Hello Everyone,

I want to upgrade my speakers... I really enjoy my music and want something great! Im going to be taking my car to a shop but before they pitch me into any of the stuff they recommend i want you guys to tell me what to look for and what is some good stuff on the market now. Thank you.

 

budget?

do you want to keep the stock head unit?

 

I already purchased a Kenwood head unit. I didn't install it yet. As far as budget I would be willing to spend up to 2k if its going to be mind blowing.

 

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/...tte-build.html

Amps: Alpine or Rockford Fosgate
Front Speakers: Focal, JL Audio, or Alpine
Subs: Sundown or JL Audio

 

front stage morel hybrid 6.5 components, $500 shipped if you haggle with dynamic autosound

rear fill probably a morel tempo ultra in your size $200

sub. JL 10w6v3 $400

JL HD 900/5 amp $750 if you're tight on room, slash 300/4v3 and 600/1v3 if you have more space

this is a system that will produce very good SQ and get loud if you so want to. the deck matters, hopefully it's a decent kenwood like a 9904s and not one of the 2 years or older quirky decks. alpine currently has the best reasonably priced SQ decks on the market

the JL hd is the best sounding digital amp i have heard yet if you need the smaller footprint but they still aren't as natural or dynamic as the slash amps. they are however better than the rest of the easily available class D amps. ARC is the only other digital amp i would demo. they however are larger and often class G which makes a guy go back to the slash if you have that kind of room. the 300/4v3 is a very refined class a/b amp

audison currently makes the best sounding car amps i have ever heard at any price but the thesis is large and expensive and those are the ones that really shine. the thesis amps are the car equivalent of what threshold was in home audio in the 80s. built by fanatics with the best of everything. the lower end stuff is nothing special. not bad but just meh...

the old lead designer for precision power when they were a dominate american brand is now the guy in charge of the JL amps. the slash amps still have that magic. for the price they are my favorite amps on the market

 

very good info i will do some more research on that, thank you. as far as the kenwood i have a DNX893S which should work fine.

 

Are you doing the install yourself? That makes a difference on what you will be able to buy. A lot of shops don't want to install brands they don't sell. If you are installing yourself you can buy whatever you want. I am also a big fan of JL Audio, especially their subwoofers and it's my understanding their amps are pretty special, also. I think Alpine head units offer the best SQ with Kenwood very close. As far as speakers, I haven't tried the Morel, but I am sure they are awesome. High end JL audio, Rockford Fosgate, and even Alpine are no slouch though, either. What kind of music do you listen to? Do you want accurate, deep, gut wrenching bass? Do you want to keep as much useable space in the cabin as possible or will you sacrifice for sound? This would help in dialing you in on a system designed for you.

 

I dont think i wanna do this install myself, swapping out the cars oem electrical cables for bigger gauges looks like a headache.

I dont want a system that i will be rolling down the windows too and half a mile down the road you will hear it.

i do like bass however when its too powerful its not my cup of tea.

i dont care about trunk space... my trunk is always empty.

For music i mostly listen to stuff that you would find in a club, but more of vocal club. not just a beat throughout the whole song....

 

I would look at a good set of components for the front. Don't skimp here as they will be critical to overall sound. Do you have a targa coupe? In my Z06, I can only get 5 1/4" speakers in the back for rear fill. Depending on what you have I would suggest some good coaxials there. For a subwoofer, a JL 10w6 in a sealed enclosure in the center rear well would be awesome, a 10w3 a good second choice. You could then select either a good 5 channel amp to drive everything or a 4 channel amp for mids and tweets and a mono amp for the sub. I would also recommend when you have the interior out, to do a sound deadening treatment and make sure you do the doors. It makes a huge difference in road noise and sound quality of your system. Also, have them do the big three upgrade which will improve electrical current flow for that hungry amplifier(s) and is very inexpensive upgrade.

I found this thread interesting. It is a list of what is considered bad, questionable, good, and elite car stereo brands. I agree with most of the list:
http://www.caraudioforum.com/showthread.php?t=337891