Looking to replace my stock door speakers with a nice component system. Not sure if im going to get a sub so my questions is which system is known to give a nice throaty bass while still retaining decent high and mids?? your opinions are greatly appreciated

 

I see subs as a pita. No matter the box design it sooner or later will be in the way. For s.q. reasons I'll once again be fitting a sub into my system, looking at the new jl slimline. I was considering the memphis mcsync 8" for the doors in leau of the sub. It's a 8" mid-bass with a convertable tweeter mounting system. Woofersetc. has them for $270.00 a pair. Of course they'd like an aftermarket amp pushing them.

 

JL ZR series is nice for the money, check it out

 

Decent bass out of the doors is a tough one, because the road noise eats it alive. I tried lots of stuff and ended up with an active set up including Dynaudio 8" midwoofers @ 350 watts each.

For in the box - Focal K2 power series.

 

Second on the Focals. Did two installs with those as add ins on no sub systems. They play low enough to give the impression of bass. Although the addition of a sub would complete the spectrum.

 

thanks for the input guys

 

Focal all the way for components.

My wife has Focal Access 165s in her car and they are fantastic. I have the Polyglass components in the Vette and they are great as well. I couldn't really tell you if I notice much of a difference in the two versions, but regardless, Focals are awesome.

As far as a sub goes...I have a JL Stealthbox and really like it. The only thing I could say is you could also get one of the empty Stealthbox-style enclosures someone here on the forum makes for the C6 and fill it with whatever sub you want.

Here's the one from the forums:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...1866082&page=5

In that regard, I'd suggest the 11Kv.2 Subwoofer from Elemental Designs with the NINe.2 400w amp. That's what my wife's car runs and it's fantastic. Very responsive, tight bass without any distortion at even the loudest volumes. You can go to Elemental Design's website and use their package builder to get the sub/amp together. You'll save like $50 total buying them together. You can't beat the price for the products. In the end you'll have a sub setup that out performs the Stealthbox for less $$.

I've actually considered swapping my JL sub for one, but I've decided the W3v2 sub with the 250/1 amp is good enough. That and I really don't feel like spending another couple hundred bucks and then having to mess with swapping amps.

So to summarize...get a set of Focal components. My guess is that you'll notice such a great improvement in the sound with that, that you'll notice even more that you'd need a sub. Then get one of the Stealthbox-like enclosures, put a eD sub in it and run a eD amp to power it. You'll end up with a better sub/amp than you'll get from JL and the Focals will sound great!

 

I would recommend ARC Audio amps for performance / $. Very good stuff, especially the new KS series. Robert Zeff had a hand in them, and they aren't terribly expensive. Rumor has it that Zeff might know his way around an amplifier.

I'm sure Spkrboy will chime in with his informed opinion about ED subs... Personally I like Image Dynamics, though they are getting a little expensive for the performance lately.

 

OK Kale, I'll bite. ED subs have been a large disappointment in my tests. They're not close to claimed specs and don't perform as well as cheaper OEM drivers. Dayton, Peerless, JL and ID (to name just a few) are easily better quality and performance.

 

Thanks for all your input...much appreciated...After much reasearch I ended up going with a really nice MB Quart component system...140rms just couldnt pass up on the 110.00 price and i think it will serve my purpose.

 

I suppose that's a good deal, if you like ear-piercing highs, sibilance, loads of harshness, and a lack of appreciable warmness or bass.

 

You guys no longer have the right to call ME harsh!

 

Well you can be a little harsh sometimes... But you're never MBQuart harsh

 

So Kale tell me how you really feel about them MB Quarts??.....hopefully with the sub things will even out. Either way it will be a vast improvement over what ive been hearing for the last 6 months in my car so im sure ill be happy with it. Its funny you think they suck so bad because ive seen some really good independent reviews in audio mags. http://www.mbquart.com/all/downloads...nce_RVF216.pdf

 

MB Quartz used to be really, really good speakers. Recently ( I guess not recently now, I've been saying recently for years...) they were bought out since then, so ymmv.

If you tend to listen to your music with the treble boosted really high, and the bass and lower midrange cut down, then you'll probably like them.

If you like the cymbal crash to have an extra SSSSH to it, and female vocals to be a little sibilant... it's not a bad choice.

Still for $110, there's not a lot of other choices. It's good that you didn't get a CDT set and have to suffer with the world's muddiest midrange.

And Reference should not hurt your ears quite like the QSD series - or so I've read.

I would give those about ~100 watts and cross them over at 80hz @ 24db.

From reading up on these particular speakers, it looks like people are installing the tweets off axis (as is typical of a metal dome tweeter.)
I'm guessing you'll put yours in the factory locations. I would suggest trying them right next to the woofer, as well as in the factory location higher in the door.

Give it a couple days in each spot.

 

thanks for your insight!