Ray Khan

I have the stock symphony system right now and I want to upgrade a little at a time. I think what I want to do first is add bass. I listen mostly to rock music and the 6.5's in the rear get so muddy with heavy lows of Metallica and Tool type music. My orginal idea is just to add an Infinity Basslink. It's cheap and simple....but I think maybe getting an enclosure and living with the loss of trunk space may be the way to go. Will just adding a sub (whether it be the basslink, or a 10"-15" enclosure and amp of come kind) be worth it, or should I wait until I can afford to do the lower door panel speakers and amp as well?

So what is the weakest link? Is it the lack of bass? If I have to do one thing, what is it? What will make the biggest difference for now?

12V A4 Phil

that is the best place to start. you might look into JL.. they make a 6.5 inch sub that you could replace the rear speakers with. You would still need an enclosure but you wouldn't loose much trunk space.

Merkin

you then lose minimum room and pound like no tomorrow.

Ray Khan

some 5.25" MB Quarts for the doors, 6.5" MB quarts for the rear deck and a decent 4 channel amp to power it all with, where is a nice cheap place to buy this stuff? I suppose I can live with a single 10 or 12 in the trunk. THe stealthbox isn't worth the $$$ to me.

mike-lur

since you do not have a bose system to worry about, i would probably upgrade the interior speakers and add an amp (front more than anything else). a 4-channel will cost more up front, but will be the efficient route to go when adding a sub. you will be able to transfer all the interior speakers to the front 2 channels and run a sub off the rear two by just simply moving a couple of switches and adding speaker wires (ie. you will not need to run new bigger power cables or spend extra on distibution blocks, etc). the only real justification for having sep amps for subs would be a class d amp, but come on, if you are not going to run lots of subs, you really are not going to notice it that much.

the jl6w0 is amazingly small and only needs .15-.20 cu.ft. if small is what you want, give them a look. a pair of these blows a lot of people's minds. then again you could run a single 8 or 10 which may make you happier, especially with metallica and tool. btw, cheap and simple is just that. the mudiness you are experiencing is due to power, as well as bass overload creating some distortion. more power will clean this up, but you will really not get anything overly satisfying without a sub. you really need to have power on the interior speakers if you are going to get a sub installed. i can't tell you how many cars i have been in with tons of subs and sub amps with the headunit running the interior speakers, it's just simply not the way to go, unless bass and horrible sound is the most important thing to you.

but honestly the best time you can spend is find a competent installer near you and consulting with them. the money spent is more then worth it for a quality install, plus they can show you tons of options to choose from.

kuhl

Learn from my mistakes. I started by adding a Blaupunkt passive subwoofer ordered via Europe...big waste because it only had a 6.5" driver and should have been mounted in the cabin. Round 2. I bought a 5 channel Eclipse amp to power the stock speakers and added a 10" Boston Generator sub (mid price point). Next I upgraded the fronts to 5.25 Diamond Audio M5 components...huge audio upgrade. Lastly, I upgraded the measley rear fills with some Pyle Milleniums that were dirt cheap put a definite step up. Beware...its a sickness.
Kurt

HDClown

But first my advice.

1) Do the sub + dedicated sub amp. 1 10" or 1 12" will be plenty for most people, and will be for you I think

or

2) Buy a multi channel amp (5 channel or 4 channel) and use the sub channel for the sub (5 chan amp) or the rear 2 channels (4 chan) for the sub.

a) Buy a 5 chan if you have a huge desire to have rear speakers
b) Buy a 4 chan if you can live w/o the rear speakers.

I have no rear speakers. Don't need them, don't want them honestly. So you can save cash on the amp if you get a 4 chan.

If you decide you want rear fill, replace those LAST. UNPLUG the factory rears after you've upgraded the fronts and installed a sub. Listen to it for a while. See if you like the way it sounds, if you do, your done. If you don't, THEN go get rears.

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Ray Khan

couldn't I just run the rears with the 4 channel amp though? I'll Do what you say first...amp (4 channel most likely, 10-12" sub and 5.25" in the ddors and see how it sounds with an with out the rears. Thanks for all the good info.

One more question. How much power do I want/need for the fronts and the sub? I'd like to keep the whole project under $1000 (not including installation as I might do it with a friend). I think that's pretty doable for $1000 or so and getting decent quality stuff.What woudl you reccomend for an amp...it looks like there is decent stuff in the $300-$450 range no? So let's say 12" sub, 4 channel amp, 5.25" for the doors....what do you reccomend? if I can keep it under $800....I can throw in my tint too :&gt

Ray Khan

great info....thanks

Ray Khan

thanks....good info