amps aren't that much...you could probably find a good one for under 150

 

Only switch on the crossover is for the tweeters and says -3, 0, +3 db... unless I'm missing something I could do on the board itself.

Tweets are fine, maybe even too crispy... its the mids that distort at higher volumes

As far as the amp, I know I could get a new Alpine 4 channel for ~$150... but thats $150 I don't want to spend right now. I'm seeing if I can get an older Alpine 4 channel for $50 or less.

 

you need an amp and it will make a world of difference. Headunits are not powerful enough for components. true the headunit will push them but not make them perform like they should. AMP!!!

 

Built in HU amplifiers are already bad, but you picked an Alpine, which has REAAALLY bad amps, even as far as headunits go. If you don't want to amp, you can try upgrading to a Kenwood or Pioneer (best) but the improvement you'll gain may not be worth the effort. The best thing you can do is wire up an amp for real gains.

If you really don't want to trunk mount the amp, another option is mounting it under a seat, although that makes adjusting it really hard, plus I'm not sure if there's room under the seats in an S2000.

Another thing is that you picked the wrong speakers. Some are more power hungry than others, and if you wanted components that would work with less power, you should pick something with a higher sensitivity rating. The standard, cheap, readily available example of such a speaker would be the Infinity Reference lineup.

 

I'd make a quick check on your input source.

I don't drive my car during the winter months. When I got back into the car, the stereo sounded horrible. I tried all sorts of things with system settings, etc. I was just about to give up and head to the audio place when I thought to checked my ipod. It turns out the eq setting on the ipod was set "tiny speakers." I change the eq to flat, and I was sorted.

I'd still consider getting an amp.

 

[QUOTE=kamal,Apr 22 2009, 10:25 AM] Only switch on the crossover is for the tweeters and says -3, 0, +3 db... unless I'm missing something I could do on the board itself.

Tweets are fine, maybe even too crispy... its the mids that distort at higher volumes

As far as the amp, I know I could get a new Alpine 4 channel for ~$150... but thats $150 I don't want to spend right now.

 

i bet you are clipping the amp in the head unit, there is no way a head unit will produce 75w, the 12v industry is not regulated to rate outputs evenly, i bet you get no more than 20-25watts from that head unit. on a budget, buy a 4 channel amp, use 2 channels for doors and bridge other 2 channels to a 10" sub, this would increase your sound 100+%

 

That was going to be my suggestion too. But, having said that, let me save you some money.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/JBL-600-Wat...arQ5fAmplifiers

I got the same version of that AMP in 2 channel from them for $70 shipped. Here is the link to their ebay store, keep an eye out, because that is actually Hk that makes JBL and Infinity selling their remanufactured stuff. You can get some SMOKING deals from them.

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Harman-Audio_C...634Q2ec0Q2em322

 

This makes alot of sense to me and explains why a song with lots of bass sounds distorted at higher volumes when theres alot of low-mid sounds...

I'm looking into getting a 4 channel amp bridged to the door speakers, and keeping the idea open of adding a sub... which I don't really want to do, but looks like I might have to.

 

Appreciate the links, I'd much rather go this route than buying some cheap-o dual amp from walmart for $60.