new car new sound part 2!

[shipcamein 10+ year member]

2013 silverado ext cab

Stock sound is not that great, looking for ideas as I am a car-sound bozo.

Lots that I've read this week says without properly "conditioning" my car (insulation and such) I am wasting my money on good speakers. Does anyone know if this is definitively the case for the casual listener?

My local "shop" is pushing infinity reference (speakers/amp/sub) as his "Top o' the line."

CDT has come up (thanks mylows), may be more than I want to spend, but truth of it is, I can't get a consensus on what will work well.

Small background: I'm a home sound nut, and also an electrical engineer. I have a solid grasp of watts, ohms, rms, impedance, dB and frequency response. What I DO NOT HAVE is any idea at all a) Who makes good car speakers, and b) What do i need to do to get a good sounding vehicle. Also c) how much do I gotta spend?

This is a huge forum, someone must know the answers....??

(ps - by "good" i don't mean "sounds good" - that's objective - but rather, "sounds good to me" and also: efficient; flat-response; reasonable low-end rolloff; hi power handling; and solid support from the manufacturer.)

Click to read more...

 

[bgballin26 10+ year member]

You need to check out Sundown Audio, DC audio, Skar Audio Etc... search the forums..Infinity might be ok for highs and mids, but the new subs out these days are amazing!

 

[splwj47 10+ year member]

good speakers to look at are: cdt, hertz, morel, hybrid audio, rainbow and many more. if you want good sound out of your mids you need to seal and deaden your doors. if you dont seal and deaden you will lose alot of performance. if you're looking for real nice sq some amps to check out would be: mosconi, macintosh, gladen, audio systems, ect, ect. but we would need a real budget to know which direction of equipment is for you.

 

[shipcamein 10+ year member]

Ok - more research - I'm thinking my budget is gonna put me somewhere below Crazy but above Circuit City - I'm (as a rough first guess) looking at JL Audio XD700/5 amp, Focal 165VB front, DCON sub - am I on the right track here? Looks like I'm landing in the $1K range, which is about right for me. Question though: What about the REAR speakers? Do we typically use coaxial? Comps? Am I missing something? Also - I'm more comfortable with a single amp for all, just because of the space and simplicity of it all - is there a compelling reason to go 4+1, or even 2+2+1 on the amp(s)? Thanks again...