Audiophiles, I need your opinions

[Superu264]

I'm tired of the crap speakers in the Legacy.. I need to upgrade. So what I want is:

What speakers you upgraded to and how their performance is

I would like to get a sub as well, but I dont think I have enough money to play with for a decent sub AND good speakers. Im looking for speakers that can handle bass and get kinda loud, I dont want the whole world to hear my music but I like it a little loud

btw I have a JVC KD-G510 head unit if it matters

[Huffer]

In my Impreza I crammed (literally) a set of Alpine Type R 6.5" components. The main woofer went as low as 35Hz, which is close to subwoofer levels.

They have huge magnets though, so I had to fit a spacer to allow clearance for the glass.

The best improvement I did though, was to layer the inner door skins with Dynamat Xtreme - it's a stick on sound deadening material that reduced vibration, and outside road noise greatly.

Try that first, it's a very easy mod.

[badbasser98]

I have used JL's in both of my Legacy's and love the sound quality. They are quite punchy and the built in tweeters provide plenty of high end. I got the "mirror-mounted" OEM tweeters for my BE and that helped a lot with the treble and sound clarity. Of course, with 6.5" speakers, you are not going to get a ton of low end frequency (although high quality speakers will give enough) you may want to compliment your setup with a sub. Of course all of this depends on your preferences.

I have an Alpine deck, 6.5" JL's in all four doors, the OEM tweeters, and an Infinity 12" sub in a sealed box. This setup is great for me, and sounds good with my wide taste in music.

-BB98

[Superu264]

I was thinking $200-$250 for the speakers. I do enjoy some bass so I'm leaning more and more towards getting a sub.. I havn't checked them out yet though (price, quality, etc.).

Does a sub require an amp? And how do you wire it up? (no punk at Best Buy is touching my Legacy)

also, will I still have rear deck rattle even with the new speakers?

[Perdue]

Getting rid of rattles in a subie ends up being an extremely long, drawn out process. I would get some dynamat style material (I'm going to be using fatmat...100sq/ft for $100+shipping on ebay...enough to do a full car). Your basic's are going to be the doors, rear deck, and trunk. In small pieces, you can layer the outside door skin with the stick on mat, then a couple of extra layers behind the door speaker. Then, you can do the inside of the door with a single layer, using sheets of aluminum to reinforce around the holes inside the door. Then you can tap on the door panel to see where it rattles and place pieces on the back of the panel (side that won't be seen of course) until you've eliminated as many of those rattles as possible. You can use the same technique with the trunk lid, and rear deck. This should help a lot with rattles. I plan on doing the entire trunk, all 4 doors, rear deck, a/b/c pillars, roof, and entire floor. This will add weight of course, but I don't drive a race car so it doesn't matter a lot to me (about 60lbs). It takes a while, but every car I've been in with sound deadening all around that is done correctly makes it seem VERY MUCH worth it.

And yes, a sub does need an amplifier for the most part. You can buy powered subs (bass tubes and such), but you won't get near the bang for the buck. I'd go for a decent set of component speakers in the front (put an amp on those if you can afford it), and a sub/amp in the trunk. You can get a cheaper set of coaxial speakers to go in the rear deck for sound fill. Simply putting speakers in there won't get rid of your rattles though.

[Superu264]

I just checked out some subs and wow this might be a little too much for me. I want quality stuff, not some low budget crap. I may have to hold off on the sub and amp but sound deadening is definitely on my list.