I was wondering how a new head unit and sub(s) would sound with the stock speakers...keep in mind i have a 2003 NON Bose system...I dont know which HU im gonna get yet, but it's not gonna be a cheap one, it should be pretty good..As far as sub(s), I alrdy have a JBL 1200.1 amp, and the only sub I have every had that sounded AWESOME with it is a Kicker 15" solobaric, so thats probably what Im gonna get...So let me know what you guys think...thanks

 

well, correct me if I am wrong, but, the solobaric being a square sub is more for spl than sq. Given that, the addition of a headunit and a sub will obviously give you more bass, and the sq of the interior speakers shouldn't get worse. If the new hu has better specs than the stock hu, then the speakers would sound better. Basically, the addition of a new hu and sub will give more bass, and maybe get a little more from your stock speakers.

 

Thanks man...yea i know that the sub is more for spl than sq, but to me it sounds really good...but thanks again...appreciate your input

 

I think your stock will sound ok, but you could possibly lose a lot of you highs, especially with that sub. Considering you'll have to turn up the music to clear over the bass, or keep your bass down.... And no one likes doing that LOL.

As for a h/u, if you're looking at spending a pretty penny, Alpine is the way to go.

 

Why spend all that money when Kenwood and others are making a cheap, nice unit that looks sweet. Of course, I own one of the higher end Alpines you talk about, but now a days, lots of low end units have lots of high end features. Though, I must admit, I think about selling my CDA-7998 getting the CDA-9835 .

Anyway ... just put an aged Eclipse HU in my wife's car with stock speakers (5th gen front door speakers SUCK to replace ... have to build a baffle) and it definitely sounds improved. Doesn't sound killer or anything, but definitely improved.

 

^^ actually you don't have to make a baffle if you're willing to destroy the stock speaker...kenwood h/u's suck (just my personal experience, have had 2 go bad on me). personally if ur gonna get one solobaric with stock speaks it wont sound that bad if you hp the speaks with ur h/u. be prepared however for major rattlage, i have two 10" L5's and my car is a rattlebox it's ridiculous. you hear like 60% bass 40% rattle.

 

yeah others told me about destroying stock speaker and now that I built the baffle, I'm realizing that the speakers I put in aren't that great and I'd be willing to leave them in if I sell the car. The baffles weren't that hard to make (I made them for my 4th gen too) but in retrospect, the stock speakers are worth destroying if you're putting speakers in that you are willing to leave in the car once you sell it.

 

If you want SQ I'd get components up from, some nice 3 ways for the rear, a nice 4 channel amp to power those, and some nice 12's that hit hard and fast for SQ.

 

forget the 3 ways, get something cheaper and get even better components

destroy those stocks lol. i plan on running my car into the ground so i didnt care

 

Yeah ... upgrading rear speakers is useless. They should be used as "rear fill" which means turning the gain down to like half of what the fronts are at. The stockers will do fine with that duty. I don't run rear speakers at all. My car sounds great (unless you're unlucky enough to be in the back seat ...