note: im looking for feedback in the form of advice and pics.. please post!!!

Hey people, im looking to upgrade my stereo.. but because the tC already comes with a Pioneer headunit.. do you think its okay to just add an amp & sealed box with 12" subs??

Or have you guys upgraded your headunit as well??? Did you guys buy the headunit kit so that single DIN in-dash receivers fit? I saw one on crutchfield for like $20 and im not too sure if i should get it. I more than likely might take my car to a local circuit city or best buy and have a new system installed because of their warranties on their work and never had a problem in the past with them. and besides they do pretty clean work, ive had some experiences where just local shops took shortcuts.. or used lower grade wiring or cut corners... with their work.

let me know what you guys think or what your set up is.. and if you have pics of your head unit or subwoofer box & amp.. please post!!! THANKS!!

 

spikeymike..

I haven't upgraded the headunit yet, but.. you can add what you want to the stock HU, either get a line level converter or just get an amp that can accept speaker level inputs. as far as best buy or circuit city, don't take the chances with them, warranty or not.. too many horror stories from places like that.. besides if you can use a screwdriver or similar tools you can remove the stock radio.. the console is held in with clips (As other people have pics of it here) and you just pull it out.. crutchfield would be a great place to go, you'd have the instructions and all the parts to make it fit perfect (aftermarket radio).. you could save yourself some time and money by just doing it yourself..

others will put in here what they think too.. but that's what i think you should do..

 

dont upgrade the factory unless you need a feature it doesnt have. for just a sub there is no need really. ill have pics of my setup in a few days. the tc is actually a great car for a custom sound system. it was one of the easiest installs to do and very easy to do cleanly.

 

I'm currently in the same situation, but I believe I'll be using the stock head unit for awhile. I bought a Audiobahn ALUM12N and an Audiobahn A8000T Mono amp.

RMS for the Sub is rated at 1000 Watts and Peak is rated at 2000 Watts I believe
RMS power for the Amp is rated between 600-700 with a peak of 1500 I believe.

Stock head unit should be able to run an amp and a sub cause they were giving the Bazooka option with the car so I'm guessing there are Hook ups in the back.

I can't tell you for sure because I'm in Iraq and I haven't seen my car yet. But I'll be going home soon, about a week, and I'll let you know how things go.

 

yea i know i should do it myself but i am in no way mechanically/electrically inclined lol

i just know how to adjust the treble and bass on my stock stereo

now that i think about it.. i think that installing a new headunit might be somewhat simple as long as it doesnt involve any other wiring to the battery or whatever.. i guess just plug and play with the wiring harness/adapter.

 

not to jump off topic.. or whatever.. but can someone explain to me the meaning of channels when it comes to amps??

like in this case if i wanna put 2 12" subs in a sealed box.. how many watts should the amp be able to power?
from what i read in the scion books they had at the dealer.. the stock pioneer radio is 160 watts of power.. is that 40 watts per channel? [40x4=160] ?? i would assume that u can just have the headunit power the 6 inside speakers and the seperate amp will power the subs.. [whatever brand that i choose to match up with my sub box..]

ANyone have advice on what kind of box/subs/amp setup would give nice clear deep thump. i also heard that ported or bandpass boxes dont really do a hatchback justice..

 

this would get more replies in the ice section...

 

hey spikeymike.. maybe one of us tC owners might live around ya to help ya out.. but if you want an amp, you're going to have to run some power wire from the battery through the firewall, under the carpet and into the back where the amp is mounted..

channels in an amp are just how many outputs it has.. if it's a 2 channel, can power 2 speakers.. 4 channel = 4 speakers.. 1channel is a sub amplifier..

that 40w X 4 is most likely MAXIMUM that the stock headunit can put out.. normally 1% distortion is more like 20 watts each.. there are 4 outputs on the stock radio but the front speakers are wired in parallel (20 watts going to both speakers..).. without getting to technical..

sealed boxes are nice and deep, crisp.. but not as efficient as a ported or bandpass. the sealed, in my opinion are "tighter" and more defined bass.. just needs more power than a similar ported or bandpass box since you're less efficient, gotta have more power to get the sound out of the box. Bandpass is purely for the "look at me, feel my car thump" look.. ported is a nice tradeoff between sealed and bandpass.

here's a link to crutchfield.. they have a good amount of info to help you out

http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/learningcenter/car/

For me it would depend on what type of music you like.. might be good to go listen to some sealed boxes, ported, etc.. first before you make your decision and i would definitely look up JL audio's subwoofers.. they are amazingly good..

 

You want pics here you go. I did this all in about 6 hours including building the amp rack.

Where I ran my power wire, above the pedals, next to the steering column


My alpine Headunit with a modified Crutchfield Install Kit


My Amplifier, in a custom MDF box in the rear...600watts RMS



My Subwoofer...rocks plenty loud, i would say right at 140dB


Questions feel free to PM me or post in here, i have it marked

 

eddie, what are the specs on your box? where did you get that design? just curious cause I am ready to throw a 12 in mine and looking for a similar setup

 

I bought a prefab box for now, a buddy is making a fully fiberglassed enclosure with ABS cover panel that takes the place of the rear cover panel on the right side wall. He is working on getting a company to mass produce them. The amp rack was just hand traced and built from the foam piece, the sub box is .81 cubic foot (max sealed for that sub), 3/4" MDF, nothing special, just ideal

 

so is your amp just bolted to the body? I just looked outside at the car and the foam piece would be easy to make an amp rack out of, or just replace the foam piece with something else, like wood or something else. Just an idea.

 

Adding a sub and amp while keeping all other speakers HU driven = ghetto.

The stock HU and speakers suck *****.

 

wont the amp heat up back there especially with no direct air flow????/

. you probably gonna experience cutoffs for sure!!!!

you might wanna place it somewhere else or get a quite amp fan

 

i am setting a limit of 1600-2000$ for my new system.
i have decided to get a new head unit, keep the factory 6 inside speakers, go with an amp and 2 subs in a ported box


because of the alpine type r subs handling max 1500 watts.. im going to need 2 amps, from what my friend told me.. and going to add a a full farad battery cap to avoid any dim lights or no starts lol

what do u guys think??

 

i have the stock unit, stock speakers, and just added a 12" JL sub and JL amp. it doesnt sound as good as my old eclipse with all new speakers too, but its certainly a step up, and i like it.

 

Wow, some of your guys sure like to criticize, well here are your answers:

No it doesn't overheat, and just to be safe I do have a 12V stinger fan under there that moves 28 cfm. Also I know a guy running a 1000 rms rockford(known for their heat) down there with no fan and he has never had any trouble overheating.


The MDF box I made that too kthe place of the foam fits its there so snugly that is doesnt move at all, it is literally wedged in the hole, and then the amp is mounted to the MDF box.

First of all Bradley you need to shut your hole. Speakers are in the works, type Rs all the way around, also if you had actually read what i have there you would know that my stock speakers run off a JBL P80.4 amplifier, and if you take the bass away from them they sound OK. The speakers are the next step, and then again my 2006 only has 600 miles on it so im not that far into it.

You don't need a cap with that, there just isn't enough power running to it. The alternator on this car is pretty strong. A wise first investment would be a optima battery, see if your lights dim and go from there.

And cfusionpm, i agree it doesn't sound all that bad at all.

 

I upgraded to an Alpine headunit with a fosgate amp and 2 10"s, the stock speakers sound suprisingly good, and it bumps like crazy/w no distortion. I have always sworn by alpine. Good luck, and don't worry what other people think. As long as you like it.

 

moved...

 

I think you can do a lot better with $2k.

Good headunit- ~$350
2 Elemental Designs 13kv2 subs, Nin.e1 amp, EDi6000 Components, Nin.e4 amp, 60ft^2 sound deadening mat, 1 gallon liquid deadener- $930 (package deal, 15% off)
Wire/boxes/other installation supplies- ~$100

And yes, it is very very ghetto to have a car that has awesome subwoofers when everything else is stock.