to be honest, i'm not sure. that's what they installer said was going on. that's probably the case however. i know that the gains are set wayyyy lower now on my amps with the line drivers used. i have two line drivers.

 

joe, with a $500 budget, if you spend $50 of that on damping material, you have $450 for amp, woofer, front speaks, box, and RCA's. That Kicker amp is fine, I'm sure ... and I know there's a 4-channel version... but where do you want your amp to go? If you want it under the passenger seat it probably needs to be an Alpine or Eclipse just for height reasons. If you want it in the trunk, then you need to decide where it goes (which is kind of a pain).

Some people have built a tray hanging down from the rear deck, others have attached it to the sides of the trunk. Bolting it to the sub box is quick and dirty, but complicates removing the box if you need the space - in fact, it pretty much requires you to mount the box to the car is some fashion.

You might wanna consider the amp going under the front seat. That''s close to the factory amp location, keeps the trunk less cluttered, and is also invisible to freelance socialists looking to re-distribute your wealth.

 

i dont think any amps are going to fit under the seats. there isnt much space under there. in all honesty....im not sure 500 is enough to make a worthwhile upgrade.

 

Yea, I dont have a problem with it going under the seat. As long as the wiring is clean and out of sight as much as possible.

Im looking online right now for some alpine or eclipse amps. Any suggesions?

 

misquoted the price/model on the sub before (if you're actually interested in it)

Image Dynaics ID10v3 (2 ohm dual voice coil)
$129
http://www.cardomain.com/item/IDSID10V3D2

the price i had noted before was during a sale at sounddomain

The e10k.14 is also nice (i've got one myself). it's got a 4 ohm single voice coil and works well in a sealed box slightly larger than that of the ID. the first version goes for ~$100 on www.edesignaudio.com and you can pre-order v2 for ~$80, though it won't ship till July sometime.

if you're really serious about putting in the best system you can for $500, read some car audio forums. i like forum.elitecaraudio.com, www.caraudioforum.com, forum.sounddomain.com. there's plenty of threads entitled "best component speakers for <$150", "best cheap 4-channel amp", and the like. you could even buy used and put together an even nicer system. good luck

 

Interesting. All these suggestions for different configurations under 500 and you dont think its worthwhile? I think anything is worthwhile at this point beyond stock. The whole idea here is to get the best bang for the buck. Sure, I could drop 2K for audio. Do I want to? Hell no. 10 years ago, hell yes...

And besides, the wife wants furniture. Im luckly I can do this as it is

 

There seemed to be room under the passenger seat when I gave it a cursory examination. I would double-check before buying anything. The driver's seat is definitely out.

If there's any kind of "brain" under the pass seat then it's out too.

As far as $500 not being enough... let's see:

Box. $59.99 Sealed 10" box.

Door Speaks. $105. Alpine Type S 6/tweet kit.

Subwoofer. $99.95 (JL 10W0 ... probably find it for less...)

Amplifier. $154 Kicker 4-channel KX200.

That adds up to $418 (plus shipping, an amp kit or RCas and wire, and sound damping). Now, that does not cover installation or a line driver. Line drivers go for anywhere from $9 to $50 to $99.

I bet you could save money on the 10" and maybe the box too. If you went with coaxials in the door instead of components you would save 30-50 bucks (and some install work).

Anyone think this wouldn't be an improvement over stock?

 

Really take a look at what I mentioned before... One thing I have learned over time is spend the money for quality even on a budget. You really want to match watts thats needed for sub and what the amp will output. Some of these other subs mentioned are fine, just you will spend the $500 on an amp thats of decent quality to drive them properly. Don't be fooled by the watts that the amp puts out and the watts the sub can handle, back in the day I used a 25X2 Denon amp to power 6.5" speakers and it sounded clearer and played louder then amps much larger of lesser quality. So even if you buy the lower range subs that JL offers and smaller amps that kicker offers they really perform for the price and are true to the specs.

To keep cost down...
single 10" JL Audio 10W0 (http://www.jlaudio.com/subwoofers/10w0.html) with a KX150.2 which is 150w bridged mono for sub (http://www.kicker.com/ShowPage.cfm?...tml&menu=KXAMPS) and a qlogic sub box not vented (http://www.qlogic.ws/2003/products/...&productID=7175).

Approx Price:
Sub = $100
Amp = $100
Box = $65
Total = $265 + install

 

Exactly. Big improvement over stock. I did this amp, sub and a pair of JL 6.5" seperates (on stock amp) in VW GTI and people thought I had my hatch filled with speakers. They couldn't believe the bass and how clean and clear for such a small box.

 

I guess that brings up another question then. Is it worth it to replace the tweeters? Not really money wise but time and effort?

 

To be fair, all hatchbacks are way louder than sedans, so your GTI had that going for it, but yeah.

Not sure if I trust the factory amp to run the new front speaks... but you could do it that way.

 

Lotta difference of opinion on the tweets.

They are not hard to replace, apparently, but if you have a tweeter that is bright or harsh at all you don't want it bouncing off of glass (and tuan doesn't want ANY tweeters bouncing off of glass, but that's just a difference between he and I).

You might be best off disconnecting the front tweets and putting in a really good set of two-way 6" in the doors with a good tweeter. But you'll get plenty of suggestions on this one : )

 

Yes. Do the seperates if you plan to replace.

Seperates will add to install since they need to wire crossover and modify tweeter holder for stock looking install.

*** If it was me I would just do sub, amp for sub and sub box to start. Get it installed, see how it sounds. You will be suprised on how much better all speakers sound once sub is installed. Whats nice about the kicker amp is it has bass boost as well, so you can turn bass down on stock speakers so they wont distort and crank up bass boost on amp to fill in. You can always upgrade door speakers and amp for that later. Prob want to get 4ch amp and power front/rears and replace front and rear door and disconnect 6X9 since they wont add much with the sub taking over.

 

See? I love America!

Personally, I think the mids and highs of this system suck, and I can't wait to rip them out of our TSX.

I understand that you can play with the bass control... but if you can afford to get good midrange, you should, IMHO. Midrange contains most of the sound we hear in music and vocals - if it isn't right, you just don't have good sound. Loud, maybe - but not good.

 

Well that depends what you are looking for. Are you looking for more bass? SQ? SPL? To build a SQ system is very difficult, because car audio represents soo man limitations. Im not sure most people want to put the effort in or have the inclination do it. Can you build a SQ system for around 500? You bet, only if you know what you are doing. Throwing in some speakers with some preset xovers that came with the set probably isnt going to sound all that great to be honest. Is it going to be louder? more bass? You bet. But it still isnt quality sound. Most people get confused with what proper sound is. They think that if some speakers are louder or even clearer that it is great sounding. Something loud and clear still can sound YUCK. If you ever get a chance to really listen to a system that is properly setup, you will know what Im talking about. I honestly feel most people who have upgraded their system really wasted money. It isnt because they didnt have good or great equipment or lack of money. It is because most lack of good car audio knowledge. My advice is read up on alot, and be patient. Go visit some car audio forums and ask questions.

 

Can we piggy back one of these things in there anywhere?

 

Exactly, the mids DO suck. And since I listen to rock, its the most important sound range for me, as well as mid-bass. I like bright hights as well (I usually set the treble 85-95%)

Im pretty much set now on 3ways for the front, amp and 10". I've seen some directional 3ways for the tweeter. Something to consider I guess.

 

Spoken like a true audiophile. Which is cool, but im not looking for mindblowing audio. All I am looking for is an improvement to the stock system. Thats it. Just decent mid-bass, mid and high.

I have listened to systems properly setup at car shows. Yes, they sound great, but yes, they cost $$$$

Also, your claiming that someone could build a super SQ system if they knew what their doing, but arent giving any facts to support that. Is it a secret? Tell us what we need to do besides just saying Yea, it can be done. If you think you have a good setup for around 500, then spit it out.

Hope im not coming across as a dick, but first you said "it can't be done" and now your saying it can. Most of the people that have responed have backed up their suggestions with actual equipment and install suggestions. So whats yours?

 

LMAO

 

Oh well, guess not. lol

 

OK, Joe, here's what we'll do.

We'll order some raw drivers from some distributor somewhere... Speaker City, Madisound, someone like that - maybe some Vifas, Scans, Dynaudios, Morels, Peerless, etc. This will actually be pretty cheap. We don't need grills or mounting hardware.

Then we'll go to the speaker wires at the amp, before hooking up the amp, and use my impedance meter to create impedance graphs of each of the drivers after they have been physically installed in their mounting location.

Then we take those values and plug them into a speaker crossover design program, and come up with some crossover designs that do the least harm, maximize power handling, and are actually perfectly matched to the actual impedance curve of the driver. Then we re-do the designs, using component values we can actually buy.

Then we order the crossover components. Of course, we find out that the crossover components cost more than the speaker drivers themselves, but there is no such thing as a free lunch. We build the crossovers, and then connect everything to the amp. Tune the amp as much as possible (hopefully we get away without a parametric EQ, but if we end up buying one of those, you can get the tuning more screwed up than Michael Jackson.)

Oh, and instead of buying a pre-built box, we go to Home Depot, we buy some 1/2" MDF and some screws and some 3/4" square sticks, and then we go to TAP plastics and get some fiber glass ingredients. Oh, and we steal some sawdust from Home Depot while we're there.

Then we build a custom box out of the 1/2" MDF that fits perfectly into the TSX, we fiberglass the insides and mix some sawdust with some resin and put that in all the joints. Then we wrap it in trunk liner to make it look factory. The 1/2 makes it lighter, the glass makes it more rigid. The box goes off. Of course, we have now lost millions of brain cells whiel breathing the resin fumes...

The components are probably around $500... if we go vifa or peerless and half-ass the xovers.

But you know how much friggin' time got spent? I know how to do it... but I have a life now, and I don't want to spend my days and nights on this stuff anymore. If you were to try to pay someone who knows how to do this, you would find out why none of the kids at CC or BB or GG or Al and Ed's know how to do it... you're basically designing a speaker system from the ground up.

 

OK, I wussed out. We'll get some tin foil, some fabric, and some 1/4" sticks, and some hot glue, and we'll actually mold the sub enclosure into the corner of the TSX trunk, with a 1/4" baffle.

 

What! are you INSANE?? Are you actually suggesting we do this WITHOUT A PARAMETRIC EQ?

You know, this DOES sound like something they would do on Pimp My Ride.

"HERE AT PIMP MY TSX, WE DONT KNOW THE MEANING OF "STORE BOUGHT!" HOLLA YA HEEEERRRRDDD."

:phatyo:

 

elduderino,

nice smart ass reply. im a firm believer that if you are going to something, do it right. If i can learn how to these things, why cant you or anyone else? If you are going to take the time to dynamat the doors and make spacers for your speakers, than why not go all out? You are already 75% there. Anyhow, if you want to spend money for half-ass jobs be my guess. Im simply posting here to help. My point was that if you are going to spend 500, you mind as well make it sound good, and worth every penny you spent. If you arent going to put the effort than dont do it. Spend the 500 else where. Thats my main point. I dont think Im sending out the wrong message here. One of the reason I dont like to post here or get into any of these audio arguments is because so many people on here are so ignorant.

 

So then why dont you give us your definition of what "doing it right" is? Also, I've gone through some of the other posts, and at no time did I ever say "Hey guys! I want to spend 500 to upgrade my stock system, but I want it done as HALF-ASSED as possible."

Im sure you have years and years of experence knowing what is half-assed and what isnt. So, again, why dont you explain to everyone how YOU would do it. Im sure everyone would be much more enlightened, seeing that so many people on here are so ignorant.

Please, go ahead...anytime... :shit:

 

I have many times before. Everytime Ive posted my suggestions I get flamed. HAHA I see no point in repeating myself post after post. If you wanna talk hit me up with a PM or on Aim.

 

Must be tough being the voice in the wilderness that no one will listen to... martyr. WTF are you trying to say here? If a system is loud and clear, the only remaining issue I can think of is staging and imaging... and we ain't building any kicks on this job.

Look, Texas boy, I was designing impedance-matched crossovers for imported Euro-drivers (and getting paid to do it) while you were still spitting up formula. So what? Means nothing.

If you didn't behave like such an arrogant ass, maybe you wouldn't get flamed. The guy wants to improve his sound for under $500. According to you, because he doesn't know good sound, and because no one is hand-whittling his spacer rings from Columbian polyvinyl, and because he (and no one else either) doesn't listen to you, he doesn't deserve improved sound. What an elitist snob.

And the cost in time of doing all that speaker system design should be part of the $500, don't you think? Or is your time free?

 

HAHA...yea...everytime i read one of your post i can really see you are an educated person eldofag. Just because you been building your crap system for x amount of years dont mean jack crap to me. I simply stated what i thought was to be proper, so people dont run out and waste their money. How is that arrogant? seems to be from every post ive read that you are the arrogant one. its funny when i read some of your posts, i just laugh cause you are the one claiming you are in the industry for so long, but you know jack. And when did i say he doesnt deserve good sound? All im saying is some people spend 500 the wrong way. IF they spent it wisely they could still have a great system, but it just takes more work. What is wrong with that? Seems to me like you need to back to go to school and learn how to comprehend the English language.

 

stop being cheap and spend the cash it takes to do it right.

 

Sorry, I dont have any desire to build a system so I can drive down the street and say to myself "HEY EVERYONE! LOOK AT MEEEEE! IM AN ATTENTION WHORE."

But whatever, call me cheap. Meanwhile, somehow my bank account seems to increase in size to actually buy things THAT MATTER TO ME...

How you spend you money is your business. Dont tell me how to spend mine. :sqntfawk:

 

OK, so we've established that there are various approaches to system building and to financial activity : )

So... anyone else have a swing at the $500 pitch?

 

This thread is SPENT. Lock it up and throw away the key. I've got all the info/opinions I needed.

 

Ibtl

 

cheap. hehehe.

 

set the amp to 11 dude.

 

jus playin with you joe.

 

Already done brah.