Hey, finally got motivated to fix the stereo because I have to listen to it so much driving to work. So I got a little carried away and ripped out the whole interior and I'm redoing everything.

Now I am looking for some suggestions on what setup I should put back in. I am going to have 2 12" subs in a box in the back. So I want to get rid of the stupid 4 way 6x9's that are in there and replace the 4x6 craps, looking for something that can go loud and stay clear. What is the best route?

Put a 6.5" component in the 6x9 slots? How well does that fit? and do something similiar up front? I will probably run 2 amps, one for the subs one for the 4 components. I'm not looking to drop a huge chunk of change or comp. quality stuff, just looking for middle of the road good sound. I haven't bought audio stuff in so long, just trying to figure out what brands are decent.

 

You can fit 6.5s in the rear pillars just fine. Alot people just run an amp'd set of 6.5 comps in kicks in the front and leave out the rear speakers. Depends on your preference: some poeple like to be surrounded by sound, others want to make a sound stage come from in front of them. The second way is cheaper.

If you want loud and clean, you'll need a good set of comps and a good RMS rated amp.

 

And for good brands...

Infinity, JL Audio, Alpine, JBL, Pioneer, Concept, Rockford.


Generally, stay away from or at least be cautious of...

Sony, Pyramid, Road Gear, Jensen, KOSS. (Generally, anything you can get at Canadian tire or Walmart)

6.5" Components in the kick panels, and a couple 12's in the back will be plenty.

Speakers in the sail panels are at your discression, but if you do put speakers there, just use some 2 way 6x9s or maybe a pair of 6.5" coaxials. You'll probably just want them to help fill out the sound a bit, but not to take away from the front end.

Hope this helps.

 

Basically just compare the cost and ratings of the brands. For example:

$30 speaker set claming "1000 watts" on box
versus
$80 speaker set claiming "150 watts" on box
=
Go with the $80 set.

$100 amp claiming "500x2" or "1000 watts"
versus
$100 amp claiming "40x2" or "80 watts"
=
Go with the 40x2/80 watt amp.

If the wattage claim for the price sounds too good to be true, 99% of the time, it is.

And as was mentioned, watch out for "copycat names"... Rockwood is a copy of Rockford, Soundstorm is a copy of Soundstream, etc. Some junk amps even copy the appearance of quality amps! I wouldn't quite call a Sony amp a quality amp, but look at how Legacy (cheap brand) copied Sony's amp: http://www.epinions.com/Legacy_Compa..._LA970___LA970

 

Good advice all around, I was aware of some of the cheaper stuff, I mean its not hard to figure out wal-mart isn't selling top quality audio equipment.

I found a setup I like let me run it by ya
I think kenwood is still alright? I know I love my home audio kenwood reciever.

$69 Up front two Kenwood 4" components with seperate tweeter
$100 Back two Kenwood 6.5" components with seperate tweeter
everything rated 50w RMS@8ohms I think that should be plenty loud?

Amped with a RF Punch 400.4, 50wx4 RMS @ 4ohms.
Or something similiar I am going secondhand or ebay for the amp.
$150 Soundstream 45x4RMS @ 4ohms.

My main concern is fiddling up front, I'd like to keep it as simple as possible, in the back I won't have a problem fabbing the brackets and making crap fit. But up front i'd like it really easy to just stick in whatever and be done and have it fit fine.

Maybe I'm just weird but I don't really prefer the music to come from in front of me, shall I say I listen behind me. My ears face back? lol

Well after kicking around what the hell to do all night I decided I'm going to go 4x Alpine 6.5" comps all around and fiberglass some kick panels, first set of speakers is on the way so I can make the kicks.

 

I am basically looking for same thing as you I think. Right now I have stock speakers and a new pioneer HU that has 4x50watt outputs, and 2 duel preamp outputs...not completely clear on what this means, but it should be enough to run components and an amp with 2 12"s or 10"s in the back. I have no idea what speakers to get, around 50watt each for the component stuff, 2 mids and 2 highs?....looking to spend around 300 total for amp and subs..maybe a lil more

 

Yeah you should be able to run some comps off your HU, I went with 6.5 alpine type r comps all around. I am going to amp them however and use another amp for subs. The dual preouts means you have front and rear preouts, ie you would be able to use the fade control. I don't have a sub an amp recomendation but I think the older RF subs sound good, two of my friends have them. I wound up getting an alpine amp, haven't heard anything bad about them.