I recently upgraded to a Kenwood 6019 for navigation. The new HU did help a bit in making the stock speakers sound better, but I'm still not happy. I notice that it sounds especially muffled on alot of XM stations. Any else experience this?

I did alot of searching and it seems like the infiniti kappa's (component up front and coaxial in rear) are the right choice for my price range. I'm sure that this alone powered by the head unit will be a nice improvement, but I'm wondering how much more improvement I would get if I added an amp.

I would prefer not using an amp for cost reasons and I don't know if it's possible to hide it. I would hate to mount something thats visible in the trunk or doing alot of custom work.

Thanks for your input.

 

Dude. You'll never regret getting an idependant amp to run door speakers, especially components. The difference is night and day. Also check out Focal, Diamond Audio, JL, etc for other speaker options.

 

Thanks for the response gram. If the difference is really that enormous over running power from the kenwood HU, I just might go that route.

I would just hate to add an amp and only notice a small improvement over the power that my Kenwood delivers.

 

Not only will the clarity, loudness and accuracy be better, but your speakers will have to work a lot less hard to achieve good sound, where as if you ran it off the deck, they struggle to get loud and this stresses the speakers out. The speakers would rather have ample power thus performing much more efficiently.

 

That makes sense. I'll have to serioulsy consider going with an amp. Is there a place in the sedan that can hide the amp without any custom work?

 

if you are getting aftermarket comp. YES get an amp. Get CDT components!!!!

 

Is the OP looking for brand recommendations?

 

My main question now is what amp and where to put it. I don't want to spend a ton of money. Just want something that will do the job. I'm hoping there is a place to hide it without doing any custom work.

 

if you dont want to spend money and just want to "get the job" dont why not just leave the factory items in?

 

So you are saying go "all out" or do nothing at all? A decent amp and new speakers at a reasonable price won't be better than the stock speakers with no amp?

I've read that just replacing the speakers alone on the stock system makes a nice improvement. Is this not true? I'm confused now.

 

You don't have to go all out with the amp and speakers, just don't get cheap stuff otherwise yo'll wanna switch later and it will end up costing you more. As far a mounting the amp, I mounted mine behind the rear seat in the trunk.

 

Thats what I figured. I'm planning on getting the infiniti Kappa's after reading alot of positive feedback here. I'll have to do some more research on what amp I guess. Thanks for the info.

 

I'd go with a JL slash series amp or a DLS reference amp. They are tried and true wonderful amps for our cars. Yes, you will pay a little more for them, but consider the fact that you are putting dependable, durable, high performing equipment into a dependable, durable, high performance car. Also, FWIW, while I wouldn't run Infinity Kapas in my car, I certainly wouldn't tell people who are looking for an affordable upgrade NOT to put them in their car. I would, however, tell them to splurge on a solid amp.