I've been lurking for a few weeks now... since I bought my '06 Silver Supercrew 4x2 5.4L... but this is my first post.

The truck is still totally stock - and totally beautiful - but I'm already making a mental list of what I want to do to it.

I finally found a buyer for my beater Nissan pickup so I've got $1200 coming to me. I'm gonna use that cash for the necessities... bedliner, toolbox and tint. If there's anything left over - which I doubt - I'll probably throw a 2" leveling kit on.

After that will probably be the audio enhancements.

Now I'm not looking to enter any audiophile competitions. I just like a good quality, clean, crisp and tight-thumping sound. I don't want to cut corners and buy crap like I've done in the past, but I don't want to spend a fortune on this stuff. But the bottom line is the stock stuff is just muddy and doesn't sound too great.

So a few questions...

Obviously the door speakers are the quickest and easiest way to improve the system's sound. In your experience what's the best bang for your buck in replacement 6x8's for the doors?

Is there a powered sub on the market that will fit under the back seat and sound decent?

I'm sure I'll eventually replace the head unit with something, but I'll probably keep the stock one in for a while. If I put a single sub in the back - powered or custom box/amp - do I need another 4-channel amp on the door speakers or will it sound ok running off the stock head unit?

Perhaps I should forgo the sub for now and just put a 4-channel amp on some good quality 6x8's or even components? Is it possible to get any kind of thump out of that setup? After all, I really don't want to give up the storage space for the sub... unless that's the only option.

Any opinions?

Thanks! Love the forums so far! They've been very informative!

Andrew

 

PERSONALLY, I would skip the 6x8's and go with a NICE set of components; coaxials are cutting corners in my oppinion, so if you can swing it, Id go for the comps...

I believe MTX makes a powered sub/subbox combo (Thunderform is what its called) and JL makes a Stealthbox, however, it's not powered by its own amp.

The amp is really up to you. A 4 channel for the doors, and a mono for the sub; a 5 channel for the doors and the 5th channel for the sub; a 4 channel with the front 2 channels on the front doors, and the rear channels bridged on the sub, with the rears not amped; a two channel on the fronts, and a mono or bridged two channel on the sub.....just depends.

As for good thump with just components an/or coaxials, yes, somewhat. A nice set can produce some darn nice mid-bass, enough to rattle panels/mirrors/etc. Its just not going to be the low low bass like a sub, because they simply cant do that. If you did try to get that kind of bass from them, you might have some problems . I can turn of my sub off and still get some pretty good bass from my comps; enough to rattle everything and feel it on some notes. Heck I even had someone ask me what kind of sub I had, and I didnt even have my sub in, just the comps. But if your a bass junkie (like me) its not going to be enough for you.

Id say, since you somewhat want to avoid a sub, get some NICE components, with a good amp, and see what you think. It might be exactley what you want. If not, you can add a sub later.

 

Hey bartak, what kind of comps do you have exactly. I've got my system built up with my sub and everything and I felt like I wouldn't need a lot of bass from my door speakers so I went with some Infinity's in the doors and there is pretty much no mid bass at all. I've got deep bass from my sub and my door speakers are hitting nothing but highs. I'm interested in replacing the door speakers with something that has a little more thump. Thanks!

 

Nevermind, I didn't see the link to your gallery down there, but now I see what you've got. Awesome system man!!

 

Archer, they are Rainbox CS265 Pro Vandiums. They are an older version from a couple years back, but I feel like I got a nice deal on them, and Im very pleased with them. The higher models kick even more ****, but you gotta have some cash for them...
Check out this link
http://car.rainbow-audio.de/products...hp?lan=2&pro=1

Have you tried deading and sealing up your doors? Makes a tremendous amount of difference in mid-bass output, and really helps overall sound quality.
Might want to try something like that before you swap speakers, it will be much cheaper and might be all your looking for. If not, its not going to hurt anything, just make your new speakers that much nicer sounding

 

Woopsies, didnt see this post, lol. Thank you though

 

No, I haven't deadened the doors and I know that I need to do it. It really makes that big of a difference eh? Thanks for the advice, I'm going to do that before I buy new speakers....

 

Made quite a good amount of difference in mine. One thing that it really helped, that I love, is with the windows down, you can still get good sound and nice mid output. I drive with my windows down a lot and when I would roll them down, sound quality would go down the tube. With them sealed up, it made a very nice improvement.