What to put in my old car. Or: I’ve got a head unit and nothing else

[Kmcbride]

Hello all, long time listener, first time caller. I’d really appreciate some advice, thoughts, and opinions from anyone who cares to chime in on this. I’ll give you as much information that I can think of to try and help you understand what I’m dealing with. I am currently driving a 1996 Oldsmobile 88 and it looks like I may be driving this thing for a while. I’d really like a nice clean sounding system in this thing. Yes the car isn’t worth the money to put a nice system in it, but that’s besides the point. I only mention this because I asked for help on another forum and all anyone came back with was insults about my car and people telling me I’m stupid to waste money on it. It’s not very cool car but it runs fine and it’s what I have right now and I’m thankful for it. Okay, so right now it is completely stock and only the front door speakers work. The car has 5.25’s in the front and rear doors and two 6x9’s in the rear deck. The front doors also have some crappy factory tweeters. So far the only thing I have bought for it is a Kenwood KDC-X302 head unit. I also have a 100’ roll of 14g speaker wire that I am going to rewire all the speakers with. So now for all the questions... Obviously I’m on a budget and I am willing to buy components one at a time as money allows. I’d like to get door speakers first, followed by an amp, and then possibly a sub. As for the door speakers, what would you suggest that will sound good now, before I have an amp, running off of the head unit power alone? Where will I get the best bang for my money, just going with really good front door speakers only? Or slightly cheaper speakers and doing both front and rear doors? Or going with all 4 door speakers, and the two 6x9’s in the rear deck? So far, I’m leaning towards using Focal RCX 130 speakers in all 4 of the doors. I’m not sure yet about the speakers in the rear deck. Would my head unit have enough power to drive those? Would they sound a lot better with an amp? I know that amps help a lot in general, I just would like to know if they will sound pretty good till I can afford the amp. Or would I get better sound overall if I just don’t put any speakers in the rear deck and spend the money saved on say some Focal ISU 130’s? Is there a big difference in sound quality of the 2 speakers? Will I even notice a difference without an amp? I suppose another way to ask this question is this. If I had a budget of say $600 total for speakers for this car, what you recommend I buy? I know that sound quality can be subjective and differ among people but basically what I want is something that can be turned up pretty loud and still sound very good without distortion. I like clean crisp sound and I want to be able to hear all the different sounds/notes/frequencies/tones that you just can’t get from an old factory radio and speakers. To put it another way, I once rode in a 2016 Audi A8 and was blown away at how good the factory sound system sounded. I want that lol. As for bass, yes I’d like to hear it and feel it a little but I understand that it’s going to be limited when we are talking about only having door speakers and possibly deck speakers, and even more limited until I can afford an amp. Nevertheless, I’d like a little bass too. Oh and if this helps at all, here’s a short list of songs that I really like, hopefully that will help you understand the types of music I listen to the most.
Joe Cocker - Ticket for an airplane
Skiynyrd - Give me back my bullets, I need you
Chicago - Feeling Stronger Everyday
Dirty Heads - Pretty much every song they have ever recorded
Smokey Robinson - I second that emotion
The Temptations - Can’t get next to you.
Thank you to anyone who can help me figure this out, I appreciate your taking time to help me.

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[nauc 10+ year member]

$555 shipped. i have this amp, does around 630 watts at 2 ohms. things solid for the $. the sub and speakers are hard to beat for the money too. cant go wrong. this setup will sound sweet with any music

CTX65CS - Image Dynamics 6.5" Component Speaker System

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SA-12 D4 - Sundown Audio 12" 600W Dual 4-Ohm SA Series Subwoofer

<p> </p> <p><a title="Check out all our Sundown Audio products here!" href="http://www.woofersetc.com/brands/m-134-sundown-audio.html" target="_blank"><img style="width: 100%; margin-bottom: 10px;" src="http://i689.photobucket.com/albums/vv252/woofe

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R500X1D - Rockford Fosgate Monoblock 500W RMS Class D Prime Series Amplifier

<h2>Rockford Fosgate power for your sub</h2> <p>Rockford Fosgate performance in a small package – this Prime Series R500X1D mono amp can drive a sub with up to 500 watts RMS, so you can really feel your bass rockin'. You can use the low-pass filter

www.woofersetc.com

 

[Kmcbride]

Well that stuff does look good. I don’t know anything about those brands other than the amp. But like I said, I have to buy this stuff one thing at a time. Would it be worth it to buy some door speakers before I have the amp, or will they not sound very good without one? It would kind of **** to have the head unit and amp installed but not have any speakers in the car, but I’m willing to do that to end up with the best sounding system I can.

 

[BCotrell]

Does that headunit do active? If not, get a headunit that runs active. do tweeters and mids in your front doors and do the substage.

Good tweeters-

Robot Check

Good 5.25’s

NVX XSP525 5.25" | X-Series Component Mid-Bass Drivers

NVX XSP525 • 5-1/4" X-Series Component Mid-Bass Drivers • Peak Power: 80W • RMS Power: 40W • 4 ohms Impedance • Finely Milled Pulp and Egyptian Papyrus Fiber Cone • Low Damping Rubber Surround • Copper Shorting Sleeve Reduces Inductive Distortion

www.sonicelectronix.com

Good amp

Amazon.com: PIONEER 4CH AMP/150WX4/BASSBOOST REM, Black (GM-D8704): Electronics

Amazon.com: PIONEER 4CH AMP/150WX4/BASSBOOST REM, Black (GM-D8704): Electronics

www.amazon.com

Amp kit

Shop

www.knukonceptz.com

Front door treatment

Robot Check

right about $330 for a Solid front stage that’s ready for bass next.

You could swap that 4 channel out for the 5 channel to get 600 watts for a sub for $80 more or you could continue to save For other options. If you built your own sub enclosure you could probably achieve a decent sub stage for $300-400 depending on how much bass you want.

 

[Kmcbride]

Does that headunit do active? If not, get a headunit that runs active. do tweeters and mids in your front doors and do the substage.

Good tweeters-

Robot Check

Good 5.25’s

NVX XSP525 5.25" | X-Series Component Mid-Bass Drivers

NVX XSP525 • 5-1/4" X-Series Component Mid-Bass Drivers • Peak Power: 80W • RMS Power: 40W • 4 ohms Impedance • Finely Milled Pulp and Egyptian Papyrus Fiber Cone • Low Damping Rubber Surround • Copper Shorting Sleeve Reduces Inductive Distortion

www.sonicelectronix.com

Good amp

Amazon.com: PIONEER 4CH AMP/150WX4/BASSBOOST REM, Black (GM-D8704): Electronics

Amazon.com: PIONEER 4CH AMP/150WX4/BASSBOOST REM, Black (GM-D8704): Electronics

www.amazon.com

Amp kit

Shop

www.knukonceptz.com

Front door treatment

Robot Check

right about $330 for a Solid front stage that’s ready for bass next.

You could swap that 4 channel out for the 5 channel to get 600 watts for a sub for $80 more or you could continue to save For other options. If you built your own sub enclosure you could probably achieve a decent sub stage for $300-400 depending on how much bass you want.

I don’t know if it’s active or not. I don’t see it anywhere in the product description https://www.crutchfield.com/p_113KDCX302/Kenwood-Excelon-KDC-X302.html

 

[Kmcbride]

Okay, I’ve never heard of NVX speakers but I’ve read over tons of reviews since your post and I think I’m going to give them a try. Next question is should I go with the xsp 525’s you mentioned or the VSP525 component speakers? What is going to be the difference?

 

[Kmcbride]

I was thinking maybe go with the vsp525 component speakers in the front doors and the xsp’s in the rear doors. That still leaves the question of should I install any 6x9’s in the rear deck? And if so, what size amp would I need to power all 6 speakers? I don’t know what kind of bass you can get from a 6x9 but that may be all I would need. Or do you think I’d be better off just doing the door speakers and then putting a small sub in the trunk instead of doing the 6x9’s?

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

I was thinking maybe go with the vsp525 component speakers in the front doors and the xsp’s in the rear doors. That still leaves the question of should I install any 6x9’s in the rear deck? And if so, what size amp would I need to power all 6 speakers? I don’t know what kind of bass you can get from a 6x9 but that may be all I would need. Or do you think I’d be better off just doing the door speakers and then putting a small sub in the trunk instead of doing the 6x9’s?

Dont waste a single dime on the rears. Leave them stock leave them on head unit power, focus all the power up front and add a sub.