Hi, everybody. Have an Alpine CDE-9852 receiver (pretty happy with it) + stock speakers on my Evo 9 (non-SSL). I would like to have more bass punch/power and better fidelity overall. I am looking for improvement over what I have, without breaking the bank (limit = $1000). What do you recommend?

 

Take a look at this thread. Post #3 discusses the sonic constraints in our cars:

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...ot-system.html

I'd suggest keeping the stock speakers and sealing and deadening the doors, adding a quality amplifier, and an underseat sub.

 

Excellent detail. Thanks, FJF!

 

Stop back if you have questions or just want to discuss this in more detail. Good luck.

 

check out amazon, search for a alpine f300 amp, alpine type s components and coaxials.
$300 budget. If you want nicer sound quality, go with a 100rms x 4 channel amp and type R's.
That will probably be 600-700. As the amp will probably run 400 beans.

 

I want to save space. What do you think if I go with PC 165 Focal speakers + amp and skip the subwoofer?

 

Sure, you can do that. The working caveats still apply, meaning, the sound won't have much of a low end and its overall quality won't be night and day compared to similarly driven stock speakers, when the car is at speed. Sanding still, the difference (in sound) will be significantly more apparent. This being said, standing still there are much better ways of listening to music. lol

Really, the biggest sonic difference comes from sealing and deadening the doors.

 

How did you accomplish the sealing and deadening? I checked your older thread, but could not find specifics.

 

That's an example of a sealed door. In essence, we're looking to seal all the openings. This allows the speaker to function in an acoustically favorable environment (ie. Infinite Baffle) The entire outer door skin doesn't have to be covered, as above, so use your best judgement.

As for deadening, read this: www.sounddeadenershowdown.com

For product, I can only suggest SDS CLD tiles (for deadening the doors, arguably, the best material available), Dynamat Xtreme (not the regular Dynamat), and Second Skin Damplifier Pro. That's it. No Fatmat, Hushmat, GTmat, or any other product that claims to act as automotive deadening material. They all look kinda similar, but they sure don't perform that way.

 

Thanks again! If I understand correctly, the sealing is needed on the doors that have speakers installed, and the deadening for all doors.