I have to say that the ONE thing(besides that cup holder)that really leaves me wanting more is this stock audio system. Paper 1 WAY 6.5's in the door panels and I was one of the chump Hogans that shelled out $650.00+ for these shitty headrest speakers,, Needless to say, this really lacks what I'm looking for.

I've seen most of the mods and aftermarket HU and displays but I'm not willing to alter dash parts or add speakers attached to wood pieces behind seats..

SO my though is this, I'd like to tie a reasonable AMP(150-200W) on to the original HU and just upgrade the 6.5's in the doors..

Has anyone take this short route and how did you make out over all for the money invested in this.?

Did it add the separation and clarity I'm after?

Advice would be great.

 

HEADUNIT!

Nothing else matters if you dont have a good headunit.

 

I agree with your critique on the only significant shortcomings of the car; it's a pretty good car to only have these issues, isn't it?

Anyway, when I bought my car, I immediately took it in to replace the speakers and get an amp. Unfortunately, for some reason, they couldn't figure out how to do an input for an MP3 player into the stock HU (surprising, since there's supposed to be an AUX input which works), but I was actually happy to get a better HU, and one which would play MP3 CDs.

So, I ended up with better door speakers (some sort of Diamond speakers, $150 for the pair), a new HU (a reasonably nice Kenwood, about $200), and a 150W or 200W, two-channel Kenwood amp (pretty inexpensive, around $100) placed in the trunk next to the spare tire so it doesn't take up any important room.

I'm very happy with the system; its sound quality is very good, and can be loud enough to hear words clearly on a crowded highway at 60mph. It was a good mod, well worth the money, since my car's a daily driver, in which I spend at least two hours a day.

The only thing I would do differently, had I known going in that I would get a new HU, would be to install a Modfry's DCI or a DJQube controller at the same time, which I may still do, to get better control out of the stock dash controls.

 

The Head is what drives the AMP. There is more than enough output from the stock head to power a resonable AMP. I'm NOT looking to thump down the road and piss other people off as the item they have hanging from the rear view dangles away from my bass output.

This is just good CLEAR LOUD SOUND.

Will I get this from just the AMP/Speaker upgrade.

In time, if the head installed bugs me enough I will probably go with the DJQ MOD as it looks pretty good.. I just can justify the cost if the factory head and what I'm looking at will do the job for me.

 

clean amperage definitely a move in the right direction. Get a good set of tweeters that face you (check out the tweeter positioning thread), and that will get you the top down clarity you're looking for.

 

The "Head Unit" does not drive the amp.........nor does it power the amp in any way............This is flawed thinking.

The Head Unit sends a signal to the amp...........the amplifier receives that signal then amplifies it.

There are two major problems with this thought process............think of it like this:

Q: How does the amp receive the signal?
A: Line Level RCA adapeters or line level inputs from the stock deck

Q:How clean / clear will the signal be from the stock deck traveling through a line level adapter........rather than an RCA connection as you would have from an aftermarket head unit?
A: Not clean at all.......by using the signal from the speaker outputs on the stock head unit .....into either a line level input on the amp or through an RCA adapter you lose signal, bass response, detail, and overall clarity of sound.........as well as introduce an added noise level into the system as a whole.

Just adding an amp as described above works OK......I've done it myself..........but you mention "Best Bang For The $$$"

It is definitely..........1. Head Unit...........2. Door Speakers.

 

The head unit was my last upgrade (excluding the ipod) I used the stock radio to power an Xtant amp MB quarts up front, JL stealth box in the trunk. I was resonably happy with the sound. However, I will say that changing the headunit, brought the system to another level. Preamp outputs are much cleaner than speaker outputs. The sub is the bigestes bang for the buck- you're adding something that doesn't exist with a sub,m then the front speakers and amp- they have to go together, last but not least the radio. Modifry's DCI works extremely well


Mitch

 

The output voltage is important as a higher voltage helps with getting cleaner sound pushed to the amp. Most of the mid level Alpines (like mine) have 4v. Some cheaper HU may only push 2v and a good HU will push 6v.

Of course, if you are using the HUs amp, this is irrelevant. But, you can get some very good sound with a decent HU and speakers. And, you don't have to go nuts with spending to do so.