What to upgrade

[helium89]

I am currently running a Kenwood Excelon kdc-x491 with a pair of pioneer 4x6's for the fronts and jl 6x9's for the rears (both off the head unit). Unfortunately, they were there when I bought the car, so I don't have model numbers w/o ripping off my door panels (something I'd like to only do to actually change the speakers because one of my panels is breaking off as it is). I also have 2 xtant m410 subs running off an alpine mrv-100m amp. I am leaving for college in about a month, so my budget is really tight ($150 max).

Where would I be best putting my money here? I know the 4x6's in the front should be replaced w/ 6.5's, but I'm also running my subs w/ only 100 watts each, which isn't much at all either. Would you recommend replacing the 4x6's with some cheap pheonix gold comps or some cheap 6.5 coax's or replacing the sub amp with one that will better power the subs? If I replace the fronts, I will either have to run them off the HU or power them with a cheap walmart amp my friend gave me (it claims 400 watts over 4 channels, so if I bridge it into a 2 channel amp, I might be able to make it cough up a clean 50 watts rms per channel, or so I hope). Recommendations for either the sub amp or front speakers would be appreciated. I guess my other option would be sound deadening, but I figured that wouldn't do much good at this point anyways, since I'm really not able to turn it up very loud with what I've got.

Thanks for any advice you have,

Andrew

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[tbasile1 10+ year member]

What kind of "walmart" amp is it?

But deff do 6.5s up front!

 

[helium89]

Thanks for the quick reply. The walmart amp is a "Virtual Reality Sound Labs" 400 Watt amp. I believe it's made by roadmaster though because their website had the product manual and whatnot on it. Not a good amp, but it was free and hopefully it will provide more power than the HU.

 

[UCF52 10+ year member]

one option...

sell: your "walmart" amp to a friend ~ $30

buy: PG RSd's 6.5 components - $87 shipped from ebay

buy: Profile AP600 - $86 shipped from ebay

leave: the jl 6x9's in the rear and run them off HU power - if you want rear fill.

 

[helium89]

I might be able to do that. I guess if the amp and the speakers is only around 170 shipped, I might be able to squeeze together enough to buy them. So you guys think the amp for my subs is enough for the time being? (I know they aren't the best subs, but they came with my car and my system sounds pretty bad without them turned on) Again, thanks for all the help. I'm pretty new to this whole car audio thing.

 

[tbasile1 10+ year member]

one option...
sell: your "walmart" amp to a friend ~ $30

buy: PG RSd's 6.5 components - $87 shipped from ebay

buy: Profile AP600 - $86 shipped from ebay

leave: the jl 6x9's in the rear and run them off HU power - if you want rear fill.

agreed ^^

 

[kross 10+ year member]

sell: your "walmart" amp to a friend ~ $30

You're not a very good friend. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/jk.gif.ba617e50836573747a97050af2b21696.gif

 

[UCF52 10+ year member]

You're not a very good friend. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/jk.gif.ba617e50836573747a97050af2b21696.gif

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[helium89]

I guess I'll probably buy the pg comps first and just use the walmart amp until I get the new amp (my birthday is in november, so I might be able to get one as a gift). I do have one concern. I'm going to college in the northern Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Will most speakers survive that weather if I let the car warm up before I use them?