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Old Aug 26, 2005
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How to Get Full sounding sound

First oiff, I just turned in my leased 2002 lx sedan and got <drum role> a 2005 Civic Sedan!!! Now all in the 7thgen World can praise me for doing the right(?) thing.

Anyways, so now I have a stock car, I pulled out my Alpine CDA-7998 and my front door speakers (infinity reference series). I left the rears in cuz it is a pain to get them out. Anyways.. I am listening to the stock equipment and granted the range on the speaker (volume) is not great, but I am impressed with the crispness of the music on the FM station, the bass is also pretty good for a factory set-up. My question is what can I buy in terms of speakers in the front that will give me the same fullness, richness and detail of sound that the stocks seem to give me. I have also seen this in with GM cars where the delco deck and speakers give a pretty decent sound. I am looking at MB Quart componenets but I am still in the early stages... any help would be appreciated.

Does anyone know what I am talking about when I describe this?
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Old Aug 26, 2005
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i m hving the sme problem, i have alpine type r components in the front and the 6 1/2 coax in the back, the back has more bass than the front but not near the stock amount of bass. aftermarket speakers are mostly designed to be complimented with subs. the stock speakers are paper cones that provide more bass and the aftermarket are harder material for crispness and sq. so if you go with aftermarket get subs, i have heard stock systems that sound better than mine because they can go lower but not ner as loudh
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Old Aug 26, 2005
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So if I hooked up my aftermarket HU with an amp and used the stock speakers you think it will sound decent?

It is not just the bass i am referring it is also the crisp, crisp highs in the vocals that seem to better in stock speakers. I just dont wanna go out and spend the money on speakers that are not going to get me the sound I want.

What is the power of the stock speakers anyways....3-4 watts? Cuz I mean if I am them they are suyre to blow sooner or later.
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Old Aug 26, 2005
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if you amp the stocks you will probably blow them soon. hook up just your aftermarket hu and they will sound alot better. if you want even better sound go with some components up front and coax in the rear if you want and get a amp 30x4 rms or more and then get a 10" sub in a sealed box to replace your lost bass. 150 rms or more to the sub should be plenty to blend nicely. since you already have the hu, you can probably get some decent stuff for around $500
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Old Aug 26, 2005
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My HU requires and external amp, which means I must replace my door speakers. I have the infinities from the old car which I can use in rear of the new. One thing, those infinities were componenets but the tweeters blew, I can still use them as rears , right?
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Old Aug 26, 2005
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you can but you will have no high freq. from the back, i don't recommend it. look at the alpine mpr-f240 amp. does 40x4 rms at 4 ohms, get that with alpine type r's or type s' components and rears. then get a 10" or 12" type r sub in a sealed box, you will have great sound quality for a good price. i am sure a lot of other brands sound great too, but i love alpine
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Old Aug 26, 2005
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oh yeah, that is a damn nice cd player 7you have
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Old Aug 26, 2005
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love my alpine it is sick !!!!!!! CDA-7998... competition deck.
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Old Aug 27, 2005
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amping your front speakers with a quality amp thats seperate from your sub amp is a good start. I powered my Alpine Type X components with a boston accoustics amp and the difference is night and day. The speakers can go really loud without distorting perfect for those deep bass notes
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Old Aug 27, 2005
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^^^ Would you recommend amping the rears with aftermarket speakers of course or leaving them stock and unamped.

What model boston acoustics do you have? I am looking at JL or JBL or RF
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Old Aug 27, 2005
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Run the rears un amped and stock. Don't want them to overpower the fronts. Heck, take them out will work too, I did when I had my vic.

I take it you want to keep the bass response that you have now but upgrade them. There are several way to accomplish that, sort of, but understand that the stock speakers are full range, so you're not gonna go as low with anything aftermarket without adding a sub. That said, a few options that won't break the bank are JL Audio Vr series speakers. I prefer the coax versions. They'll run you abuot a buck 25. Powered off a jl e1400 d amp and they'll sound phenominal, plus you'll keep a lot of the bassiness you'er used to. Another option is the Adire audio koda6 midwoofer. Add a mutted set of tweets and you'll be well pleased.Both need to be amped though, so don't skimp there.
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Old Aug 27, 2005
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alpine deck, amped front/rear aftermarket speakers run off amp, separate tweeters run off deck. I have some low grade (cheap) stuff for the most part and it sounds amazing. Don't forget speaker install matters alot too! You can't just slap on speakers and expect it to sound good.
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Old Aug 27, 2005
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I cant run anything off the deck, the deck requires and external amp
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Old Aug 27, 2005
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this is stupid. u need the alpine deck. aftermarket speakers front and back as well as an amp for the speakers otherwise it wont sound that good at all.
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Old Aug 27, 2005
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fade the music up a little to off set the rear speakers. that way u still get the better bass but the sound stage isnt messed up
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Old Aug 27, 2005
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a rule of thumb is that your system is as good as your weakest component - stock sounds "good" because low power speakers are paired with a low powered deck. You'd notice this flaw trying to amp them.

I'd replace all of your speakers - as quality as your budget can afford.....
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Old Aug 27, 2005
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Originally Posted by coop
a rule of thumb is that your system is as good as your weakest component - stock sounds "good" because low power speakers are paired with a low powered deck. You'd notice this flaw trying to amp them.

I'd replace all of your speakers - as quality as your budget can afford.....

I just went to the shop to do a little pricing and that is exactly what he told me. It sounds good cuz the deck is exactly matched to the speaker output. So I guess the trick is to do the same with the aftermarket deck, amp and speakers. Looking at the alpine type S compoenents or the JBL GTO626 Componenets. For the rears I would put the coax versian of whatever I put in front...how does that sound. In that case I am looking at either a KAC 8402 amp or a RF P4004 amp to power it all... this should suffice right?
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Old Aug 27, 2005
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Personally I would ditch the rear speakers and spend the money you saved on better fronts. I run with 2 way components in the front and no rear speakers, and it sounds fantastic. Most people in my car can't tell I dont have rear speakers because the stage created by the fronts envelops you.
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Old Aug 27, 2005
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thats how mine is, except I only have the rears for bass. Worked out well considering there's no sub.
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Old Aug 27, 2005
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Originally Posted by Mystic3030
Personally I would ditch the rear speakers and spend the money you saved on better fronts. I run with 2 way components in the front and no rear speakers, and it sounds fantastic. Most people in my car can't tell I dont have rear speakers because the stage created by the fronts envelops you.
How? Are you sure? Wonder how you wire your speakers and how and where you install them.....
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Old Aug 27, 2005
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just get a 2 channel amp? and dont connect the rears?
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Old Aug 27, 2005
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Originally Posted by gearbox
just get a 2 channel amp? and dont connect the rears?
Gearbox, I want to see your installation. Can you e-mail me?
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Old Aug 27, 2005
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My speakers are in the stock locations, doors are sealed with fiberglass and 3 layers of fatmat on the outer skin (the backside of the painted part) and 1 layer on the inner skin, plus the plastic door covers are covered with fatmat and then sprayed with rubber undercoat. I'm running a PPI 4 channel 500 watt RMS amp biwired to the speakers. Speakers are MB Quart QSD.

Rear speakers are completely removed from the vehicle.

Also, my fronts can be played without subs and still create a very full sound, they are crossed at 60 hz with a 12db slope...they play down into the 40's no problem.

Last edited by Mystic3030; Aug 27, 2005 at 11:43 PM.
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Old Aug 27, 2005
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Yeah get some components with a quality amp in there to match that HU man. Did you get it from crutcherfield on sale for 4 hundred instead of like 6-800, if its the one i am thinking of?
Alot of people recomend not using rear speakers, i am curious to how this sounds, but i guess it dpends greatly on speakers/subs. I have alpine type r components in the front and back, powered by mrv 540 50wX 4@4 ohms and they sound amazing, i just need subs. I would get the type x if i were you, or atleast the type rs cause there is a big difference in sound quality.
^^One last thing i think that meant that by only having two front speakers there might be problem with sound cause, but there wont cause it only does with left and right speakers not front and rear. What i am trying to say is that you can leave your rca outputs unplugged, correct me if i aint right.
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Old Aug 28, 2005
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Type R it is then, it is settled, thanks guys, I have heard many good things about them. I dont suppose the JBL comp stack up as good as the Alpine type Rs?
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Old Aug 29, 2005
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alpine over jbl anyday. get the alpine spr-17ls in front and spr-17lp in the rear. i used to only run fronts amped and then i bought the rears also, i prefer the sound with the rears much better, but i still have it faded forward around +3 on the alpine. After researching a good,cheap,sq amp to power my speakers, i chose the avionixx 440.4 that puts out 85x4 rms at 4 ohms underrated. i just purchased this ten minutes ago on ebay. i chose it because of the great reviews i have read about it and my last amp was a tsunami db4440 which is almost identical and i liked it until it blew, but that was my fault.mjust payed $115 shipped for the amp, which is a great deal. also if you look at this amp do not buy a new or refurb one from the seller wizawaza on ebay, there are rumors that he has been selling bad amps, instead look through the car audio forums for a used one.
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Old Aug 29, 2005
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and those type r's were kind of a pain to install, i had to dremel the metal door skin to a 6 1/2" hole and had to make 3/4" spacers, along with shaving plastic off the inside of the door panel. it was worth it though. not hard, just time consuming.also when passing wire through the door, use the existing grommet, i ran the wire on the outside of the grommet and the metal eventually cut through the wire and connected the pos. and neg. which in turned blew my amp, because i had it full volume.
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Old Aug 29, 2005
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i ran my tweeter wire outside and so far its been fine for a year.
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Old Aug 29, 2005
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You can pull the grommet out and run wires through it, no need for running any wires outside, atleast use existing speaker wirers.
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Old Aug 30, 2005
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Ok, I'm lost. I still am no closer to figuring out how to get full sounding sound. I'm just going to get whatevers on sale at best buy.
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