FINALLY, after a month, I got the rest of the system hooked up (9857 was already in)

JBL amp is 104x4rms , retail about 300
Boston PRO are 6.5", 50Hz extension, retail about 500$+?
Also in the installation was 10ft^2 of eDead v2.. just enough to cover both doors
woofer mounted on .5" MDF, and tweeter installed at factory location on 05 model at setting of -2dB.




AMP: the JBL has a TON of head room. a TON. i have the gains real low.. about 5V (alpine output signal is 2v) and the speakers are already loud.. it has tons and tons of headroom

Woofers: a bit disappointing. I have crossover at 50hz so the woofer isnt getting any signal that it cant handle.. at moderately loud volume it begins to sound flappy and distorted

Tweeters: a little "in-your-face".. a bit raw.. they dont blend with the woofers well.. the overall system output is not a warm, coherent sound. X-overs aren't adjustable so not much that can be done here



I was hoping to get a good enough mid-bass punch out of the system that I wouldnt have to get a subwoofer setup, but I guess for any real impact a subwoofer is necessary. Though, if Aerosmith is all that's played then this setup will be fine. It's difficult for me to make a judgement on the performance of this setup because I have no other basis for relative comparison or real meaningful qualitative analysis. The best litmus test then is "is it worth the money/would I buy it again". NO. I probably wouldnt have paid 300$ for the components. Would have probably spent 150$ on Alpine speakers, and saved money towards a subwoofer setup. My install was pretty sloppy and ghetto, but i ran power down driver side, remote & rca & speakers down passenger side, they cross a bit around amp area, but there is absolutely no noise or interference in the system. score! BTW, deadener didnt "seem" to have done shit. live and learn



theres my incoherent, rambling, preliminary assessment of my system

 

This seeems to be the problem with so many aftermarket speaker setups. I heard this about MBs, Bostons, my Diamonds were like this. I haven't had a chance to hear Focals in a car yet.

 

This is the same problem I am encountering>I have mbquart rua 's and its hard to eq them with the 9857.The problem is you can't with a 2 band EQ.I believe the answer is http://www.crutchfield.com/S-9i7WOFqsx77/c...sp?i=500PXAH701 not for the 5.1 but for the 31 band graphic eq,time alignment and crossover adjustments.I spoke with my installer and he said its "awesome".
The s2000 with the top down requires special eq curves,the wind in your ears distorts frequencies that need to be eq'd properly for quality sound.Might have to bite the bullet to complete the system.

 

follow up review, to modify the prelim

the entire system is now MUCH better after "break-in"--whether that be the speakers per se, or my perception to their characteristics

it seems as if the bottom end is MUCH improved. amp cutoff is still the same 50hz. on the head unit, ive set to the bass setting to center at 120Hz, medium width (Q), and that allows me to add a bit of low-end w/o distortion.... sounds great with stuff like Alice in Chain's Unplugged

the top end has totally "meshed" with the large woofer. the sound is more audibly seamless and actually warm, too, playing stuff like The Shins. in fact, sometimes i even kick the treble settings up a notch or two (x-over still at -2dB)

btw, i cant really say the e-dead dampening stuff did anything. one problem with the stock setup is that the door had some kinda crazy annoying resonant frequency... maybe 500Hz or something where they would rattle like mad. the e-dead got rid of that, probably because of the plain fact of mass loading (could have achieved same effect by slapping silly putty on the doors). but as far the other qualities that dynamat and others claim, i wouldnt say that theyre true.

again, i do not have stuff to A-B test again, but i am completely pleased with the system itself, even at freeway speeds. hope i didnt turn anybody off with the initial review