Ok, so im going to bite-the-bullet and do a little schystem in the G. Nothing wild, nothing bumpin in the trunk, but i want a nice quality sound system that i can turn up real loud and be happy with the quality.

So im gonna do the front components (doors/tweeters) and the rear deck speakers (6x9's?)...for a grand total of 6 speakers replaced - along with an amp to power them all.

My question is, what problems will i run into, what things should i look out for, and what brands of speakers should i consider? Yes, price is a factor but i dont want anything cheap!

Any suggestions are welcome!!!

THANKS!

 

Jon, if I were you, I'd add a sub in the trunk, disconnect the 6x9's they suck, replace the back seat side speakers and do the front components.

I've done my fronts and have my subs ready. Gonna order my amp and db650's for the rear and install prob in the next month.

There's my .02.

 

Yea, i hear ya Jon, but i dont want to loose ANY trunk space because it looks like the G is going to be my only car for at least another year and with my hobbies (snowboarding, wakebaording, golf, etc) i need all the space i can get...

But the fronts are 100% getting replaced, an Amp to power it all is a definate, and the 6x9's - well thats where im not sure what to do. I dont want to get crazy (i want this to be as cheap as possible) and i dont want to go overboard either...

Hmmmmmm....

 

Well first off, Im not sure if you have seen my post, but here is my trunk with a full system.. i didnt lose much of my trunk at all...



About the speaker selection, if you just want loud I would look into MB quart, those get very loud. However their rather dull to my ears. I prefer Focal. They have a very bright sound and if you prefer alternative music (papa roach, crossfade, etc) well, you would love focals. I just installed a set of Focal 165Vslim components in my front doors. I disconnected my 6x9s and the 4 inchers behind the seats but I may get another cheap amp and get some new 6x9s so passengers in the back dont bicth. You could also look into JL Audio speakers Ive heard them in person they sound very clean, close to MB quart. As for the amp I dont recommend anything other than JL audio. If your serious about how loud you want it then get a JL Audio 450/4 (basically 150 watts to the front speakers and 75 watts to the rear ones at 4ohms).

Also in your case if you really dont want a sub I would recommend you disconnect the 4inchers and get 75watt continous 6x9s so you get some bass out of them.

For the front I would look into Focal 165V's, Boston Pro series 6.5's (I had these in my IS300, loved them) or MB Quart or JL (look for ones rated at 120-150watts continious)

For the 6x9s look into Focal 690CA or JL Audio VR690-CXi. Both of these systems are rated at 75watts continious and should give you some bass. Good luck!





Matt

 

Things you must decide:

Do you want to retain the stock HU or go the double din conversion route?

Do you care about the rear speakers? Most people do not as it ruins sound staging. Only reason most people get rears is because they think it will make music sound better for rear passengers (something I would dispute).

Where do you plan on storing your amp? If you want to put an amp where the stock Bose amp is, amps that fit easily are limited. I would not recommend mounting your amp on the back of your rear seat or anywhere surface-mounted in the trunk. You're going to have boards and clubs moving around, the last thing you want is to have your amp getting hit and abused.

Do you like "bright" (I like to call it tinny) highs? Do you like mellow highs? Do you like midbass? Do you like sub bass?

Answering these questions will help us give you a better direction to look into, and will help narrow the equipment we can suggest.

 

IS300TOG35, thanks for a such an involved post! Yes, ive seen your post, and looked very closely at your setup in the trunk. However, the sub enclosure that you have would take up just enough space that would prevent me from being able to squeeze a board or golf bag into my car (the fit is already veryyy tight). So that is out for now...but your setup is def one of the nicest ive seen - Well done!

As for the recomendations on speakers - i will most likely go with JL for the amp and whatever i can get a good deal on for speakers...AMTHAR, i appreciate your post as well - however im no where near the audiofile that you and IS300 seem to be. I dont even know what i like in sound but i know what i dont like - crappy rattleing BOSE speakers!!! LOL

So i will most likely go with a nice front speaker setup, a nice amp mounted somewhere out-of-way of my boards and clubs and then tackle the rear later on.

Thanks for the imput!

 

Not a prob man. My suggestion to you is goto your local Tweeter or a local custom car audio store and listen to the various speakers and how they sound. Just pick what you think sounds good, you will be the one listening to it. And if a salesman is pushing a specific brand, dont buy into it. Their told to push a specific brand, just let their sales bullchit go in one ear and out the other, pick what you like dont let him pick it for you. Good luck




Matt

 

I'd go to Street Effectz in N.J. www.streeteffectz.com. Great owner, do great work.

 

Here are some things to look out for. Some of them won't make sense to you, but if someone starts talking about one of them, you can go "hmmm, that's not right". Tweeter did this to me, I'm glad I checked on these forums before I took what they told me as the truth:

- Someone telling you the audio signals coming out of the Bose headunit (before it hits the stock Bose amp) are equalized. They are not, the signal is flat.

- Someone telling you that the audio signals coming out of the Bose headunit (before it hits the stock bose amp) are "too low" to connect to an amp. They are not, they are high enough voltage to connect to amps.

- Someone trying to sell you a JL CleanSweep. If they do, it's for the two reasons above. It's not necessary and makes you lose your steering wheel controls, SCV and head unit bass/treble controls (all of which I find valuable and do not want to lose). It's like killing an ant with a cannon. You'll kill the ant, but you'll take our your house with it.

- Someone thinking you can hook ANY amp into the G35 audio system without a special adapter. Our system uses balanced-differential signals, not single-ended signals. Many many amps only use single-ended, not balanced. Only way to connect an amp that is expecting single-ended signals is to get an adapter. Amps that accept balanced-differential signals will connect directly to the system without an adapter.

- Someone trying to mount the amp on the back of your rear seat. This location sounds like it is not a feasible place considering you are carrying golf bags, boards, etc. This is one of those places that installers love to put amps because it's easy and they are familiar with doing it. I would be worried about damage to the amp (including wires being damaged or pulled out).

If they argue about any of the above (with maybe the exception of mounting the amp to the back of the rear seat, maybe they can get creative and build a cover for the amp or something), go somewhere else. Many people on the forums have systems installed and running that prove all of the above (myself included).

Good luck, and do not accept anything less then an intelligent installer and a quality shop (I do not include Tweeter, Best Buy or Circuit City to meet these two requirement ).

 

The problem, amthar, is that since most pro's have avoided OEM HU interface for years, it's very unlikely that you can find a pro that knows all these things.

Not an insurmountable problem... but if you go hunt for a person at Tweeter that gets this, you'll be old and gray first.

I can't tell you how many people contant our shop and tell us they wish we were near them...

I'd seriously call Street Effectz. If you're curious about their work, Ron posts a lot on Acurazine and you can find his posts in the AV section there.

 

couple of thoughts on Amthar's post, generally agree and I am just trying to help and set a couple facts straight, hope very much you are cool with this

The signal is flat, additional voltage level helped for my sound though and amp will take .2 to 4v so if they do a LOC get one that does bump up the line voltage, depends on amp is the point.

I have a Cleansweep, very much agreed overkill but I have steering wheel controls, SVC all work fine, depends on how it is installed.

My amp is flush mounted into the backseat seatback and comes w/a hard cover although it could get scratched, no loss of space, wires are flush.

I have also heard good things about S E in NJ, pay for what you get.

If at any time you lose the warm fuzzy when talking/planning install w/shop walk away. Think about it, if it is bad when talking what will it be like when you come back for a problem?

Mark

 

FINALLY a CleanSweeper that will talk! So here's what I've been told and figured myself (both of which could be very wrong):

Obviously the CleanSweep takes an incoming signal and flattens it out using it's DSP.... and this EQing occurs once, and then Because of this, using the bass/treble on the deck would adjust the incoming signal, making the stored EQing inaccurate.

Following the same thought process, the CS comes with an external volume ****. It seems this would be because adjusting the source's volume would also adjust the incoming signal (much like adjusting bass/treble) and make the stored EQing inaccurate. Similarly, the SCV simply ups your volume, so this would be the same as adjusting the volume at the deck (making the digital EQing inaccurate).

Then again maybe this is all just too "theoretical" and in the end it doesn't matter that much

 

Man, you guys really took this thread another dirrections! hahaha, its all good...glad to see you have some passion about good car audio - how about this...

Very simple - i have $800.00 that im willing to part with...what do i get?

only rules are:

- nothing in the trunk
- not changing Head Unit
- DEF swapping out the front speakers


Lemme know what you think.....

 

Expect $250~$350 for new front speakers.

Expect maybe... $200~$300 for a 2 channel amp?

$200 for installation supplies (including sound deadening material, wires, etc)

+ labor if you have someone else do it... I have no idea what labor runs.

These are all really general estimations, they are probably on the higher end maybe? I have no idea... lol

 

Sorry, I've been threatened that if I spill the beans my amps will fry in the middle of the night.....

Mark