thousands and thousands of units sold suggest you're in the minority.

I'll add my bit to this, I looked at a number of options to the RNS 510 and the biggest problem with the Alpine, Kenwoods, Pioneers and so on is that they have a rubbish interface with few options to customise it.

The Sat Nav add ons are just rubbish and poorly implemented and overpriced and the bluetooth is no better. They are almost as buggy as the cheap chinese units in their implementation of bluetooth and none of the manufacturers has made any real attempt to integrate the units properly into cars that have integrations standard.

As far as pricing goes the RNS 510 with factory bluetooth and ipod is around the same price and gives a much nicer looking unit, full integration and actually adds value to the car and is a joy to use.

I've seen the Alpine in action in a Golf and some parts are nice but in general it's a big letdown and all the manufacturers are in the same position with little thought given to have one standard double din headunit with modular options for bluetooth, gps and so on along with a vehicle specific faceplate that clips on and matches the car and the headunit. VW make this simple, there are two panel designs for the RNS 510 (one rounded and one square) that fit something like 50 models of car.

It seems that Alpine like to bag people who dare to say anything bad about their product which is really poor form IMO. Alpine relies on people who are brand loyal no matter what, what they don't realise is that more cars are coming out with decent headunits like the RNS 510 and they're going to be left behind as more people want full integration. All of the major companies like Alpine seem very slow to react and keep pace with the market, maybe they need to realise that the market is changing and churning out units that don't integrate is not the way of the future.