Hey guys, i'm not very knowledgable on car audio, and spend most of my time in other forums on HT, but my current cd player has taken a **** and I need to get a new one. Also, i am looking to upgrade my front speakers to a nice component setup and upgrade the rear speakers. I am NOT looking to do a sub/amp or anything fancy for that matter, but i would like a nice quality midrange headunit and nice sounding speakers all around. i'm looking to spend about $350 on the headunit, and around $200 on the components and $200 on the rear speakers.

Any detalied suggestions with pics and model numbers would be great and please try to keep recommendations in my price range. Also, i am not really interested in cutting or fabbing anything to make the new speakers fit, i want to get speakers that will fit in the OEM locations of a 94+ 2dr Integra. TIA!!

 

I have heard, and installed many systems and in my opinion an alpine deck is a must or in a pinch the pioneer is also good. As for speakers boston rally components up front with rallys also in the rear. Another great sounding peice is alpine type S components (new for 2004)
and alpine type S coaxials in the rear. Stay away from high end speakers like alpine type R unless an amp is used on the speakers other wise it will sound terrible. These items should be in your price range and the sound will please you! Hope I helped!!

 

Head units - Many choices, I prefer Kenwood excelon, such as KDC-X869 (320 on ebay) or Eclipse 5441 about $250.

Components - MANY MANY good quality inexpensive choices. You can pick up some really good speakers if you get 1 or 2 year old models on ebay, such as Rockford fanatic Q's (FNQ3614) or JL Audio XR525-CSi for new ones.

rear - JL AUDIO EVOLUTION XR570-CXi

 

thanx a lot guys, i'll look into you're suggestions

 

Check out the crystal component speakers. They are low cost, and the sound is crystal clear (crystal is not just a clever name), paired with a good amp, they will work wonders

 

Here is somebody selling the Eclipse 8443 for $300 shipped on Sounddomain.com
http://forum.sounddomain.com/f...63779

 

i have a much better option. spend 350 on your HU, spend $200 on your front components and instead of rears, spend 200 on an amp for the fronts. rears are useless.

 

Yep rears are worthless..

I reccomend Alpine 9833..

JL XR 650 Csi's for the front..

And a Little JL E2150 Amp..

Would be an awesome setup..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EBP_SI &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i have a much better option. spend 350 on your HU, spend $200 on your front components and instead of rears, spend 200 on an amp for the fronts. rears are useless. </TD></TR></TABLE>
IMO, anyone who would say that has NO CLUE about sound imaging.
Get an alpine deck, they have good power for supporting interior speakers without an amp. I don't think you have enough experience to properly tune interior speakers with an amp on them anyway...and spend the 350 on the deck. spend 250-300 on the fronts. spend 100-150 on the rear, BUT YOU DO WANT THE REARS. you just want the sound biased to the front and the rears providing 'ambiance'.

 

Personal reccomendations:

Eclipse deck (3 series, save a bit of money.. 5 series if you wish to spend a bit more)
Some nice components up front (CDT, Focal, JL, Alpine)
A decent 2 channel amp (instead of rear speakers.. Hifonics, JL, Alpine)

Rear speakers are over rated, and I think you'd be much happier with a higher quality component set (with amplifier) in the front, vs having coaxials in the front and back that are powered from the headunit. A headunit will only give the speakers around 11-18 watts RMS (depending on the model), vs an amplified component set which (depending on your choices) would be closer to 75-150 watts RMS. It'll sound better at lower volumes and higher volumes, and as long as you read the directions and follow 'em you shouldn't have any real problems with distortion or speaker damage.

The other reccomendation I'd strongly suggest would be to pick up some sound dampening products (www.secondskin.com has some great stuff) to 'seal' your door. You just apply this stuff over the door panel covering up all of the holes, which builds a pseudo enclosure for your speakers. This'll improve your midbass and sound quality dramatically, and will also help reduce some road noise.

Hope this helps

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nontent &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Personal reccomendations:

Eclipse deck (3 series, save a bit of money.. 5 series if you wish to spend a bit more)
Some nice components up front (CDT, Focal, JL, Alpine)
A decent 2 channel amp (instead of rear speakers.. Hifonics, JL, Alpine)

Rear speakers are over rated, and I think you'd be much happier with a higher quality component set (with amplifier) in the front, vs having coaxials in the front and back that are powered from the headunit. A headunit will only give the speakers around 11-18 watts RMS (depending on the model), vs an amplified component set which (depending on your choices) would be closer to 75-150 watts RMS. It'll sound better at lower volumes and higher volumes, and as long as you read the directions and follow 'em you shouldn't have any real problems with distortion or speaker damage.

The other reccomendation I'd strongly suggest would be to pick up some sound dampening products (www.secondskin.com has some great stuff) to 'seal' your door. You just apply this stuff over the door panel covering up all of the holes, which builds a pseudo enclosure for your speakers. This'll improve your midbass and sound quality dramatically, and will also help reduce some road noise.

Hope this helps </TD></TR></TABLE>

I agree with you 100%. Go to sounddomain.com and do a search on rear fill. There are about a hundred or so threads that discuss rear fill pros and cons. (More cons than pros though)

Troublecodes:
Why would you want to waste 250-300 dollars on a decent set of componets and power them of the HU.
Also what is your personal theory behind Imaging? I would like to be enlightened by someone who does have a clue





Modified by TnTGSR at 11:51 PM 4/20/2004

 

[<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by troublecodes &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
IMO, anyone who would say that has NO CLUE about sound imaging.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

an interesting and bold statement. so if rears are so necessary why do all high end home music systems have only 2 speakers, and how many music channels are there on a cd??

you also made the statement about not knowing how to tune tehm with an amp?? exactly how does tuning speakers with an amp differ from with a high quality HU?? most amps that i've seen only have Hp/Lp and SS filters on them. the occasional one has the bass boost on it.

 

good replies guys, thanx, anyone else can feel free to chime in