Sub, amp, & speaker advice for an old guy

[pyro225]

WARNING: I AM LONG WINDED!

I'm probably a bit older than most here, so I'm looking for some advice from you guys that know the market and the products today.

I was into home audio gear in my high school/college/20's, but didn't really get interested in car audio until recently.

For perspective, when I was in my late teens & 20's, the REAL stereo upgrades were aftermarket 6X9's mounted at a 45 deg. angle on the rear deck. The REAL audiophiles would wire in an under-dash mount integrated EQ/amplifier. WOOHOO!

Alpine and Kenwood were the top of the line decks, JBL, Infinity, and Soundstream(?) were some amps I remember, and for speakers there were Alpine, Kenwood, Pioneer, and Infinity.

I'm old, so half of what I remember I forgot.

What little car audio I've dealt with has been an Eclipse CD deck (which I loved!), a Majestic bridgeable stable to 1 ohm "The Gate" 100 X 4 amp (junk label but decent performance for me), a set of 6" plus 1 1/2" Phoenix Gold component set (nice), and a pair of low end Phoenix Gold 12" subs in a Subzero dual sealed enclosure (I LOVED these in their sealed enclosures!).

Anyway, now I have a 99 Buick Park Avenue now - enough room in the trunk for 4 15" subs in a monster enclosure, a few amps, and 4 dead bodies. I will soon be filling that big trunk with a moderately loud but reasonably sized system.

I'm shooting for adding on EVERYTHING to my stock CD deck incognito. I don't care about I-pod interface, bluetooth, or GPS. Yet. And I have to keep my steering wheel controls NO MATTER WHAT!!! I kinda dig the Sleeper System idea.

So the plan, for now, is to keep the stock deck and front door speakers, interface the rear L/R speaker to the hi-input of a Kicker KQ9, take 3 pair of RCA's to the trunk along with remote turn-on, and wire the main power/ground for the amp from the battery to the trunk.

I have to choose a 4 channel amp, 2 10's or 12's and a tight sealed enclosure, and a component set of mid/high speakers.

The component set I'm limited because I want a crossover, a 1 1/2" tweeter, and a 6X9 mid as a set, as these will all fit in my stock rear deck and rear door speaker locations. So far, Kicker, Boston Acoustics, and MB Quart are the only ones that are set up this way. Otherwise, I'll have to mount a 6" round speaker in a 6X9 hole. If you know of any other mfr's I should check for a 6X9 component set OR think it won't really make a difference in sound quality or volume between a 6" round and a 6X9, let me know.

The amp, sub, and enclosure (BTW I'm a horrible carpenter...) are the real choices.

And it seems the consensus around here is to stay away from big box stores and mass produced equipment.

I solemnly swear NOT to buy from a big box store (unless it's a laptop computer...), but the high production/low quality equipment I'm not so sure about.

Does Phoenix Gold count? I dealt with them direct when they had a factory outlet on Ebay and was VERY impressed with the customer support. So I'm kind of partial to them.

The other mfr.'s represented at the stores I will shop at are:

Kicker, MTX, Alpine, Rockford Fosgate, Soundstream, Eclipse, JL Audio, Infinity, JBL, OZ, Polk, Subzero, QLogic, Xtant, Zapco, Orion, Cerwin Vega, and the usual Sony/Kenwood/JVC/Pioneer/Clarion line-up.

One of the most important aspects of my choice is buying a product whose mfr. stands behind their warrant 100% with no hassles. I hope to be able to buy from an auth'd local dealer, but will go FleaBay to save a bunch of money.

Also, I'm more into quality than quantity. I like tight, accurate bass (Just say no to BOOOOOM!), clear mid, and smooth NOT bright high. I listen mostly to metal, rock, psychobilly, and some electronica & industrial (Crystal Method, Prodigy, Skinny Puppy).

Any experiences, opinions, or advice shared to help decide which of these mfr.'s products to narrow down to would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Doug

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[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

You have no front speaker locations?

 

[pyro225]

You have no front speaker locations?

Back in the D. A. , most systems did NOT have fronts! Only those pimpin' 45 degree surface mount 6X9's!

In my Ultra, though, believe it or not, there are 5 front speakers with the stock "Concert III" sound system (and 4 in the rear)!

The front doors each have a 5 1/2" mid at the bottom of the door, a 1 1/2" tweeter atop near the window switches, and a single 3" (?) in the center of the dash facing straight up into the windshield.

I've read in the factory manuals that the door speakers are set up as stock head unit amplified component speakers with a crossover between the mid and tweet. Can't find much on the center speaker, but probably for just fill.

The rear speakers have their own amplifier in the trunk with a built in crossover. The 6X9's on the rear deck are low pass and the 3 1/2's in the rear doors are high pass.

I'm pretty impressed with the sound of the system with stock speakers and amp. No real "sub" bass but plenty of clean volume and pretty well dispersed through the car (staged?).

I'm not going to do front speakers until I've completed the above mentioned KQ9/Amp(s)/Subs/6X9 component set design.

They'll be fine as they are as long as I don't blow them....

OOPS - that was a jinx!

I think I missed the notorious GM "Monsoon" system by a year or two. I guess they sound even better than mine stock, but are a ***** to upgrade or remove and replace with aftermarket.

Seems like GM got this one right, and it doesn't have the BOSE name on it!

Doug