Premium Audio Upgrade for less than $250

I don’t think it’s exactly budget I mean I know there is cheaper stuff but I think rockford Fosgate makes a good product. It has a good cost to performance ratio but if your adding an amp you may want to consider a 3 or 5 channel to power your fronts or fronts and rears and one channel for whatever size sub that will best fit your music tastes. I started with the h/u and it sounded a bit better and that gave me the bug so then I added sound deadening and the front components. This was going to be the end of my upgrade for at least awhile but it sounded like s***. At this point I was already in it kinda like yourself and somewhat knowing this would happen I had gotten speakers that would take more power ,they are hertz ck165s, so I then added a kenwood kac-8005 5 channel. Then my mids and highs where super loud but the fronts didn’t produce jack s*** for lows so after again thinking I’d be good for awhile I added a JL 8inch sub. I still need to do the back doors cause I have the channels so I pretty much have no choice because if I don’t then what the hell did I get the 5 channel for lol and then I ran out of money. I guess the point of this is have a plan for what kind of sound you would like to end up with. I thought some good high quality fronts would be enough for that truck and I was so very wrong.

 

My God lmaooo
That’s the type of rabbit hole im trying to avoid. I should probably return the front door speakers and be happy with the tweets

 

My preference is Alpine.

 

Great stuff but not exactly budget friendly.

 

You are correct, this is an on going build project and not within the realm of this thread. I was just stating my preference.
I started out with just replacing all the speakers with Infinity, although there are other brands that are less expensive and will do an adequate job. Really any speaker brand is better than what is provided OEM. I have built on from this knowing that the speakers I chose will handle the implementation of an amp into the equation eventually.
Another factor on improving the sound quality is sound proofing. I think this cannot be stressed enough. I have discovered that every time I remove a panel and apply some sound deadening material the acoustics in the truck improves. This is the primary reason why I think owners are stating dissatisfaction with door speaker replacement. You need to do both and it does not have to be drastic to experience a substantial increase in sound quality.
These improvements can be done in stages, the final stage being amplification.

 

The sound deadening was the first thing I did before I installed the new speakers. I think that’s a good thing to do even if you aren’t changing speakers. That was a pretty fun part of the upgrade I have done both front doors and one on the wife’s car. Personally I think your better off planning your upgrade collecting all your components and do it all at once so you don’t have to take apart the same stuff over and over but obviously that’s not always an option. I’m probably going to wait on adding anything else until I get my upgraded alt. Then I can save for a second mono channel for under the passenger seat that will drive probably a rockford Fosgate 10 in a deeper box then hopefully I will be done with this madness

 

Did you sound deaden just the doors or did you also do the backside of the plastic panels?

 

I did the inner side of the door skins and then another layer on the door frame but I didn’t even consider the plastic panels. That’s a pretty good idea.

 

I have discovered that covering the inside of the plastic panels even partially has given the best "bang for the $". This is what I have been using.

$22 uxcell 315mil 10.76sqft/8mm 40 X40" Car Auto Cell Bumper Floor Sound Insulation Noise Deadener Dampening Mat Acoustic Barrier

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KAD1ZPU

 

Yeah those look like the garbage that came off my 2016.

 

Yup, same crap they have been putting in the Camry for 5 years as well. Any speaker replacement will be an improvement.

 

I am about to have this sub installed... https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjAAegQIAxAC&usg=AOvVaw2f8NHGTc1v3Jn_5rH7297H

 

Just completed the “upgrade”
While the sound quality overall is better I’m not too impressed since the bass is very lacking. Maybe the speakers still need to break in? I only have 10 mins in them.
When I had a civic with Fosgate 6x9 rear and 6.5 fronts with a clarion deck people asked if I put a box in the trunk.

 

Well for starters...where are the pics and what "upgrade" did you do???
How much sound deadening did you do and what did you use?

 

I too noticed this, plus a loss of volume. My OR has the base head unit which has minimal amplification. I ended up adding the Kicker 200 amp in behind the head unit, night and day difference.

 

Loss of volume usually points to speaker replacement with a higher ohm rating than the factory crap speakers. I'm sure adding the amp made a world of difference.

 

I replaced the factory 4ohm speakers with kicker 4ohm.

I put it down to the HU being considerably underpowered compared to the ‘premium’ HU where people don’t seem to have a problem...

 

your kicker hum any when you don’t have anything on? Wish it cut off with no audio, but mine has a slight hum when the audio is off.

 

Did you sound deaden the door panels? what is your input source for audio sampling?

 

From the amp itself, Or white noise from the speakers?

I do have white noise when audio is set to off.