OK, maybe I did go over the top a little bit. But the vast majority of us aren't into contest quality setups that are judged on SQ, SPL, and so on. It's about "bang for the buck". I still remember when 8-tracks ruled the world and the first "power boosters" came out for car stereo systems. They didn't call it "car audio" back in the 1970's!!! The orignal poster appears to be looking for much of what I'm looking for. Some better speakers and some power that will give the bass some "thump". One doesn't need to spend thousands to get that.

I'm not broke either. I just choose to spend my hard earned $$$ wisely and my $400 or so of upgrades will suit my 45 uear old ears just fine and will sound much better than the stock system with a sub or whatever. My bass will have enough punch to it without shaking my fillings out of my teeth.

You obviously know your car audio and probably enjoy car audio competitions. I was just trying to advise the original poster. Not everyone has to have "Brand ABC" components and "XYZ subs" with gigawatts of power to be happy with the sound.

I hope you get the opportunity to build a system in an xB. My friend that is helping me with my install this weekend has an xB with a DVD HU, 8" Kicker woofers in the doors, 6.5" components in the dash, dual subs in the rear with tons of clean watts to drive it all. It's an awesome system. BTW, he installs home theater systems for a living. And he hasn't criticized my upgrades because he knows that it will meet my needs and expectations.

 

Pioneer TS-G1340R 5-1/4" 2-way Speakers
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-Au4dkKG...0&I=130TSG1340

Pioneer TS-G1040R 4" 2-way Speakers
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-Au4dkKG...0&I=130TSG1040

I have both of these and they are awesome . I got them for 16.50 a pair so yeha about 35 bucks shipped and bam .

 

lol @ i dunno what im talking about...

feel free to eliminate your rear speakers... or to leave the stock ones in there to blow them... you let me know exactly how great they sound... then later down the road throw in some good rears and then thank me

 

why on earth wouldnt you want good sound coming from all around you? that would be like telling people not to buy home audio surround sound systems because the noise comming from in front of you is good enough you dont need speakers behind you

and if your pushing enough bass out of the back your passengers certainly cannot hear the front speakers as well as they would hear the ones right in their ear

 

marc, i think i got carried away too... i just thought since this was the car audio section, there would be a lot of audiophiles that are overly obsessed as me. but i do see what you mean by "best bang for the buck." at some point, you can't really hear the difference between a $300 or $400 or even $500 speaker system.

 

lol.. you bring up a good point. but like you said, HOME systems have "surround sound" because when they film movies, they record it in "surround sound" so that you can hear bullets whizzing passed you and exposions swallowing you up. HOWEVER, music is only recorded using LEFT and RIGHT channels. that's why when you hook up your amp, your RCAs split into left and right. it's only recently that people are putting "surround sound" systems into their cars because DVD players allow videos to be played in DTS or Dolby surround sound. But again, music in general is recorded only in LEFT and RIGHT. "Staging" is a big part of SQ. i know the idea may seem weird, but try it. since your stock speakers probably won't suffice, just try fading more to the Front and reduce the rears to a slight sound and see if you enjoy it when you don't have any passengers. you may like it and be surprise. if not, the only golden rule is to trust your ears and no one elses. maybe i'm brain washed now, but i can't stand rearfill anymore and really appreciate a good sytem that has good staging.

in a properly "tuned" car, you won't get this affect. but obviosly, if someone is pounding their subs so hard that the rear passengers JUST hear bass (even without rearfill), then they could use some tuning. but really, all you really need is a slight fade. save yourself a little bit of money on rearfill, because all you need is a decent speaker run off the HU's power. and oh yeah, since bass is non-directional, you really shouldn't be able to tell where the bass is coming from. when it comes to bass, it should just sound like it's all around you...

 

There are lots of audiophiles here on SL. I considered myself an audiophile back in the late 1970's thru the mid 1980's. Car audio systems have come along way in 20 years. What sounded good to me then still sounds good to me today. Guess I'm old school now!!!

 

^^I too think you're old school......

EazyM3: I'm with you on being an audio nut....