Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Audio audiophiles! share your knowledge

After seemingly exhaustive research in this forum and other websites I'm more confused now than before. Obviously I want a better performing stereo system, part of this means more bass. Now I'm not in to the techno rap business, but I do like to crank some songs like More Human than Human that need bass to fill the song. I'd like to avoid a sub because of frequent auto-x's and losing the trunk space isn't an option because I'm always travelling.

I read in another thread about the Peerless 8's in the doors. What kind of power do they need? Are they even a solution? What are my options? Components? 6x9's? Sub?

Lets first start with your budget. How much are you willing to spend? Would you be willing to put an 8" sub in the rear deck?

less than $700

Sub in the deck? Possibly? Would need to see it, but you have me intrigued!

Next question before we move on to the sub. Is 700.00 for a complete system including door speakers, HU, sub and Amp?

Already have a Pioneer HU that is 35x4, according to them; $700 would need to cover everything else.

OK. Sounds good. If I were in your shoes, I would be looking to replace the door speakers. The Crystal 5x7s sold here cost 69.00 per pair. Get a pair for the front and rear doors. ~$150.00 with shipping and power them with your HU.

For the sub in the rear deck, there are some good options out there...here are some of them.

Dayton Thruster 8" from www.partsexpress.com for ~50.00 is a good budget upgrade and adds some much needed low end. It won't make your hair move, or wake the neighbors at night, but it's quite nice.

The JL Audio 8IB4 is a little better suited to a free air enclosure but has similar specs to the dayton and will cost you a bit more money. It's a good option especially if you can find a deal on it.

If you want to spend quite a bit more money (160.00) you can step up to a Scanspeak 21W/5555A from www.madisound.com. With a 10mm (14mm max) xmax, it should be able to move some serious air for an 8". It would only take 50 watts to really get this speaker to work well. If you could give it 100 watts, you'd be happy.

An Audiobahn AW831 is another decent option. You should be able to find it in the 50.00 price range.

For an amp, Look into a JBL BP150.1

How's this?

You are a God!

Been spending the last few minutes checking out everything. You've been raving about the Crystal's for some time now so I'm guessing they're pretty darn good. FWIW Carstereotime.com has MB Quarts and Infinity's at roughly the same price but the Crystal's are a better unit?
Infinity 5x7
MB Quart

Can't find the JBL amp online, any other suggestions? What about removing highs to the sub? Oh yeah, pardon my ignorance but what is xmax?

APT--I've been browsing your photos from another post but hadn't seen that one. Looks cool! Any rattles? Install tips?

Xmax is the linear one way excursion that the cone can move. The higher the better. You have to be careful because some mfg advertise point to point xmax which is really 2x the actual xmax. Sometimes you will also see xmech advertised which is the maximum mechanical excursion (normally significantly higher than the xmax number).

I'll see if I can find any links for the JBL amp.

Out of the other two 5x7s mentioned, I would stick with the crystals or the MB quarts. Either are fine options with a slight edge going to the crystals, IMO.

JBL BP150.1 has a built inlow pass crossover.

So, i'll break this down price wise.

Front/Rear speakers: 150.00
Sub Amp: 120.00
Sub: 50-170.00.

That totals $40. You could spend another 150.00 on a 50w x 2 Planet Audio Tube amp and run your front speakers off that and still be well under your max budget.