Audio Upgrade - Suggestions?

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Mike Corn

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I have 250 worth of best buy gift cards, was wondering if any one had any suggestions on what to do to the trac. its an 05 with the Pioneer 6 - disk changer. Not sure if that means upgraded speakers or not. Havent had a chance to pop off the covers yet.



Was thinking of staying Pioneer and getting Pioneer - 10" Single-Voice-Coil 4-Ohm Subwoofer for an under the seat setup. Any ideas on where to get the box for that?



Also for an Amp was looking at Pioneer - 300W Bridgeable 2-Channel Amplifier with Built-In Crossover



And finally for speakers was thinking Pioneer - 6" x 8" 3-Way Car Speakers if my stock turn out to be crap.





What is everyones suggestions? I really want a Pioneer AVIC in dash setup but too pricey.



 
That's basically exactly my set up. I have a Sony head unit that I got from Best Buy for $149.99 and it does more than enough.



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I have a 10 inch Kicker CVT sub woofer under the back seat that i got from eBay, as well as an enclosure that I got from Ebay, about $300 for the two of them.

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I'm powering the sub with a Kicker 400W amp

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and I have upgraded Pioneer Speakers in all 4 doors.





if money is a crunch for you, just buy two speakers for the front doors. you dont NEED to upgrade the back doors, the difference in quality may not be worth twice the price.
 
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Is your Amp located in the box to the left of the stock 8 inch sub? Are the back doors have better stock speakers? I was assuming they were all plain jane 6X8 speakers.
 
they are all the same speakers, but if money is a factor, he's sayin that you won't notice the rear speakers as much because...they are in the rear. you would notice the fronts more=worth the cash
 
Is your Amp located in the box to the left of the stock 8 inch sub? Are the back doors have better stock speakers? I was assuming they were all plain jane 6X8 speakers.
Click to expand...



I removed the stock 8 inch subwoofer and installed the amp in that opening right there, easy access because of the hinged door opening.



Noo all 4 speakers are the same, but you will notice the front speakers alot more than the back ones if you upgrade them.
 
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It all depends on how you like to hear your music and how much you're willing to spend. If all you're looking to spend is 250.00, I would upgrade the door speakers first. If you have a little more to spend, then I would upgrade your head unit, door speakers and sub, and add an amp or two.



Pioneer is a good choice IMO. Dependable quality at a competitive price point.



P3100 DVD head unit:



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6x8 Premier coaxials:



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10" Premier shallow mount sub and .45cf ebay box:



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Alpine PDX 5, five channel digital amp:



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This set up provides me just the right sound for my musical preferences. Crisp, clear highs, and just the right amount of bass. It's also a plus that it doesn't interfere with my interior space needs.
 
I also recently replaced my 6 CD Pioneer Audiophile stock unit with the Sony Single-DIN CDX GT630UI. At SonicElectronix dot com I got it for $124.00 (bought my wife's there on sale for $109 around black-friday).



I cannot say enough cool things about this head-unit!



First off... if you plan on eventually getting an amp & subwoofer... don't waste your time converting your stock deck to having RCA's using Hi-to-Low converters. I went that route... but when I switched over to all Low-Level outputs directly from the back of the new Sony deck I noticed a SIGNIFICANT difference in sound quality, clarity, and output. Also the Sony deck even offers an HPF filter to apply to the (Front & Rear doors) separately from the (Subwoofer) output.



Yeah... for the money you're talking about... the $250... you *should* be able to get a new headunit and new front-door speakers at least. And then the features of the Sony deck will be there for when you've saved-up enough to dive into the Amp + Subwoofer scenario, which is VERY addictive BTW. :)
 
BTW... I also have the Pioneer Premier 10" Single Voice Coil (2 Ohm) Shallow Mount Subwoofer. I made a .47 cu. ft. sealed enclosure for it. That thing POUNDS! I'm feeding it somewhere less than 600 Watts RMS.



Take note though... once you jump into the Amp + Subwoofer route... you WILL need to use a sound deadening product such as "Damplifier PRO" or something similar inside your cab because all sortsa buzzes and rattles will start making themselves known once you start bumpin' hard.
 
Thanks guys for all the suggestions, HST, your system is killer, maybe ill eventually get to that.



I went ahead and ordered 2 sets of the Pioneer 3-way speakers (TS-A6872R). And will start there I think.



I have an MTX 10 already but the box is too big, so I thing next I will get a 5-channel amp and re-run my speakers to the 4 channels for speakers, then buy that sub box from HST's Trac and dissassemble the MTX and mount it in that box and run it to the sub channel from the amp.



Hopefully I will be jammin hard soon:smile0011:
 
I posted some pics of my set up... Alpine head unit, and PDX5 amp, dual 10's behind the seats and custom mounted door speakers and tweeters.



http://baschwar.tumblr.com/post/327895967/photos-of-car-stereo-install-in-04-ford-explorer



Enjoy!
 
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@baschwar : - Ouch... your 10's are smacking the crap outta the backs of the seats. And those seat backs are very rigid. If you're not careful you're going to jack-up the voice-coils. My Pioneer Premier 10" Shallow also leaves a hint of a impression as well... however it's location in the box is such that I can typically fold-down the 60 side of the 60/40 and that alleviates most of it for when I'm alone in the vehicle and wanna bump it loud.



I'm toying with the idea of redo'ing my box again to go for a Ported enclosure. I wanna chang ethe Bottom Depth and Top Depth to also try and eliminate excursion hitting the seat backs if I can swing it.



I currently have BD of 5 and TD of 3.5. I wanna try a BD of 6 and a TD of 3.0 - 3.25, and a taller rear panel height. Mine is currently only 12". I believe I can go to 13" and still access the infant-seat top restraint hooks.
 
@TheGDog -- the outer lip of the subs is really what is making the marks. When/if I ever want to redo this I will get the box made about 1/2" less deep at the base to get the angle more inline with the seat and I will under-mount the subs in the box. That will help.



If they are hitting, I'm not too worried... the subs were $70 ea, not too much to replace if needed -- and, would give a good excuse to get a new box! :smile0002:



And Cap? No, no cap...



baschwar
 
(TheGDog Cao-Tao'ing in Snooze's direction shouting "We're not WORTHY! We're not WORTHY!!!")



Duders... that's exactly what I eventually wanna do with my 'Trac! (The speaker part anyway)



But dude... why would you go thru the trouble of making a Fiberglass enclosure... then not "seal the deal" and do all the bondo+sanding work necessary to then paint it over and have it look exquisite!?



And... uh... wouldn't the way you've mounted those amps cutoff a ton of their airflow!?



P.S. What year is your 'Trac? And were the seats already like that? (Mine is a 2002 and it's a 60/40 split back there, which is why I ask.)
 
Judging from your door panels... I'd say yours is also a Gen1 like mine. So how did you go about getting/replacing the "60-side" of the 60/40 rear set?



Oh man I'd LOVE to do something that your setup here!



Hmm... just thought of this. How is it mounted/bolted to the vehicle?
 
The '60' seat was replaced with another '40' making the setup a 40/40 and leaving the gap for the enclosure. Check the projects section I believe one is posted on the 40/40 split.
 

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