Premium Audio Upgrade for less than $250

it wont be bad with just the amp.

 

I’m pretty sure my 19 year old chuckles when my wife and I use it for cooking measuring. I told him that thing never leaves the kitchen.

 

So I cancelled the BestBuy hideaway and small kicker amp after the $231 additional for the install goodies. I’ve emailed JL Audio about the third round group buy and will update that thread once I hear back if anyone is interested.

I’m thinking about purchasing this little amp to run everything. Soundstream PN5.640D Picasso Nano 640 W 5-Channel Class D digital Car Audio Amplifier

$160 Soundstream PN5.640D Picasso Nano 640 W 5-Channel Class D Digital Car Audio Amplifier

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G051S7I/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_EquNAb0H4JK7D
It has good reviews and the power test dyno looked fairly accurate. It puts out 350RMS so that should be ok for the Stealthbox and a little more juice for the kicker cs.

It looks like this amp is better with 8 gauge so I know I’ll need an amp kit. Do I need a LC2i or more LOC? I plan to keep the stock headunit. I’m thinking with the groupbuy and installed myself I’ll be at $1000 vs the hideaway which was right at $8xx installed at Best Buy.

 

Is the entune plus deck the one w/ the 6" screen? I'll update OP to ensure this is clear for SR5 owners without an upgraded factory HU. Sorry for the rabbit hole you've found yourself in with this! More than enough bass is produced for most folk's tastes w/ the 7" HU and the CS speakers but clearly not quite the case w/ your entune plus.

 

How much wire length is needed for a 2nd gen big 3? Could really use some help here.

 

Why was the hideaway so expensive?

 

It was the hideaway and kicker 4 channel amp combo with geek squad installation. It was $569 plus tax for the package that came to $606. Then when I went to install they said it would be $231 in materials which was more than the whole amp. I said no thanks.

 

I see, I’m hoping the Hideaway is sufficient enough to not make the truck sound too “high” with the 3 ways up front and the tweeters. I got the Hideaway from Amazon, $189 shipped.

 

Yeah i really wanted to power the door speakers as well. Let me know how it sounds with just the hideaway. I haven’t heard back from the JL Audio rep yet.

 

OK kids.. Got the speakers today all 6. Didn't get the sound deadening stuff that will be here tomorrow.

So did a little work today. Installed the tweeters. Was pretty straight forward.

Now I have a revelation here... the kicker tweets don't really seem as robust as the stock tweeters. However they are putting out a lot more sound. I would say the magnets are maybe slightly bigger on the stock speaks but that maybe cause the plastic mounting on the kicker vs the metal flanges on the stock.

They look to me to be pretty closely matched as far as quality goes...so why would the Kicker tweets put out more sound?

I may have the answer. I am an audiophile and build all my own gear from scratch - even speakers. So I may have a few answers as to why the Kicker/Subie speakers sound a lot better. Oh and they sound a shit ton better.
Here's my thoughts why:

1)There's a capacitor right there on the speaker above the plug. I forgot to look and see what the capacitor value was on the replacements. I didn't look at the stock ones yet either. I'm betting the capacitor values are not the same.

With a speaker low cut/high pass (filter) crossover all is required and is the bare minimum is a capacitor that is rated at a specific uF (micro-ferads) in this case.

I'm betting those capacitors are different ratings and there's more sound aka more frequency range being passed to the new tweeter. I'm getting a shit ton more sounds from the tweeters than with the stock tweets.

Beings there's not really much difference or substantial difference in build quality..(magnets seem to be pretty close in size - size matters with speakers), the difference in sound output is likely due to the that capacitor rating.

Now all that said... I would NEVER ... I'm going to say it again NEVER use a electrolytic capacitor in the signal path and specially in a speaker crossover.

2 reasons why.. they are affected very much by temperature (heat) AND they are noisy... Anyone that says different are just being cheap.

Those caps prolly cost $.05 or less... a good quality cap in this position for a decent speaker will cost between $5-$10 ... and there's folks that will and do spend hundreds of dollars on a capacitor in this position.

So yeah... the replacements are letting more frequency range thru.. and maybe a slightly better quality capacitor helps a shit ton as well.
This was my first impression driving down the road during test drive. I'm like WTF.. why didn't I check the specs on those capacitors.

I'm on this ... I'm a soldering artist when it comes to audio + engineer.

I pretty sure we can get even more out of those tweets. I'm going to change out the stock caps for some quality Polypropylene or similar type capacitors... I have these in my shop. Do a little magic..poof.

Can anyone that have the new replacement speakers take a look at the capacitor above and between the speaker cone and the plug and see if you can read the numbers... should be something like 2.2uF 50v or something similar. I can do it but already installed, light went on during test drive.

Install was exponentially faster after 1st speaker install.. OP - fvcking eh bro! Props for write up and enthusiasm, lightened my wallet and am HAPPY! When does that ever happen? Well .. ok when I'm spending on Taco and wifey not in loop until after. She's my babe & loves to wheel and camp out. Shout out to my girl.. she doesn't even know whats about to happen!

More to come with the door speaks... in hand just waiting for sound deadening material and snow day - wooohooo! East coast here.

 

I have the Hideaway. It adds just enough.

 

I got a lot of info from this thread, but went a different direction. I have an SR5 with the entune audio plus 6in LCD. I wanted to keep the HU for now. Instead of the Subaru tweeters, I opted for the Kicker 43CSS694 6X9 components for the fronts and 43CSC674 6 3/4 inch for the rears. I had an Alpine 4 channel amp rated at 40 watts RMS laying around that I installed under the drivers seat. I purchased the wiring harnesses from ********* and wired the amp through the speaker level inputs. I purchased an amp wiring kit from Amazon along with some Noico sound deadening. The truck still maintains the stock appearance, but what a huge improvement in the sound quality.

 

My tweeter capacitors say: 68 Y(1)
Sorry for the shitty pic, only flashlight I had was the one on my glock... didn’t have 3 hands so had to improvise.

 

What amp are you running

 

The Hideaway has a built in amp.

I am adding my Alpine power pack amp to the OP Kicker speakers soon.

 

Is the amp that the hideaway comes with enough?!? I am torn between the hideaway option and just biting the bullet and going with a 5 channel amp and a JL Stealthbox. Problem is am I going to be happy for ~500 bucks vs 1500

 

5 Channel Amp with JL Sub and Custom Box would be cheaper and still sound as good, most likely better than stealthbox

 

Yep.

 

5 channel or 2 independent amps, 1 for sub, 1 for doors? Which one and why? Trying to learn here Thx in advance.

 

Depends on what you’re looking for. It’s enough for a grown up that doesn’t want to shake the cars beside you. It adds a nice bottom end. It’s also cheap on Amazon, try it and send it back if you don’t like it.

If you have the budget, you’ll be happier with one or two amps and a separate sub. These small units cannot compete with the other setup you mentioned.