If all goes as planned I'll be getting some MB Quart component speakers/tweeters installed on Monday. Those stock tweeters and door speakers just aren't meant for a high powered amp. They actually sound like crap compared to the Alpine TYpe S 6X9s in the rear. I can hear those 6X9s over all the other speakers. I really need to get something of higher quality to take full advantage of having an aftermarket amp powering my speakers. The MB Quart component set costs $450 but i think it's going to be well worth it (it better be anyways).
I figure since i've spent as much money as i have so far on my audio system i might as well finish what i've started and do it right so that the speakers i hear the most are of the highest quality. I'm not planning on replacing the rear door speakers yet becuase those are probably the least important ones as far as my listening enjoyment is concerned. I'll probably just wait until i blow them and then i'll replace them. THen again, i never planned on dropping as much cash as i have on the stereo but i do love my music loud and clear.

here's a link
http://www.mbquart.com/2003/en_US/pr...&model=PCE+216

 

I have alpine type-s in the back doors. The front speakers are stock still. But I do plan on ungrading them to type-s components. I've always liked alpine and know they make quality audio parts.

Besides I plan on upgrading my whole car to the S-type status. So getting the type-S speakers is a good start.

Hey Jigga, your sig is getting as long as mine used to be.

 

I put the Alpine type S in the front and back doors, and left the stock tweets. It sounds terrific, and with the RF sub its just the type of system I usually have. Not bad for about $300 total. $100 for 4 Alpines, 100 for the amp, and 100 for the sub/box.

 

how much would it cost to replace the stock amp? cause now that i think about it, i wouldnt wanna really be running my type r components and type s 6x9s off the stock amp.. so how many channels do i need, and how much would i be looking to spend?

 

my alpine 4 channel amp cost about 350 and than there was like an additional 100 and some change for labor and any accessories needed to wire everything properly. The good thing is that it IS possible to use the stock HU with aftermarket amps. I'd hate to have to lose my steering wheel controls or destroy the look of my dash. Plus an aftermarket HU just lets all car stereo theifs know that you're car is worth breaking into.

 

so if i ran my 6x9s and type r components, would i only need two or a four channels?

 

either....depends if you wanna run a passive or active setup. active setup means that you will be biamping, one channel for each speakers. If you wanna run it off a 2channel than you gonna have to brigde it, and lose the fading control. there are advantages and disavantages to both, but i prefer an all active setup as it gives you more tuning abilities. remember that your speakers are only gonna sound as good as the install.

 

well the speakers fit in the doors but their was some cutting required. also the one inch tweeters fit and the shop was able to maintain the stock tweeter grill covers. still having some other technical difficulties and will keep ya'll updated.

 

man i really hope that i get my car back today and that everything is the way i think it should be. i'm getting tired of having to tell car stereo installers that i think something is wrong with the job they did. anybody reading this who hasn't gone down the road of stereo upgrades and is considering it make sure you have plenty of patience, DO NOT assume that a professional stereo shop is going to do anything right the first time and make sure the place you take it to has a great reputation.

 

hmmm, they needed to cut the door? i want to install my speakers myself, and if MB Quarts require cutting, i might look elsewhere. i can't find any dimensions on the RCE 216s though. hopefully they're smaller than the super-speakers that you bought, jigga. good luck with your install.

 

jigga,

remember that these guys specialize in installing, and prolly nothing more. how your speakers sound after the install is dependent on how skillful their tuning skills are. how much work they put in measuring frequencies, what the correct xover slopes are, etc.... will greatly affect how your speakers sound. to make sure that your installers are good tuners, ask them some simple questions like if they used an RTA, and what your crossover pts are for the tweets, mids, and subs.

A good sounding system should focus on the following in this order.

1. INSTALL ( location, speaker installation, box size, basic xover pts, and frequencies)
2. Speakers (front stage)
3. Sub
4. Eqing
5. Amp
6. wiring.

 

ok here's the update-apparently the signal from the HU is pretty weak so the shop had to turn my amps up pretty high to get good loudness out of the speakers. unfornately the was causing the sound to clip at high volumes which is what the crackling sound i heard was. The solution was that they needed to install line drivers for the front and rear channels in order to get a stronger signal going to the amps. The result (the shop owner told me, i haven't picked it up yet) is now a system that is as he put it "mint". The subwoofers are louder and the speakers can be played full tilt without any clipping because of the line drivers boosting the signals to both of my amps. I'll let you all know my official analysis after i hear it for myself. Ciao.

 

Does that mean their using the stock amp?

 

no, i'm still using two aftermarket amps and the stock one is gone. IT's just that the HU doesn't pump out a very strong signal.

 

jigga....i really hope you didnt pay 450 for those speaks man!! i ahve the same ones sitting on my florr waiting for install, and i paid $250 for them off of ebay......and i got the same series 6x9 for 150 off of ebay also, all is brand new. then i ahve the 6.5dkd's for the rear door....


but, let me know how they sound since you and i will have the same system almost!! and post some pics, if you can!!

thanks man!

 

i paid 500 with installation for the speakers. i know i could get the shit off of ebay for less but i just feel better knowing that i can go to the person face to face if i have any problems with it. either way, all i can say about my sound system now is that it is out of this world. i'd have to say that it is practically perfect. those line drivers really did the trick and now my highs are super crisp and i can't hear any distortion in my car when i turn it up to ear piercing levels. my system is now probably overkill which is the way i like it because that means i can beat on it and it will keep on ticking. the best part is that it still looks completely stock. as far as pictures goes, my interior looks the same as any other TSX without Navi.

 

I agree. I even buy the Circuit City warrenty. I have a tendance to blow speakers within two year, so this works well for me. And it cheaper in the long run.

 

Store I had the speakers installed did none of this. Just put them in and said the car was done (I was there the whole time). Sometimes I wish I lived in a bigger city -- more store options...

The right crossover bounces all over the place. I'm removing the glove compartment sometime this week to reach the animal and tighten it down in place.

 

slooo,


you can actually learn how to do all that yourself, its prolly better as you can sit there and tune your speakers to your liking. here is a link to get you started. http://www.bcae1.com/

ill be putting my system together soon as the semester is coming to an end. ill take some snap shots for you and prolly can walk you through. trust me....its worth all the effort as it will sound alotz better!

 

here is another great read. enjoy

http://teamaudionutz.com/tutorials2.htm

 

Hey tuan.... did you get my private message?

 

hey alt...i just checked. ill email you in a sec.

 

Thanks. I'll be checking this out over the weekend.

 

slo007 do you have TYpe R 6X9s?

 

No. I unplugged the rear deck speakers. I haven't decided whether I should remove the OEM set or not. Any insight?

Since the amp is hanging under the rear deck, the sound from the subwoofer would not have a clear path of travel to the cabin. I wonder if it matters at all.

 

read those articles slooo before you do anything!

 

I will! I'm not touching anything until I have some references for and against. I don't want to waste my time.

 

i have 6X9s installed and i have two boards behind my rear seats in the trunk that have my amps mounted on them and the bass still shakes my whole car. plus the sound is so much fuller with the 6X9s added.

 

Are the 6x9s type Rs?

 

no they are type S. i'm thinking about swapping them for type Rs though because i think their sensitivity rating would be a better match for the MB Quart.

 

Here are some pics of the MB Quart crossovers mounted underneath my passenger seat. The seat has to be moved all the way forward to see them. When in a normal position the crossovers are hidden.

 

i also want to add that since i installed the MB Quarts in the front doors and had them put in a dynamat door kit there are now no rattles from bass. Whereas before i used to get rattles coming from various places in my doors when my bass was turned up too much.

 

I used to have a CD changer there in my last car. It used to piss me off when the passanger would move the seat up and the person in the back would kick my changer. I hope this doesn't happen to you.

 

i think i'll be ok. that seat is ALL the way forward and i don't ever have any passengers who put the seat in that position or anywhere close to it. but i'll keep that in mind just in case.

 

why didnt you move them further in? was there no space?

 

no there isn't any more space to move them farther forward.

 

I use Boschmann component I got it for $280, it sound just as great as the MB Quarts.

 

so Jigga----how about a full summary of the details of your system? It seems the details are spread around in several different threads.

 

Full Summary-

When i first decided i was going to upgrade my system. My only plans were to replaced the door speakers. Once i set foot in the first car audio place i went to my plans went out the window. I instead decided to add subwoofers and and amp to the stock setup. I went with two Kicker Comp series 12 inch subwoofers in a sealed box and a Kicker 400 watt 2 channel ( i think) amp.

After having that installed i thought that it sounded like shit and brought it back to the place that installed it. They informed me that i blew the amp (in two days!). They tried to tell me it was my fault and i told them that was bullshit. They made a second attempt at the job and this time used a 600 watt Kicker mono amp. It sounded better but not much at this point. Until maybe a week later i discovered that they wired it backwards from the HU and that when i removed one of the RCAs the subs came to life.

When it came time for the next portion of my stereo money pit i went to a different shop. At the second shop i had them install Alpine Type-S 6X9s, remove the stock amp and replace it with an Alpine MRV-F340 4 channel amp. They didn't have enough room to mount another amp on the back of my rear seats because the Kicker one was already there. So they custom made a wall behind the rear seats to mount both amps on and then put another wall behind that so you wouldn't see all the wires when you looked in the trunk. It also helps with keeping the box from messing up the wires if it moves around at all. Which because of the way i drive sometimes would be a good possibility.

This brought me to my next discovery of something "not right". Mind you i didn't really know shit about car stereos prior to all this (i learned real fast though). When i turned the system up to loud volumes after replacing the stock amp i could hear crackling sounds coming from the dash tweeters. At this stage all my interior speakers were still stock except the rear 6X9s. The installer concluded that the stock tweeters probably were blown or couldn't handle the added power of the new amp. That really didn't bother me to much because i was already planning on upgrading to component speakers anyways. So i went the MB Quart PCE 216 component set. AFter they installed thoughs the tweeters did that same damn crackling shit. I was really getting pissed at this point and had to fight really hard not to lose it. So the shop spent another day testing my system to find out what the deal was and determined the signal from the HU was too weak and was causing the system to clip at high volumes. So they installed two line drivers (i forget what kind, but i know they cost me about $100 each) and that made ALL the difference in the world. They were able to turn the gains way down on the amps but the system now was loud as hell and clear as day. Problem solved.

So now they only stock audio components left are the HU and the rear door speakers. I plan on leaving the HU alone because i don't want to ruin the look of my dash and i like my steering wheels controls. Eventually i will replace the rear door speakers with some MB Quart Reference 6.5s. I also wouldn't be surprised if farther down the road i decide to get some different subwoofers just to try something different.

Phew, my fingers are tired now. Hope that answers all questions...

 

Can you find out what brand/model? My gains are still set a bit high and I noticed a crackle there other day coming from one tweeter. I fixed the boucing crossover behind the glove compartment (It was completely loose! There are only idiots at these audio stores...), but I'm not sure that was the problem.