lurch519

its not hard to make a speaker fit in the factory location. as you have the bose system, you have a 9 inch hole in the door. you just have to make a baffle plate to mount the new speaker on. you dont even have to mount the tweeter (if you do components) in the factory location. i mounted my component speaker and tweeter in the factory 9 inch location using a baffle plate.

unpocoloco

Oh...I don't have the bose system, actually. That complicate things in regards to the components?

unpocoloco

Secondly, your advise. Getting an amp will:

a) Not really change the sound much. You'll just use a volume setting of 5 instead of 15.
b) Help the sound a little bit, but is not essential.
c) Really make a difference in the sound quality. Don't leave home without it!

I don't quite understand why (c) might be true, though I suspect it is. My reasoning is that if the stock system can make the speakers play at X decibals loudness without straining the system, then it shouldn't matter. I can understand that once the system starts reaching the limits of its power, then distortion can become an issue. So maybe if I really crank it up I'll notice a difference. Otherwise, I won't see the benefits of the amp. True or false?

lurch519

(c) is the correct answer.

yes, if you really crank the system you will notice a big difference. its always good to have more power than you actually need, so if you are listening to something really dynamic, and the volume suddenly goes up in the track you are listening to, you wont have distortion.

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

Have you considered Pioneer 6x9 5 ways for the rear? I had a pair of these in my last Mazda 626 and with an amp, they sounded pretty sweet!

http://www.discountjungle.net/catego...___pioneer.htm

unpocoloco

Oh no...I just realized that the 6x9's I were looking at (the Infiniti Kappa 692.7i) are 2 ohm impedance. With the stock system, this is going to be a problem, isn't it? (I thought the stock rear 6x9's are 4 ohm...)

Edit: Oops, looks like the 6x8's I want are 2 ohm also. Oh man!!

WikkedOne

2 ohms is no big deal as long as you get an amp that is 2 ohm stable... most decent amps are. Just make sure before you buy one. I have the Alpine PDX 4.150 and if you look on Crutchfield it has this line -- "150 watts RMS x 4 at 4 ohms (150 watts RMS x 4 at 2 ohms)" which means it will do 150 Watts RMS for each of the 4 channels on either 4 ohms or 2.

unpocoloco

okay I actually decided to not get an amp (...yet. Maybe in the future). Still a dealbreaker?

Also, where did you put your amp out of curiousity?

WikkedOne

it's the one on the right.. the other amp is a PDX 1.1000 for the sub.. these amps are TINY and so little heat you wouldn't believe it. they also have the same footprint so if you wanted to you can stack 3 of them on top of eachother!



I just used a peice of 1/4 in wood first bolted to the bracket thing thats in the side (where the carpet screws are) and the amp comes with screws to drill into the wood. it was a pretty easy install

and all the controls (level crossover ect..) are behind the front faceplate so you don't have to try very hard to get to them which is a problem i had with alot of amps before this one

WikkedOne

As for how much to actually SPEND this is what I spent -- That amp (the Alpine PDX 4.150) cost me 550 shipped on ebay. Alpine 5x7 components (with tweeters) for the front cost 120 and 6x9 rears cost 100. The wire for the amp you will need about (i'm trying to remember) 17 feet of power wire for the amp and double that if you want to run your ground back to the battery. You can get good 4 AWG wire kit (4 AWG is way more than enough) for 30 bucks. and speaker wire will be another 20 or so

so amp 550
fronts 120
rears 100
wire 50

so 820 bucks for a REALLY NICE setup

TIME is the big deal here.. if your going to do it all yourself plan a full day if you know what you are doing and have a little help

2 - 3 days if it's just you and you've never done it before

the key is to take your time with everything.. make sure all the wires are run correctly and hidden well. that way you don't have to go back and fix something

unpocoloco

What if I just put a 2 ohm resistor in series with the speaker? On the return path, so the signal isn't going through a resistor. Not that ideally the resistor should affect the signal quality, but just to be safe. This way the head unit sees a 4 ohm impedance? Good idea / bad idea?

lurch519

you will need a huge resistor if you do that, a 1 watt resistor is usually on the order of 1/4 inch square by 1.5 to 2 inches long.

unpocoloco

Oh yeah, I hadn't really thought about the practical aspects of that solution. Oh well. I wasn't too comfortable with it anyway. The real issue is whether replacing my 4 ohm speaks with 2 ohms is going to either (a) damage the speakers or the head unit, or (b) adversely affect the sound quality.

unpocoloco

Does the 8 have strangely sized rear speakers or something? On Crutchfield's website, I entered in the info. about my car and matched it against "See what fits." For the 6x9's, here's what fits:

* JBL Grand Touring Series GTO927

This completes the list of speakers that fit. The Infiniti Reference 9613I speakers that jstkilntim recommended...classified as "don't fit". Nor do the Infiniti Kappa 682.7CF's that I was eyeing. Pioneer TS-A6991R 6x9 5 ways that Jedi54 suggested? Nope.

ARGH!

WikkedOne

yeah they say that because crutchfield is retarted. the only thing i use them for is finding out specs about something that I have already picked out.

Just about ANY 6X9 speaker will fit the rears.

as for the 2 ohm issue.. i don't know and wouldn't chance it.. either get 4 ohm speakers or a 2 ohm stable amp

unpocoloco

Was speaking to a salesman today who said to install a set of 6.5" components in the front would cost around $150. That seemed LUDICROUS to me. I asked how much he charged for a set coaxials and he said around $90, and was pretty offended when I mentioned that the very same store quoted me a price of $57 for this type of install. He said there was no way it could be done for that price, that "he would work with me" (ie bring his price down some) but there was a "lot of work to do...take off the panels...uh...I'm xxx ceritified, blah blah"

That makes me really angry. I think he was taking me for a sucker. It should NOT cost $90+ to take off a panel and switch out a single set of 6x8's for another set of 6x8's. Right? I have an easier time believing $150 for components, since there IS more work to be done there, but I'm not even sure about that. Again, I'm talking about ONE pair. So he wants $300 (probably more since the rears require more work) to do the install.

It also annoyed me that they would keep going off and pimping their products that I wasn't interested in, then because I would continually pass make me feel like I belong in a Circuit City, not a true car audio store. If I didn't go in there with a really firm understanding of what I was looking for, and wasn't good with keeping a tight grip on my wallet, I'd easily have walked out with $2000 of equipment. I understand that you can go nuts with this stuff (and I can also understand why you'd want to), but there has to be some middle ground between $49-$89 Circuit City bottom-of-the-line brand name speakers, and totally hooking your car up with state of the art sound. So when I come in looking at speakers to buy, I want to look at speakers. NOT learn about the Cleansweep unequalizer for $300 and how much performance I'm sacrificing by sticking with the stock headunit, and then what I could do with a pair of 10's. Oh, you don't have much room? Don't worry - these 10's are really thin, see? Also this 200W amp for $499 will really bring the sound out. Sure it's the size of a small suitcase, but man the sound it'll bring out and the reliability of it are incredible. We will have to work with you to get a custom install done for those 10's but we can make it fit without taking up too much room no problem.

NO!! I just want some #$#$@* better speakers, and an amp if necessary. Damn!!

unpocoloco

Also, what do you guys think of these amps? The answer to that probably depends on what you expect to get out of them. Ok. I want something that will bring my speakers to life, since a lot of these aftermarket speakers really need an amp to bring out their true performance. I am NOT looking to build a really loud system. Therefore I think even a 100W amp is more than I need. In fact, I'd prefer less power, because that will be cheaper and most likely smaller. I really want something small that won't break the bank.

So, a few from Crutchfield:

1.Profile AP740 60Wx4 Is 90W x 4 for 2 ohm speakers. $130 (I want this one. I like that price)

2. Audiobahn A4004V 50Wx4 Is 100Wx4 for 2 ohm speakers. $260 (This one is a lot prettier than #1. Same size. I'd love to pass it up)

That'll do for now. I'm tired of car audio Getting to the point where I just want to either buy whatever or buy nothing at all...

jstkilntim

^^ Yuck! ^^

unpocoloco

I finally know what I want: this!