How to make a budget setup on a 2016 Forester

[dan7055]

Hello all,

I am new to the game of car audio and I was looking for some advice on putting in a good sound system in my Forester without spending a lot of money. I am soon to purchase a new Forester with either the 4 speaker base model setup or 6 speaker premium model setup.

I was wondering, what would be the best things to upgrade for the money? I would like to get good bass for listening to hip hop and rap. My thoughts were just to ad HD radio and a subwoofer in the back while utilizing the stock speakers. Would this be a good route to take for the money and would it require upgrading the head unit?

My budget would be around $2000 but spending less is preferable.

Thanks for the suggestions.

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[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Hello all,
I am new to the game of car audio and I was looking for some advice on putting in a good sound system in my Forester without spending a lot of money. I am soon to purchase a new Forester with either the 4 speaker base model setup or 6 speaker premium model setup.

I was wondering, what would be the best things to upgrade for the money? I would like to get good bass for listening to hip hop and rap. My thoughts were just to ad HD radio and a subwoofer in the back while utilizing the stock speakers. Would this be a good route to take for the money and would it require upgrading the head unit?

My budget would be around $2000 but spending less is preferable.

Thanks for the suggestions.

you've come to the right place lol.

Two ways you can go about this.

one is factory integration Digital Sound Processor(DSP) You can go with the 4 speaker and add a pair of front tweeters. get rid of the factory amp and have all the speakers/tweeters run off the DSP's amp. Then just install a subwoofer and sub amp, this unit will provide proper signal to your subwoofer amp.

This DSP has a built in amplifier for your speakers, It also makes the biggest difference in sound quality.




2nd Way to go about this is:

If you dont get a touchscreen fancy head unit from the basic model of the car, you can just replace the head unit. If you buy it from here They should give you the mounting gear and head unit wiring harness for your vehicle. You will need to buy seperate steering wheel adapter if you want to use the steering wheel controls.

Pioneer AVH-X4700BS DVD receiver at Crutchfield.com

Then you can Just add a 5 channel amp and a pair of component speakers for the front and some subwoofers.

your call on what you want to do. first option will sound significantly better than the 2nd option when installed and tuned right.

 

[dan7055]

you've come to the right place lol.
Two ways you can go about this.

one is factory integration Digital Sound Processor(DSP) You can go with the 4 speaker and add a pair of front tweeters. get rid of the factory amp and have all the speakers/tweeters run off the DSP's amp. Then just install a subwoofer and sub amp, this unit will provide proper signal to your subwoofer amp.

This DSP has a built in amplifier for your speakers, It also makes the biggest difference in sound quality.

Thanks, I will have to look into what a DSP is as I am not familiar with it. Will the first option allow me to get HD radio? I would like to have good sound thorugh the radio as well as through music stored on a USB stick

 

[Kai Winters 10+ year member]

You are leaving out some critical info for the suggestions you are asking for.

$2000.00 may be enough or not enough depending on what you want/must have and need.

Are you keeping the factory head unit in either choice?

What do you want besides HD radio and good sound for rap and hip hop?

Do you want to use all 4 or 6 speakers and a sub or is a front speaker/sub system good for your listening preferences?

Do you want to keep the car control interfaces?

If you don't need or want a touch capable, etc. large screen double din you can go with a single din unit. Many offer HD radio you just need to research what brand offers what you want. Keeping all steering wheel control interfaces, etc. will require the need of harnesses, etc. to make it happen and also will need some research to see what works best and keeps "all" the controls you want.

If going the "premium" route does the vehicle have an amp that can power, properly, a decent sub? If not a sub amp will be needed.

Going "basic" I install a single din unit with all the features I want/need. Necessary harnesses, etc. that retain all the vehicle controls. Quality 4 channel amp to power a pair of quality component speakers in the front doors and bridging the rear channels into a good sub for strong bass. This system will easily come in under your budget max.

Using a DSP is a great way to get great sound out of a factory system but if the factory head unit does not have the features you want your system will still be lacking...your not telling us about what is in the vehicles does not help...or if the vehicle has an amp.

You can also go with a 7" touch screen with HD radio, 5 channel amp, dash kit, harnesses, 2 pair of speakers and a sub and still be within your budget...you will have to shop carefully and think about the system priorities for spending. Dash kit and harnesses, etc. prices will remain the same regardless of system choice depending on control needs. The head unit and amp/sub would be next if it were me. I can always live with the factory speakers until I built up enough funds to replace them starting with the fronts first.

Today's offerings and capabilities really require the buyer to do his homework.

It won't hurt to make a list starting with your needs and wants for the system including phone connectivity, etc.

Good luck and keep us informed.

 

[dan7055]

You are leaving out some critical info for the suggestions you are asking for. $2000.00 may be enough or not enough depending on what you want/must have and need.

Are you keeping the factory head unit in either choice?

What do you want besides HD radio and good sound for rap and hip hop?

Do you want to use all 4 or 6 speakers and a sub or is a front speaker/sub system good for your listening preferences?

Do you want to keep the car control interfaces?

I want to keep the factory head unit if possible

I want good sound for rap and hip hop, and good sound when listening to radio. No cell phone integration necessary, I will be using a USB disk for my own music + radio

Using all 4 or 6 speakers plus a sub is preferable.

Definitely want to keep original car control interfaces

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Thanks, I will have to look into what a DSP is as I am not familiar with it. Will the first option allow me to get HD radio? I would like to have good sound thorugh the radio as well as through music stored on a USB stick

then you'd want the 2nd option if the stock head unit cannot play through USB. The head unit has HD radio capabilities and Strong internal parts to get a good signal.

 

[dan7055]

The stock unit can play through USB, are you saying the stock head nit has HD radio capabilities and strong internal parts to get a good signal or an aftermarket one would?

 

[dan7055]

you've come to the right place lol.
Two ways you can go about this.

one is factory integration Digital Sound Processor(DSP) You can go with the 4 speaker and add a pair of front tweeters. get rid of the factory amp and have all the speakers/tweeters run off the DSP's amp. Then just install a subwoofer and sub amp, this unit will provide proper signal to your subwoofer amp.

This DSP has a built in amplifier for your speakers, It also makes the biggest difference in sound quality.

Can you explain why the first option would sound better than the second?

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Can you explain why the first option would sound better than the second?

The processor has better Digital audio convertors, 32 bit vs 24 bit with the 2nd option to start off, giving you a very clean signal to your speakers. It also has an amazing auto tune feature that basically does most of the heavy tuning for you. All the tuning it does is 10x more advanced then any head unit on the market.

If you already have usb for your stock head unit and HD radio capable then go ahead with the 1st option. The head unit and HD radio is in one so it should work on either source.

 

[dan7055]

The processor has better Digital audio convertors, 32 bit vs 24 bit with the 2nd option to start off, giving you a very clean signal to your speakers. It also has an amazing auto tune feature that basically does most of the heavy tuning for you. All the tuning it does is 10x more advanced then any head unit on the market.

If you already have usb for your stock head unit and HD radio capable then go ahead with the 1st option. The head unit and HD radio is in one so it should work on either source.

Okay, second question, why do you recommend adding two more speakers on both the options? Are you recommending adding speakers or replacing two of the stock speakers? Why not just use the factory speakers?

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Okay, second question, why do you recommend adding two more speakers on both the options? Are you recommending adding speakers or replacing two of the stock speakers? Why not just use the factory speakers?

its not really a big speaker, its just a tweeter to handle the upper frequencies and bring up the sound stage assuming you dont have tweeters with the stock setup, if you do have it with the stock setup then go ahead with using them.

 

[dan7055]

its not really a big speaker, its just a tweeter to handle the upper frequencies and bring up the sound stage assuming you dont have tweeters with the stock setup, if you do have it with the stock setup then go ahead with using them.

Oh, to be honest I'm not sure if it has them or not, I just know it's four speakers.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Oh, to be honest I'm not sure if it has them or not, I just know it's four speakers.

4 usually means two mid woofer speakers in fronts and two midwoofers in the back rear deck or rear doors. Thats 4 total.

If it has tweeters then it would be a midwoofer and tweeter in the front and midwoofers in the back. That would count as 6 speakers.

If you want sound quality, you want to bring up the sound stage and basically recreate a virtual concert in your car and have the tweeters a little higher up.

Just look on google images and search stock tweeter locations and see what they look like and when you have your car you can see what you have.