my99maxisnice

I've finally decided to get moving on looking for what I am going to replace my BOSE with. All I'm going with right now is a new HU, components and rear speakers, maybe an amp if I need one? I'll see how the bass is and if I need a 10', i'll add it later. What I need is suggestions. For The HU I was looking at the Pioneer 6600...good price, and it has 3 sets of pre outs...which I was told I would need. If someone could clarify what they are for, that'd be great. For the components, I was looking at the CDT's on sale at thezeb.com, but they're out of stock, so what would you guys recommend in the price range of $200 or less. For the rears, I think I'm gonna go with the CDT CL-6X. Great price. Anyways, anything else I would need to convert from BOSE to aftermarket? Thanks in advance for any help.

MacAlert

iTrader: (1)

The three preouts would be Front, Rear and Sub.

my99maxisnice

I know that...is that tied in with an amp or what? In other words, why is it important that I have the preouts?

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

to hook up amps for subs or components, or both.

my99maxisnice

That's what I thought, thanks. Any opinions on speaker choices, or anything else I need?

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

i think if you convert all the speakers and h/u you wont have to worry about the bose. but do NOT quote me. im just guessing. and for the speakers, excellent choice on the cl61's and cl6x. id wait for the cdt's imo because they are cheap and sound great. and you will want a sub. and the h/u you picked is just fine.

RJRauso

Let's see... you have a HU already and you want to replace the factory speakers for under $200? If you want somthing that kicks *** all around, loud, clear, efficient. I would go on ebay, get the Infinity Kappa 6.5" component system for the front speakers and the matching 6.5" coaxial's for the rear deck, w/shipping this should be at or around $200. You won't be disapointed. Plus, they can handle a lot of power if you wanted to add an amp later. For subs, I have pair of Infinity Kappa 12's in my Maxima and I got them 50% off on ebay, which came to 175 after shipping and they are amazing. They easily compete against the more expensive 300$ a piece subs I used to have in there. Getting speakers all from the same company and product line help the imaging big time...I hope this helps

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

hmm. im gonna go with a negative on buying all the speakers from the same brand helps imaging. can you please explain how this helps?

my99maxisnice

Actually, I don't already have a HU, I just pretty much decided that is the one I will get because of good recommendations and good price. As for the Infinities, I've heard some complaints about them, you didn't have any problems?

Andyman692

Good question '99,

You want preouts, if you ever upgrade, it alot easier, and if you're thinking about having your car sound good with infinity (over 180watt), which is 90 rms, you need amps. that pioneer will maybe give you 20rms, so if you ever want it loud, you're gonig to get distortion and possibly blow your speakers.

I used to be really big into pioneer h/u, but there are a lot better ones out there. You want the best? go with alpine/ecplise. But if you want something pretty kick ***, id go with a kenwood.

It sounds like you just want a minor upgrade to your system though, but the bose sounds pretty good though! Having a h/u powering 4 speakers, or 4+components is gonig to sound like ***! I think im gonig to make a website of my install tomorrow, but i mean its like all or nothing man : )

dont you want to get a h/u that plays MP3's too? My qualm with pioneer is that they dont let you adjust the freq's like a kenwood does, and think they sound noticable worse than kenwoods also. I just bought an KDC-MP919, but before that i had a panasonic ghost touch screen. They are pretty kick *** too, but they dont let you adjust the levels very much either. BUT THEY LOOK AWESOME!! the higher models might let you tweak more than what i had, this one is sooo nice!! (cq-hx2083u)

But i use pioneer amps, and speakers : )
Ive had a 300w and a 400w for the past 3 years now, NO failures or complaints what so ever, and they give a low of power. I know they aren't the best, but im in like mid range : )

Tomorrow i have to wire 3 sets of RCA, power, and rmt from the radio to the trunk!! argh, its gonig to take hours, especially get the power from battery through the firewall : (.

For 200 bucks you can get a nice pair of components, and if you get like a 400w amp for the pair, they'll sound really nice!

im just sayin that you can get something better than the P6600 for about the same price. check out some kenwoods, plus they have revolving D-Mask ; )

my99maxisnice

Wow, now that's the kind of post I am looking for people. But Andy, talk about all over the place, do you have ADD like me?

Anyways...I'd like to get an amp, because one of the reasons I'm replacing BOSE is at least one of my speakers is blown out. Don't want that happening again.

Do you have a certain Kenwood model you would recommend for my price range and the preouts?

As for speakers...I think what I really need to do is head over to an audio shop and listen for myself, but I relaly like the prices of those CDT's.

And I know nothing about amps. Who has recommendations for an amp just to power the speakers? Not too expensive, hopefully.

Thanks again.

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

middle-highend pioneers let you adjust frequencies just fine. from what ive read (not from personal use) some kenwoods have reliability problems with their h/u. but imo just get a decent deck and hook up an cehap amp such as a us acoustics to the cdts and you will be a very happy man.

my99maxisnice

What's a cehap amp?

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

http://www.cbrstereo.com/index.asp?P...ROD&ProdID=417

theres a ton of amps to choose from. a jbl 180.2 is also a good cheap choice. but imo you can get away with an even less powerful amp than that and you will still be pleased.

exardus

well Zeb has Clarion DXZ835MP HU for around $220. one of my friends got it, and it sounds pretty kick ***. plus it plays mp3's and it's got a ton of other stuff for pretty cheap. I'm even thinking about picking one up for myself. Maybe you should check thatone out.

Scope

iTrader: (5)

Well to add my .02 in just get a cheap amp. I have a Pyramid amp in and it rocks. I also have a JVC Arsenal HU which comes with 3 preouts, One of which is 3v gold plated specially made for the subwoofer. But back to the amp. It has 2 channels and spits out a max of 120watts per channel with a min. of 35w rms per channel. I paid like $50 for it off of eBay and I have no complaints. I did blow out one speaker because it was receiving too much power. Other than that it's perfect.

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

receiving too much power, or distorted power?

Scope

iTrader: (5)

They were the cheap high wattage eBay speakers and it was quoted at 300watts max. Well I fed them the power and one toasted on me. The other speaker still works perfectly. WIth this amp you are able to control the gain thus minimizing distortion. Plus whenever the bass hit hard the thing that's holding the tweeter and midranges would rattle and then they stopped working and the speaker stopped. I doubt that it's the amp because the speaker just stopped working. It could be a lose connection to the magnet. I'm too lazy to take apart my rear deck to find out.

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

i wouldnt be surprised if the tinsel lead came off. you can resolder that easily.

Andyman692

Man it takes a long time to run wires under the carpet, take out the stock radio, new HU, new rear 6.5, subs, and 2 amps! just about 6 hours to do!!

here is my kenwood KDC-MP919. It has a nice display, and you can edit the Bass Center Freq, Bass Level, Bass Q factor, Bass Extend, Mid Center Freq, Mid level, mid q factor, treble center freq, treb freq, trebel lvl, non fading lvl, non fading high/low pass and loudness

you have a lot of choice, and i get the clear clear clear highs and lows. It sounds better than i expected.

this is how it looks, even though i messed up a little...

Andyman692

i had a jensen amp that worked hella good...the mother trucker was even corroded, i sold it with my last car, and it still works after 3 years! i even bought it at a pawn shop! it was a 300w 2 channel...but i still have my 300w pionner gmx552, which i want to get another of...it kicks ***! get this, i got a 400w, 4 chan gmx554 for $53 shipped off of ebay!!! so now i have matching amps : ) i need that 552 for my other mtx..cause im not going to split a 300amp between 2 10in!!

my99maxisnice

How does this amp look, to just power the front and rear speakers?

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-7T5Nl4a...=1&cc=01&avf=Y

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

thats a great choice.

WaarrEagle

iTrader: (1)

I am a complete noob when it comes to car audio but threads like this are helping me along. One of my rear speakers is blown, I think. It makes this terrible rattling noise and its only from that speaker. I have been looking at replacing the bose speakers for a while anyway. I currently have a Pioneer DEH-P5500MP headunit running the Bose speakers through some Crutchfield adapter. I do have an amp running 1 sub in the trunk. From what I have read the 5500 has 2 outputs on the back. One is for the front and the other can be rear speakers or a sub. I have it set to sub right now. What does that mean for me if I were to replace all of my speakers? Can my headunit power the speakers or will it sound like crap? If I do get an amp to power new speakers how will I get the signal to it with only 2 outputs? Is it necessary to run wires throughout the car when replacing the Bose or can you use the existing wires? The only complaint I have with the Bose is that I have distortion at high volumes so keep that in mind for my situation. Thanks for any help - I sure need it!

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

if you replace all the new speakers you can run them off a h/u. i think you would be pleased with it actually. your h/u is fine for hooking up 2 amps. for the rears you can keep the stock wiring. im not sure how the bose is in a 4th gen but id recommend rewiring the front if you run components.

Andyman692

yea, i just rewired by whole max yesterday...it's a few hours of persuading the wires to go under the carpet, but after that upgrading/swaping is super easy. Get an rca spliter for your rear channel and send that 1 extra one to your amp. You want to have 4 indepentent channels. if you blew it, unplug it if you dont have the time to take it out..cause it probably driving you nuts!

yea, but put in some nice pioneer 6.5 3ways : ) they give me nice highs and they are pretty clear for the $40/pr that i bought them for : )

my99maxisnice

I hate to be a d|ck, but it would be helpful to both of us if you started a new thread for your problem.

my99maxisnice

Does anyone have these speakers? They look like an awesome price, and I've heard good thing about Alpines. Anybody with these speakers, please reply.

http://www.ikesound.com/product-product_id/72

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

my post didnt go through last time so hopefully it will this time. ill summarize. with shipping those will be about $150. they only handle 50 watts rms, they have a sensitivity of 86 which means it takes more power for them to sound good as compared to a speaker of something like 90. other than that, they seem fine, i have never heard these speakers, just giving opinions from the specs.

my99maxisnice

If only 50 watts rms is bad, what's a good number to look for....I would think they would be good, being an $280 speaker.

my99maxisnice

Also, what is the importance of the number of channels for an amp? What would be appropriate for what I'm looking to power?

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

http://www.cdtaudio.com/classic2000MidDriv.htm

check out the specs on those. they are the same cdt cl61a's you can have for $150 shipped from thezeb.com when i was shopping for components months ago i compared the cdts with many choices.
6.5" 2-Way
Mid: High Performance Stamped 6.5"
Crossover: "Phase Perfect" Elliptic 4th order 2-Way SatNat-456
Tweeter: TW-25 1" silk soft dome
Power Handling: 150 watt RMS
Frequency Response: 60-20kHz
Sensitivity: 92.3 dB
Impedance: 4Ohm
Surface & Flush mount tweeter
$349.00

now the other ones you selected:

200W Peak Power
50W RMS
Frequency Response : 40Hz - 30kHz
Impedance (Nominal) : 4 ohm
Sensitivity : 86 dB/W/m

i just chose part of the specs so you can compare. as you can see... based on stats it appears the cdts are better. not trying to give you a biased opinion because i own the cdts. and for an amp to power the components, a nice 2 channel amp will do you well. you need 1 channel per side of your car.

my99maxisnice

I emailed thezeb.com to see how long they will be out of stock...if not long then I will go ahead and place my order. Let us pray.

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

good choice

my99maxisnice

Oh yeah, do I need to power the rears with an amp, or could I just power them with the deck. If so, do I need a 4 channel amp, or will 2 still do?

Thanks slickrick for all your responses, they've been a huge help.

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

a 2 channel amp is all you need. running the rears off the h/u will do just fine. are you also getting the cl6x's?

my99maxisnice

Yeah, that's just too cheap too pass up.

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

exactly! they will sound very good for rear fill. just dont expect too much bass out of them.

my99maxisnice

Thanks again...looks like I've basically decided on HU and speakers, now I just need to decide on the amp...I don't even nkow what's a good price for a respectable 2 channel...ahhhh what a noob

slickrick

iTrader: (12)

so which h/u are you gonna get? for $100 you should get a decent amp for the cdts.