Hello all,

I bought a '93 C4 about a year ago and have been using it as my daily driver. The previous owner spruced up the sound system a bit a while back, but it seems like its missing something.

He installed a Kenwood Excelon KDC-X689, nothing wrong with it that I can tell other than the faceplate will forget to come out of hiding sometimes when the car is started.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-zw4AGOS...-KDC-X689.html

a Memphis 16-MCA2004
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...6-MCA2004.html

put in what I think are new speakers in the back w/ tweeters


and did the same in the front, but with smaller speakers that would fit in the stock enclosure.

When listening to the system, it definitely isn't horrible by any stretch of the imagination, but it lacks mid-bass and good clarity when the volume is high and has no low end bass at all.

What I am wondering is how do I remedy this? I was thinking along the lines of adding a 10" sub and another amp to drive it, but if need be I'll rip everything out and start from scratch. I'd prefer to keep the amp and HU I have in there though. I definitely have the ability to install anything in the car, but the tech aspect of car audio is something I have very little knowledge in. Thoughts?

I appreciate you taking the time to read this,

Andrew

 

The simplest and cheapest way to get bass would be something like a powered Bazooka tube. You can easily tap the trigger wire on the amp and it has RCA outputs you can use if the HU doesn't have designated sub outputs that can be individually controlled. The only new wires you'd need to run are power/ground unless your amp wires are already oversized.

The high volume clarity issues could just be settings issues, but are probably due to the amp and speakers. Any idea what kind of speakers those are?

If you don't like the idea of a Bazooka, a new single channel amp (around 200-300 RMS) and a 10" sub in a custom built box would be the way to go.

If you want to go all out and do it right, maybe a new 5-channel amp and sub box to go with new component speakers (depending on what you current speakers are).

Yet another possibility would be to loose the rear speakers and use those amp channels bridged to power a new sub.

Others will chime in, but without knowing your budget it's hard to come up with specifics.

 

At the very least, the rears are components. Pulled them out and found that they are Polk EX2560
http://www.polkaudio.com/caraudio/pr...recent/ex2560/

I was going to take the fronts out, but whomever installed them REALLY didn't want them to move . Its got a ring of black putty around it as well as hot glue. So unless I replace them I would prefer not to rip them out to check what they are. The tweeters paired with these speakers are identical to the ones in the back, leading me to believe the fronts are Polks as well. Measuring the width gave me 3 3/4" so I'm guessing the best thing to do with the fronts is fabricate a new enclosure and put some 6"+ speakers in there. I don't know whether it is the car's acoustics, the front speakers, or my driving height, but the rears have always greatly overpowered the front portion of the soundstage. Adjusting the HU to have an output bias towards the front has always given poor results as well.

Price-wise, I'd prefer to keep the cost below $500 if I'm just getting a mono amp and sub. But, if other things need to be pulled out there really is no limit. I'm not looking for an excellent audiophile's setup, but something in the "good" to "great" range.

Looking at items on Crutchfield and comparing them to identical new ones on eBay, the eBay ones are SO much cheaper. Is there anything wrong with buying audio components off eBay?

 

Well, buying ebay parts can certainly save money, but there are fake products out there as well as no kind of warranty for the most part.

You will be hard pressed to find any audio place that is more expensive than Crutchfield. For mail order, their prices are silly. (example: I was going to buy an Alpine PDX 5-channel amp, first look at crutchfield it was $499.00, then I found it on amazon for $372.00......but wait, crutchfield announced an xmas sale; the PDX was $200.00 off-of the new price of $699.99. They are dead to me)

Ended up ordering for $372.00 through Amazon.

 

eBay has it's purpose, I've been buying stuff there for over ten years. For expensive electronics I'll check out the prices on ebay, but won't buy there unless it's -20% or better from a 'real' store. SquareTrade.com offers warranties for electronics, even if they're used off ebay, I got one for my new car amp, which was new off ebay.

There are several forum vendors who might give you a good deal, but I believe most of them specialize in the higher end stuff.

SonicElectronix.com has good deals, or just google the model number of what you're looking for and check out the options.

If you're not happy with your current front speakers, maybe start by replacing just them with 6.5 components (or coax if space limited). See how it sounds with the current amp, then decide on what to do with the amp and sub. If you end up wanting a new amp, so be it, if not then splurge on the sub.

My 5 channel amp, front components, rear coax, sub, and DIY box cost me a total of $500 earlier this year (see sig). I think it sounds pretty darn good for any price, it's flat out amazing for $500. I had previously replaced the HU and was using it thru the stock amp setup.

I've noticed that also, and not just at Crutchfield

 

Sonicelectronix has prices that are waaayyyyy better than a lot of places. You are the first one I know that has bought there, and now that I know you had a good experience, I'll consider them again. C5Bearsfan told me he couldn't touch their prices even though he gets from the manufacturer, which threw up a red flag previously for me.

Ebay is a buyer's beware environment, but I too have gotten some great stuff off of there over the years.

 

WOW the prices on Sonicelectronix are astoundingly better than Crutchfield, some are even better than the ones I had found on eBay. Thank you for sharing this site!

For the time being I think I've decided I'm going to stick with the 4-channel amp, rears, and fronts I have in there and add a mono amp and 10" sub. The more I think about having to work on the car outside this time of year due to limited garage space, the less I want to actually do . The idea of running out to the car and test fitting fabbed mounts for the fronts over and over again on top of adding a sub is far from appealing in this weather. So I plan on doing a 5-channel redo in the spring or summer if I'm not satisfied with the results.

For the 10", I've been looking at JL Audio 10W3v3-4
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...+10W3v3-4.html

For the amp, I'm unsure. Some of the reviews of the JL 10W3v3 say the user is driving it with an amp rated ~300-370RMS and it works well. But, with the RMS rating of the sub at 500RMS, does this drastically reduce the sound quality?

Keeping in mind there is a possibility that this mono amp will be replaced, I don't want to spend too much on it.
The 500RMS option I've found is Kenwood KAC-9103D
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...KAC-9103D.html
And the 350RMS option I've found around the same price is Eclipse XA1200
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...se+XA1200.html

Would either of these be sufficient, or should I scratch the 10W3v3 and look for a lower RMS sub?