I am "this close" to buying a 2007 G35 coupe for my 22 year old daughter. Everything about the car we are looking at checks out great.....except for the sound system. Even I think it sounds horrible, so you can imagine what she thinks. It's not a Bose, just whatever the standard system is. My budget is already blown, so I need advice as to what can be done to make it sound decent while being "cost effective". I know absolutely nothing about sound systems. Thanks in advance for any help!

 

What's a "blown" budget?

A double din receiver and the jdm kit alone will run you over 1200. That's not even scratching the surface.

g35's are very expensive cars to mod audio wise.

 

Must be nice to have a parent that will buy you nice stuff like that... I got my 07 coupe 4 years ago when I was 20, payed it off in 15 months with no help from mommy and daddy.

Anyway off my rant. agreed to do it right its not
cheap right around 1000 bucks will get you started.

 

I'll just assume that the car and stereo is a graduation gift or something that makes sense to purchase for somebody who's been an adult for four years and readily employable for over half a decade. Certainly no reason to blow your budget for a gift.

Anyway, I'd go with a simple addition of a 2-channel amp and good front component set, no real reason to swap out the headunit yet if you're on a tight budget. The amp/speaker combo can be done for under $400 if you do the labor yourself, or probably about $500 or so installed if you provide the parts.

 

I'm in a similar scenario where I don't want to spend a lot of money but I want to upgrade the sound. I have a 2003 g35 coupe, with the bose system. I don't want to change the head-unit, and I don't want a subwoofer either, but I'm guessing an amp will be needed. The problem is I dont want to lose any trunk space if possible.

Any recommendations for specific front component speakers, and possibly a small amp? I'm not sure if it makes sense to just add a small-ish amp, and front component speakers. I mainly listed to the radio and ipod through the casette adapter and would like to erase the distortion at higher volumes (but not trying to be heard from a mile away either haha). Thanks in advance for any info!

 

I'd recommend the same thing - front stereo soundstage and no rear speakers. If you want some good sound without giving up much trunk space, look into running a 8" subwoofer, like the JL 8w3v3.

For the price, it's really, really hard to beat the Image Dynamics CTX65-CS. Since you're keeping the bose headunit, stick with an amp that can accept the differential-balanced signal, like the JL 300/4v2 and bridge it down to two channels to run the CTX65-CS's.

Add a amp wiring kit, and you're looking at about $600 in parts.

 

Honestly I don't want to add a subwoofer to the car. So I'm looking to upgrade the amp and the door speakers. Since this is the case, can I get away with a cheaper JL amp such as: . Since there is no subwoofer being powered, i'm not sure why I would need something super expensive (poor guy trying to save money on a budget haha). Also where you recommend to put the amp? Is there somewhere to hide it (maybe underneath back seats, or underneath trunk lining? Thanks for your help.