I'm the proud owner of a 1995 Pontiac Bonneville SE. I've had the car for a couple of months now and have already replaced the stock head unit with a fairly nice Alpine unit. Now I would like to upgrade the stock speakers. The front speakers are 5.25" and the rear deck speakers are 6"x9". I would also like to power them with a 4-channel amplifier. All told I would like to spend about $700-$800 for 4 speakers and an amp. I've been to a few shops in my area and looked online at various speakers and amps and I've come up with a few "systems".
I'd appreciate any feedback/comments/suggestions. My musical tastes are pretty varied but I listen to mostly rock. To me, sound quality is much more important than being able to "thump". Thanks in advance.
I'd go with Infinity cause I have them and sound great. As for the amp, 50W is a bit weak. Look for 75W - 125W rms x 4. I think Kicker has 4 channel amp, as well as MTX and MA Audio. Have you thought of getting 2 2-channel amps? Sometimes they offer more flexibility in terms of speaker ohms and power.
Well the Eclipse amp is 85W × 4 at 4 ohms. I haven't thought of doing 2 2-channel amps mainly because of space and money. I think I'd rather get a 4-channel amp to power the speakers I buy now and then get a sub and separate mono amp sometime in the future. Thanks for your help Isaac. I'll check out those other amps you mentioned.
I'm still open to any and all suggestions/feedback.
Well I've done some more research and it turns out that MA Audio does make a 4-channel amplifier in my price range. Does anyone have any experience with MA Audio products?
Also, I've noticed that alot of people on this board reccomend eBay and other websites to purchase gear because some of the prices are much lower. Are there any advantages/disadvantages to doing this?
You just have to know who you're buying from on ebay. If I were you, I'd focus on front speakers, unless you have a ton of rear passengers you want to impress. You'd save a lot of money getting just the fronts and a 2 channel amp to power them, front speakers are the most important and you'll sound just as good or better than having fronts and rears, especially since you can get higher quality front speakers and a more powerful amp. Infinity Kappa 5.1s and a 100x2 RMS amp will do very nicely.
Well it's not that I have a ton of rear passengers to impress its just that I'm not sure how having two 5.25" speakers mounted in the front doors will sound. The Bonneville is a BIG car and I think I might need some rear deck speakers for the lower notes. Thanks for the tip, I'll continue to look around and do some research.
Really, a better option IMO would be to run the front components, get a 4 channel amp, and bridge the rear output and eventually put a subwoofer on that rear bridged channel.
Well I've been away for a little while due to the Christmas holidays and whatnot. I've done some more research and came up with a few more ideas. What do you think of having Infinity KAPPA 50.5CS 5 1/4" Two-Way Component's up front and two Infinity Kappa 692.5i 6"x9"'s in the rear deck. But keep the rears in mono and only use them for lower notes, thusly keeping an extra channel open on my amp to power a small sub. My only concern would be finding a small, relatively inexpensive sub that performs well when only given 75-100W RMS. Please tell me what you think, as well as decent subs that meet said requirements.
Hey Chuck, if you're going to mono out the rears, then you don't really need a quality speaker. Spend the extra money on the front and use the stock ones. You won't get much lows from 6x9 anyways. The goal is to get mid bass and let the sub produce the lows. For 75-100W rms sub, you shouldn't have much problem.
Every new post seems to open up a plethora of new possibilities which really makes me think that I need to do even more research. I still haven't heard the Infiniti's in person, and I'm also interested in hearing speakers from MB Quart and Diamond Audio. I'm still wondering how to set up the speakers for the best sound and for the best money. I'm not sure what I want to do for a subwoofer either. Some of the powered/enclosed subwoofer (Infiniti Basslink) look interesting as well. All in all, this has been a great learning experience and I appreciate all the help received so far. I plan to go to a few local shop's to actually hear some of the speakers I'm interested in. Hopefully, then I will have more of an idea of what I want to do.
Infinitys sound great. I have them in my car. They're priced just right too. Not too expensive and not too cheap. When I started off in car stereos, I thought you needed great pair of 6x9's at the rears, but that's not the case. You need the fronts more than the back when it comes to quality. Invest on good pair for the front and stocks/any cheap but reasonable quality for the rears. Component systems will be your best choice if sound quality is what you're after. I personally don't like self powered subs. They don't really use quality parts. You're stuck with whatever it comes with. I think they're mainly for people with tight budget and not much trunk space. For subs, try and stick to 10" or smaller. They tend to produce more accurate bass at lower volumes.