Exegeses

I've seen some pretty amazing sound system mods here on this forum (too bad I can't hear them in person)! But I must admit that I'm not much into ripping out my 8, adding huge subs in my trunk, and filling the trunk with a large amp. I need my trunk for practical reasons. Are there any simple changes (such as replacing some speakers) on a stock 8 (non-bose) that would improve the sound quality significantly?

I'm new to sound system mods on the 8... Any advice would be appreciated...

What would you do if you only have a budget of $300 to improve the sound?

thanks...

alcimedes

Would you be willing to do the work yourself, or would you be paying someone else to do it. If you do it yourself there might be some speaker replacements you could do, but if you're expecting someone else to do the work, $300 isn't enough.

Napboy

replacing the speakers is your best bet here. installing them is really easy if you get the correct sizing that just drops in. there are some diys on how to get the door panels and rear deck off.

a lot of people have used the infinity line and have been happy with it. a search should bring up some good examples.

Tamas

iTrader: (1)

As starters, get a set of Infinity 6800cs component speakers and install them yourself in the front doors. It's drop-in size for the midbass driver, but for the tweeter you will probably have to use a hole saw to cut out the sail panel and install it flush - still no big deal. Look at Astral's sticky thread on the top of this forum to see possibilities for the crossover mount.

Do this first, and see if the sound improves enough for you. It should be a significant difference - and this will cost you way less than 300 bucks.

Skythe

www.Crutchfield.com

This site is well put together. They have installation instructions WITH PICTURES (pictures of the actuall intereior) for damn near every car ever made. They take the guess work out of "what fits" and also will send you, free of charge with every order, mounting brackets if you get optional speaker sizes.

$200 - $300 dollars will get you a really nice component set for the front doors. But don't expect to get much bass out of it. Upgrading these will give your music more clarity, a more "full" sound.

If you are interested in getting more bump in your trunk, just enough to satisfy you while not drawing too much attention to yourself. You might want to consider getting a small box fabricated to house 1 or 2 8inch or maybe even a 10inch sub-woofer.

marvin_rock

It's way out of your price range, but one of the custom 4080 boxes leaves you PLENTY of trunk space as it is designed to take up that weird indention on the left or right side of the trunk then you could easily fit a 10' inch in there. Obviously that's way out of the question right now, but it keeps the stock look and is MORE than enough of the lower end.

Also you never mentioned whether or not you have BOSE or not. I'm assuming not because if you do, that's a kick *** stock sound system, spend your $300 somewhere else! Make your car pretty or something.

dupa12345

search for "$150" i was reading about someone getting it done for that much and being happy . im researching this myself .. so ill be looking at your or posting my own progress

im also considering popping in the $250-300 mp3 player .. to make my cds more efficient .. maybe somehitn gyoud want to do

gl

Tamas

iTrader: (1)

Yes, he did. No Bose.
And whether the RX-8 Bose system is indeed kickass or not - that's really the question of personal preference...

djgiron

Get the Infinity replacements everyone is talking about and see what you can afford for a powered sub in the trunk (basstube or infinity) and you will be pretty good.

Glyphon

i've got a rather small 10" sub in the back, and it sits almost perfectly in the indention on the trunk floor, especially considering it was a prebuilt box. to make removal easier, the amp is mounted on the box itself. so for autox or if i know i need all the trunk space, 2 screws to undo the power, wrap the ends with some electrical tape to keep them from shorting, and unplug the audio connectors and its out.

greatly improved the audio quality, imo. the stock unit didn't have much in the low end, and the small sub filled it in nicely.

didn't cost me a thing, since it was equipement that i already had, but i think it cost me around $300 - $350 a few years ago when i bought it. did all the wiring myself, and it was a huge pita. but its in an working.

Exegeses

Thanks for all the suggestions...

I'll definitely look into replacing the front speakers...

Infinity look popular...

bureau13

I started that $150 thread someone referenced. (Its my sole claim to fame :D) Basically, the point was for not much money I DRASTICALLY improved the sound quality with the stock non-Bose system by replacing all four speakers with cheap Infinity Reference speakers that I got off Ebay. Now, there's some risk as these were returns...and I actually had to send one back...but it was really cheap, and the difference was night and day. Now...could I have better quality for more money? Of course!

I would not just do the fronts by the way...the stock rears add so much mud pretending to be bass, you won't believe the difference in bass "tightness" you get when you upgrade to a quality 6x9, even without a sub.

jds

unpocoloco

Great thread! This is exactly what I have been looking for. My issue is I don't want to pay someone $120+ bucks to do an install for $240 speakers. 50% markup! On the other hand, I do NOT trust myself to do a good job. Hole saw??

bureau13

Its not that scary. Once you remove the door panel you'll see...the space fo the speaker needs an "adapter" to fit the aftermarket speaker, unless you get the Infinity 6x8 someone mentioned. However, all you need to do is get a sheet of Lexan at Home Depot, trace the outline of the door opening and cut it out, and cut out a round hole to fit your speaker (assuming its round). Once the door panel is back on no one will ever see your handywork. As for the tweeter, I didn't cut anything...the Refefence tweeters fit into the stock location fine. They didn't clip in, but they're secure and you can't tell them from stock until you listen to something.

jds

robertsteven

I'm trying the under $300 method myself.

$120 on ebay with shipping. Infinity 6810cs for door speakers with tweeter. They sound great!

$106 at Crutchfield with shipping. Sirius SIR-PS1 8" w/ passive radiator 160watt powered sub in a box that fits perfect in the back corner of the trunk without blocking the pass thru.

I haven't picked out Rear speakers yet, but there are many 6x9s that sound good and priced about $40 and up, like the Blaupunkt PSX693 at Frys or Polks or ???

Total should be under 3 bills and sound should be greatly improved. It won't have a killer thump, but the quality should be there!

Next is the extra $300 for the mp3 player.