just bought a friends alpine iva-w205 head unit and installed it into my 03 coupe that had the bose system. sound is better, but after dropping 600 on the head unit, metra, and installation, i'm looking to go all the way and get new speakers and an amp if it's worth it. anyone have any recommendations for speakers and an amp in the 1k price range before installation. i'm not really looking to do it myself, so i have to take that price into consideration. if anyone has any match they find superior for that price let me know, i'm in college without much cash, but i really appreciate some good sound. i'm trying to make this feasible for my economic situation. since i paid for 1/3 of my g (5k) im running pretty low on spending money, and the mod bug has hit me hard. and i almost forgot, i listen to some hip hop and rap, but usually i'm listening to pop-punk, alternative, classic rock...stuff like that, so bass is important but clarity is most important

 

i have infinity kappa's and a 4 ch alpine amp, sounds very clear and crisp. if your looking for bass, your proally going to need a sub though...

 

i mean i don't need huge bass, if the bass is louder than the stock i'll be happy. right now it's actually less because i don't have an amp with the alpine head unit (im assuming). sure i'd like to blow some eardrums, but i'm not trying to drop an extra grand on a sub and amp, especially since i dont half *** stuff so id prolly get an alpine type-x like my roommate, but he's loaded so it doesnt matter to him ha

 

i would have to disagree about the kappa's....they are such a forum boner on this forum, typically because they work with the 2 ohm needs of the factory amp, they sound tinny, midrange is garbage, and there is absolutely NO midbass, but there are so many better brands and quality of speakers out there...

my recommendation would be to get a nice 2 channel amp, get a nice set of fronts and forget about the rears... unless you like sound coming from behind you, most prefer a decent front stage...this will allow you to put more money into the front components and amp.

as far as reccomendation's...that's up to you. find a nice shop in your area and demo some speakers...(best buy is not a nice shop..stay away) find out what sounds good to you.

in an install perspective, make sure that you budget some money for dynamat type material...it will really help you achieve a clear sound when you put that on the doors too.

look into hertz, hybrid audio, dls, dynaudio, pioneer prs, alpine type x, image dynamics, rainbow, etc...

 

mattyjman...i was curious about what you said for the back speakers. if i get an amp to power some components (i was thinking of alpine type r's) and leave the back speakers stock, would all the speakers still work? i don't really have the extra few hundred plus install for the type r's in the back, but the front speakers definitely need to go, one gives off some annoying hissing noise sometimes.

i'm gonna go to a shop tomorrow that handled a friend's full alpine setup (hu, amps, sub, speakers) and did a good job to ask him and get a quote, but if you had any input about the back speakers (bc i do agree the fronts are more important, especially since one is on the fritz) it would be appreciated

 

The reference to fronts only means fronts only. That would involve removing or disconnecting the rears. You will only be getting sound out the front components

 

Look in the fs section. I have focal vrs for sale. Sensitivity on them is 94.5. Sounds great with low powered applications like a head unit.

 

If you do that, you can prob just pick yourself a monoblock or two channel amp and a sub. I will have Focal coaxials up soon as well.

 

i just ordered some type r components for the front and type s 6x9s to fill out the sound in the back. i ordered the alpine powerpack add-on instead of an amp bc i dont really need loudness, and i heard the type r/type s setup running on only head unit power and it actually sounded pretty decent, and the G doesn't exactly block out ambient road noise so i think saving the few hundred on a good amp plus install costs was worth it for now until i can afford a great stereo setup with some nice type x's and a pdx amp or something like that

 

If you're into clarity, a good option is to use Dynomat in your door panels and other areas to help dampen ambient and outside noise.

Remember, if you can dampen your ambient (outside / engine) noise by 3dB, thats the same as doubling the power of your speakers. (i.e. 100W to 200W which is also a 3dB gain)

 

where else would be ideal for that other than the doors? i'm not too familiar with it but it sounds like a good idea.

 

i actually just found a great deal to replace my speakers with type-x components in the front and type-r 6x9s for the rear deck so i'm gonna go with that. just wondering if it would be a sin to only use the alpine powerpack to power this system because my shop offered to install it for free because it's a simple plug-in while installing the speakers, and it's so much less than a good amp. once i get more money i'll upgrade to something like the alpine pdx line, but for now would the $150 powerpack upgrade be a good stand-by? anyone use it before and have comments?

 

ABSOLUTE SIN.... you can power the type x's with deck power...but to realize the full potential of the speakers you are going to need an amp...

also make sure that they set up the crossovers properly, there is a lot of possibilities with the crossovers for time alignments....if they set it up properly you will have a great front stage...

to determine if you need the back 6x9's, just fade you speakers to the front for a little bit and see if you miss having the back sound...from what I have experienced, 6x9's firing into the rear glass always sound louder with equal power than front speakers, so you will have to turn them down anyway, or will lose the dynamic advantage of the type x's.

if it was me, i would get an amp, leave out the rear speakers, and dampen noise with dynamat, or second skin damplifier, on the floors, door panels, and rear quarter panels.... it will cut the noise floor drastically

 

yeah i realized the error in my ways ha...i broke down and ordered a pdx4.100 since i found a new one on ebay for 290. figured spending 150 now and replacing the powerpack in like 6 months would be a waste of money. yesterday i tried putting all the sound to my fronts and didn't like it as much, and i want the 6x9s for some added bass (got the type r's for 100 too which didnt hurt). since i spent 600 for the type-x, r's and the amp (ridiculous deal, but still a lot on my budget), i'm gonna hold off on the dynamat until the summer when my birthday rolls around so i dont go broke. i think the guys i'm having install the stuff will do the crossovers right, my roommate just had them done and when i turned his type-x sub off, everything sounded great. its a shame he blew 3k on the imprint processor and the exact same setup as me plus the 12" type-x since he just ruins the sound by having the sub turned up all the way for listening to pop-punk and alternative so the bass overpowers everything else, now that's an absolute sin...thanks for the suggestions