Where to start?

OK here's the deal, I have a 09 DC, non jbl, and $600 burning a hole in my pocket.

My end picture looks like this...subject to change every 5 minutes.

Kenwood DDX712...or something comparable
JL's all the way around
Alpine PDX 5
JL 10" in a ********* box.

I know I can't do it all at once so my question to you taco stereo freaks is where should I start so I can enjoy it along the way.

Yesterday I was dead set on just getting the head unit and starting there. Well today I am thinking fill the doors with all the speakers first.

I need opinions...where do I start? Speakers? Head Unit?

 

keep saving man, your going to be dissapointed. if you scrounged up another 400 bones, you could build a pretty sweet system...

 

Personally I would first buy the "best" set of speakers I could fit in the budget and install them properly. Each time you upgrade from there will just be icing on cake.

 

I think your right I am going to start with the ********* adapters, dynamat the doors, and the jl's all the way around. Next head unit, then amp, then sub.

I figure with the new speakers and dynamat I will be happy for a little while...it will be an improvement that is for sure over the stock speakers.

Marv I am thinking components in th front and 2 ways in the rear. 6.5's all around...thought. I don't know the model number right off the top of my head but they are midrange jl's

 

I think that is a good plan however I personally would buy a "better" set of front speakers and a less expensive set for the rear if desired (or foregoing them until budget permits) as opposed to buying 2 "OK" sets of speakers. You may also want to check into www.raamaudio.com as their deadening products are less costly.

 

The Alpine PDX-5 amp is nice!!! I just got one on Ebay from Discount Sounds Inc for only $365 shipped. It's a very good amp and pretty small at 10" x 9".

It's rated at 75w x 4 and 300w x 1 but my amp's birthsheet tested at 105 w x 4 and 424w x 1. For a 5 channel amp it can't be beat for it's size, power and dependability.

 

i did hu, then shortly there after added speakers. stock speakers are junk.

 

I am a fan of starting with the HU and moving to subs then speakers. For me, that is where the biggest jumps happen. HU gives you more flexibility and better sound quality than the stock HU.

The stock sound is very limited in bass reproduction, that is why I add subs second. I could easily go with nice new components instead of subs, but for me the cost to improvement ratio is better the other way around.

I'd then look to get a nice set of components up front and ditch the rear fill.

 

Although limited in features the factory headunit is capable of playing the entire spectrum (as mentioned it does limit bass output at higher volumes) however I would respectfully disagree an aftermarket headunit by nature of being an aftermarket headunit automatically makes it have "better SQ". On the other hand the factory speakers are not capable of playing the full spectrum (the so called "tweeter" is actually more like a "mini midrange" with very limited response) and the part they can play has some pretty high distortion. No headunit can eliminate speaker distortion nor can it make a speaker play any frequency it is not capable of playing and in any case everybody has their preference for sure however I have found that "if you polish a turd it will still be a turd" which is why I prefer to replace the speakers first instead of trying to "polish" them with a new headunit.

 

I did the head unit first because having the iPod audio/video is a must for me.

I hate taking CD's in my vehicle... Also, I just wanted to dive in there since I haven't hooked up a stereo in about 17 years.. Did I literally bleed inside of my vehicle yesterday ? Yes... Did it take me about 300% too long ? Yes.. But it's done and I love it already.

I'm going to kind of work my way to the back with the least amount of effort going on the rears...

I don't know how someone could just replace the HU and use the existing setup. My new HU sounds better, but the entire system needs to be touched.... Now I don't want to puke when I'm listening to music which is a really good start.

 

What kind of head unit did you install?

 

I just did a full writeup on it in this forum... (jvc kdavx44)