Just wondering what you guys replaced your stock speakers with, did you power them through an amplifier, and what was the total cost..??

I've heard that some have kinda retro-fit some Bose or Infinity speakers and run small stock amplifiers to give them a nice bass tone for stock replacements... I don't want some outrageous bass, but my girls stock Mazda 3 speakers have bass that you can actually feel and I'm trying to accomplish the same thing, thanks..

 

yeah you def want an amp if you upgrade the speakers, they're meant for higher power than your higher efficiency stock speakers. Low end aftermarket sometimes sound worse than stock without an amp because of this. The brand...idk look for objective reviews with measurements somewhere, most people don't do these though because they get sponsor/marketing money. Check out the audio critic for the lowdown on audio (in general, not car) and parts express too get an idea for some basic parts parameters and then google around. people often reccomend amp/speaker combos because you have to match their powerneeds with the amps power.

 

i have a set of kicker k650 components up front, old school infinity kappa slim 6.5" components (the green ones) with cheap 5 dollar tweeters in the rear running off of an alpine v power mrp f240 (40 watts per channel rms, 70 watts per channel peak at four ohms) in my hatch, and a kenwood mp4028 deck... just sitting parked it beats nicely, sounds like i have an eight in my car, even though i don't. my sub's not even hooked up yet.

 

thanks for the info bro..!

 

depends what u can spend

 

Say $$$ isn't an issue, what would you recommend?

 

I looked for those kickers and infinity's but both are very hard to find...

 

money is always an issue

I spent close to 6k on my setup and im no where near done

Still need more sound deadening and electrical upgrades

You need to set aside a budget and a goal

With all the setups i've put together, before install, deadening, and electrical upgrades, you should set aside about 1100

Don't cheap out on car audio..look at as an investment.

Remember that you can take that setup with you from car to car

 

I put infinity kappa's all around in my 00 EX coupe. Even with an aftermarket HU (alpine CDA-9857) the bass was crap. I threw in a JL 450/4 amp under the seat and they sound much better. Total cost for speakers+amp+HU was about 800. I got the amp used from a guy on craigslist but this has been my setup for about 3 years now.

I also put a JL slash 500/1 amp and a 12W7 in the back and now that really bumps! Depends on how much money you wanna spend but the stock HU puts out about 15watts RMS tops.

 

Thanks for feedback guys...

 

Infinitys up front and cliff designs in the rear, amped, 70 someting rms and a alpine cda 9984, And it sounds good to me.

 

It's just weird that some people spend thousands and some barely spend 100's and the same outcome is being accomplished...

 

hertz or hybrid imagine up front, no rears, single 8 or 10 in trunk, 4 channel running it all, KILLER setup for 800 or so installed

and to the point of some spend thousands and some spend hundreds and get the same results, they don't. they just might have gotten what results they were looking for. i can tell you $3000 and $300 are not the same

 

I figured availability has a lot to play in that role as well... some people get **** at cheaper prices than others....

 

well yeah, some people buy online, and only what they can find online. some small local shops have a different variety.

 

We hear this question all day every day... "what is the best...?" it's a question that really you have to answer for yourself. We can provide opinions, but what s/o else has in mind as the best, you may not agree with. Like Cobb said... $300 or $3000, doesn't matter to anyone except the end listener. There are several factors that would make one set of speakers "best" for one listener vs. another... The main factors being, "how do I like my music to sound?" and "how much do I have budgeted for my stereo?"

reading online reviews will get you mostly biased opinions, I mean, why would you do a review unless you had either a really sh**ty experience, or an orgasmic experience? I would take a listen for yourself. Talk to Cobb also, based on another post I read of his, he sells great stuff at his shop. We've got tons of experience and could each prob give you great advice, we understand you want bass output that is comparable to your gf's Mazda, but there are several ways to accomplish that, and your budget would help us determine what advice to give you...

 

I can give you a reallife example here... I just finished a $30,000 install for a NHL hockey player in his 2009 escalade... Very expensive stuff, 3 weeks of labor, and hours of tuning. I had him with me in the vehicle for abt 3 hours of tuning the system, and to be honest, I thought it sounded like s**t. It's what he wanted though, and he loved it. My stereo is worth abt 5% of his, and I think it sounds waaaayyyy better...

 

30k? jesussss

would you mind telling us what was installed?

I'm at about 8k deep with audio stuff in my TL and there's still more deadening that needs to be done

 

$12k in product
$10k in labor
$8k in materials

2 jl audio 13.5" w7's
2 jl 1000/1 v2 amps
1 jl 450/4 v2 amp
1 set of focal k2 power components up front
1 set of focal polyglass components in rear
1 alpine 10.4" overhead monitor
4 alpine 7" headrest monitors
kenwood excelon dbl din with nav, iPod, bt, Sirius, steering wheel control interface
220 amp stinger alternator
kinetik battery up front with PAC battery iso relay, 2nd battery for electronics
xbox 360
pure sinewave pwr inverter
custom upholstry (basic leather and alcantera), stitching on headrests, etc...
Viper 5901
175 white LEDs illimnate amp rack, door spkr grills, floor boards, controllable by either toggle switch in interior, or remote start, aux ch #1
removed complete interior for sound deadining (including headliner) used dynaspray, Dynamat extreme, and dynaplate

prob more stuff I left out.... I'll try to get a cpl pics...

 

 

Hmm, what made you go with JL?

also, i see no mention of processing..

 

That was the customer's decision on the JL... I like the amps anyway, RIPS and SLASH technology is pretty nice, They are just massive in size. I would've preferred the JL HD amps, but believe it or not, the customer's accountant would not let us exceed $30k on his stereo. His parents made him hire the accountant. (the guy is still a teenager!) Anyway, the $30k limit actually made us shy away from processing, it was in the original plans. The excelon unit has some pretty nice features for processing though, HPF and LPF each at 6, 12, or 24db/octave, Time delay, graphic eq, (13 bands), 2 custom eq curves, etc... So, we made do... I did measure the preamp outs for clipping, making sure to get a pure sine wave on my meter, as well as the speaker outputs from the amps, using pink noise, so gain is tuned 100% correctly. Set up the time delay based on measurements from my tape measurer, from that point, had the customer sit in the vehicle with me for abt 3 hrs, tuning by ear based on his input (taking frequent breaks, it was stupid loud, the SPL he was trying to achieve was giving us headaches). Wish I had an RTA! LOL! He wouldn't have like a perfectly flat response anyway though, his eq curve ended up looking like a smile face, just like 99% of the rest of my customers.

 

I see

Install came out looking good, props.

 

I appreciate the compliment. I spent well over 120 hrs on the project. I originally had a different design for the amp rack, but changed it to incorporate the frosted plexi amp rack with white LEDs to immitate ice (bc the customer plays professional hockey)...

 

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As for the original post, sound deadening your doors will make a HUGE difference as far as midbass output...

These are pictures of where the install of the escalade started from... Removed entire interior for sound deadening and running wire...

Edzy... you're gonna be stoked with your system once you finish those last few upgrades you mentioned! (sound deadening and electrical). Your stereo will sound completely different.