question about amping doors

[inferno1985 10+ year member]

a guy i work with is considering adding a amp to his car because he wants his music a little louder than stock..

he has a stock base 4 speaker in his car with volume controls on the steering wheel.

i told him he can add a amp to his stock head unit to give rcas to a amp for his door speakers.

but he would need a in line converter to do that.

question is is that i have never really used these boxes on stock audio.

would it be better quality sound to just replace the head unit , im sure the sound will greatly increase in volume with a aftermarket head unit.. and if he did go that route and want to amp his door speakers will he need a head unit that has pre amp'd outputs?

he is iffy on adding a new aftermarket head unit but wants an amp for his speakers. and i told him its no very reasonable to amp factory speakers. and told him to either add a aftermarket head unit or replace his speakers.

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[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

Tell him to get a Digital Ssound Processor like JBL MS-8. It'll make stock speakers sound like mid to high end aftermarkets once tuned in properly. It has a built in amp too. Sound improvement is miles ahead of any aftermarket head unit you can get.

 

[negolien]

Those are like $800 lol. It really depends how much he wants to spend. He can get a single din with most of the wizbang stuff for around $175 especially on Black Friday he can find a deal on head units. I hooked up a LoC to my stock system to install two 12" subs before I got a new deck and it worked fine. It really depends on how much he wants to spend.

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

My current and previous set ups were done with stock HU's (I've used plenty of quality aftermarkets in the past).

I have no problem with stock HU's regarding sound quality and like keeping the dash intact.

I have read of a few successful SQ competitors using stock HU's as well.

The only problem I've had to deal with is some alternator noise. Once was solved by improving stock head unit ground.

I'm using a $20 4 ch scosche LOC.

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

I have a MS8 in my Dodge Dart...and like Jeff said ...for the money they can't be beat...and can do active...tons of EQ and adjustability...all in a compact package

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Those are like $800 lol. It really depends how much he wants to spend. He can get a single din with most of the wizbang stuff for around $175 especially on Black Friday he can find a deal on head units. I hooked up a LoC to my stock system to install two 12" subs before I got a new deck and it worked fine. It really depends on how much he wants to spend.

Where are you shopping? They are less than $500. It's a great processor and amp in one package.

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

We've long since stopped trying to get $800 for MS-8 since anyone can see it's much cheaper elsewhere. If anyone wants one from an authorized dealer we have MS-8 in stock.

OP, look for an amplifier with high level inputs. In most cases the high level input circuit does exactly the same thing as a cheap LOC, but it's one less part to give you trouble. JBL GTO-EZ amplifiers are a smart choice.

 

[inferno1985 10+ year member]

We've long since stopped trying to get $800 for MS-8 since anyone can see it's much cheaper elsewhere. If anyone wants one from an authorized dealer we have MS-8 in stock.
OP, look for an amplifier with high level inputs. In most cases the high level input circuit does exactly the same thing as a cheap LOC, but it's one less part to give you trouble. JBL GTO-EZ amplifiers are a smart choice.

ight cool. yea hes not wanting to add subs at all he just wants his music to be louder. hes a older metal head like 50's age range haha. ill let him know. his options hes not wanting to spend alot of money on audio. maybe $200 at most which should get him a much better sound over what he has stock. i just warned him about so possible problems with the loc with engine noise.