I recently bought a 2001 acura TL, whoever had owned the car before me had put in a cheap aftermarket hu and did not properly connect the sub, i soon realized that the front and rear door speakers were all shot. i am looking to completely redo everything form the hu to the speakers to the amp to the sub. any suggestions on whether or not i should or brands for the above items or is anyone looking to sell any of the above parts?

 

I always recommend a solution involving active crossover/processing, with individual control and amplification of all the speakers. Doing this makes for a convincing and engaging soundstage with high a great image, especially if A-pillar tweeters are installed. By processing each speaker, you can time-align them so the sound stage is centered, crisp, and coherent. If you are trying to make an enjoyable and realistic sound system, this is how you achieve the goal.

Equipment recommendation:

JBL MS8 processor. Sure its not cheap, but it will serve as your processor for 8 channels which makes it extremely versatile, but it also serves as a mild amplifier for some of these channels (20W honest per channel.) These processors run anywhere from $500-800 depending on where you shop. Tuning is done with a display (included) and a set of stereo microphones attached to a headset. Processor is set up (easy), and then you sit in the car with the headphone/mics and it makes changes to the tune. Manual tuning (more bass, etc) can be done after. Use the built-in amp for the rear speakers and MAYBE the front tweeters.

4ch amp, 5ch amp, or maybe a pair of amps. This is more your choice of course, as there are tons of amps worth looking at. We can dig deeper later, for now budget $200-400 or so.

Head unit. My favorite units are the Pioneer AV-H series. The 3200DVD is what I have, and there are a couple others too. They work perfectly, fit the hole in the dash kit made for our vehicles perfectly, and are versatile and easy to use.

Sub and sub box. I'm a huge fan of Acoustic Elegance AV line. Aside from that, there are 100's of options here too. You don't have to pay a lot to get a lot, but you do want to buy or build a box properly suited for the sub you choose. Say $50-250 for this side of things + box.

Front woofers: Best thing about running active is you don't have to resort to buying a "component" set of speakers. You can buy individual drivers, and enjoy the combo. Again, 100's of options here, but for the sake of a discussion, here's my first suggestion: http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=264-852 ($38.64 each)

Tweeters. Again, 100's of options, this one comes to mind: http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=264-804 ($20.90 each)

Rear speakers can be WAY cheaper, you only want to have these fill "fill in" so you can really go inexpensive here. https://www.madisound.com/store/prod...roducts_id=634 (pair for $62)

To wire it up, budget about $100 for your 4 gauge power wire, ground wire, RCA wire.

 

What's your budget

 

i don't really have a set budget, what i had in mind was a project to do over the next few months, not really just doing it all at once. and fourthmeal thanks for all the input it really gave me an idea of prices and what i needed.

 

Not a problem. If you have no budget, the best thing to do then is to figure what your first "phase" is. My suggestion there would be to get the processor and front speakers, and let the processor run them off its own power. This is better than a regular head unit can do, and for a first stage it will have excellent payoff.

Next stage can be the sub side, next after that could be the HU, and then finally you can amplify everything.

In the middle of this, do not forget deadening. My choices are www.sounddeadenershowdown.com and www.raamaudio.com and the BXTII product (not the first version.)