Best VE stereo upgrade route for under $1k

[Mr Wolf]

I've finally grown tired of the weedy sound from my stock 7 speaker Blaupunkt sytem on VE SV6 and am looking for any recommendations for upgrade?

A local car audio dealer has suggested Alpine 4CH Amp (MRP-F300) to power a new Alpine 12" sub (SWS1223D) in the boot and stock splits in the front.

I've decided I want to keep the boot space so wonder what are the best options left. I'm thinking either new amp plus new front splits or co-axials in parcel shelf?

[HCVP]

Depends what your really after. Have you completely written off the idea of a sub? There's not going to be a such this as "a best upgrade" it will all come down to personel taste. Below is what i would consider if i was spending the money myself.

$1000 dosen't get you all that much when you begin to add up everything like, wiring, instalation, and things like LOC's to run additional external amplifiers.

There's no real point in spending money to upgrade any of your rear components. For the money your thinking of spending, what you would end up buying to replace them would not be of much better quality than what's already in place.
The biggest improvement your going to notice is the upgrade of your front stage. If your not going to add a sub, then i would reccomend spending your budget on the best front speakers you can afford, and a suitable amp.

$400 Front speakers
A bit of sound quality VS pure output here
Ryda Car Audio - Boston SR60 6" Component Speakers($398.85)
Ryda Car Audio - Soundstream TRC.6N Tarantula - 6.5" Component Speakers($398.85)
Both are equally great set's of speakers, just depends on what your aim is.

$400 Amp ( I reccomend using a 4 channel amp bridged to give the most power up front)
Shopping Secure - Car Audio Specialists - Option Audio OAC160 (I'm a big fan of these Option Audio 4 channels at the moment, 350 RMS x 2 when bridged , for this type of money is very good value)

Leaving $200 to cover the remaining such as wiring, instalation ect. (Also look at using some form of sound deadning treatment for your front doors, to get the most out of your upgrade. Which is obviously cutting it a bit short, unless your doing some of the work yourself. But if you could stretch your budget by say another $150 or so, then these component's would work well.

Disconecting your centre speaker can also improve the imaging up front aswell. (If you have one)

[Mr Wolf]

Thanks, that's helpful.

I've only written off the idea of a sub in the boot as I want to keep the space. If I could fit a sub in the spare tyre bay somehow then maybe that might be an option, or even some bassy speakers on the rear parcel shelf. In the first instance I think I'll do the front sound stage (amp + component splits) and depending on the result may just leave it there.

[Mr Wolf]

A sub’s now in play as I found out they can be easily removed if and when you need the extra luggage space.

Anyway, I just visited three more car audio dealers and got three different recommendations!

This is what they recommended for my $1k budget.

Dealer 1 recommendation:
Add mono-block amp and a sub with remote volume control. He said my problem is that sound lacks clarity due to stock speakers trying to reproduce bass frequencies causing them to distort. In his system I could turn bass level down on head unit to say -2 which would reduce distortion in the stock speakers. He said I could add in bass through volume control on sub which would take a feed from rear door speaker wires. To me this sounded contradictory a bit weird but he was convinced he’d done it before many times with success. He said it could be improved by adding devices (maybe he said capacitors?) in the speaker lines to stock front speakers to reduce bass going to them. Quote $1,000 installed

Dealer 2 recommendation:
Replace front and rear speakers with 3-way and component items respectively. Power these with a new 4 channel amp. He said this would provide much more bass than current set-up and enough for most people. Quote $970 installed.

Dealer 3 recommendation:
Replace fronts with new component items, add a sub and power both of these with a new 4 channel amp. Leave head unit to power the stock rear door speakers. He quoted $1,100 for some Pioneer items (can’t recall the models but the amp was 4 x 60W RMS) installed.

To me dealer 3 made the most sense as rear door speakers don’t seem to do that much compared to the fronts. As a first step I think I’ll go with the original dealer’s recommendation of adding a sub and 4 channel amp and using the new amp to power the sub and stock fronts. He quoted $800 (inc. install) for the Alpine items listed in my original post. If the stock fronts sound crap or blow I’ll replace them with component items. That way I may get to save $350-$400 on the cost of new component fronts.

[Joe Bellissimo]

Dealer 4:

1. Shopping Secure - Car Audio Specialists - VIBE CBR12 With Amplifier
2. Shopping Secure - Car Audio Specialists - Audio Development AD6

Step 1. Run splits off the factory head unit
Step 2. Use the wiring from the rear speakers as signal for the subwoofer

Why?

1. Those splits will be a huge improvement over the factory speakers even while running off the factory head unit, I've already done this in other cars.
2. The subwoofer package has the amplifier built in and can be tapped off the rear speakers. It also has handles so it can easily be removed from the car.
3. When you buy an amp for the front speakers it will sound incredible.

I honestly believe that would be the solution I just gave you is more appropriate than anything that has been suggested to you. There is no doubt in my mind that its the best solution and I will happy to arrange a demonstration of the gear if you don't believe me

[Allen_Kara]

I am confused over one point about your budget. Will this $1000 include your installation expense as well or will it cover only your audio gears?