New to upgrading mids/highs. Best brands for the $ that brick/mortar dealers sell?

[Jakerrr 10+ year member]

I'm new to upgrading mids/highs and I'm looking for the best brands for the money that brick/mortar dealers might sell.

I already have the sub stage covered (SA-15, zx1000.1) in my new car and it has a decent upgraded factory Infiniti stereo (Ralliart model as opposed to base 05 Lancer). I haven't put the sub in the car yet but I know pretty much how it sounds, I had it in my last car. It is really going to drown out these speakers and I do like to listen to music at high volume.

Why brick and mortar? Well... My family simply does not understand my interest in car audio. They know I'm buying a head unit and custom box and wiring kit and that I'm paying to get these installed along with my sub and amp. They do realize that this is something I enjoy but to them this is a huge expense for something I don't need and they can't understand why anyone would spend over a couple hundred dollars on a sound system. I work and go to college but I only lived on campus freshman year and I now live at home. I bought both my sub and amp on this site years ago. Parents actually bought the custom box this time around as a birthday present but if they find out that I buy any more stuff for my car trust me I will never hear the end of it. I'm going to see how my current system will sound and get some mileage out of the stock speakers but I am certain that I will be upgrading the speakers and getting an amp for them.

I can't buy used off this site, or anywhere online for that matter, as my parents will know... Sadly, the only shop that is extremely close to me and sells quality gear pretty much only sells JL Audio stuff. WAAAY too expensive for me. I just want a bunch of good brands/companies that have great mids and highs speakers and amplifiers but are also somewhat of a bargain. Basically like Sundown Audio's SA subwoofer line affordability and quality, give or take. I checked out their site and found a couple of dealers 2 hours away from me and I will consider them if anyone can comment on Sundown's mid/high speaker/amp quality. The brands y'all give me will be very helpful as I can go on their website and do a dealer search closest to my zip code.

Info I would like:

1) affordable quality speaker/amp brands

2) maybe a little basic tips on what to get (components for front, coax for rear, no rear (vent deck), 4 channel class AB vs D, 2 channel, etc) and suggested rms to keep up with the 1000wrms monoblock and 15 inch sub I'm running)

3) whatever else y'all find relevant

Click to read more...

 

[fatboytyler]

I'm afraid you're gonna have a hard time staying affordable, but not ordering online. As for your questions...

1.) What is affordable for you? Tons or brand, tons of quality types. $100? $200? Getting both an amp and speakers are gonna cost a fair bit even going cheap.

2.)What do you currently have? Components? Do that. Coax? Do that. No need in changing things up in my opinion. As for power, I run 150W per door, so 300 total and 1200 watts on 2 12" subs struggle to keep up with the door speakers on certain genres/songs.

3.) To do it right, you'll need to deaden your doors, which is more money and time.

As for Sundown, their amps are incredible, hands down. Their door speakers, I personally haven't heard, but have heard great things about them. However, Sundown amps are going to cost a pretty penny.

 

[Jakerrr 10+ year member]

I'm afraid you're gonna have a hard time staying affordable, but not ordering online. As for your questions...
1.) What is affordable for you? Tons or brand, tons of quality types. $100? $200? Getting both an amp and speakers are gonna cost a fair bit even going cheap.

2.)What do you currently have? Components? Do that. Coax? Do that. No need in changing things up in my opinion. As for power, I run 150W per door, so 300 total and 1200 watts on 2 12" subs struggle to keep up with the door speakers on certain genres/songs.

3.) To do it right, you'll need to deaden your doors, which is more money and time.

As for Sundown, their amps are incredible, hands down. Their door speakers, I personally haven't heard, but have heard great things about them. However, Sundown amps are going to cost a pretty penny.

Thanks for the helpful reply. Maybe this can give you more of an idea of what I'm after:

1) I can afford pretty much anything but would like pretty much the best quality at an affordability that matches something like Sundown's SA subwoofer series. I know I'm going to be paying a fair premium at the shop but would still like to know several affordable quality "best bang for your buck" brands so I can look up dealers in SC. 100wrms absolute minimum to each door speaker is what I'm looking for and can pay anywhere from $200-500 for a quality amp that supplies that power and probably up to $300 for a nice pair of components for the front but preferably not that high. Would definitely like the amp to be rated higher than the rms rating of the speakers for headroom and minimal distortion/clipping. Simply avoiding JL Audio is the most important step for budget concerns lol... The shop near me charges $399 for an amp that does like 50x4 rms at 4 ohms. Outrageous. Would you pretty much always recommend a 4 channel amp for this type of application?

2) Car has tweeters in the pillar thing and some kind of speakers in the door and deck. I guess the fronts are components if there are tweeters. You mentioned 150 rms per side for 300 rms total. That's 2 speakers. I was thinking of just taking out the back deck speaker to get more bass from the trunk in the cabin and just deal with the front stage, plus that back deck will be "not my problem" lol simple solution. But is that really optimal? I hear it recommended all the time but whenever I fade the music to the front it just doesn't sound quite as full.

3) Sound deadener I'm ordering online. That's about the ONLY thing I'm gonna be able to get away with. I'll maybe pretend it's some really cheap stuff. But yeah, you better believe I'll be using deadener. I'll be doing the trunk after I get the sub and the front doors once I get the speakers.

I've researched a lot about car audio but for this type of thing it is so much better to just be able to simply ask for opinions and recommendations from people who know what they're doing. Thanks again.

edit

SQ and SPL are both important to me. Loud and clear is my goal. Doesn't need to be perfect SQ but would like loudest for the money while still being clear as just about anyone would be satisfied with. Maybe with a bit more focus on the loudness considering I'm trying to stick with "best bang for your buck" gear. How is SoundQubed?

 

[fatboytyler]

Thanks for the helpful reply. Maybe this can give you more of an idea of what I'm after:
1) I can afford pretty much anything but would like pretty much the best quality at an affordability that matches something like Sundown's SA subwoofer series. I know I'm going to be paying a fair premium at the shop but would still like to know several affordable quality "best bang for your buck" brands so I can look up dealers in SC. 100wrms absolute minimum to each door speaker is what I'm looking for and can pay anywhere from $200-500 for a quality amp that supplies that power and probably up to $300 for a nice pair of components for the front but preferably not that high. Would definitely like the amp to be rated higher than the rms rating of the speakers for headroom and minimal distortion/clipping. Simply avoiding JL Audio is the most important step for budget concerns lol... The shop near me charges $399 for an amp that does like 50x4 rms at 4 ohms. Outrageous. Would you pretty much always recommend a 4 channel amp for this type of application?

2) Car has tweeters in the pillar thing and some kind of speakers in the door and deck. I guess the fronts are components if there are tweeters. You mentioned 150 rms per side for 300 rms total. That's 2 speakers. I was thinking of just taking out the back deck speaker to get more bass from the trunk in the cabin and just deal with the front stage, plus that back deck will be "not my problem" lol simple solution. But is that really optimal? I hear it recommended all the time but whenever I fade the music to the front it just doesn't sound quite as full.

3) Sound deadener I'm ordering online. That's about the ONLY thing I'm gonna be able to get away with. I'll maybe pretend it's some really cheap stuff. But yeah, you better believe I'll be using deadener. I'll be doing the trunk after I get the sub and the front doors once I get the speakers.

I've researched a lot about car audio but for this type of thing it is so much better to just be able to simply ask for opinions and recommendations from people who know what they're doing. Thanks again.

1.) I would check out a few things from CDT, or their budget friendly MX Design series which are $250-$325. They're great quality and there are two dealers on here and various websites. I run CDT (mine are out of your price range), but I love them. If you're just looking for any upgrade, Kicker, Alpine, etc. have decent stuff, but can be a bit pricey comparatively speaking. As for amps, Sundown has beastly 2 and 4 channel amps. But there are numerous ones. Sundown, Crescendo, SoundQubed, DC, DD, to name a few.

2.) I personally don't run rear speakers, but that is due to my setup. If you do run front components you'll nneed to measure the bottom speaker to see if its 5.25", 6.5" or 6.7" and check if the tweeter is 1 or 2". If you want something in the rear, get something that is actually a Mid Bass speaker. Sundown has some, CDT does, there are numerous ones. That will had significant cost though.

As for 2 channel Vs. 4 Channel its really debatable. If you're just running front speakers a 2 channel should do fine. I personally have a 4 channel bridged but I needed more power and have no money for a bigger 2 channel. OR you could get a beefy 4 channel and run the front speakers on channels 1/2 and the mid bass on 3/4 or bridge 3/4.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Buy online and get a PO box or have them hold it at your local fedex/usps/ups location then pick it up yourself.

If i had to go brick and mortar, i'd go with all alpine.

 

[los33]

@adulbrich is this a second account?!?

Anyway for door speakers and wanting local, id say look into db drive pro audio

Sent from my draconis using Tapatalk

 

[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

[quote name='los33']@adulbrich is this a second account?!?

Anyway for door speakers and wanting local, id say look into db drive pro audio

Sent from my draconis using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]

No.....




OP, go get some DD's if brick and mortar is a must

 

[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

@los33;

Love the site! name is clever, lol.

You just violated two rules with one addition to your sig.

You linked an external site and used that one word :uhoh:

I'd put my build up there if you'd like me to.

I'm calling DD on Monday to see if a 4th or 6th would be better for my Z's

 

[los33]

[quote name='adulbrich']@los33;

Love the site! name is clever, lol.

You just violated two rules with one addition to your sig.

You linked an external site and used that one word :uhoh:

I'd put my build up there if you'd like me to.

I'm calling DD on Monday to see if a 4th or 6th would be better for my Z's[/QUOTE]
Its not linked [emoji14] it has to be hyperlinked to be linked

Sent from my draconis using Tapatalk

 

[Jakerrr 10+ year member]

Alright seems like a ton of options. Might consider PO box but I'm pretty sure it is fairly expensive and I'd have to buy several months worth at a time. I found a DD dealer about 80min away I might check them out. Will probably just deaden trunk once my box arrives and wait a while to get multi ch amp and front components. I'll just turn sub gain down. The stock speakers are actually darn good for stock and I think it even comes factory loaded with an Infinity 60x4 rms amp (probably decently over rated or "max" power but still). Just worried something might somehow not fit in my car due to something other than size. Do quality speakers often come in 4 ohm or 2 ohm and does it mattter? I know it doesn't really matter for subs, just increases current by a lot and power a bit too as you lower impedance, but would lower resistance like 2 ohm have noticeably decreased SQ?

 

[jboy2015]

Alright seems like a ton of options. Might consider PO box but I'm pretty sure it is fairly expensive and I'd have to buy several months worth at a time. I found a DD dealer about 80min away I might check them out. Will probably just deaden trunk once my box arrives and wait a while to get multi ch amp and front components. I'll just turn sub gain down. The stock speakers are actually darn good for stock and I think it even comes factory loaded with an Infinity 60x4 rms amp (probably decently over rated or "max" power but still). Just worried something might somehow not fit in my car due to something other than size. Do quality speakers often come in 4 ohm or 2 ohm and does it mattter? I know it doesn't really matter for subs, just increases current by a lot and power a bit too as you lower impedance, but would lower resistance like 2 ohm have noticeably decreased SQ?

I know youre trying to stay brick and mortar but look into a precision power ppi 900.4, itll save you a ton of cash so you have more $$$ for your comp set