Hi everyone, I'm new to the Mo and to this forum. I've had my Mo for about 2 1/2 weeks now, and it has just under 600 miles on it. 2004 SE AWD. I really like it, it's my first non-American car (I've had 6 American cars!). I have the Bose "premium" audio system, but I have to say it's not what I would consider "premium". My 4-year-old Pontiac Grand Am GT's Monsoon system sounds a lot better.
I'm currently looking into ways to beef up the Mo's sound system. I've done custom installs in past cars I've owned and friends' cars, everything from a simple amp/speaker swap in a friend's car to a $14,000 trophy-winning system in my '98 Grand Am.
My biggest complaints with the Bose system are weak mid/highs and distortion. I currently have the bass set to -1 and treble all the way up at +5, and I'm still not satisfied with the sound. After careful listening at each individual speaker location I've concluded that the majority of the system's sound currently comes through the front door speakers. The rear door speakers are very weak and distort easily, and they don't contribute much to the mid-bass. The tweeters are fairly sad as well.
My requirements for my retrofit system are that everything must appear stock and no visible components (amps, speaker boxes, etc.) are hanging around. The last thing I want to do is sacrifice my cargo area for a sub-box.
I'm looking at a complete system overhaul, and would like to get some feedback from other audio enthusiasts out there that have worked on the Mo.
Currently I'm considering putting my 5-year-old MB Quart components in the front doors. The door openings are 6 3/4", and my Quart drivers are 5 1/4". With the extra space I can fab up a mounting panel to angle-mount the tweeter. The rear doors would be fit with a nice set of 6 1/2" drivers to pick up the mid-bass frequencies, brand to be determined at a later point. The sub is the real fun part. I am thinking of losing the left-side storage tray, flipping the spare over, and taking some fiberglass to re-work the spare tire area and left-side cargo area into a single space. I will probably lose the 2" deep storage tray that sits on top of the spare, and by doing so I can raise the tire up 2", giving me more airspace. With the spare flipped over and raised, that will create a cavity under the tire where I am thinking of putting in one of these bad-boys:
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/article/0,,2076_4057_104401920,00.html
Amplifiers are up for discussion as well, I'm thinking a JL Audio 300/4 under the front passenger seat, and some respectable subwoofer amp that will supply the required power to the Pioneer sub (which wants 300W-800W). It's a 4-ohm speaker so I'm thinking if necessary I can add a 4-ohm resistor in parallel with the speaker to get a 2-ohm load off of whatever amp I choose, thereby letting me choose a physically smaller amp and getting more power per square inch of install space needed. Anyone used the Planet Audio Big Bang series of digital amps?
Thoughts? Ideas? I'd love to hear em.
Thanks.
I'm currently looking into ways to beef up the Mo's sound system. I've done custom installs in past cars I've owned and friends' cars, everything from a simple amp/speaker swap in a friend's car to a $14,000 trophy-winning system in my '98 Grand Am.
My biggest complaints with the Bose system are weak mid/highs and distortion. I currently have the bass set to -1 and treble all the way up at +5, and I'm still not satisfied with the sound. After careful listening at each individual speaker location I've concluded that the majority of the system's sound currently comes through the front door speakers. The rear door speakers are very weak and distort easily, and they don't contribute much to the mid-bass. The tweeters are fairly sad as well.
My requirements for my retrofit system are that everything must appear stock and no visible components (amps, speaker boxes, etc.) are hanging around. The last thing I want to do is sacrifice my cargo area for a sub-box.
I'm looking at a complete system overhaul, and would like to get some feedback from other audio enthusiasts out there that have worked on the Mo.
Currently I'm considering putting my 5-year-old MB Quart components in the front doors. The door openings are 6 3/4", and my Quart drivers are 5 1/4". With the extra space I can fab up a mounting panel to angle-mount the tweeter. The rear doors would be fit with a nice set of 6 1/2" drivers to pick up the mid-bass frequencies, brand to be determined at a later point. The sub is the real fun part. I am thinking of losing the left-side storage tray, flipping the spare over, and taking some fiberglass to re-work the spare tire area and left-side cargo area into a single space. I will probably lose the 2" deep storage tray that sits on top of the spare, and by doing so I can raise the tire up 2", giving me more airspace. With the spare flipped over and raised, that will create a cavity under the tire where I am thinking of putting in one of these bad-boys:
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/article/0,,2076_4057_104401920,00.html
Amplifiers are up for discussion as well, I'm thinking a JL Audio 300/4 under the front passenger seat, and some respectable subwoofer amp that will supply the required power to the Pioneer sub (which wants 300W-800W). It's a 4-ohm speaker so I'm thinking if necessary I can add a 4-ohm resistor in parallel with the speaker to get a 2-ohm load off of whatever amp I choose, thereby letting me choose a physically smaller amp and getting more power per square inch of install space needed. Anyone used the Planet Audio Big Bang series of digital amps?
Thoughts? Ideas? I'd love to hear em.
Thanks.