Not too thrilled with sound system
#21
02-28-2006, 09:18 AM
RE: Not too thrilled with sound system
ORIGINAL: amg6975
^Unless your system rules are hard as mine.
Oh, and they make dash kits for the 06 now... I saw them somewhere. I'm standing by my guns and say get a friggen head unit first. Then speakers if you want.
^Unless your system rules are hard as mine.
Oh, and they make dash kits for the 06 now... I saw them somewhere. I'm standing by my guns and say get a friggen head unit first. Then speakers if you want.
Agreed... get a head unit first. If you got $600, at least allow yourself $300-350 for a decent headunit.
#22
02-28-2006, 10:24 AM
RE: Not too thrilled with sound system
Well I don't think you have they same factory system as my Si but here is the email my friend who owns the car audio store sent me when I asked him about your system....feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
I would recommend an amplifier---5 channel with high level inputs(very important to use on a factory radio). Replacing the radio will cost the entire $600 with the dash issues if not more---it will only slightly improve the sound ---only 9 watts per channel RMS ---max possible with dimensions of a standard din radio. An amplifier will improve SQ and volume of system. The head unit for that car is a waste of time unless he has a much larger budget than $600.00
The aftermarket head unit will lose the factory amp and subwoofer ---assuming there is no interface available at this time.
This is a no brainer to me.
I would recommend an amplifier---5 channel with high level inputs(very important to use on a factory radio). Replacing the radio will cost the entire $600 with the dash issues if not more---it will only slightly improve the sound ---only 9 watts per channel RMS ---max possible with dimensions of a standard din radio. An amplifier will improve SQ and volume of system. The head unit for that car is a waste of time unless he has a much larger budget than $600.00
The aftermarket head unit will lose the factory amp and subwoofer ---assuming there is no interface available at this time.
This is a no brainer to me.
ORIGINAL: 2006HondaCivic
I just purchased a 2006 Honda Civic XL and I am very pleased but expected better sound quality from the high end stereo system. I was wondering how I could improve the sound without spending alot of dough.
I just purchased a 2006 Honda Civic XL and I am very pleased but expected better sound quality from the high end stereo system. I was wondering how I could improve the sound without spending alot of dough.
#23
02-28-2006, 11:49 AM
RE: Not too thrilled with sound system
An amp won't increase the SQ! It will just amplify every imperfection on the OEM cd player gives it. You have to start with the begining and end at the end. You can only get a good sound from a good signal, no amp will clean up the signal the head unit gives it. An aftermarket head unit will increase sound quality dramatically.
#24
02-28-2006, 03:24 PM
RE: Not too thrilled with sound system
I agree a new deck will greatly improve sound but you will get very little increase in volume. He should clarify as to what he means by sound better, because to 99% of the people out there that just means louder. I feel bad for people that spend all this money for systems that have all these crazy light shows. Systems with soooo much bass you can't hear the words to the songs... or systems with so much rear fill it sounds like the music is behind you....ever go to a concert and have your back facing the stage?...Then why so much from the rear speakers? I'm always like hey that's great, but what about Imaging, staging, depth, width....
Point is for $600 an amp will get you louder, new head unit will sound better but gain very little for volume.....decide what is more important to you and how much you really want to invest.
Car audio can be very addicting and will cost you lots of money...learn from mistakes I made in the past...don't settle for something cheap to start out...you will only want better and it will cost you more in the long run. I do agree that if you were to build a "GOOD" system a head unit is the place to start....but then again, a good head unit should't have a built in amp so then you end up buying the amp anyway.
Point is for $600 an amp will get you louder, new head unit will sound better but gain very little for volume.....decide what is more important to you and how much you really want to invest.
Car audio can be very addicting and will cost you lots of money...learn from mistakes I made in the past...don't settle for something cheap to start out...you will only want better and it will cost you more in the long run. I do agree that if you were to build a "GOOD" system a head unit is the place to start....but then again, a good head unit should't have a built in amp so then you end up buying the amp anyway.
#25
02-28-2006, 05:31 PM
RE: Not too thrilled with sound system
He should clarify as to what he means by sound better, because to 99% of the people out there that just means louder.
ORIGINAL: 2006HondaCivic
I just purchased a 2006 Honda Civic XL and I am very pleased but expected better sound quality from the high end stereo system. I was wondering how I could improve the sound without spending alot of dough.
I just purchased a 2006 Honda Civic XL and I am very pleased but expected better sound quality from the high end stereo system. I was wondering how I could improve the sound without spending alot of dough.
or systems with so much rear fill it sounds like the music is behind you....ever go to a concert and have your back facing the stage?...Then why so much from the rear speakers? I'm always like hey that's great, but what about Imaging, staging, depth, width....
#26
03-01-2006, 07:37 PM
RE: Not too thrilled with sound system
Speakers alone didn't do the trick for me... I am using Alpine R components in the front and coaxial in the rear. To finish it off though, you will need both a seperate 4 channel amp and something to remove the preset factory head unit equalization that attempts to make the lames stock speakers sound better through electronics. Frankly, there is not a good cheap option that I can think of... what follows is a post I made in another section of this forum about speaker installation and about a couple neat products available now or soon.
(OTHER POST)
I just added some component alpines to my 06 coupe. There are no airbag interfaces in the door itself that would interfere with the install - but you might get into something if you dig too deep in places where the speakers are not mounted. I used a standard 6.5" model with the equipped adapter and it worked out fine. Regarding the rear deck, you will need a 1/2" speaker adapter otherwise they will fall too low into the standard holes and get tied up with the trunk tension rods. I actually had to cut about an inch off the rod on the drivers side of the trunk to get my alpins to fit since they were a fairly deep and wide mount.
Keep in mind when you do this that the stock head unit has built in factory equalization. This means that in order to make up for the stock speakers poor frequency response in the highs and lows, there is a built in bass and treble boost built into the tone system of the head unit. Upgrading your speakers may leave you with a system that is very bass and treble heavy leaving out vocals and other more midrange sounds. JL Audio makes an item called a clean sweep (see their web site) and Alpine is coming out with a very similar item in august. These are designed to remove the built in factory equalization settings and return the stock head unit to a flat response. The JL audio version uses a self adjusting 30 channel (!) equalizer to accomplish this and costs a bit over $300 if I remember correctly.
Currently I am using tone controls, cross overs with level controls and a hand made tweeter level control to compensate for this and it sounds pretty good but I really can't wait to get the factory bias out... I know it will make a huge improvement!
Good luck!
(OTHER POST)
I just added some component alpines to my 06 coupe. There are no airbag interfaces in the door itself that would interfere with the install - but you might get into something if you dig too deep in places where the speakers are not mounted. I used a standard 6.5" model with the equipped adapter and it worked out fine. Regarding the rear deck, you will need a 1/2" speaker adapter otherwise they will fall too low into the standard holes and get tied up with the trunk tension rods. I actually had to cut about an inch off the rod on the drivers side of the trunk to get my alpins to fit since they were a fairly deep and wide mount.
Keep in mind when you do this that the stock head unit has built in factory equalization. This means that in order to make up for the stock speakers poor frequency response in the highs and lows, there is a built in bass and treble boost built into the tone system of the head unit. Upgrading your speakers may leave you with a system that is very bass and treble heavy leaving out vocals and other more midrange sounds. JL Audio makes an item called a clean sweep (see their web site) and Alpine is coming out with a very similar item in august. These are designed to remove the built in factory equalization settings and return the stock head unit to a flat response. The JL audio version uses a self adjusting 30 channel (!) equalizer to accomplish this and costs a bit over $300 if I remember correctly.
Currently I am using tone controls, cross overs with level controls and a hand made tweeter level control to compensate for this and it sounds pretty good but I really can't wait to get the factory bias out... I know it will make a huge improvement!
Good luck!
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