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alright, a friend of mine has an infiniti g35 coupe, and she is going to be replacing the stock system. keeping the stock HU though, and adding an amp. what would be a good setup for her? shes replacing all 8 speakers, and she mainly listens to rock, etc., not really worried about lows to much, but likes to have them available for when she listens to techno. she was looking at some mb quarts and boston acoustics, but wasn't too convinced yet. i told her she could probably find something a little better than the overpriced quarts, and with a little better response. so, what should she get? amps, components, etc? wants to keep the speakers all one brand, and wants a good amp to power them with. also, if the quarts are the best sounding for the money, that's fine, just recommend which line she should go with. and which amp she should use to power them with. but if there are some speakers that sound better for less money that's great too. not too sure on the sizes in the g35 either. but just remember, she will be running the stock hu, cause she likes it. so if possible, give me a list of all of the necessary pieces to comprise the system, and where they can be found for the lowest dollar amount. i will try to get you some sizes to work with.

 
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look into the focal polykevlar series for speakers. as to amps, it all depends on her budget. I could say us acoustics for 120 bucks, or some arc audio or helix for high high prices

 
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alright, so if possible then could you give me every speaker she will need and the corresponding amp(s)? and could you provide a link to where i can find it? i will really appreciate it. thanks in advance.

 
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price not really an issue, i am trying to get the sizes and everything, so it will be of some more help on your suggestions... thanks again...

 
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alright, here's what she needs

2- 1"tweets
2- 6.5 mids
2- 4"
2- 6X9's

remember, she wants sound quality with the availability of lows if necessary, but mainly listens to rock, metal, etc... not much need for lows cept when she is listening to stuff like techno.

 
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i almost forgot, she wants to spend about 2 grand or less. thanks

 
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where are the speakers located? maybe she can just spend a good amount of money for a nice set of components for the front, tweeters and mids and amp them with a nice amp, then the rest just cheaper coaxials with an amp. focal speakers are often considered some of the best.. but it's all subjective. it doen'st sound like she'll be able to tell the difference between very high end and a little lower.. i don't know, tell her to get what she thinks sounds good.

 
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well, she was wanting something that sounded great, but she doesn't know much about car audio, so she asked me. i told her that the quarts were good, but kinda pricey, and that she could find something better probably for less. the 6.5's are in the doors, tweets on the dash, 4's high up front, and the 6X9's in the rear. looks like the car is setup for a good front stage. which focals would give her a good setup for under 2 grand? i haven't really looked, where would be a good place to go? sound domain, online car stereo, those are just 2 off the top of my head. and which amp should she run with them. i am open to all suggestions at the moment, i cant really think, my grandma died this afternoon, so i am kinda cloudy. thanks for the input.

 
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quarts lack low end unless you get the super expensive set.

look into the focal polykevlar series for some decent pricing over at onlinecarstereo.com. I think they actually sell a 3 way set with a 6.5, a 4, and a tweet.

 
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rocford fanatic P component set $89 from someone who works at best buy, or online for $100.

i chose to reccommend this set cause of rock and techno music. rock plays lots of distortion and techno has high sharp highs. rockford tweets are very crisp and bright, and the midbass from the mids are very nice as well.

4" scanspeak or vifa or any $15 home theater driver

more likely $30 each, you can get them from partsexpress or http://www.speakercity.com, some company like that, youd be using them for vocal support mainly (definitely a must with that rockford set) so youd want something highly accurate, like a peerless midwoofer, almost anything would do, really.

6x9's - JL VR coxial 6x9. retail for @70, im sure they are FAR cheaper online. XR coaxials are les than $200 online, so i would assume these VR 6x9's would be $150 or $120 on ebay, for the full set. i chose JL here because what you are looking for here is a speaker that plays as low as is humanly possible, to minimize your need for subbass. JL knows how to build a speaker with midbass in mind, i have been very impressed with teh range of the VR 6.5 coaxial, i would only assume the 6x9 can play lower.

when runnign it, I would disconnect the tweeters. you dont want highs coming from the rear.

the reason i dont reccommend VR components for up front is the tweeter is too smooth. im sure her enjoyment of techno would be enhanced if rather than having a tweeter she can barely hear, she has a tweeter that makes her smile and cry at teh same time. definitely a joyous tweeter!

sub-bass: tempest $150 facotry direct.

i chose tempest, because it has the deepest range, not much volume for blockrocking, and is so transparent that when playing sweeps in techno youd swear you were night next to the synthesizer. you hear only the recorded methods of distortion, never that which is added by teh speaekr itself.

requires 4 cubic feet sealed. if she dont wanna give up that much trunkspace, get teh shiva instead. almost the same range, $125, and 1.8 sealed.

crossovers : they come with the rockfords and the VR's. promptly throw the rockfords away. ill explain if you wish in PM (PM me) but this post will be far too long if i explain why. bottom line is, rockford cant match up great speakers to great speakers with a crossover that works well. the set will die or suck if you run it as is, rather than set it for best performance.

crossovers: $15 custom built by parts express. cost is $15, from partsexpress

research some 3 way sets, and choose the crossover points accordingly, teh standard points will work. something like 50-1000 Hz rockford, 1000-4000 Hz midrange, 4000 up tweeter, 55 or 60 Hz below sub-bass. the subbass you can use the crossover on teh amp, as well as the highpass for the rockford.

you are looking for a set of crossovers that will at 4 ohms lowpass at 1000ish (research for exact frequency) then a separate crossover that goes from 1000-4000ish Hz, again research for exact frequency then highpass at 4000 up. this will be the same 2 way crossover module.

or you can try to find a 3 way crossover set online, pieced out form like a JL XR 3 way component set or something, i dont reccommend that.

SO! assuming that you have the speakers and crossovers i reccommend, lets think about amplifiers! those rockfords need a good 150 rms each to get going. the tweeters cant take much more than 50 rms without screaming. since they share a crossover, they will share power, 50 rms is a good value.

6x9's can take a good 50 rms each too, anymore and they will lose their coherrency within the rest of the stereo.

the shiva/tempest wants 250 rms-500 rms

so by reasoning out, you will want a pair of 4 channel amplifiers to power the whole damn thing, a 50x4 amp to power teh tweets, 4's and 6x9's, and a 100x4 or 150x4 or 200x4, in that range to power teh rockfords and shiva/tempest.

they way you will set it up is this: the shiva/tempest will have a lowpass crossover on teh amp, set to between 50 and 70 Hz. the rocfords will be on the other set of channels stereo rather than mono like the shiva/tempest set to highpass at about 50 Hz. the pututs will go to their crossovers you had PE build that limit to whatever frequency you had them set to. we used 1000 Hz here as an example.

then the 50x4 amplifier, you have 2 channels runnign in stereo to the inputs of the crossovers for the 4's and tweets. these crossovers will have 6 terminals each, a set for input, a set for the 4's a set for the tweets. they will share that channel on teh amp, but each will get 50 rms, they dont share power despite being on the same output! if you can only get a crossover that has a single point, lowpass to the 4's and highpass the tweets, then youll have to hope yoru amplifier can be set to highpass at 1000 Hz, again out demo frequency. youd highpass it at teh frequency you have teh rockfords lowpassed to.

then you set teh highpass at like 40-50 for the other channels, and wire the VR crossovers there. id leave the tweeters disconnected, simply so you dont have multiple point sources of sound, but if she insists (and I am sure she will) go ahead and hook them up.

whew! that was quite a system build! not only was it complex, but required lots of conceptual knowledge as well.

I think your best bet is to take her to a shop and have them outfit her. if htey know she has $2000 to spend, i guarantee you itll get covered, if the salesman is worth his weight in *********

 
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man, i cant believe i wrote that

 
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especially for someone who kinda talked not so nicely at you last week

 
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i was referring to the fact that i spent the time laying out a pretty decent stereo for the musical taste, but i dont think there is enough install knowledge to pull it off. i gotta say prolly best to take it to a shop so they can deal with it instead