sockr1

iTrader: (5)

OP what route did you decide to go down for the fronts? i'm in the same boat, but i'm trying to keep door mods to a minimum while staying within budget (around 100-150). right now i'm leaning towards jbl gto608c for the fronts. i'm adding a jl xd500/3 to power a sub and fronts

the link for the ID speakers show they are $2k hahahah (i know they are around 230 but it's just funny)

QuickTL07

Just the heads up, I went to car audio ship about 2-3 of them in Chicago land and one not to far from my work which is Downers Grove, all shops have told me to go with a processor and they wanted to BS me a lot of things so be aware when you go and try to get things done on your car at a car audio ship. After I told them you foll of shit,, their eyes started to glow and I simply told them, I will be back once I get my car completed.

anyways going back to OP..

OP now that you want to upgrade your sound system, have you though of your center channel speaker????

this is a pain in the ass in these cars because the center ch is always on at all times.
Honestly if you want to upgrade your car system you will need a either processor, or you will need to get signal line driver, for what you wanna do or crossover with build in signal.
I'm sure you going to read this and say why the hell will I need all of this... and here is why..

You never want to tap your amps (after market) in to high input, you always want to get the most flat and clean signal as possible. we are lucky enough that our cars have very nice clean signal, and its flat on RTA as it has been tested by many installers on diy.

Why would you need a crossover with singnal booster.

You will be able to connect your stock radio before the oem amp, tap in it and get nice clean signal in to crossover or processor as some of us call it DSP.
From DSP or Crossover network you will connect your amps.

What does that mean, - - your amps will act as amps, you wont do any changes or setting on them other than gain, you want to make sure your amp will no clip the signal that is giving in to your speakers or from the DSP or crossover.

All settings sops and HZ levels and other goodies will be setup on DSP or crossover, this will give you huge amount of control and adjustment over your sound system with power boost signal to the amps.

This was my sound system in Audi






Before removing everything from the car... little demo.

what you hear in this video, is only 4 speakers on and sub, which is, 2 mid bass drivers in the doors, and 2 tweetes, but my system runs ACTIVE no passive crossovers, and 1 sub... you cant experience this over the video but in real life t was insane!

QuickTL07

Your idea will only work if you get crossover with management or dsp, and you will need to get 5ch amp, this will run your mids in the doors and your tweeters at your dash and the sub in active setup.. its not that complicated but it requires some knowledge of how to setup it up properly.

DJ Malacai

I would get a 5 or 6 channel amp. 4 channels to component speakers front & rear. 1 or 2 channels bridged to power subwoofer in trunk. Leave center speaker and stock sub powered by stock head unit.

My car (06 TL) has this setup and everything works great! When I'm on my phone I have to turn down the stereo a lot, otherwise it's too loud.

I hate cars

That video can only sound as good as our computer speakers so it's really hard to tell how it sounds.


I run a Dynaudio Esotar 3 way front end with 2,400w. I have 10s in my doors with very minimal mods and they fit under the stock door cards, you can't tell there are 10s in there. 3.5s in the kicks, and the 4" Esotar tweeters in the dash. Out back are a pair of 15" ID Max subs infinite baffle for sub bass also getting 2,400w.


This is my idea of a sound quality system. Every speaker has almost no visible excursion for extremely low distortion, the amps are a loooong way from clipping or any measurable distortion. I have enough headroom for a very well recorded piece of music to play loudly and accurately without clipping the loud passages. The midranges are free to play midrange without the additional stress of trying to play midbass. It's incredibly clean and dynamic at any level. It sounds just as good on rap as it does rock or classical. It took me a long time to learn that it's easier to get several larger speakers with lots of power to sound really good than small over stressed speakers trying to play too wide of bandwidth. The good thing about the TL is it's easy to fit shallow 9-10" midbasses in the door without lots of modification and you'll never want to go back to a 6.5" once you've experienced the realism of a 9 or 10". An 8" is extremely easy and would be the smallest I would go assuming it's a 3-way setup. I'm bored and just rambling at this point.

Vlad_Type_S

iTrader: (3)

^Love reading your posts about your audio setup haha.

Where did you get the custom kick panels?

QuickTL07

Back to I hate cars

yes I agree with you, 3 way is nice, but I couldn't do that with my Audi, now with TL its a new animal to the game, I'm going 3 way for sure.
I'm not going with IB setup, I'm going with 1 Illusion Audio sub, I know a lot of people love IB setup but I will try custom box first and maybe go with 2 15" IB i dont know what yet, I need to make sure my amps are able to provide the proper ohm load. lowest ohm load i could go on my sub amp is 2ohm.. .so I need to keep that in mind.

for the doors im going with 8" mids, 3" mid-range and 1.1 tweets. Should be a nice and impressive system..

You will never be able to experience any sound system by being recorded and than playback, the best experience is in person..

JPerkMr954

I've been out of this thread, as Im on a search for other things at the moment. To those whom have asked, I havent done ANYTHING yet. Went to a box builder, they told me to go with a totally different build, confused me and I backed away from it for the moment.

As of now, Im going to stick to the original route: Swap out the doors and rears - run a 4 channel... 1 sub in the back- 1 channel for that. If the stock sub still plays then so be it. And I was told that you can pair the center channel to the left or the right. IDK.. once I confirm im going with ID's or JL all around... and either a 10 OR 12 SUB... and box style (Long but shallow placed against the back of the seat, or the UNCLD4 STYLE) I can start buying pieces.

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

if you go the uncald4 style route, check out markland designs, they make a similar box and are about 160 bucks cheaper, if not more

JPerkMr954

Where can I find said individual?

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

search the company above in instagram or facebook. i mostly messaged him through facebook. if you need his email address PM me

JPerkMr954

Ill try and find the page... im going to see if I can just get a long relatively narrow box up against the back of the seat so it doesnt take too much room up. Seems cheaper than this molded box in the corner... even built to specs for the sub.

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

he adjusts the box to your specs when he makes it out of the mold. i got mine for around 240 after shipping. not as cheap as a make it yourself box but it fits perfect and matches the oem carpet

JPerkMr954

240 isnt bad... what sub are you running... and what kinda power to it?

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

infinity 1062w (10", 300 RMS). i'm going to be using a JL XD500/3 to power it and JBL components (gto608C). i'm slowly installing everything, last night i got one door dampened with RAAMmat bxt and ensolite and installed the mid in the door (mostly plug and play, i had to razor blade off some of the white oem baffle so the speaker terminals could fit in).

tonight i'll do the passenger front door same thing. this weekend hopefully i'll do all the wiring, the tweeters,the amp, and mount the sub enclosure. i've already dampened the entire trunk, rear deck, and all the doors.

i tried to find a balance between cost and quality and did a ton of research. i think the total of all my parts was 600 or so. and i'm trying to install everything myself, which is a learning process. my wife was pretty hesitant on this sub addition so i tried to keep the budget down.

JPerkMr954

Ah ok nice... Im look at JL Audio 10 inch or 12 inch W3 ( Recommended RMS Amplifier Power 150- 500 W) with a 500 watt amp specifically for the sub. I havent looking it dampening, I know its functional, just was going to address it if I felt the need came after I got everything in. How much did you dampening cost?

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

i looked at those but used they were still 2x to 3x more than the infinity ones. i got my sub for $60 shipped and i consider it pretty decent quality

the dampening (mat and foam) costs about 160. i did it in two segments...with the oem setup i did the mat and it improved the stock audio by a lot and also cut down exterior noise. now i'm going through and adding the foam on top of the mat and putting in the new audio components.

i even did the dampening on my wife's doors because it makes such a big impact. it really improves how it sounds, both in clarity and mid bass. whenever i get a new car, i'll make sure to do the dampening from the start.

JPerkMr954

I'll have to talk to the installers about some dampening options then when the installation is to occur.

Im still looking at either

JPerkMr954

or this set.... i couldnt combine the 2 links for some reason....

JPerkMr954

I made some calls today and locally can get a custom box built to specs for 130-210... Im just trying to minimize the depth of the box (from against the seat out into the trunk) Gotta do more research, but I think Its finally all planned. (sorta)

JPerkMr954

UPDATE:
So this morning I visited an audio shop to look at some subwoofer enclosures and such and I came across this JL Audio CS110TG-TW3 Sealed PowerWedge? enclosure with one 10" TW3 subwoofer at Crutchfield.com

Not a huge fan of the shape, but the amount of space it takes is minimal. Now, in out conversation, we were discussing in line processors and some thing called mbit. Did anyone need to buy these type of devices?

JPerkMr954

When ADDING an aftermarket amp.... to the factory headunit.... Do you need some RCA adapter? Im just going to go with a since 10 inch sub in the trunk, I think that will get me what I need with 500 watts to it.

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

you will need the wires to eventually become rca adapters to go into the amp. you may even need a y adapter to split that rca into 2 outputs that go into the amp for the sub addition. depends on amp

JPerkMr954

Thats what I figured.... Im just receiving conflicting information about how exactly things get wired up as we have a factory amp already in place. Im trying to minimize the amount of times my center console gets taken part and radio going in and out for things.

pohljm

If you're just adding an amplifier for your sub you don't even need RCA's just get an amp to take speaker level inputs and use the speaker wires going to the factory sub. you don't even need to go into the center stack

QuickTL07

So OP what did you end up doing?

JPerkMr954

I'm about to start ordering soon, as Im tired of researching things lol.... Just going to upgrade fronts with a component set... amp those.... and run a 10 inch in the trunk with its own amp... In the midst of trying to do suspension and other stuff... this is why its taking so much time to proceed... I just need to look now at 2 channel amps.

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

why not run a 3 channel amp?

JPerkMr954

It could be done.... Its going to come down to cost.... and watts available. Im not running less that 500 to the sub... so its depends on whats on the market... JL doesnt seem to make a 3 channel... and this 2 channel seems a bit on the big side in pictures at least...

JPerkMr954

JX360/2 - Car Audio - Amplifiers - JX - JL Audio would be the possible option...

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

i have a 3 channel JL haha, so they do exist
but i don't think it has the power you want (mine has 300 rms to sub)

JPerkMr954

Oh yea, Im just going to look into this 2 channel... and I guess they can mount it in the trunk because there is no where else to put it... lol

pohljm

JL XD900/5. Single amp solution mounted under drivers seat. 4 channels bridged to components thru passive crossovers or you could run active with that amp.

JPerkMr954

That amp is outside of my financial limits. lol

JPerkMr954

im looking at the JL Audio jx360/2 and the jx500/1 based on your suggestions and advisement to leave the rear alone.....

JPerkMr954

Currently debating the JL Audio c2 and the Image Dynamic ctx65... on amazon and ebay are about the same.... UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH decisions.....

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

make sure you check specs on the mids and tweeters and see which one is less work. that's why i went with my speakers (jbl gto608c). i could install mine directly into the current spot without an mdf spacer, and the tweeters just required minor dremel and polyurethane adhesive to fit into the stock oem tweeter housings.

just research what others did to make each fit, and make your decision that way. both are good, but i have no idea how much work each one takes to fit

DiamondJoeQuimby

iTrader: (2)

Have you listened to them both?

JD TL-S

iTrader: (1)

I agree.
4-ch for main.
1-ch for sub.
Leave F center alone.
Are you going to get a 4-ch amp with Hi-Level Inputs ?
Basically running the 4 speaker wires to the amp
Hi-Level input, then 4 wires from the amp back to
The 4 main speakers ? I also want to add a 4-ch for
The 4 main speakers. 50wrms clean each "min".

JD TL-S

iTrader: (1)

I agree.
Did you use the 4 channels for the mains using
The amps Hi-level inputs ?
I don't feel like messing with processors/etc. $$$

I also build custom sub boxes any size. 3/4" MDF pin nails- glued-clamped.
Been doing this for 20 years as a hobbie.
Gurnee-Waukegan IL.