I want to get better sound but not too good with electrical stuff so i want to do a direct drop in. Which speakers do i need to buy? I know there is the fronts mid and rears. Which one should i buy first and what else do i need? currently have the bose system. What are the best speakers i can possible get with the direct drop in?

Fronts/ tweeters?

Mids?

rears?

I know people recommend the infiniti kappas but which one in particular? And are there any better 2 ohms speaker that is a direct drop in? I've search but all i see are the kappas, not not sure which one of the kappas to get.

 

nothing is TRUELY drop in... you pretty much always have to do some sort of modification with speakers.
if you want instant sound improvement put a new deck in there...
But swapping speakers without swapping the amp or deck is pointless and your money will be wasted

 

well little mods i can handle..but how come people are like swapping kappa and saying the sound is like night and day?

 

I would have to agree with TroysG. If you want better sound you will have to check it at the source, the deck. The speakers just reproduce what it is being fed...so a bad signal is still a bad signal regardless of how good the speakers are.
Alternativly you can get something to "clean" the factory signal instead of getting a new deck (Ie. CleanSweep by JL)

But in terms of good speaker sound...if it is just you an a passenger you only really need to be concerned w/ front speaker. Get a good set of components (speaker woofer + Tweeter + crossover) I currently have Alpine Type X's and they are great. I have had Focals...they are awesome but expensive, and JL's. But i really couldn't tell any differences untill I changed my deck.

Hope that helps!

 

I have been very happy with my Focal K2P's.

 

Depends on what you are after. You can get front/twitter dropped in like me (kappas) and you will hear better hi-range (tweeter) than your stock bose speakers. I also added JL sub with JL amp. I would say that that it now sounds better than stock, but still nowhere as good as upgraded headunit + amps + speakers + dynamat. Given that you are in SJ, you are welcome to check out my audio anytime...

 

hey tbg35c you going to be free any time this weekend or next? Or you planning on going to any of the beshoff mini meets? Kinda wanna check it out and get some input from you.

 

Sure thing man. I should be in the southbay meet friday with 350z. Check it out in Norcal section. I will be there kinda late though.

 

In my experience people want to upgrade before they know what they are after, so this is kind of important, as you don't want to upgrade something and then realize that you up graded the wrong thing.

the first question that I would ask would be "what type of "better" sound are you trying to get?

with the g's and especially with the bose there are a lot of options, but also varying degree of costs. If you want better or crisper highs, I would check out the kappa comps, but nothing in the low end is going to be better. No thump, nothing real serious.

However, if you are after better full range sound, you might be better saving your money for a bit. The culprit of the sound is not what you might think... it's the factory amp.

Again, more info is better, but in the 03-07 (not sure about the 08's and up) bose systems, the deck passes an unmolested signal, that is actually clean. When it reaches the amp then it gets all effed up and eq'd, crossover, etc. So the solution would not be changing the HU, it's actually removing the amp.

IMO this is what I would recommend according to the typical listening tastes that people have....

Rap/Techno -- Sub and Amp...leave the fronts/HU/AMP/Speaks alone.

Rock/Alternative -- this would be two parts ... upgrade amp and fronts, (this will help guitars kick drums etc. sound best) and then add sub and amp for the low end.

Top 40/ Easy Listening -- upgrade fronts with matchable impedence (like the kappas)

My guess, since you are looking to upgrade speakers instead of doing a sub would be that you fall into the rock/alternative category. I would first upgrade the amp, and put in a decent set of front components, adding a full door of sound deadening. (don't worry about the rears...as they are useless, but you will lose the sub--my theory here is take one step at a time...if you want more, you can always upgrade and add (a sub), but once you've bought you can never go back)

Here are a few things to think about....

if you want decent midbass, normally people think adding a sub helps. Have you ever heard a double kick drum sound sloppy in someone's car? slow? late? just by a millisecond---i can't stand this. The reason...the sub is trying to play midbass (100-250hz) notes, which is incredibly way too high for a sub to play.

also, upgrading the fronts and not sound deadening the doors will not improve lower midbass response due to phase cancellation. Too many times customers would upgrade their door speakers, only to be dissatisfied because they skimped on the dynamat (or whatever you use)

some people will tell you when adding an amp and keeping the HU that you will need a line out converter....DO NOT USE THIS. It in most cases will provide low signal quality and possibly create noise. Using a LOC to convert an already low level signal does nothing but harm it. Your HU has balanced differential signals going to the amp...this signal, contrary to the typical RCA, offers superior noise rejection, which is why a lot of amp manufacturers are starting to have "balanced input circuitry" that allows that type of input. A cheap JL amp will accept these inputs.

Hopefully this gives you some things to think and ponder about. If i have confused you in any way, please ask more questions so it can explained to you better.

Cliff Notes: "drop in" arrangements will only provide sub-par improvements...more needs to be done to have a drastic change in quality

 

^^ Agreed 100 percent with mattyjman. Very well summarized.

 

awww thanks alot mattyjman....helped me alot..

 

I believe you can get some improvements by the addition of new speakers but the best improvement there is probably better quality of speakers and not necessarily better sound. For example many factory speakers age quickly due to the cone construction so you can get an improvement with new speakers utilizing better construction techniques and materials.

But in reality to do it right, yes you need a new setup after the head unit. As mentioned above handling the differential signals is one of the main keys to success. Right now I am looking at a local company in Washington (state) that sells units that according to response from them use IC based differential inputs to their line of equalizers, crossovers, etc. My opinion is to do the crossover prior to the amps driving the speakers. One of their typical setups is to take the balance outputs ( front/back ) from the head unit feading an equalizer that will then split this to sub, front/back, and then feed the crossover which feeds the amps.

If you want to roll your own converters you can make ones that can be used for speaker levels or for low level balance outputs that are not inductor based like most LOCs are. What one is looking for are balance recievers. If doing fairly long runs on some vehicles to the back I would also consider balance transmitters at the head unit. In reality the head unit is already using these but by adding a set you can increase the signal to noise level substantially. Many will do this for aftermarket head units with rca outs to convert to a balance output but it may have some benefits even for systems with balanced outputs to start with. Some are using balance transmitters which output a signal as high as 50 volts. I would not suggest these for your Infiniti unless you are already experiencing some noise as for most what you now have is 'good enough' as far as noise.

 

tightvpkid, if you have any other questions, feel free to ask...the nice thing is that you don't have to do all this yourself, just know people that know how to do it. I wish I knew how to do all the perrformance stuff on the car. Anyway, I hope this helps steer you in the right direction.

 

Which Infinity Kappas are currently the best one to go with for a direct drop in? There are the reference, 60cs, and a bunch of other ones.

Infinity Reference 6020cs

Polk Audio db5251

Infinity Reference 6030cs


Infinity Kappa 50.9cs


Infinity Kappa 60.9cs

And some other high end ones too. Which one will be the best for a drop in for now. Not sure about switching out the amp yet. I just want a better sound for now and will slowly work my way up.

 

60.9cs.

The reference are 4 ohm and not good, although they are cheap.