Hey Everybody,

I want to upgrade the audio in my '04 TL to sound balanced (tired of midrange heavy sound) for classical as well as some acoustic rock/blues music... Any ideas and recommendations for a complete setup including speaker and amp replacement (if necessary)?

Thanks,
TL-Rocket

 

Check out DIYMA.com - Car Audio Forum & 12 volt Community Board for some great information. My suggestion would be to hit up some shops and listen to some different systems. Good luck and keep us posted. I'm hoping to get my system started in the next few weeks

 

There is nearly no midbass in the stock setup. I would suggest that you amplify the stock front components and see what you think. Prolly best bang for the buck. Or check mybuild thread. Search " mild grade fever" and see what 1k will do.

 

You first have to start with a budget. Next decide if you are going to do the work yourself. Don't forget you will need budget for sound deadening and door treatments. Cars are very challenging acoustic environments and in my opinion equalization will be a key to achieving the type of results you are looking for.

 

I agree with the others. Don't worry too much about what type of music you will be listening to. If it's built well it will sound great on every type of music. Obviously it will make a difference if you want great sound quality at 140db vs sane listening levels.


The safe plan is to go larger and with more power than you will ever need, assuming it's in your budget. A single or a pair of large subs sealed or IB works well. A ported sub tuned low will work well. I feel like the do it all sub setup that's equally at home on hip hop, classical, rock, etc, is an IB setup with lots of displacement but that's bordering on personal opinion as much as fact. I like large midbasses but that's only possible if you go with a 3-way and I don't suggest a 3-way if you're just starting out although, my first 3-way which was a Dynaudio 342 system sounded very good right out of the box with no tuning and install was very simple since it was a dome midrange which I really liked.


There are many great setups and practically endless combos of drivers and amps to go with once we have enough information.


I absolutely love having a real sound stage where the instruments are placed across the windshield as they were when the recording was made. There's real depth, the width extends just beyond the pillars, depth out on the hood. I can hear where the singer is, if he/she is walking across the stage, where the various instruments are, etc. I had no idea that kind of information was contained in a regular stereo recording but it's all the if you use a processor. I almost with I had never gone active with a processor because it's very hard to go back to a normal system after that. I'm not used to hearing sound coming from the speakers or being able to locate the speakers, I'm used to hearing individual instruments and voices coming from various locations on the dash due to processing.


That's the thing about car audio, it can become like a disease. I used to make fun of people that spent what I spent on a system and I had no desire for processing. But once you get that live sound with life-like dynamics you won't want to go back.