Anyone willing to give an opinion it's more then welcome. I have been going back and forth on how to upgrade my system. Basslink, 6x9, coaxial or component etc.
I am real close to doing this so please let me know if I am wrong about something and what brand you prefer. I am going to have a custom box made to fit in the recess of the trunk and put a 10 in. sub with a 250W amp, leave it open(to cut costs vs a fiberglass top) a set of 61/2 components in the door with the tweeters placed in the tweeter location at the top of the door and 6 1/2 coaxials in the rear deck. I prefer to use nonoval speakers all the way around.
The quote is for a Memphis Amp and a Rockford Fosgate Punch 10 inch sub but i am open to suggestions on other preferred brands vs what the audio guy suggested. Any help, much appreciated.

 

Well,
I hate fosgate, you're paying a lot for name. I am currently running 2 10" Alphasonik's. Also, why do you have a preference for non-oval speakers? A 6x8 or 6x9 will typically have a broader responce range than a 6 1/2". On the amp, Memphis makes good units. I also used Memphis 6x8's, was very happy with them. If you have more than one audio store around I'd price different options, but I personally refuse to purchase anything I cannot listen to with my own music. However, they're your ears, doesn't matter if it sounds like crap to someone else, it matters what you hear. FWIW anyway.

 

Getting installed now. Went with Memphis M series components in the front with the tweeter going in the sail panels and Memphis 6X9 coaxial in the rear deck, Memphis 5 channel amp to power the mids and highs + sub, not the rear coaxials. Rockford Fosgate Punch 10 in Sub in removeable box in trunk. Sirius Sportster satellite. Hopefully no problems and I pick it up in a few hours.

 

Why?
What's the point in getting a 5-channel amp then? How do you power the rear coaxials? With the stock head unit?

 

Correct. At first I was just going to get coaxial all around and just power the sub. I decided to get a real nice sounding set of components for the front and power them along with the sub. After hearing it I didn't think powering the 6x9s with the head unit would be too bad.
I went to one place and listened to some high dollar MB Quart components, went back to this place and listened to the Memphis components, 100 bucks cheaper and they actually sounded better imo. So considering my first inclination was to just power the sub I didn't think choosing a amp to power the front components with the sub and using the head unit for the rears would ruin the sound i am looking for. The 6 channel amp was 200+ dollars more then the 300W 5 channel amp. I am obviously not a audiophile so i problem screwed up but this guy gets high marks from alot of people and I asked him if he thought I would be disappointed. He seems to think it will be what I want. I listened to the coaxials with the components flat and they sounded good, then I turned on the sub and amp, Mettalica Fade to Black was amazing. Now you have me a bit worried but it sure seemed to be fine at the time.

 

I'm just asking because I have a 5-channel amp myself, and it powers front and rear (components front, coaxials rear) plus a sub.
Wondering what the two other channels are doing if you only power the front speakers and the sub with the amp. IMO this doesn't make sense... but I'm not an expert.

 

He explained it to me but I am far from a expert. I know he told me the 5 channel would power the front components and sub and the rears would be powered from the head unit unless i totally misunderstood him. i will ask when I pick up the car in a few.
Anyhow, how do you like the sound of your system? What did you use?

 

Alpine MRV-F450 5-channel amp ($300 delivered ), Focal Polyglass 165 V2 components in the front, Focal Access 690 CA 6x9 coaxials in rear, and a Diamond Audio 8" sub. Here is the thread about it.
I love this setup - but it is definitely not for the bass-freak listener. It has enough tight bass for good low-end fill, not some earth-shattering thunder.

 

Check that, I got a MD1000 Memphis 4 channel amp. I forgot, we were discussing the 5 channel and i went with the 4 channel instead, thus the power to the rears will be from the head unit. 5 1/4 MSync Memphis Components, 6x9 Memphis Coaxials and a RF Punch 10 inch Sub. I agree with you. I will have good bass, but not bass freak level. But if it sounds anything like the same setup i listened to it will be a great sounding system.

 

Just looked at your thread. I am afraid mine won't come close to something like that. Simply amazing. I just want to be able to hear my music the correct way and I am fairly sure it was achieved. I tried to explain it to my wife who could care less.
She likes shoes so I said, ok think of it this way. You see this really nice pair of shoes but you can only have 1. The 1 shoe is the music of your chioce, the barefoot is that crappy speaker system from the factory in my 8 The new system is the other shoe

 

Yours will sound great, I'm sure. And the 10" sub will give you more bass than what I have.

 

Ok, got it home. Sat antenna wouldn't work in the rear deck Oh well. One thing though, the bass is subpar. They told me that it takes about 40 hours of playing time for the Sub to break in and it seems like I remember reading this. Sound correct?

 

Um...it is somewhat true, but you probably won't see any drastic gains. Hate to burst your bubble, but I don't find RF subwoofers to be very loud or good sounding. They made a name for themselves years and years ago and now they just market pretty looking crap that people buy because they recognize the brand name.

What exact subwoofer did you get? Also, I can't find any Memphis amp with the model number MD1000 - did you get the 50x4 or the 75x4? I'm assuming 50x4, and the (Stage 1 or Stage 2) Punch 10" subwoofer, given your reaction.

You really should have consulted us before you went ahead with the install.

 

Rockford sells a whole lot of mainstream garbage. They also bought out MB Quart and now the MB line of speakers hasn't come out with anything new in over 3 years. Way to destroy an amazing speaker company Rockford.

Anyways, I'll get right into it. Rockford amps are low quality and "dirty", their subs are subpar, and all their speakers just suck. Rockford is now ONLY a name and whatever quality they used to have they no longer have. I think you should have either went with JL subs or Kicker. Hell, even Alpine subs sound better than Rockfords now-a-days...

 

Well, I am very happy with the speakers right now, and I was wrong about a couple of things.

Memphis M Class Synchronous 6 1/2 components in the doors, tweeters in the sail panels.

Memphis 15-MC69 6x9 Coaxials in the rear deck

Memphis 16MCA2004 5 Channel Amp

P210 Stage 2 RF SUB(If I don't like it I will just take it out and put the JL Sub in there) so not too worried.

The Memphis amp and speakers are great and get rave reviews. The Punch 2, I am not looking for booming bass and when I tested it with some decent bass like Van Halen it actually sounded really good. I also have the Sirius Sportster but I wish I would have held out for the Starmate now that I know it fits in the ashtray. FM Modulator connected and hardwired vs cig lighter and the sound quality is not lacking so I don't know what the Pie would do for me. All in all I think I made a good speaker, amp chioce. The sub is the easiest thing to change. I listened to the MB Quart high dollar components and these Memphis components sounded much better. The highs and mids are easily controllable and sound great. Bass, jury still out.

 

Good choices for the speakers.
6 1/2 makes more sense than 5 1/4 for the front.

If that's the case, then I still don't get it what's the point to power the rear speakers by the head unit.
You have a 5-channel amp and four speakers... the fifth channel is for the sub. So what the heck are then two amp channels doing?
The head unit's amp quality will likely be far from the Memphis amp... seems like a waste to me.

There is simply NO way for an FM modulator to sound like a direct aux-in feed. Trust me - there's no contest. Sound quality IS lacking - you just didn't compare them to know.

 

Dammit, I did it again !! Its a 4 channel amp. I don't know why I keep saying 5. I believe you on the Sat radio but I am trying to decide if its worth the extra dough because i spent a bndle on the car and now i am putting Sat in my wife's 6.

 

Oh, I see - so then they probably bridged the other two channels to power the sub...

Well, maybe for feeding a SAT radio signal the FM modulator is not that big of an issue. Granted, I have not heard how the SAT radio's sound quality is, but I suppose it is not as good as a CD or not even as a high bitrate MP3 source. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
I only know that for connecting a CD changer or a hard-drive based MP3 player, an FM modulator is a poor choice. The sound sucks.
If the SAT radio's sound is just a little bit better than a good FM station, then you won't lose much with the modulator.

 

As far as the sub goes - it's going to sound a lot "muddier" in a car - car cabins have a relatively high resonant frequency - especially little cars like the 8. You're hearing a bump in the response curve that is always there for in-car subs, but it is amplified by the fact that that particular sub already has a high resonant freq for a sub (it has a natural "bump" in output at about 30hz, after which it rapidly falls off) which predisposes it to sounding unclear, dirty, "muddy." If you first listened to it in a shop mounted on a board you were decieved - there was no cabin gain in the store - instore it would have a flatter response curve and would seem to be louder than it is in a car where it has to overcome road noise, engine noise, ect.

 

should have gone with a single channel to power the sub only.. to get its full potential..and adjustibility... use the 5 channel to power the speakers... run the rears off the deck...

 

Not that it matters, but Tamas it is not too hard to imagine the installer using the 5 channels to bi-amp the components (four channels, 2 per side--1 for the tweeter and 1 for the driver) and then use the 5th for the sub.

Having two discrete channels on a set of components can be better for a number of reasons, one being that sometimes the passive crossover can restrict the component set's performance.

 

Thanks for the info - it shows I don't have much understanding about car audio :D

 

DreamWarrior's right - if you ever want to adjust the crossover points of each component you have to ditch or modify the passive crossover. They're nice but often too constricting, and sometimes if they're not the proper type of crossover circuit they throw off your soundstage by introducing out of phase signals to your components.