New High Quality System

[Excelsius 10+ year member]

Oh crap! I forgot that I have two amps now. Does that mean I have to double the number of RCA cables and installation kits? I hope not, but if yes, I'll have to shell out another $70 plus lose out on the shipping combo. Sucks!

 

[spoonraker 10+ year member]

Without recommending specific components and brand names, I think the best bet would be to get a new head unit. At least replace your mid-bass speakers and front speakers if they really sound that bad, tweeters are tweeters, I really don't think it's worth it to replace them. Get a small sub and put it in a sealed enclosure, nothing bigger than a 10 inch, and a modest amp. Tune the amp to not power the sub unless it's a very low frequency pitch. And the biggest sound quality issue that nobody ever addresses is make sure you have everything secured tightly to you vehicle, rattling kills sound quality so give it a good listen and fix any issues you hear.

 

[Excelsius 10+ year member]

I agree about the head unit, but I can't replace that now due to several reasons. Many pros do not even turn on the midbass speakers - they're not as important.

Tweeters are the MOST important part. I have a pro home system and tweeters make all the difference in the world. When it comes to high frequency, you want to retain crystal clarity. I have often abandoned professional speakers because I didn't like the quality of the tweeters. If you are listening to techno or other booming music, tweeters are not important, but when you're listening to a capriccio by pagannin, some parts are played almost entirely by the tweeter. Remember, I'm talking about classical music here.

 

[Excelsius 10+ year member]

I just heard about something that I hadn't heard before: sound deadening. What do you guys think, do I need it? If so, I'd like some recommendations/links (I hope it's not expensive).

 

[Freestyler717 10+ year member]

Im going to do this too. Leonsv, recommended that I pick up "second skin damplifier." He gave me this website to check out, http://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/ (they tested many, and picked damplifier, high quality/durability and cheap price). He said to go in this order based on how much money you have... front doors -> rear doors-> trunk->floor->rear rack->firewall->roof. If you do your trunk and front doors I think it'll cost you $50-100, not including labor.

Overall I think its worth it, especially since youll probably have your car for a while.

 

[leonsv 10+ year member]

Im going to do this too. Leonsv, recommended that I pick up "second skin damplifier." He gave me this website to check out, http://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/ (they tested many, and picked damplifier, high quality/durability and cheap price). He said to go in this order based on how much money you have... front doors -> rear doors-> trunk->floor->rear rack->firewall->roof. If you do your trunk and front doors I think it'll cost you $50-100, not including labor.
Overall I think its worth it, especially since youll probably have your car for a while.

imo sounddeadening is is one of the best bang for the buck upgrade you can do... for around $300 you can do pretty much 70-80% of the car and the difference is night and day. It literally makes a corolla sound like a lexus ls or a civic sound like acura rl... (these are the only comparisons that i can give because i've been in them), barely any road noise, traffics seems extremely distant, hel l if you put on ocean sounds you'll actually believe your in fiji lol. Proper sound deadening will make the midbass pound, the tweeters have more clarity and authority, and of course the sub will wang like crazy... also sound deadening keeps sound in so that's good for both overall sound stage and security, you can blast a bit louder without catching thieves' attention.

that sounds about right, i think all 4 doors and trunk with some left over is around 80 sq ft... also labor isn't hard, it just takes time... sound deadening, imo is one of the easiest things to do cause it's kinda hard to screw it up lol...

also for a freakishly accurate estimate on how much damplifier you would need to do doors or trunk or..or...or go to the secondskinaudio forum and post. A guy with the screen name "frootloops" will give you an awsome estimate...also you can ask him about other things concerning sounddeadening, he's a great guy.

P.S you can get a pretty big discount from seconskinaudio if you join their forum

 

[Excelsius 10+ year member]

Leon, it's amazing how you know all these people. I contacted him and also the company. Let's see what estimate I get. If the price isn't high, I'll try to do the front doors for now. Otherwise I'll do it in spring with window tinting. I usually like to blast my music and open the windows (even on the freeway, unless int's winter and I'm in the mood for some tragical masterpiece), so that perfect quietude is not a problem. Plus my car is very quiet. You have the new civic as well, wouldn't you say so? If I were to compare this car to my 96 Camry, I'd say that the camry's windows felt to be open on the freeway, even though they weren't.

 

[Excelsius 10+ year member]

Freestyler, before you decide going with one of the companies I quoted above for the installation, check out what this guys says at that other forum:

http://forum.elitecaraudio.com/showthread.php?threadid=136096&pagenumber=lastpage

It seems that those cheaper places do a horrible job. I feel like I'm going to shell out for the Audio Advice. Do you know anyone who got theirs done at the other two places? If they are going to mess up my car, it will cost me much more than paying about $80-100 more to get a quality service.

 

[Freestyler717 10+ year member]

Nope, i don't know anyone thats done it at the other places. Im thinking that I might just try and do a self-install, it seems like a fun weekend project and I have plenty of time. Also, save like $200 bucks. Im pretty meticulous with doing work so I think I'll be able to handle it.