Starting fresh with a new audio setup so I am looking for suggestions

[Slayer16102]

The vehicle is 2001 Z06 Corvette w/ 110 amp alternator -
The max box size it can support in full size subs is two 10" subs.
My budget is $500-$1000. I'm not looking to compete. I just want a pretty decent system in my car that would sound nice and have some good bass.


The headunit currently in the car is a Pioneer 6800BS it works fine - Should I keep it or upgrade to something better? I don't mess with EQ settings at all. I just set it and leave it on powerful or flat. I mainly just adjust my HFP and LPF settings and thats it. I mainly use AM/FM radio stations or youtube to listen to all of my music. I primarily listen to rap, rock, pop, alternative, bass tracks, and techno.

The door speakers in the front are Kicker CSC654 6.5" two way speakers - Should I keep them or upgrade to something better? They don't seem to have much midbass at all eventhough the polarity is right.

The default corvette speakers have a black box on the back. I am guessing this was an amplifier of some sort for midbass. They came with 3" tweeters and an 8 inch sub in the doors.

When the car was modified they put alpline SPS-610C's in the front doors, but I'm not sure if this was an upgrade or if the factory bose was actually better. I would like to know what you guys think here. I can always repurchase the bose speakers again if needed. The SPS-610C's died eventually so I put the Kicker CSC654's in the doors for now. I'm open to changing the speakers again though. Just remember I am currently running my door speakers without an amp so take that into consideration when suggesting a new set of speakers.

The rear speakers in the back are unknown. I'm not sure if they were ever upgraded.

I currently have no subwoofer or amp, so I am looking for a good setup in 8's or 10's that would hit in my car while sticking within my budget, but also not overstressing my car's stock electrical system.

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[hispls 5,000+ posts]

I'm not too impressed with Alpine S line. Type R is quite nice and X series has always been top tier. Really in general I find the lowest model line for anything typically is to be avoided and anywhere in the middle will be a better value/performance. For entry level components I've used the Kickers in my pickup and they're OK for the money I thought. If you like yours, keep them. You might could get better performance whether you keep a 6.5" mid or bump up to 8" if you spend some time/money/effort in sealing and sound deadening the door locations. That's generally the most return on investment for time and money if you're after better midbass.

If you can get 8" and 3" woofers up front in the doors you may have some good options for 3 way fronts CDT has a good range of offerings or you could just browse Crutchfield and see what's out there off-the-shelf for 3 way kits with an 8" woofer.

I'm not sure about that specific head unit but Pioneer is a good quality brand there. If yours has enough RCA outs for your needs and whatever other features (USB/bluetooth/etc.) that you like I see no reason to change it if it works.

As far as adding some bass, the most common rookie mistake is to just pick some arbitrary cone area and try to cram as much as you can physically fit into too little airspace. The correct way to plan this is to determine precisely how much net volume you will have for a box, figure out your limitations as far as diameter or mounting depths due to the space you have to work with, then decide how much power you plan to run, and then look at subwoofer options that will function well in the space you have and handle the power you need to run. I haven't been inside a corvette in ages but they've always been very small and it shouldn't take much cone area in the right box to keep up with everything else.

 

[djdilliodon!]

Like hispls said, you need to measure in order to see what the best options will be based on the dimensions you have available. A C5 if you go stealth style enclosure has about 7” of mounting depth and .9-1 cubic foot available of airspace. A partition style enclosure for these cars that slides all the way back against the tail and faces forward is available with about 1.45 cubic feet of total volume and a mounting depth of 6.75”. If you are willing to make a custom style partition enclosure like this you could pull off two 10’s and ported. You will also gain much more mounting depth as well and this setup can have some impressive output!