I need a little advice from the audio enthusiasts out there. I'm planning to upgrade the stock stereo in my 350Z track and I'm torn between two recommended setups.

I plan to keep the stock deck and the stock rear speakers (just as rear fill). A 4-channel amp will power the front speakers and the sub (rear channels bridged).

Here are my two choices:

JL Audio
JL xr650-csi
JL W6
JL 300/4

Diamond Audio
Diamond s600s
Diamond tdx 10D2
Diamond D5 600.4

They are priced roughly the same...with the Diamond setup slightly more.

Listening to both setups...they sound equally impressive. I went through my music sampler CD, from classical to rock to electronic and to my dismay...I really couldn't decide.

I know this is somewhat subjective but can anyone offer some opinions and/or suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

If you can't decide which sounds better, get the cheaper one and save the money. I recently installed the JL XR 650s in my 350z and I'm still stunned at how good they sound for the price.

 

Well, there are a few things to consider.

The 300/4 only puts out 75w per channel, which means only 150w for the w6 (I'm assuming 10" since the tdx is 10"). That's bordering on not enough power for the w6, but you might be ok.

The 600.4 also only puts out 75w/channel, which again means 150w for the sub. This will NOT be enough for the tdx. It's a power-hungry little bastard...but when given power will rival the w6's big brother, the w7. However, you won't really get good performance out of the tdx unless you give it at least 600w.

I prefer the diamond audio components to the JL's, but I would definetly listen to them both. Speakers are super subjective, so I'd never go just on recommendation.

The amps don't matter much at all, but speakers do, so if you're trying to save money somewhere get the cheaper amps.

Make sure you get a really good rca converter for your amps, since you aren't going to get an aftermarket hu. I suggest a scosche brand low level converter.

Of those components I'd go:

s600s
jl 300/4
10w6

 

I would definitely agree with the Diamond Audio speakers and the JL Audio sub. i have that setup in my own car (diamond hexes plus 2 W6s), with a Precision Power amp running them. the diamonds sound very nice, accurate and smooth. i have never heard the JL audio components, but JL audio has always been a subwoofer company and i haven't heard of particularly impressive reviews about their components. As dream2reality points out, your subjective opinion is most important, just make sure you spend enough time listening as initial impressions may be deceptive.

Also, i would agree the amplifier probably isn't as important, as long as it has enough power to run the sub. I used a Jensen amp for a while in my car while I was getting everything set up, and it really didn't sound bad at all.

Don't worry about getting everything from one brand, everything is compatible. Different companies have different strengths.

 

That's some great advice...I appreciate it. I suppose I'll have to spend a little more time listening to both setups before I can come to a conclusion.

The only problem I have with mixing brands is that one shop sells JL and another sells Diamond. No one locally sells both. I am not going to be doing the install...I'm leaving that up to one of the shops. So I may be stuck with only one of the brands.

Perhaps a good question would be...what is another quality brand other than JL and Diamond? What other choices do I have? For a novice like me, it's hard to discern between a good and bad brand. I've only looked at these two brands because so many fellow Z owners swear by them.

Feel free to chime in. Thanks.

 

You may look into the JL 450/4 amp too. bridging the 150w channels gives you 300w for a sub and 75wx2 for your front speakers.

 

There are a TON of good brands..really hard to name them. Honestly, what I would do is go to best buy, and take down some names. Those names should basically all be avoided, in my opinion. I like to stick with companies who work exclusively in car audio (with the exception of some home/car audio companies like seas, scanspeak, etc.).

Some names that I like:

Image Dynamics
DLS
Oz Audio
Focal
Soundstream (Exact series only)

If any store near you carries most of those names, that's a good sign that the shop actually knows its product. Where are you located?

 

I have been very, very happy with my set-up. I had the Bose system. I gutted all the speakers and replaced the fronts with Boston Acoustics RCs and the rear with Boston Acoustic coaxials.
I installed a Phoenix Gold free air sub in the factory sub location and built a custom box for a Kicker 10" comp seriers sub in the rear. I am running the system with two Eclipse amps. Very clean, very loud and solid bass response. More importantly...no rattles.

I like the JL subs so you should be fine if you stick with that. As mentioned before..there is a lot of audio equipment to lay fingers on. It is all about what you like.

 

JL just came out with the JLW6 anniversary series sub. Supposedly, that was the best sub back in the day, and they recently brought it back out.

Its not as big as the new W6 though.