Ok, so I ve got a headunit, but I hate the sound of the crappy stock speakers and am obviously looking to upgrade. Im looking at buying a Blaupunkt ODC650 6.5 componet setup with tweeters and cross-overs for the front, and a pair of Kicker KS693 6X9s for the rear, all on ebay of course. I only want to do this once, so I want get some decent stuff, but not spend too much money. My first question is, I know that Blaupunkt and Kicker are decent stuff, but are these speaker sets decent enough? I want good clear sound that can go loud, as I drive on the highway alot with the windows down. Second, should I look into buying a 4 channel amp to power all of these? The 6.5s are rated at 70 watts rms each, and the 6x9s are rated at 90 watts each, so what kind of amp should I look at getting, if I need one at all. My H/U is a Sony that puts out 17 watts rms x 4. My second question is this: on the backseat interior panel, right above the armrest area,it seems that there's space to put 2 more 6.5s, one on each side, I m just not sure whats behind the panel, has anyone had these off and had a look? And if you could put them there, what would be the benefits of doing it, or would it not be worth the trouble. I want good sound imaging, and will be adding probably a decent 10" later on down the line to fill in the bass, although I dont listen to a lot of rap and the such, so would the 6x9s be sufficient? Thanks for reading this long post, and hopefully someone can help me out here. Thanks in advance.

 

Who is going to be doing the install? Are you going to do it or are you going to get some shop to do it for you? If you are going to do it yourself, do you have any fiberglassing experiance?

The only reason that I ask about glassing is because if you can glass on your own then you can probably get enough punchy bass out of your 6.5's and 6x9's. Most of your "punchy" bass comes from your mid-ranges anyways. A sub later will give you some low end fill. It will be your decision if you think you need that extra low end or not. Everything when it comes to audio is about personal preferance.

Now for what you say you like. Loud and Clean sound you probably will want an amp. Infinity makes a good, cost efficiant, 4-channle amp that will put out around 110 WRMS. Be careful with your gains and you wont have any problems with overpowering. It is usually better to over power than under power. When you underpower most people have a tendancy to try force extra power out of the amp causing it to clip. Clipping will damage your speakers.

I personally would not buy from ebay. Expecially speakers that you have never heard before. Instead of just rushing off and buying the first set of speakers you find because of a name really go out and listen to some stuff. There are alot of smaller companies out there that are really making some great products. Just like with anything else you can pay for a name or you can pay for what you like. If you spend some time at a shop and listen to some stuff you will see what you think sounds good. They will usually have all of their speakers hooked up for you to hear. Bring a CD of your own and play it...Some places hook their speakers up to play certain types of music well, but you need to know if they play your music well.

If you want to check out a company that I personally think sound good than check out PowerBass. I have found a few dealers that sell them around me and they are pretty cheap, cost wise, for a pretty good quality product.

Sorry, I don't have a real cut and dry answer for you. There is no real cut and dry answer to be given by anyone because a speaker is all in what your ears make it. It is all in the personal preference.

 

get some infinity refrences (componet) or the kicker ss, rs, but not the ks series unless your going to run them off the H/U they dont handle as much power

 

Well, thanks for the replys. I think what I m going to do is shop around, and listen to a ton of different speakers. I m going to start with the components first, and then the 6X9s, and finally an amp. Sooo, hopefully in about a month and a half I should have everything ready to install. I figure I m going to piece it together and install it all at once. So far MB quarts look like the front runner for the components, but we ll see once i finally listen to some. Thanks again.

 

dude deff. get the component set. it will be hard to mount the tweeters seperately though, if you dont know what you are doing (due to lack of flat areas). i mounted mine in the ceiling. but if you do go with anything like that, make sure you get the amp. there is nothing wrong with getting speakers off of ebay. but do know how they sound first, go to best buy or something and see how they sound before you buy them.

 

mb quarts are great there is no mb quart that sounds bad even the say... 35 watt ones
if your going for those types of brands also look at cerwin vega they can bump pretty good for door speakers

 

Mb quarts are a very nice speaker. Good choice.

Be warned our doors have odd shaped holes. They are not a circle and there are no mounting holes for you to use. You will need to drill them and you will have an open gap at the top unless you make some type of bracket to hold it. If you were to look at the hole it looks more like a 5x7 than a 6.5. With out that proper seal I don't really know how much bang you will get out of them. I am just going off of the thought of a woofer, I have never really tested basically open air sound with a smaller speaker. I built a little pod for mine to sit in. I was going down to a 5.25" speaker because that is what I had. I just figured if I am going to have to make something I might as well build the enclosure too.

 

Thanks for all the info and suggestions guys, Its mucho apprectiated! Now I m trying what to do amp wise. I m relatively sure i want to get an amp for the speakers, but in what configuration I m not sure. It seems like decent quality 4ch amps arent nearly as popular as 1 and 2ch, and they cost a bit more too. So I m thinking about maybe getting a 2ch for the fronts and another 2ch for the rear eventually splitting the signal to add in a 10 later. Is this completely stupid? Lastly, what are some good brands of amps? I know alot of audio stuff is personal preference, but I dont want junk powering good speakers.

 

na man get the 4 channel amp. its easier to control sound and all. plus i think you will end up spending more money with 2 2ch amps.

 

rockford amp clean sound lots of power cost little and it doesnt hurt they look good too

 

Get a 4ch for your door/rear speakers. Much better then 2 2's as far as ease of mounting, space concerns, wiring, etc. Then later you can pick up a 2ch or 1 for the sub.

 

Thanks for all the help guys, I think I ve got it pretty much figured out now how I m going tto run everything. MB Quart components up front, not sure on the rears, then a 4ch amp for now, like I said, I ll probably add a 10 later, but for now, I think with the components, some good 6x9s and a decent amp it should sound pretty good. Thanks again.

 

Ok, new question for you guys. My H/U only has one preout, but I m going to be running a 4ch and a mono ch amp. Do I need to buy a new h/u or is there another way of doing it?

 

My personal choice is a/d/s for a component amp. I one many competitions with mine. They are way under rated and provide amazing clarity and sound.

 

You can do it so that you can run all those amps but you will loose alot of controle. Like fading for instance. You will not be able to fade to the front, back or boost your sub.

But if you want to do it with the one set of pre outs you can get a female to 2 male Y-splitter for your RCA's. Then if you get a 4 channle amp that has a set of RCA outs you can just chain it through that amp.

 

Mesatrin, so what you re saying is, I can either get a y splitter cable, or make sure the 4ch amp I get has rca outs? This is probably a moot point though, I m pretty sure I m going to buy the new sony headunit with integrated bluetooth. It has 3 preouts.

 

I am saying you would need both to run all three amps. The 4 channle will have 2 inputs. A front and rear input. You will need the Y-splitter just to make your 4 channle work. You would then need the RCA out to get your monoblock to run for your subs. You could technically split the RCA's with another Y-splitter but that will create quite a bit of noise and probably will reduce the voltage...depending on the quality of the splitters. IMH it would be better (if having to choose one) to only split the RCAs once and then jump though an output from the 4 channle to your sub amp.