Okay, Heya all, I'm new here, so lets get to buisness.

I know practically nothing about Car Audio systems apart from changing the head unit. I've read all the guides here on the site, however I'm still a bit mixed up as to where I should start.

I'm looking to add all new speakers and a sub in my car, amplifier, and what not, but I don't know where to look. I've already got a Sony X-Plode head unit, I figure that should be good enough, not sure though, looking for oppinions on where I should start, what I should get, and if I should get extra things, like a capacitor or what not.


Thanks in advance,

-Noah.

 

The first place to start is to decide what you want your stereo to do.

Do you want to spend a little bit of money and get better overall sound, or do you want something with outstanding sound quality, or very high output levels? What type of budget do you think you want to stick to? Are you going to do it all at once or start with a piece or two and build up?

All those questions will help people point you in the right direction to getting your money's worth.

 

I'm looking to have a more budget system, and like you said, to spend a little bit of money and get better and louder overall sound. I'll assemble it piece by piece, probably only one amp, instead of one for subs and one for high end. I was thinking either one tube sub, or two subs on a kickboard in the back, still not sure, what do you think would be best for a budget system?

 

Plates (or kickboard as you call it) suck. Stick with a tube if you don't go with a regular box. A 10" tube will usually fit nicely into the well of the car.

So, you want a budget system, you want better sound quality, and you want it louder, and I'm assuming that's the order of importance too.

What I'd do is stick with your current head unit. It'll suffice. That leaves you needing a pair of speakers, a sub, and an amp. Let's start with the amp, since that's an easy choice. A 4 channel from a reputable manufacturer that's rated for an honest 50 watts per channel is a great starting point. I'd look for an amp from a company like Kicker, Rockford, Memphis, or similar quality. There are literally hundreds of amplifier brands out there, and most of them probably cost less than the 3 that I mentioned, but quality level and power output varies wildly and you can not trust their power ratings. There are a lot of crap brands out there that make wild power ratings that the amp could never live up to. This is the sort of flea market crap that every teenager has in his car. Then there's the mid-level stuff like Pioneer, Profile, Kenwood, etc that probably makes rated power, but no more. Then there's the upper-level premium stuff that makes way more than advertised power, is built like a tank, and will outlast your car. It's worth the extra money, especially if you can find a good used one or a factory refurbished model on clearance. A 4 channel amp will fit your needs nicely because it'll power your front 2 speakers and a sub, and down the road if you want more power, you can buy a dedicated sub amp and bridge the 4 channel amp to double your power on the front speakers. You wind up with an amp that can grow with your system.

The next choice is the sub. Like I said above, most 10" tubes fit snugly down into the well. You can look for a tube, or you can build a simple rectangular box that also fits down there. A single 10" sub in one of these enclosures will work nicely. Sound quality is subjective with speakers, but it's hard to audition subs because if they're in a different enclosure and/or different environment, you'll only get a vague idea of how it'll sound in your car. This is another situation where you're better off going with a quality brand the first time, although at least here, you have a lot of choices. JL, Image Dynamics, Boston Acoustics, and a bunch of other well respected manufacturers provide good quality stuff at a fair price. There is plenty of trash out there too, with Audiobahn leading the way. There's also another route you can take with subs. There are a lot of small, niche brands out there that offer very good quality stuff at an affordable price. Dayton (Parts Express Home - Subwoofers, Speaker Building, Car Audio, Home Audio / Video, Pro Sound) has their reference series of subwoofers that I'm very impressed with, and intend to use in my car when I redo it. Adire Audio (Adire Audio - Get Serious About Sound) has some fantastic subs. I have an Adire Koda in my Corvette and it is very clean. Other brands include Ascendant Audio (Ascendant Audio-Subwoofers, Midwoofers, DIY audio, Surround Sound, Car Audio), Resonant Engineering (.:: RE AUDIO ::.), and anything that is a rebadged TC Sounds sub will give you a good value.

This leaves speakers. First I suggest putting your entire speaker budget into your front speakers and forget about the rear ones. Rear speakers kill your soundstage, and put the sound behind you instead of up front. Plus, 1 set of good speakers sounds better than 2 sets of cheap ones. The thirdgens are problematic in that you're stuck with a tiny speaker in a lousy dash location. If you want a simple, easy solution, buying a good quality 4" 2-way component set and putting them into the 4x6 location with an adapter is the easiest way to go. There are some coax and plate speakers available, but none of them really offer exceptional quality, though they're not too bad. A much more expensive solution (though well worth the money) is to upgrade to a kick panel speaker system. This requires buying (or building) a custom set of kick panels that can hold the speakers, but the result is well worth it if you've got the money. This is always a good upgrade for later on if you decide to stick with dash speakers for now.

The result of the ideas above will give you a well rounded, budget-oriented system that can be improved upon later.

Here's a rough price breakdown:

Amplifier: $250-300, maybe $200 if you score a good deal.
Subwoofer: $75-200
Sub box: $50-100-ish
Front speakers: $100-300
Misc: (wire, etc) $50-100

Smart shop and you can do a system for $500-600 that will sound great.

 

Thank you for all your in-depth help! Upon further investigating, I've found that the two front speakers (Under the Dash-Pad) are stock, but the rear pillar speakers have been replaced to these.

According to you, I should just not have speakers in the rear pillars, and just get a quality sub and quality front speakers for under the dash?

Thanks again!

 

Yes, that's my suggestion, but your milage may vary. Since you already have the speakers back there, and they're already wired to your head unit, there's no need to disconnect them. Just leave them, and set your fader control to whatever suits your taste. For me, that means fader fully forward.