what kind of system should i get?

[dude]

of your 4 system choices, what are you trying to achieve with each and how much effort/cost do you want to spend? there are alot of variables and opinions for what each considers "best". some things might only work well if something was also done. ie, if you purchased $3000 in components and did not change your head unit. some brands also make better components and not others or that they have features that others dont. what is it about better sound quality besides bass are you looking for? some find alot of bass better and even more best. do you find your current system does anything you like or anything you dont, in particular? sol-toy asked what types of music. if you like alot of classical and piano, if could be very difficult to achieve anything comparable to a hi-end home system. i think if someone were to take the upgrade route and bass was of priority, it would go this way, in order of how far you want to go in the first step:
1/ sub, 1 channel amp.
2/ 1+head unit
3/ 2+front speakers
4/ 3+2 channel amp to drive fronts
5/ 4+all other speakers and amps to match
6/ 5+ dynamat
7/ 6+all higher end components
8/ 7+custom enclosures

-of these steps, upgrades can be done any time, depending on your priorities. this is imo, and there will be different views of order, but would think this one reasonable way to proceed.

[kamikazi]

mmmm my budget would be around say.....600k.? and all i am looking is for is performance.

[indiglosolara]

mmmm my budget would be around say.....600k.? and all i am looking is for is performance.

$600k is allot of money. You can buy a house with that.

Did you mean $600 Dollars???

Or $6k meaning $6 Thousand??

[dude]

ic, so since you have a dvd/cdp head unit you can use its preouts for external amp. ways i see will be your best route:
1/ a decent 2 channel amp and replace front only speakers -will give you much nicer sound and a little more bass.
2/ a mono amp and sub - much more bass and some thump factor. will also be percieved to sound overall better as other speakers wont have to work as hard to give same volume and more bass in cars always seems to sound better, if not more fun.
3/ a 4 channel amp to drive all 4 speakers and replace only the fronts. -the rears will not make much diff in sound quality but more power to them will give more bass but bec a 4 channel is more $, you will have to sacrifice front speaker quality.

-i dont think your budget will allow doing more than one of these stages, unless you go used and install yourself and that might take alot of effort and risk.

-your dvd/cd player may have its own amplifier to drive your current speakers or there might be a stock external amp -something in here these guys would know - that is being used. in any case, if there is a stock external amp, it isnt that good or powerful and if not, your jvc doesnt have much power either.
-imo, i would do only step one, spending about $225 on fronts and $375 on amp. i would guess install would be approx 2-3hrs (spend a little more for an install). the front speakers can either be 2 piece, like stock, or a coaxial which has 2 speakers in one (a tweeter-small- and a woofer). a coaxial will give you better performance at this price and should be ok with good power to them. a 2 piece speaker will replace the door tweeter but at these price points might give you less quality because it requires an external cross-over (to separate the high frequencies to the tweeter and low freq to the woofer which adds cost and deteriorates sound quality unless higher quality usually meaning much higher price). if you decide on coaxial, make sure they do not use the stock tweeter. it will just stay in your door unused. that's ok - by trying to use it, in addition to a coaxial will add distortion and will be too much treble.

-if you really want a little more bass, get a 4 channel amp to power (a lower quality and power than a 2 channel but around same price point) to the new fronts and stock rears but try not to go any cheaper on the fronts. you might overpower the rears and blow them but you can budget that for later. the rears are 6x9's so they give decent bass but nothing like a sub.

at first lots of bass is fun and might seem to sound "good", but after time and depending on how fussy about quality you are, you wont feel that your system is high quality, just loud. the solara's are fairly quiet so loudness is not as much a factor as in an older, smaller car. by spending all the $600 on the two fronts with 2 ch amp will immediately sound way way better than almost any stock setup in almost any car and will not require upgrade when and if you decide to add an mono amp and sub to give more thump.

-i dont have nearly the experience of many in here, but i have had good experiences with alpine amps and eclipse speakers.

-at this budget, the trade offs are greater. ie, between $3000 and $3600, either will sound extremely good and the differences will be less than $0 and $600.

-now if you meant $6000 instead of $600, forget everything i have said since i would be in way over my head....hmmm, i really do have too much time....

[geminimouse]

Alpine is the best but you will pay for it.

What about Rockford Fosgate! I've had two set ups in the past and I can honestly say, both have pounded.

alpine is not the best...they just spend a lot of money on advertising to make u think they are the best. then get the money back by jacking up their prices

[QuickSEV6]

Alpine is the best but you will pay for it.

What about Rockford Fosgate! I've had two set ups in the past and I can honestly say, both have pounded.

alpine is not the best...they just spend a lot of money on advertising to make u think they are the best. then get the money back by jacking up their prices

Thats a bold statement. Are you even considering the F#1 status?

[geminimouse]

Alpine is the best but you will pay for it.

What about Rockford Fosgate! I've had two set ups in the past and I can honestly say, both have pounded.

alpine is not the best...they just spend a lot of money on advertising to make u think they are the best. then get the money back by jacking up their prices

Thats a bold statement. Are you even considering the F#1 status?

what's so good about it? and don't copy words from the alpine website.

[theprodigy79]

I've competed using Alpine headunits since I was 16 (10 years) and I have won several local shows... I live by Alpine headunits, and I'll die by them. They've always been industry leaders in quality and performance in this field (at times even sacrificing functionality to maintain these traits)... If any of you choose to challenge this one, supply evidence, cuz I can back this with personal experience and all sorts of pro-audio reviews and talk. They're also one of the few manufacturers that DIDN'T change their catalog or loosen quality control when they brought their line to Best Buy (*cough* Rockford Fosgate)

As far as speakers go... I've never, personally, run with a set of Alpine speakers, but recently their line-up has been GREATLY improving, and have become (dare I say) pretty impressive. I speak of their Type R and Type X lines for the consumer market... For the dollars you'll spend on them, you will be hard pressed to find a better sounding set available that can handle as diverse an array of music with quality reproduction of pretty much all types. Let alone, they are some of the few speakers available that aren't finicky about the type of power they receive (of course they will sound better powered properly, but some speakers sound flat out miserable without being powered in a PRECISE manner, ie older Polk DB Series, many Eclipse, etc...). The F#1 status speakers are a force to be reckoned with... I have a buddy who has a '98 Lexus LS400 running F#1s, and I'd be challenged to find many home audio setups that could compare to the smoothness and quality of the reproduction... They don't sound great when CRANKED, and they aren't as 'lively' as some people who are moving up from regular consumer grade crap would hope... but that's not what they're intended for... They are some of the few speakers I've heard that I can bow down to and say that they humble my Z6s...

As far as amps are concerned, Alpine's older stuff was crap... Their newer stuff, however, I'd put on par with the JL / Series (they both have their strengths and weaknesses when compared to each other). Are they the best on the market? No... Are they some of the best available on the upper consumer level that can be purchased without taking a second mortgage? Definitely!

Everyone has their preferences... I've never used a system that consists of products from only one company, and you'll very rarely see it in competitions... It was stated on here earlier that each company may have EXCELLENT offerings in one area, but some of their other products may not be quite as great (or may even be heaps). I've always mixed-and-matched to find the best available products from all worlds in the ranges I'm willing to spend...

I gotta get back to work

[theprodigy79]

BTW: A followup concerning Alpine "jacking up" their prices...

Regarding speakers: compare apples to apples and you'll see that Alpine generally offers LOWER cost solutions to the main stream while using the same (if not BETTER) technologies as their competitors...

For example, subwoofers (I'll use JL since people tend to think they 'own' the market):

Alpine Type X vs JL W7
Alpine Type R vs JL W6v.2

The Alpines are less than 2/3 the cost, and offer far more than 2/3 the performance (I'd gladly demonstrate for those non-believers with my pair of Type R 12v.2s that they will easily hold their own against a pair of 12W6v.2s)

Speakers:

Alpine Type X vs JL XR (the Type X is actually closer to the performance of the ZR series, but bang for buck I'll compare to XR) vs Boston Acoustics Pro vs Eclipse SC vs Infinity KAPPA PERFECT (the Type Rs will hold their own against these, the Type Xs will put them to shame.. but they're priced on par with the X)
Alpine Type R vs JL VR vs Boston Acoustics SL vs Infinity KAPPA (the Type S will keep pace with the KAPPA easily, the Type R sounds a LOT better... but once again, price...)

I could go on with the lower series and more brands... but it's taking too much time (I'm price hunting as I do this... I can back up my statements 100%)...

[Mandarinsolara]

<--- Owns an Alpine CDA-9853

but it still doesnt change the fact that i do not have a girlfriend

[theprodigy79]

<--- Owns an Alpine CDA-9853

but it still doesnt change the fact that i do not have a girlfriend

You must have it installed wrong...