First Arizona Thread....

[XwChriswX]

Originally Posted by marrim

The question was NOT what does anyone think about ZCON 2012.
ZCON is not only about a award or even the car show. Thats only 1 day out of 5. It's about meeting people with Z's. Let not try to make this tread another drama thread.

The question was who is going? But I think I got my answer. No one from AZ with a 370Z.

Registration is now closed. You can register at the door. But online registration closed Sept 5th.

Wasn't trying to make it a drama thread, just merely providing information for those considering registering for that 1 day in hopes of winning an award. As mentioned in the post.

[Naenyn]

Do we have a meetup group? Or do any of you go to the Pavillions..?

Also, would anyone be interested in having forum user bigaudiofanat fly in to AZ and do some custom stereo installs for us as he did in Cali a couple times?

[NickTurnon]

A few of us meet up at Pavs on Saturdays & cars and coffee on the 1st.

What were you thinking of having BigAudioFanAt do? I already have a decent setup, but maybe in- if the price is right.

[Naenyn]

Originally Posted by NickTurnon

A few of us meet up at Pavs on Saturdays & cars and coffee on the 1st.

Not familiar with cars and coffee. Where is that?

What were you thinking of having BigAudioFanAt do? I already have a decent setup, but maybe in- if the price is right.

I'm in the process of buying a Nismo (should be here in November). Once it arrives I'm planning on replacing the stock stereo. I opt'ed not to get the Bose audio package. I've been exchanging some messages with BigAudioFanAt and he offered to come do an install for me and anyone else in the Valley that is looking to have something stereo-ish installed. No ideas on the price yet, but the more people that are willing to chip in to pay for his plane/hotel, the cheaper it is for everyone.

I don't have the components picked out yet and am actually leaning towards having the guys from Sound Xpression Car Audio & Mobile Video do the install instead, but I figured I'd check and see if there was any interest in doing some sort of group thing with BigAudioFanAt.

-n

[NickTurnon]

Plane ticket would cost $400- Hotel -$200

Thats the cost of someones entire sound system. We would have to get at least 10 people. Make the cost $60 a person.

I installed a Pioneer Double Din (NAV-Ipod/DVD Player)- 2 Kenwood Speakers & Steering Wheel Controls- Cost of Nav install with speakers was $60. Steering Wheel was $25 to install because of the wiring with my nav.

Sounds much better then stock.

[marrim]

Originally Posted by Naenyn

Not familiar with cars and coffee. Where is that?

Cars and Coffee™ Scottsdale, AZ - Directions

You got to be a morning person.

[Naenyn]

Originally Posted by NickTurnon

Plane ticket would cost $400- Hotel -$200

Thats the cost of someones entire sound system. We would have to get at least 10 people. Make the cost $60 a person.

I installed a Pioneer Double Din (NAV-Ipod/DVD Player)- 2 Kenwood Speakers & Steering Wheel Controls- Cost of Nav install with speakers was $60. Steering Wheel was $25 to install because of the wiring with my nav.

Sounds much better then stock.

Yeah, the more people that'd be willing to go in on it, the better.

I was planning on spending around $3k on a system w/ installation. =|

[Naenyn]

Originally Posted by marrim

Cars and Coffee™ Scottsdale, AZ - Directions

You got to be a morning person.

Thanks for the link! I'm definitely not a morning person (or really a coffee person) but the socialization would be good.

[NickTurnon]

Originally Posted by Naenyn

Yeah, the more people that'd be willing to go in on it, the better.

I was planning on spending around $3k on a system w/ installation. =|

No offense, but are you going for sound quality or just an obnoxious "Show car" system?

I don't know if you already have nav with your nismo, but...

For $1500 bucks, you can get an additional Double Din that you can run all of your music, movies, ipod, etc. thru. You can still run your Nismo NAV. (Have 2 Screens) You can build a custom box that looks just as good, put in a single 12" JL Audio sub with a QUALITY amp and QUALITY speakers ($350 for JL Speakers and tweeters) and you will have an awesome sounding car for 1/2 the price...

Now obviously if you want custom enclosures that are fiberglassed etc, then you can do that. But didn't know what your looking to do.

[Naenyn]

Originally Posted by NickTurnon

No offense, but are you going for sound quality or just an obnoxious "Show car" system?

I don't know if you already have nav with your nismo, but...

For $1500 bucks, you can get an additional Double Din that you can run all of your music, movies, ipod, etc. thru. You can still run your Nismo NAV. (Have 2 Screens) You can build a custom box that looks just as good, put in a single 12" JL Audio sub with a QUALITY amp and QUALITY speakers ($350 for JL Speakers and tweeters) and you will have an awesome sounding car for 1/2 the price...

Now obviously if you want custom enclosures that are fiberglassed etc, then you can do that. But didn't know what your looking to do.

None taken. =] I'm going for sound quality. A bit of an audiophile.. and learning electronic music composition, so want the tunes to sound as good or better in my car than they do in my little recording studio.

Regarding what comes in the Nismo.. there was no Nav option. It was either Bose audio (which sounds decent) or stock stereo (which sounds pathetic). I was going to go with Bose and just replace the head unit (I want bluetooth a2dp, dammit. I know, audio quality...) but I decided that I'd be wasting a lot of money going that route. Sooo.. figured I'd go the extra mile and get a sound system I was really happy with.

I'm looking to do JL speakers all around, but not sure if I want one 12 or two 10s. Kinda leaning towards two 10s this time (had one 12 in a previous car). I also know nothing about amps, so dunno what I'm going to do there yet. I was leaning towards getting one of the new 2-DIN head units from Alpine. I don't really care about watching movies in my car, tho .. don't really care even about satellite or HD radio. CD/DVD audio, bluetooth a2dp... quality speakers/amp/sub. That's it for now.

I definitely do want to eventually get something installed in that cubby above the stereo, too. Just not sure what to do up there. It'd be nice to have some sort of system to hook in to the onboard diagnostics. Definitely open to ideas there.

[NickTurnon]

Hey if you got the cash to make it happen, then by all means!

I had a dodge charger r/t before the Z, and let me tell you. I transformed that cars audio system into a theatre. The sound quality was so outstanding. Everytime I drove, I felt like I was at a Dave Matthews concert. (If you've been, you know what I am talking about. If not, its awesome.)

Then i bought the Z, without bose. And lets just say, my ears were not pleased with my decision.

Even if BIG doesnt fly out here, I still want to hear your system when its done!

[Naenyn]

I'm sure I'll stop by the Pavillions at some point .. maybe on a regular basis, who knows. I'm definitely interested in learning what I can about the Z and car mods in general. I'm pondering saving up for that GReddy TT kit.. <3 turbos.

Anywho, will be happy to demo the system when it is done. Won't be anything outrageous.. just going for good quality, encompassing sound.

Do you have any opinions on who makes the best head unit these days?

[NickTurnon]

Originally Posted by Naenyn

I'm sure I'll stop by the Pavillions at some point .. maybe on a regular basis, who knows. I'm definitely interested in learning what I can about the Z and car mods in general. I'm pondering saving up for that GReddy TT kit.. <3 turbos.

Anywho, will be happy to demo the system when it is done. Won't be anything outrageous.. just going for good quality, encompassing sound.

Do you have any opinions on who makes the best head unit these days?

I can tell you this. I personally own a pioneer. It was one of the higher end ones at the time. It's got a service where it provides gas prices, movie times, weather, and traffic updates. It plays movies with dolby digital surround sound. Its got back up cam etc... but i've had it for 5 years now. They have come out with much cooler things such as wireless music transfer, better display screens, modernized buttons, etc..

Kenwood makes a great system, if you like navigation and ipod/music capabilities. For instance the kenwoods voice activation for playing an album or song is much better then my pioneers. Not only that, but you can scroll much more luxuriously and so on..

Alpine to me gives out good sound quality. But the screens and setup was always so...Microsoft/ Windows '97... Boxy & Bland... It was always an eye-sore..

I wouldn't even bother looking at something else.. I have known so many people that spent the $300 and got a Jensen or JVC or something & it brakes 6 months later..

Just my opinion though

[Naenyn]

Originally Posted by NickTurnon

I wouldn't even bother looking at something else.. I have known so many people that spent the $300 and got a Jensen or JVC or something & it brakes 6 months later..

Oddly enough, those were the three brands I was considering. I've experience with Alpine, so was leaning towards them, but Pioneer has always seemed more feature-rich. Kenwood's stuff has always been great, too, from what I've seen...

My only concern with Pioneer is that they seem very hit/miss with quality. Some HUs break superfast.. others last forever. My old Alpine was rock solid, tho...

Do you have any thoughts on amps? My old firebird had a ginormous PPI amp which seemed to work well.. but I was thinkint about JL Audio this time around for the amp(s), too. I know so little about amps, tho...

[NickTurnon]

I have to tell you, my pioneers screen blacked out & I had to ship it to them and have it fixed.

I am thinking you should youtube some of the kenwoods?!

You can't go wrong with a solid JL Amp.. I had one in my first car. Forget the model..

I ran my last sound system with Performance Teknique because I had was 2 12" Kicker L7's.. it needed alot of juice, so i bought 2- 2000 watt amps for $200 each.. They worked great. 1 year warranty as well..

I know some people will say you need a very expensive amp, but really, if your not going to be pushing your system to the limits everyday.. you dont need a $500 amp for a single 12 or even 2 10"s. -- I would find a big 5 channel and run your speakers and one subwoofer off the amp. Save cost and you can buy a nice big amp with the money you save by not buying one for your speakers and one for your sub?