I'm planning on upgrading the entire audio system of the car. I'm going with an Eclipse Double-Din NAVI along with 300/4 for the components and rears + 500/1 amp for 10w7 sub. Now I already have the sub and amps ready, but still not sure of what component speakers to get. I'm not looking for budget Walmart crap, nor am I looking for the really high end stuff. Just one's that'll sound good and make me happy.

An audio specialist suggested soundstream. I honestly have never ever heard of that brand. Does anyone know if they are any good?

 

OK, the fact that you say you've never heard of Soundstream leads me to believe you are relatively young. Soundstream used to be one of the top quality car audio manufacturers in the late 80's and early 90's. They have since been bought out and are now getting by on their name of what used to be. The audio specialist you spoke to probably gets a larger % commission on Soundstream stuff, thereby he suggests it.

I would start with JUST front and eliminate the rears. Spend the extra money on a good set of components and pods. If later on you feel you are missing the rear fill, you can add a set of coaxials then. but with a properly set up component set, you should not miss the rears (very personal choice though).

Lood at Diamond (I am biased), Focal, CDT, Rainbow, Elemental Designs, Morel, JL Auido, and others as a start of some good quality component sets. Listen to as many as you can in a car, or at the very least in a listening room (although not the best testing environment). Picking components is very personal and what I think sounds great you may think sounds like hot garbage.

 

I won't be dissappointed with Soundstream components right?

 

Dynaudio 360

 

Again all personal taste as far as sound goes. I am not too sure on the quality though these days with Soundstream equipment.

 

Great set right there!

 

Boston, Focal, MB Quarts. You wont be disapointed

 

dls focal, mb quarts, cdt, bostons are good, even the newer expensive pioneers are pretty decent.

 

+1

I think my components are loud enough, my rears are gone

 

I have focal sounds so good!

 

to me whats even more important than components in the Z is how you install them...i thik any component put into the stock location sounds...well... not that great, lack of midbass, door buzz, completely side biased and an over abundance of highs...

but anyway, good speakres are made by qiute a few companys...

my favorites are:

AVI, Morel, DLS, Seas...

but many of hte brands mentioned above such as Dynaudio, Focal, Rainbow are all considered top notch SQ speakers.

soundstreams are NOT in that group, no where near...but it all comes down to your taste and budget...

 

^+1 would have to agree, installation and placement is an important factor in a good SQ. I have Focal and love them, DLS are another one that are good.

 

I have Focal 165 V Slim component speakers in the doors (tweeters mounted in the A-Pillars). The sound is just great (punchy bass with even highs). I decided against using door pods simply because I knew I would hit these with my feet when exiting the car (my parking space has a tight wall on the driver’s side that prevents me opening the door very wide). I didn’t want pods in the front floor space since I like resting my foot on the dead pedal.

I have managed to avoid the problems Bing mentions…
…by installing some sound deadening in the door (helps the mid-bass and eliminates “door buzz”) and mounting the tweeters in the A-Pillars (the stock Sail Panel location really blasts the highs and is nearly impossible to stage).

--Spike

 

Polk SR series was rated #2 components under Morel Supremo

 

I have polk db6500 components installed in my rears and infinity reference 6022si installed in the fronts. I kept the stock tweeters and custom mounted the tweeters from the polk componenets next to the rear speakers...so 4 tweeters total. People can argue that spending money on rear speakers is a waste of money, but i'd have to say that it is WELL WORTH the money. These speakers are of the lower end in the speaker lines, but it still sounds awesome (i also wasn't going for competition sound or anything). I also have a RF punch 10" sub and everything in my car is powered off a 5 channel infinity amp. Good decision in getting the eclipse HU...i have the avn5510 and it makes a HUGE difference in sound quality even with lower end speakers...

 

I agree with you. After installing high-end components in the front, I noticed that the very cheap stock rears only polluted the sound, so I turned them off (faded to only the fronts). Since the car interior in a Z is small, my thought was forgetting the rears. But, then I was curious if a decent rear speaker would contribute to the sound staging. I installed an intermediately-priced rear (Infinity coaxial) and was pleasantly surprised how this setup made the sound better. I have the fader set to dominant front sound, but I allow the rears to come through and they do contribute better sound staging.

Actually, the biggest problem was positioning the tweeters on my front components. The Sail Panel was just too direct (it just blasted the highs into my ears and the passenger side as well). Putting the tweeters into the A-Pillars solved this problem.

I have not installed a SubW (cannot figure out where to put it since I need the space in the rear of my coupe for golf bags and suitcases).

--Spike

 

Listen man... Infinity Reference Component set fit freaking amazingly upfront... just have to hack up the stock lower speaker to help the woofer fit in without hittin the window... but it sounds gorgeous, and I just had them install it at the audio shop, the tweeter fits right in the stock location real easy, it sounds sweet.

 

Are the Focal K2 165 KF components any good? They're about $600.

 

Infinity is very good. I prefer Focal, but that's a personal preference.

Just curious... Do you advocate mounting the tweeter in the stock Sail Panel?

--Spike

 

A pillar moutning is a good location, much better than stock, though IMO it requires some time alignment to sound right.

as far as the midbass problem goes, i have done Zs with entire door dampened, and in stock locations, still doesnt do much for midbass response and hte midbass is still dramatically better in a kick panel setup thats why i gave up on stock location midbass mountings on Zs...after trying 3 cars that no matter what, i cannot get the right response out of hte door...

b