Hey guys,

recently bought an 03' MY04 sti sedan and I want to upgrade the cabin speakers to produce good, deep, quality crisp sound throughout the car. Not interested in some stupid boot subs drowning out bass on songs and ruining the drive.

I've got no experience with car audio in terms of brands, sizes, suppliers and installation. If anybody could help me out and push me in the right direction to start it would be much appreciated!! especially somebody who has had this model car and gone through the same process.

Car currently has a sony head unit and an amp. Will be able to get info/pics of the head unit and amp tomorrow if that's needed to get the ball rolling.

TYIA!

Hey mate, there are a bunch of installers and sellers in Perth. I bought my head unit from these guys.

Car Stereo, Car Audio, Car Audio Accessories & Entertainment - Perth

Price matched for me from repco, service was all right. I did the install and I have no experience with Perth installers. I have done 3 of my own cars in the past and the best results always come from split channel audio speakers "splits". You can get decent punch without a sub, though an under seat unit can boost the bass without giving you a reduction in boot space. Audio is pretty personal, go to some shops and have a listen to some speakers and see what you like. Got a budget in mind?

A Decent 6.5inch 2 way component setup properly mounted is what you need.
I tend not to use the plastic adapters you can get as they rattle like hell. I mounted mine on adaptors I made myself using MDF. I also Put a layer of dynamat between mount and door and between speaker and mount. I used a set of JL components and they sound mint.

You won't get that good quality deep sound without some sort of sub though. Have you looked at the under seat ones? They are unseen and just add that crisp quality bottom end.

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605whp
Quarter Mile in 10.9 seconds @ 135mph /217kph
0-100 kph 3.2 seconds

erm, subs create bass, they don't drown it. Sounds to me like you have heard nothing but shit audio setups and/or cheap, muddy subs that are playing a clipped signal. A well set up sub (ie. ample power and the appropriate volume enclosure) will add to the system, not detract from it. Fair enough if you don't want one because racecar weight, but you're not going to get the sound you seem to be expecting without one.

As stated above, you're not going to get "deep" sound from drivers in the doors. Deep comes from cone area. If set up correctly (dynamat on the doors, speakers secured on MDF spacers) you will get punchy mid-bass. You could have the speakers play down to 40hz or all frequencies and they will just distort when you start increasing the volume to a reasonable level. eg. they won't be crisp at high volume. The more simple the system, the more compromises you will have to make.

In regards to "sound throughout the car", I'll be blunt here - fuck throughout the car and fuck passengers. If you want a quality setup you will want to create a true stereo sound that is in front of you. You haven't mentioned a budget which really makes it difficult for people to make any concrete suggestions in terms of brands and level of equipment, but I will suggest you forget about rear parcel shelf speaker and rear doors speakers.

That money is far better spent purchasing a higher end, better quality set of 2-way components (aka "splits" - 6.5" driver, tweeters and matching crossover) and getting them installed correctly - doors sound deadened and a good position for your tweeters. In a quality setup you will want a head unit which will have 4 volt preouts for a clear signal to your amp(s) and you should look for one which has time alignment. This will let you delay the speaker(s) closest to you so that you can centre the sound image in the middle of your dash. The aim - get the vocals sitting on top of your dash, or even higher. This will also give you an even left stage and right stage and therefore accurate sound.

Half the shit I've said may not be relevant if you're on a stupidly tight budget, but I'm making suggestions based on your use of the words quality and crisp.

More info/help if you want it, when/if you state a budget

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[I]trolololol[/I]

A big plug for Brian Wallis at Autotainment in East Vic park. He is always helpful and cost competitive.

Go see Rob at Volatile Car Audio in Malaga. He'll sort you out.
What style of music you listen to will dictate which setup is best.

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No more GC8, sad face.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

Fusion CP AS1080 8 Inch Active 600W Slim SUB Woofer Incl Amplifier Utes Utilitie | eBay

Just slip one of these under the passenger seat.. awesome piece of kit

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06 sti

Have to agree with you there daz, a good underseat completes the system without turning it into a vibrating doof machine and taking up boot space. taking the bottom end out of the door speakers and putting it into a sub cleans up the sound quality majorly.

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06 sti

Other than racecar/weekend track warrior/ute/total tightarse, there is no reason to get an under-seat subwoofer. They are rubbish. A shallow, 8 inch sub is going to add very, very little. You're also restricted by their weak built in amplifiers.

At a reasonably high volume they sound like a wet fart.

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[I]trolololol[/I]

trolley, the one i tagged is sick.. clean crisp.. add very little?? youve obviously never heard one of these things! letalone 2 bridged! id swap my boot setup for one anyday

heres one review..

Fusion Reactor 8" Super Slim Active Subwoofer (RE-SS18)
Wow Sight & Sound - $269.00 on sale (normally $299.00)

Features:
- Very solid Aluminium Enclosure (330x245x78)
- 8" Polycone Woofer (4ohm)
- Monoblock 100WRMS 4ohm Amplifier
- Line & Speaker Level Inputs
- Dual 15A Socketed Fuses (Parallel Config)
- Large 8GA Terminals for Power Input
- Multi-pin Plug for Speaker Level Input
- Gold Plated RCA Sockets for Line Level Input
- Gold Plated RCA Sockets for Line Level Output
- Remote Level Control
- 40-120Hz Low Pass Filter
- Gain Control
- 0-12db 45Hz Bass Boost
- Phase Shift Selector

Pros:
- Mid-priced but one is quite capable by itself
- Good Low-End Enhancement
- Nice smooth lows but can also be punchy
- No Mobile Phone Interference
- No Cabinet or Grille Noises
- Can handle complex lows without fault
- Once level set only limited adjustment required (remote makes it easy)
- Fits like a glove in the 'well' under the ZRE front seats (see pics)

Cons:
- Can produce true 'sub' freqs but can't go all the way
- Can distort when being driven hard

Details:
I only purchased one of these because I had a demo in-store and thought it was good enough by itself. Difficult auditioning a low-powered small sub in a huge open shop but from what I could tell it seemed OK. Got it home, ripped it apart and found it to be quite different. The 8" driver had a single 4ohm voice coil connected to a very decent looking amp PCB. This is in a completely different class to the Jaycar subs as it contained a quality amp containing all the same general componentry found in most standard car amps. They had just cut it down to the essentials and squished a shallow driver into the same box. Good design, solid as hell and looks good too although I think I might paint the grille black as I like my equipment to be as dull & boring as it can be ... love the Stealth look.
Putting it all back together and connecting up the power wiring was a breeze thanks to the chunky 8GA screw-down terminals. I used the speaker line inputs (via the supplied fine yet perfectly acceptable little plug-in adaptor) to keep the comparison fair & accurate plus used the same test CD I used on the Jaycar subs too. The Fusion sub had a few extra features including a 'Bass Boost' (@ 45Hz) as well as a gain control plus it also came supplied with a wired level controller to mount somewhere up-front for easy adjustment on the fly (although you don't have to connect this). After tuning it up for about 60 seconds and being quite happy with what I was hearing I took it out for a test drive. All I can say is WOW ... but I'll continue going on about it anwyay :P
This thing crapped all over the two Jaycar subs running together. It was reaching down to all the low freqs and it didn't seem to get flustered in any way when things got a bit 'technical' and complex. Stopping only once to tune it a bit further and pull the crossover frequency down to about 60Hz I went through more tracks and it just kept getting better and better. At mid-high volumes it still held itself together well and added that essential kick to most types of music. It even doofed a bit when playing dance music ! Very impressive. It treated smooth lows really nicely (sounding nice & caramelly) but did start struggling when they got super-low when the wick was turned up. It didn't make any of its own noises and perfectly complemented the Corollas stock audio equipment without just adding the dreaded 'cardboard' sound as the Jaycar subs did.
Still no alternative to a 'real' boxed sub in the boot of course but the Fusion exceeded my expectations and I can't wait to add a 2nd unit to see how a pair of them sound together.

Summary & Score:
Amazing sub for its class and at a decent price plus fits so perfectly under the ZREs front seats. I doubt it could compete with a standard boxed sub of the same value but very decent nevertheless. Will definitely buy a 2nd unit and run both together to allow better handling of those true sub freqs. So, if you're after an inexpensive way of enhancing your stock car audio system with the added benefit of the occasional bit of punchy doof then the Fusion is the go for sure. Overall Score is 8/10.


Pretty sure the lads made it clear he didnt want a rear sub.. are you deaf or just stupid?

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06 sti