OK, so I'm looking down the road a little, thinking of my next system in my RS. What I have now is really nothing special, Kenwood deck, Clarion front dash speakers, Radio Shaft 6x9s rear.
What I want to know is: What do you guys recommend for the stock speaker locations, no sub box (don't want to devote the space) tuner, amp (not a huge amount of wattage, my hearing isn't that great anyway ) and CD changer.
I tend toward median-priced components, hence the bang-for-your-buck thing.
Any ideas? Thanks.:hail:

 

i never thought i would wan't a sub eather... too impractical. once you hear a good system (not thousands of $ here, good not great) with a small (one 10" or one 12") sub , you will be surprised how you listened to music without one.... a ten would not take up to much space... what kind of deck are you running, kennwood but how many watts?

 

The Kenwood has 50 watts I think. I'm not even running an amp right now.
I'm not sure I'm going with another Kenwood, though. It's been a good unit overall, but it wasn't too old when I changed it very carefully from one car to the next, and it seemed to lose a good portion of its volume. It sounds fine, just not as loud. I think it's still slowly going away, though.
And the reason I'm leaning away from the sub(s) is the fact that I want to keep the car usable for traveling without having to worry about pulling something out and putting it back.

 

Decks, I love alpine. Speakers, I love infinity.
You actually have several options with subs. Especially if you dont want 4 12s
You could do something like this


Or you could do this


Or this


Or you could make a box filling just half the well. I cant find that pic right now.

The first two are Rezn8rs(subenclosures.com) and the third is my setup.

Brian

 

Hey brian i really like your box and i'm seriously concidering doing the samething, would that box fit on the LH side of the car too you think? so u could have 2subs one on each side of the car or is that overkill?
also could u give me the dimensions of your box? and it's a 12inch sub correct

 

Its a 10. You can fit a 12 it will just be a bit harder to get in and out. I believe that you can fit one on the other side, but I think you have to gut it out. I like my sub in there. Nobody can see it and it still hits pretty hard. I am probably going to make a fiberglass one this summer.
I dont remember the dimensions. do a search for spare tire sub(or something like that) and look for threads started by me. I posted them a year ago or so.

Brian

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...spare+tire+sub

 

Really, guys - Thanks for the replies, but I don't see myself with subs. I'm not crazy about giving up the space, because I use it pretty regularly. I'm also not taking the spare out, as I like to drive this car hundreds of miles from home and not worry about it too much.
OK, maybe I'd better level with you - I'm an old married guy, and I think more practically than I used to. The sub ideas are good, and much appreciated, but I'm just not interested. I'm really looking for component recommendations for the rest of the system.
Thanks again for your help.

 

Well then my recommendation would be to head on over to a local car audio place where the speakers can be heard side by side. Remember the sizes (4x6 for the front, 6x9 for the rear). Since better deals are *almost* always found on the internet, have the dude give you a quote on the speakers you liked the best (thereby he is writing down not only the price, but the manuf and model of the speakers)...then go online shopping! Different speakers sound better/worse depending on the listener and the budget.

The # of watts of your kenwood really doesn't matter if you are going to go with a small amp. Same thing goes with the internal amp of the unit fading out. Hopefully your kenwood has the 2 sets (4 total) of preouts. That's what you'll be using for the signal to the 4ch amp... then wire the amp to the 4 speakers. Since it's a budget system, you can get a 4ch wiring kit at Wal-mart that is decent or go online shopping for that too...

It's not really too hard. I wired my 'basic' system up in about 4 hours the other day. Now I am running pioneer 4x6's and 6x9's a RF 4 ch amp and an alpine HU. Sounds pretty decent for what it is...and I have power (RF amp is awesome) to up the ante on the speakers now...

Just don't get addicted!

 

I suggest you look at subenclosures.com for front kickpanels and put some components in. Then change your 6x9s and run a 4-channel amp to power it all. If your really concerned about space you can mount the amp in your backseat. Try a search on that, I know i've seen it a few times. Good luck.

 

If you are not going to go the sub route, then I too would suggest this.

Brian

 

as for midgrade cheap amp, (and i'll probly catch flak for this) Jenson amps have never let me down..

they're cheap, the upper level ones (NOT the 250 and lower watt ones) sound decient and i had one mounted upside down where the stock computer used to be in the dash, and it never failed.

as for the sound quality, i had a 250 watt one and it kinda sucked, but with their 300watt one, it sounds great... my roomate has a720 watt one in his car and it sounds great too..

and they are much cheaper then "name brand" amps.... great for thoes of us that want decient and loud sound, without spending alot of money..

 

The only flak you'll get is using 'Jensen' and "midgrade' in the same sentence!

I'd rather buy some better components 'used' than Jensen 'new'... but maybe that's just me.

 

I would strongly think about MB quart 6x9's for the rears... I put a pair in driven by a 150 watt amp and am loving them. They put out clean clear music through the whole sound range.

 

Pardon my ignorance, but what does "MB" stand for?

 

Here

Brian

 

Thanks, lots of useful info there. I'll have to look that over when I have more time.

 

Question: How much sound can I expect from the kickpanel setup? The reason I ask this question is; Long, long ago, in my first car, I mounted a pair of decent speakers (for a 16-year-old kid in 1980) in my kick panels and couldn't really hear them unless I almost turned the rear speakers off. Don't get me wrong, those look like a quality piece, but I can't help remembering my previous experience.

 

The rear speakers are usually louder, which isnt a good thing. If you have components(good ones) and power them, you wont have the rears over powering them.

Brian

 

Thanks for your ideas, opinions, and links. I now have something of a plan.

 

here is my setup. I found this about 2 years ago and I had to have it. fits like a glove, no mods necessary. Paid 180 for it I think and man, does it ever hit. People have described it as deep as a 12, and with the punch of a couple 10's. they find it hard to believe it is only a single 8"



heres a pic at night with a couple 6" Neons inside. Just for kicks.... wired it to the courtesy light back there, and it comes on automatically with the hatch open, and off when its closed.....



And the amp that drives her




I tried to conserve as much space as possible. I built this box a couple years back, but it doesnt really sit right and only holds one type of 10, the kenwood tornado is the only 10 shallow enough for that box.



What do you guys think???

Will

 

my setup is a kenwood deck with infinity 6.5 inch components up front and mtx 6 by 9's powered by a jbl p80.4 amp


i love the jbl amps...good power and price...

it sounds like i have subs (if you are on the inside of the car)...

then again i have a second gen, so i dont know how having the speakers in a sailpanel would make it sound different..

 

I think with the kickpanels in the front you will have a lot better sound. It won't have to be faded to the back. Im sure it will put out plenty of bass for you.