StevenH

I'm lookig in to upgrading my 2000 A4 stereo, the only thing I know about audio is that the stock system is terrible. I only listen to rock so I know I don't need a sub. I am looking to spend around $300. What would be a good setup for around this price. I know people that could install this for me so don't factor that in to the cost. Thanks for any help.

RKA

If you just want to spend $300 now, and that's it, I might be inclined to say buy a pair of speakers for the front ($200). They should be fairly efficient, since they will be powered by the modest factory head unit. Spending more would be a waste of money, and they might not be efficient enough to work properly with the factory head unit.

I would change my tune if you said "I want to spend $300 now, and possibly a couple hundred down the road". Then I might suggest a new amplifier ($300 4 channels). Since you have a friend to install it and wire it to the 4 speakers, that will save you quite a bit. If you do a search here, I think somebody put an Eclipse amp into their stock system and reported some nice results. Down the road, you will want to replace the front speakers. They aren't the worst speakers I've heard, but they aren't winning any fans either. Peter Volpe put an ADS amp into his car with stock front speakers, and then a Phoenix Gold amp. It sounds decent, but those front speakers will only go so far...his amp is probably begging him for new speakers.

Pelican Pete

So my equipment budget was probably about the same as yours. I was figuring on a Bazooka tube or something like that, just to add bass.

Now, I am not as careful with money as I should be. So my total system cost (not including the CD changer which I also installed) is $1100.
It's a dangerous hobby! Once you get started it's hard to stop.

If you don't want to add a subwoofer, I would highly recommend a low-powered amplifier.
The ADS 40X4 was great. But you could probably get a smaller 25X4 amp with plenty of power to drive the smaller speakers.

The reason I upgraded to the larger Phoenix Gold amp was to give my sub the power it wanted.

That alone will be a huge improvement in the sound.
Don't go much above 40X4. I think i toasted my stock speakers with the ADS -- and I am quite sure that I toasted them even more with the PG 75w X4. heheh.

If you want to spend some extra money down the road, then you can add new speakers all around, upgrading to 5 1/4" in the front and 6" in the rear.

But for $300, I would probably suggest an inexpensive amplifier and a set of front speakers.
Go to www.soundhabit.com for awesome prices on good equipment.

Have fun!

-- Peter

ChuckH

...and a factory CD changer in my X. now it looks as though the total bill will be about $2300 or so by the time I'm done, and not a single piece of equipment will be original. I'm doing all my install myself so far, otherwise, I'd be hitting over $3K, I'm sure.<p>Charles
2000 Nissan Xterra SE V6 4x4 (personal)
'98 A4 2.8 Q-Tip (business)

Digit@lex

Hehe, I already new the Bazooka tube wouldn't cut it so I skipped that step. :-)