I am torn between putting a real system in my newly acquired 4-door sedan and just upgrading what is there. With a good head unit, top of the line 6x9's and 6.5's I wonder how it would sound? Maybe add an amp to the mix to give it a little more zip.


If not then I will do a component set up front which requires cutting a hole in the doors for the tweeter and throw a nice 12 in the trunk in an unported box. What do you think and what do you have?

 

You might want to delete this and move it to the audio forum. Just FYI. Good luck on the system.

But, to answer your ?, I have 300 watt (max) pyramid 6x9's, Cerwin-Vega 6.5's, Sony Xplod head unit, and a 650 watt Rockford amp so far. It sounds awesome. I get a LOT of bass (obviously not as much as subs, but still quite a bit), and can still crank it up to the point that I can't talk to anybody else in the car and it is still clear as day. Once I go turbo and a few other things, I am gonna get a couple Rockford amps with another Rockford Amp. Should be good.

-Shane

 

before my amp blew i had 2 12" rockfords and 6.5" pioneers all around.

 

*edit* Someone else already moved it.

 

Well, If I were you I would start with getting either a) a good new headunit or b) a cheap pioneer unit with a audiocontrol eqs (something to boost the voltage and offer an eq).

After that first step as always is to get a nice comp set with a good amp. On the cheaper side check out CDT and Resonant Engineering for nice comp sets around $200. For a little bit more image dynamics, sometimes Focal, Adire audio as well as CDT offer component sets that will sound amazing and cost around $400.

As for amps, for cheaper stuff I would check out zapco's new iforce line. Engineered by zapco but build out of the USA so its a cheaper price, better design and will last a long while. On the more expensive side you can get regular zapco amps and arc audio for a decent price on ebay.

If you don't want to mess with ebay elemental designs make really nice amps for the money as well.


After you have done all of this, start looking into a sub. Decide what kind of sound you want and pick the size driver you will need. For cheaper (but amazing products) check into adire audio. Adire also offers some more expensive drivers that are some of the nicest you can buy.


Have fun.

Oh yea, I dont have a civic but a basic setup in a prelude.
All setups would be the same, I suggest you dont spend any money on rear speakers and if you need them just hook up the stock ones to your cd player... Just for kicks my sys. is

Pioneer p440 head
Audiocontrol overdrive (Line driver)
Zapco ref 350
Image dynamics chameleon 6 1\2 comps
Zapco ref 350
Image Dynamics IDQ 12 1.25 @ 30hz enclosure
Audiovox dvd player
Nesa 5.6 widescreen monitor
Creative 30gb mp3 player (run through aux).

 

I have a Pioneer 760MP coming to replace the stock head unit. I also have a bunch of brand new stuff I could put in the Honda and will if I can't get the stock location stuff to do the job (2k per car adds up!). I have a RE SE-12" sub, 800.4 Kicker, 600.1 Kicker and was going to order the CDT-HD62Z's for up front. But now I am thinking I will just save that stuff for my other car and maybe upgrade the 6x9's and 6.5's in the Civic. To be honest I don't really want to cut the doors up or lose trunk space since it is my daily driver. What options do I have if I go this route? TIA

 

If you decide not to use an amp, go pioneer head (maybe speakers), and JBL speakers... However if you go with an Amp.... Kenwood Excelon... My friend was all Pioneer, and then he got subs, with amps, JBL... Pioneer sounded better than my kenwood excelons in terms of fullness with no amp. Clarity was still kenwood though, once I put in my amp, I had both unmatched clarity, and fullness aka boom. Kenwood subs are really clear as well.

so...
No amp = pioneer head and speakers or JBL speakers
Amp = Kenwood Excelon all the way around

 

For this car I think I would like to stick with the stock locations and just use an amp which could be mounted to give me 100% use of the trunk. What are THE BEST 6x9's to give me the bass I would want and THE BEST 6.5's for the mid/highs? I assume coaxials? What size amp would drive them correctly?

 

well as I said, I love kenwood for clarity, and they have some sweet amps lately with lots of tunability... I originally wanted to get their dual mag 6x9 excelons, which are 2 ways... woofter and tweet... but I got 3 way instead. Just because though, try pioneer, with their high quality 6.5s, which if you have the 6 speaker system like the EX you can have component, and use the tweeter locations and door locations.. or 6.5 2 ways, then try to get a woofer only rear 6x9,

As for the best.. I dont know pioneer, but for what you say, Ive heard them, and while the dual mag kenwood 2 ways may work better, i havent personally heard them, so Ill say go with Pioneer which might have a single woofer only.

the AMP will be decided by the required powers of your speakers, perhaps brand of your headunit, (i like sticking with one brand) and number of channels you are running, if you never wanted a sub, 4 channel will give you full use of fade and balance... 5 will allow for future sub without purchace of another amp... but who knows, you could probably attach a bandpass with its own matched sub/amp.

 

If you dont want to do any cutting check out the image dynamics chameleon set. The set is a component set but you can mount the tweeter to the cone making a coaxial set. This way you will get a much much better set than anything a standard coaxial speaker can offer.

Power it with a good amp (at least 100w per side) and you will be smiling in no time. If you must you can run your rears off deck power, but they shouldnt be recieving much power. Replacing them and amping rears is a very big waste of money. Your staging should be up front, that is why we are spending all our money up there.

 

get a component set for the front. fab up some kick panels to hold the mid and the tweeter, nice big 2 channel amp, burn the rears and you're set. if you want more bass..you can get 6.5" subs that are designed to fit in the doors or you can do a false floor install in the trunk.

 

15" RE XXX
Planet Audio 1400
Alpine V14 4ch
Infinity 4in
Kove tweeters
Kenwood 6x9s
Pioneer 7600(I think)

Gets loud enough.