Questions about sound system

[Hudsonb]

I’m looking to upgrade my 2 front door speakers to kickers. I’m not sure if I should get an amp due to the high price of installation. How different would my sound be with or without an amp with these 2 speakers installed?

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[Brian_J]

I’m a member of the more power is always better club. Think of it like an engine. If you’re driving down the road using 60% of your power, then you need to accelerate IN A HURRY, how fast can you do it?

If you like to turn it up even to merely MODERATE levels, when a power hungry passage comes on, how much do you have left to give?

Get the amp, you’ll have cleaner sound. You’ll be much happier.

 

[Hudsonb]

That’s fair. What amp would you recommended and what is a reasonable price to have it installed for?

 

[Brian_J]

That’s fair. What amp would you recommended and what is a reasonable price to have it installed for?

I can’t quote for price. Shop around and see what’s normal in your area. You’ll need a wiring kit for the amp, so don’t be surprised by that.

40 watts ea RMS will be plenty for the fronts. Look at the THD of the amp (lower is better) and that they’re rating 20-20,000 hz. Sometimes they rate at 1k. That’s cheating a bit.

if you like music that is bass heavy, you will want a subwoofer too, and the associated parts for it. You can prob add that later.

check out the stereo threads already posted to see what’s involved. Maybe you can do it yourself.

 

[BootXL76]

That’s fair. What amp would you recommended and what is a reasonable price to have it installed for?

May not be the case everywhere but it seems like for “budget upgrades”, the install cost is the same or more than the equipment itself. Hopefully I’m wrong, but I’ve seen $500 labor estimates on just replacing the speakers

 

[BootXL76]

if you like music that is bass heavy, you will want a subwoofer too, and the associated parts for it. You can prob add that later.

check out the stereo threads already posted to see what’s involved. Maybe you can do it yourself.

It seems like a daunting task to do it yourself, but it’s really not all that hard to have a great sounding set up without killing your hands or breaking anything.
As someone who replaced all speakers and added amps, I recommend not even touching the back speakers…. You won’t even notice much difference…. Not worth the blood, sweat, and curse words -
I’ve had only the top panel where the speaker is on and all other rear panels off for a couple weeks now, still tweaking what I’m doing back there because I’m not happy with the returns for the effort I put into replacing them (very happy with everything else though)

 

[Qwillex]

I'm an all or nothing person, it would drive me bonkers to not do the back speakers so I did. I'm pretty happy with everything I did, I might still add an EQ to the mix to give me a little more control over what goes where. I still have a little more work to do on my sub box and the plastics around it. But overall I'm super happy that I put a system in the truck, but it was a pretty long process with a lot of changes midway through.

Due to the plastics not being the greatest I would recommend that anyone who does take apart the truck, try to do it all before putting it back together, I had to put it back together a few times for usage and so I broke more clips due to the multiple removals/installs.

 

[RonFetty]

I’m looking to upgrade my 2 front door speakers to kickers. I’m not sure if I should get an amp due to the high price of installation. How different would my sound be with or without an amp with these 2 speakers installed?

you probably don't need an amplifier to drive door speakers.... if you decided to insert a woofer in the rear.. yes.. aboszultley get an amplifier.

your best bet is to impedance match whatever speakers you have in your door with the same impedance of the outgoing speaker(that way you won't overdrive the amplifier in your head unit).

Since this car mostly runs on CarPlay, my assumption would be that you can use your EQ inside of your phone to fine tune the audio and get it to an optimal position.

____
Also, a vote to install these yourself. Don't pay someone to install door speakers... I would look at sites like crutchfield (for instructions and for fitment). Usually door covers just pop off and on after you take a few screws out.

If you want a good bass note from door speakers, I would also dynamat the interior cavity to improve with the bass response.

___

I've installed woofers and audio systems for 10-15 years now.. I've built custom enclosures made from MDF to fiberglass.

 

[B_kiz]

Where would one put a subwoofer? Isn't there a factory subwoofer option? Where do they put that?

 

[uh50]

I’m a member of the more power is always better club. Think of it like an engine. If you’re driving down the road using 60% of your power, then you need to accelerate IN A HURRY, how fast can you do it?

If you like to turn it up even to merely MODERATE levels, when a power hungry passage comes on, how much do you have left to give?

Get the amp, you’ll have cleaner sound. You’ll be much happier.

Great advice. I'm thinking of a KickerKey 200.4 for the front doors speakers and the tweeters, plus a Kicker DX125.2 that has stereo and mono capability for the rear speakers plus a small sized subwoofer or low frequency 6" x 9". I don't want a thumper subwoofer, just full balanced bass tones.

 

[BootXL76]

Where would one put a subwoofer? Isn't there a factory subwoofer option? Where do they put that?

There’s actually quite a few options…. The factory 6x9 is a free air set up behind the rear passenger seat corner…. I’m actually working on a post with the different pre fab box options that will fit behind the rear seat…. Can also fit powered compact enclosures under the front seats…. There’s also options of building a custom enclosure that doesn’t take up much space under the rear seat storage

 

[BootXL76]

Great advice. I'm thinking of a KickerKey 200.4 for the front doors speakers and the tweeters, plus a Kicker DX125.2 that has stereo and mono capability for the rear speakers plus a small sized subwoofer or low frequency 6" x 9". I don't want a thumper subwoofer, just full balanced bass tones.

You’re on the right path, I have my key set up as all speakers now, going to change it to bi-amp mode and powering the rears separately (also thinking of a way to create custom pod for a 7th and 8th speaker somehow).

 

[uh50]

You’re on the right path, I have my key set up as all speakers now, going to change it to bi-amp mode and powering the rears separately (also thinking of a way to create customer pod for a 7th and 8th speaker somehow).

Thanks. Wish I could afford the equipment now. Soon I hope. The KickerKey200.4 seems too good to be true.

I have a question. Do the tweeters need a separate channel for each of them or can they be in parallel with the 6.5 Door speakers? The idea for a separate channel for each speaker in the front is a "playing it safe" thought.

I do like the idea of a two channel amp in the back using one channel for each of the rear speakers and mono capability for a low frequency 6" x 9" speaker. I'm thinking that the inexpensive Kicker DX125.2 would be great for either 4" Morel, 4" Kicker, or 4" Powerbass speakers, plus a Kicker 6" x 9" that has a low bass response of 30 Hz, which is lower than most of the 6.5" - 8" amplified subwoofers. I know it will not have the volume (as in full sound) of a thumping subwoofer, but I'm hoping with the amp, it will have a full sounding lower end bass response without the thump. With the amp adjustments, I'm hoping I can tune it properly.

 

[BootXL76]

Thanks. Wish I could afford the equipment now. Soon I hope. The KickerKey200.4 seems too good to be true.

I have a question. Do the tweeters need a separate channel for each of them or can they be in parallel with the 6.5 Door speakers? The idea for a separate channel for each speaker in the front is a "playing it safe" thought.

I do like the idea of a two channel amp in the back using one channel for each of the rear speakers and mono capability for a low frequency 6" x 9" speaker. I'm thinking that the inexpensive Kicker DX125.2 would be great for either 4" Morel, 4" Kicker, or 4" Powerbass speakers, plus a Kicker 6" x 9" that has a low bass response of 30 Hz, which is lower than most of the 6.5" - 8" amplified subwoofers. I know it will not have the volume (as in full sound) of a thumping subwoofer, but I'm hoping with the amp, it will have a full sounding lower end bass response without the thump. With the amp adjustments, I'm hoping I can tune it properly.

The tweeters can be in parallel and don’t need their own channel (they’re wired in parallel stock) so with a crossover or even without, it’ll run off the front channel of the key with the 6.5s (with the rear channel running the rear), but if you bi-amp the tweeters would be the front channel and the door speakers would be the rear channel (and you would turn the Key’s fader off). bi amp gives it more tuning range/control on the tweeters and the front sound stage is just fuller/more complete.

 

[uh50]

The tweeters can be in parallel and don’t need their own channel (they’re wired in parallel stock) so with a crossover or even without, it’ll run off the front channel of the key with the 6.5s (with the rear channel running the rear), but if you bi-amp the tweeters would be the front channel and the door speakers would be the rear channel (and you would turn the Key’s fader off). No amp gives it more tuning range/control on the tweeters and the front sound stage is just fuller/more complete.

Ok...thanks, that helps. The DX125.2 is cheap enough, that I'll keep it in my plans. I wonder if I need a bass restoration processor and line driver/output converter maybe like the Wāvtech bassRESTOR off the amp mono feed to isolate the 6" x 9" low frequency speaker for bass?

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