I'm looking to get a 350z here in a month or so (after I sell my sport bike) and I'm wanting to put an aftermarket audio system in it.

Now, to explain what I'm looking for:
-best bang-for-your-buck speakers going by sound accuracy (basically the best speakers for making the music sound as accurate as possible compared to what the musician intended)
-bass that I can feel, but isn't overpowering and doesn't make anything in my car vibrate/rattle

Also was wondering of any sound-proofing/sound-dampening products you guys have had experience with. Me and my fiancee live 2 hours apart at the moment (I'm in grad school) so I have to do a decent bit of traveling on the interstates and I hate all the noise that ruins music causing me to turn the volume up resulting in a headache for me.

I tried searching, but couldn't find anything that pertained to what I wanted on the first couple pages (sorry if I overlooked something).

Would appreciate any input you guys can give.

 

I did just find Dynamat in another thread, so I guess that answers the sound-dampening question lol.

 

dont buy a 350z with the bose system, you will regret it.
also look into the z enclosure, i have a 10" kicker l5 and it beats hard and its not even pushing but maybe half its strength. i bought the box/sub/amp from a guy on here for $200 so its wasnt expensive and totally worth it, i paid a shop about $100 to install it, the adapter was $70 alone, so again dont get bose, youll have to wire it to the amp with the adapter cause the amp is turned on digitally or something i cant remember exactly, or you run new wire to every speaker individually.

 

The Z needs TONS of sound dampening. Look for threads I posted a few years ago talking to a long time member (dannichols). ---> A lot of what Dan and I discussed was PMs but I still have them to forward to you or copy and paste. <-------
He taught me everything about the importance of layers of sound proofing. Dynamat alone will leave you disappointed. You need to approach it by dampening vibrations AND two other different types of material (open cell jute material and closed cell like neoprene). McMaster Carr has an excellent diagram of sound deadening principles you need to understand.
Even after doing it, the sound quality and front image takes a big hit between sitting in the garage not running and then starting the car and trying to listen to it critically even at idle with stock exhaust. I'm sure if you are willing to put the money into it you can get something you can live with. Don't skimp on the sound deadening. I spent several hundred on that. My system is underpowered and nothing to get excited about but it is clean and sounds OK to me. I wanted most realistic sound on a tight budget. I never expected to do critical listening in the car but ideally it would be my dream too. Cadence makes some clean amps. I recommend looking into CDT component speakers for the front with the biaxial(?) or is it braxial(?) tweeters mounted inside the midbass.
I did a single 10" Boston Acoustics under the trunk floor and it sounds OK. If you don't need to have your hair fluffed, the fronts may be enough for you at first. I run my fronts full range and get OK bass out of them.
I also recommend looking into some of the kickpanel pods that some of our vendors/members make. They have come a long way in the last several years and may be the key to getting the image/soundstage correct. Remember that putting the tweeters away from the midbass up in the window sails is technically not the best choice. Hope you can find some of the older posts. Let me know if you need any help

 

I just re-read your post and let me stress the importance of the sound deadening. I now remember that I just did the stereo first and was happy with it, UNTIL I drove on the highway for the first time. And I am on it for 40 minutes everyday. No matter how low I ran the stereo, my ears were ringing when I got to work. It seemed like I struggled to hear the music at all above the road noise, let alone enjoy the quality of it.

Get the sound deadening right or don't bother doing the rest of the system!!!

 

best bang for the buck & audiophile
IMHO is an oxymoron

I suggest

Pioneer Stage 4 head unit
Zed Leviathon on front stage taking 2 channels
Seas 6.5 " in kickpanels
Seas Tweeters in A pillar pods
no rear fill
1 10" seas , hertz, morel , DLS , Rainbow , ETC ( running off the other 2 ch
Stinger / XS battery under hood
50 - 75 sq feet of deadner
Stinger series 8000 interconnects
Stinger + & - P & G

 

Sounds like some nice stuff there. Forgot about SEAS. IMHO car and audiophile don't mix either. The environment is just horrible for so many reasons and is why I never really got into figuring out what the really high end stuff was in mobile audio. Wasn't going to spend the money so I didn't need to know.

Have to see what OPs budget is. I think I have a couple of good brands to consider on the cheap and is why I ended up with them after some research. Clean simple affordable sound. If I had it to do over again I would get a lot more power to get more headroom. The Z is noisier than I realized. Thankfully the Cadence amp does not distort easily as cheap as they are. I found a group of people following them and went on and on about how underrated they are for what you get.

 

Here is a guy who did his research, took his time and did a really nice build without blowing the bank:

https://my350z.com/forum/audio-build...2008-350z.html



Proud to say he followed my recommendations on speakers, but honestly he put a lot more attention to detail into his build:

https://my350z.com/forum/audio-and-v...ents-rock.html



I am still blown away with how clean and clear the sound is in my Z. Probably the best sounding system I have had in a car, and I have had many. Totally blows away any factory sound system, including the high end systems I have had in Mercedes/Infiniti/Lexus.

Good luck and keep us posted on what you decide!

 

Awesome guys, love the suggestions. I definitely plan on spending a few hundred on sound dampening as the car I'm driving right now is a 99 prelude and that is the loudest car I've ever driven in. Unless I blast the music I literally can't understand what they're saying on the radio.

Also, when I said best-bang-for-your-buck as well as audiophile level quality I meant more along the lines of you'll usually get a huge diminishing returns on increase in quality the more money you spend. So basically I meant the highest quality you can get without spending thousands on speakers alone.

I want speakers with clean sound and a bass that can pick up highs and lows without annoying anyone where I live. I wish I could just take my $3000 surround sound system out of my house and somehow put it in my car. That is the type of sound I would like to get, but it's not at all what I expect given the different circumstances.

 

My Z has two 10" JL W3 subs along with an according JL sound system. It sounds beautiful and is powered with two JL 500 watt amps

 

install > product selection