Hey all,
I've never done any audio upgrades before and I am getting very confused when I look through audio threads/guides.

I have the stock pioneer deck in my ride but I kind of want a little more 'boom' from it without spending thousands of dollars.

I do not need it to rattle buildings when I drive by and I don't want to burst people's organs when they ride with me.

I want something like this... to sound good.

If I can ask this easily, where do I start?

 

maybe just a new headunit? that has a built in EQ and loudness/bass booster settings
the stock subs are good enough with just about any aftermarket HU...and changing those out and/or getting more+amp would = a lot of "boom" and $

I spent probably.....$500? maybe less on the following
Pioneer AVH-P4300DVD
Wire Kit+Dash Kit
Steering wheel control (so the steering wheel buttons still work)
video brake bypass (so the dvd/movies will play even if the car is running)

everything from ebay

the power from the HU is more than the stock..plus customizing the EQ gets me good bump without it being too crazy...its also a lot loader

i'd say a high 20-low 30 volume stock = 10-15 volume aftermarket

 

I am at work and youtube is blocked so I can't see the vid but...www.crutchfield.com Awesome company to deal with. Excellent customer service.
If you just want to add some nice bass, the combo in the link below will surprise you. All you will need is an amp. wiring kit and some rca cables. It will hook up to your stock deck no problem.
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_136PWM1...JX.html?tp=114

 

Is this JL sub a personal recommendation? You use it before?
It sounds good on all the 'seller' websites but there aren't many actual reviews.
This would be ideal however, since I have no idea how to add new speakers, amps, subs etc.
With time though, I do wish to do all this. With time.. and money. lol

 

You can't go wrong with JL. They are probably the #1 selling brand of subs/amps. I'd bet the majority of peeps on here are running JL's.
I have a similar setup but different brand. I would have bought the JL if I had known about it at the time. This particular setup is considered entry level, but sounds awesome when installed properly. It will produce all the sweet lows you are missing, turn the amp up a little more and your rear view mirror will become useless on a heavy bass track.
You do not need the ridiculous 500+ watt amps and subs most people buy. Overkill for the average guy. I have a single Rockford Fosgate 12" running an 150 watt amp. It overpowers the stock Alpine system in mine if I turn the amp gain up. Sounds great to me and only cost 200 bucks. Crutchfield does not list it anymore though.
I am pretty sure other people will back me on this recomendation based on your description.

 

Sounds good to me. If I were to go with this, what do you mean by amp wiring kit?
And if I do decide to get new HU in the near future... maybe something touch-screen and a little more mp3/file oriented.. it should still be hook-up friendly? I would assume an aftermarket head-unit would have the hookups that the stock does.. plus whatever else.

 

Crutchfield will recommend everything you need and explain why. Here is one of the options for wiring kits.
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_211ZN3K...8.html?tp=2919
One more thing to consider, JL offers this in a 12" model as well. 12" subs generally will hit lower frequencies than 8's or 10's will. Very minor difference. Me personally I'd pick the 12" model, but it may be more than you want. Either one will be a huge step up.
And to your head unit question, yep! A new head unit will actually be easier to hook up an amplifier to. The tricky part with our car is the wiring harness, finding the remote wire for the amp. It is the white wire on the large harness plugged into back of head unit.
Good luck with it, I'll do my best to answer anymore questions you have.. Not hard to do, more tedious than anything. Running the red 8 gauge power wire through the firewall is the hardest part, This car has the easiest interior to work with. 90% of it just snaps together, very few screws.

 

If you don't want to that very "boomy" sound and want the music to actually sound good like dubstep, I'd go with a single 10" or 12" in a sealed box. Just depends on how low you want it to hit, the 12 will hit the lower notes. But definitely keep a sealed box for a cleaner bass that you can hear each individual note and not just mashed together.

 

Agreed.. That's one of the key points why I recomended the JL combo. I just forgot to mention it. Sealed boxes are for accurate bass reproduction. Ported boxes are for max punch but sacrifice sound quality slightly. If you listen to rap or hip hop mostly the 12 will be a slightly better choice than the 10. I moslty listen to rock, grunge, heavy metal and I do not regret choosing the 12" sub one bit. Again all this info can be found on crutchfield. To brush up on current tech. I did quite a bit of research on their site before my recent purchase. Same theories as I remember from my earlier years. I am 36 know, the last bass system I made was, gasp..18 years ago! Damn I'm old. The high end subs nowadays are just plain crazy!

 

a custom built ported box designed for the sub specifically will not lose sound quality. just saying. you just gotta pay for it

 

I suggest keeping the factory head unit.. It's pretty decent actually. I'm not sure why so many are jumping ship on it.

Just throw a 12"er in the back and be done with it.
Wire this to 4-ohms
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...e-R2D2-12.html
Rockford makes some good subs, I've used them. So does Alpine. I don't like recomending JL because they are sometimes overpriced (as is Rockford somethimes) but I dont want to recommend a JL WX because they are really not that nice.. if you want a JL save your money and buy a W3.

this amp will bang, just keep the gain to about 1/2..maybe 3/4. You always want to shoot high with the amp. Trust me, this thing has the best bang for buck you'll find!
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...-HFi1000D.html

And then you want this sub box..band pass enclosures are what you need for alot of BANG for your BUCk..besides it looks awesome!!
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...-Box.html#tabs

then to wire it all up you need this
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...5641R-RED.html

Stinger makes great quality wire. It's very flexible, has alot of copper (true 4 guage) but it doesn't have the gigantic plastic jackets that plague the power wires we have today..which is a good thing

 

I say ditch the factory head unit. It has preset eq curves that you can't tweak much. Going aftermarket with a good head unit that you can customize the eq will make a huge difference. Or atleast that's what I experienced. I hated the preset eqs in factory headunit. There was crappy, all bass, and all highs. But what sounds good to one person doesn't necessarily sound good to another.

 

You can manually adjust bass and treble levels..which is about all you can do in most HU's under $250. I think that 250 is better spent towards a sub which will fill in the 20-60hz range hes not getting at all from the door speakers, then to spend it on a HU to better fill in frequencies he is getting.

 

im just sayin, i noticed a huge difference swapping the headunit and manually tweaking my eq curve to get the best sound i could out of it. night and day difference to me from stock

 

Thanks guys for all the input.
I will be doing more research in the coming days with all of your suggestions at the forefront.
And I think, for now at least, I will be sticking with the factory HU since it sounds like it is decent. Seems I will get better bang for my buck at the moment going with the sub/amp and stock HU... than aftermarket HU and no sub/amp.

 

you can't really go wrong either way as far as bump. and its really cool that the stock HU is pioneer and not some nothing brand....also a nice bonus that it actually says scion on it...so for a stock HU is really good

the main reason why i went the aftermarket HU route was because of looks. i like the look of having a big touch screen instead. and i dont like alpine, which is why i got myself a touch screen pioneer HU

to each either own, and good luck with MODing the audio!

 

if i could make one suggestion before you install your equipment, you can go kinda cheap on the sub and amp and get away with OK sound quality, but get the right wiring. always go one step higher than you think you'll need. if youre anything like me, you'll love your new sub for about 2-3 months, then youll be back online looking for a better one! its a lot easier to upgrade a sub and amp when you dont have to replace all the wiring again!

 

So I did some research and ended up getting the Rockford Fosgate R250-2x10 from Crutchfield.com.

It includes two Prime 10" subs, a Prime R250-1 amp, and all nicely put together in an enclosure. I also got a wiring kit and some brackets to secure it all down. Total came to $342.

Over all, running the wires wasn't too bad... just took a little time as I had to figure out where to put it all. The hardest part was realizing that there is a setting to turn the subs on and off within the stock pioneer deck... that took me a while to figure out. :p

They sound great and are a lot more powerful than I had expected. Well worth it for the pricetag in my opinion. Thanks for the tips everyone. ;]

 

Just a warning J, its like having an addiction. Eventually you'll want more power.

 

i tried to tell him