Hey guys,

I'm looking to upgrade my audio system in my 2006 3G TL, but I know absolutely NOTHING about car audio lol .

I'm looking to just provide a general upgrade to the stock system, but I listen to a lot of house/trance/electronic music and music with a lot of bass. And I guess I care more about sound quality than loudness. I'd like to keep the total cost around $1000, but it's somewhat flexible, as long as the upgrades are worth it. Trunk space is not too much of a concern for me, although I'd like to keep it reasonable.

At the moment, I'm looking at the following items but I'm really open to any and all advice you guys can provide...

Image dynamics cxs 2 ohm -- $210
Massive nx2 -- $140
Image Dynamics idq 10 / ssa dcon-15 -- $140-210

... amp for sub
... sound deadening material
... processor


Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

Image Dynamics produces very good equipment.
You might also consider a HDD for Cd storage.
My system is the stock MDX Advance ELS and all is fine.
I would never want to go back to non HDD storage.

 

EL_PIC, thanks for the input.

anyone have recommendations for what sound processor I should get? And what amp for the sub?

 

I would raise the budget on the fronts a little or buy used. This will make or break the system. I'm a huge fan of Dynaudio for their life like sound and they will take a ton of power while sounding great. With these you don't have to choose betweem sq and spl.



If you have the space, definitely go with that 15" sub for both sq and spl. It will hit just as tight and hard and quick as a 10" while requiring less power . It will hit the lows with much less power and less distortion.

You can always go infinite baffle which will give you amazing sq and cut your power requirements in half while taking up very little trunk space.

If you're going with a processor, the amp's features such as crossovers are not as important. I would go overkill in the power department because it will improve dynamics at any level and clarity at high levels.

The MS8 is great for beginners since it autotunes for you. You'll get 80-90% as good as a manual tune processor in 5 minutes that would normally take months of adjustments. Others are the 360 and Bit One.

 

alann: Any update on your project/research? Im considering a basic sound upgrade very similar to yours.