Audio upgrade coming this Friday

I have gone a bit crazy with my 2006 since I had the frame done. I decided that since I was going to keep this truck for long time that I should get a new head unit with bluetooth. I called a very good old college buddy who is in the business and asked him if he could recommend an installer in my area (electronics NOT a strong suit of mine). Once he heard the whole story he suggested that this be done right and done by his guys...so here's what he ordered for me to replace my stock "non JBL" stereo.

JVC KD70BT head unit
Hertz HCP4 amp
Audison APK690 Component front speakers
Memphis PRX60 co-ax rear speakers

$490 with mounting kit and wiring harnesses included (Dealer cost)

The girl at the installation place said they just replaced a 2019 Tundra stereo with very similar setup and prepare to be blown away. I cant wait for Friday.

 

I'mma be a buzz kill here...

Seems like a package picked from all over the place. Here's my kind of biggest concern:

Audison APK 690
Power Handling - 100W RMS, 300 peak - NICE
Frequency Response - 40Hz - 20kHz (Hell 2The YAS 40Hz? Talk about flexible on the low end crossover point!)
Senstivity - 95dB <----WAT? (really, I mean really good)

Memphis PRX60
Power Handling - 50W RMS, 100 peak (yawn)
Frequency Response - 73Hz - 20kHz (sooo bad, total loser, such no sack)
Sensitivity - 88dB - Compared to 95dB this is major weaksauce

These speakers are so mismatched it's going to be like watching Rosie O'Donnell make out with Olivia Wilde.

So then you stick the Hertz HCP 4 on there and there's a lot of sad going on (I love Hertz too so this is painful):

1% THD - Not good, but it seems a lot of amps live here so take it or leave it I guess
82dB S/N - Total sad face here
50W into 4 Ohms per channel
High Pass Crossover 80Hz - AWWW, there goes that nice low crossover for the Audisons when you add the sub (I promise you will add a subwoofer later).

Bro, I got news for you, at 82dB S/N you're going to need more than 50 Watts, and most of what you will hear is your stereo telling you to SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH with all the signal floor hiss. It will never be able to draw out what the Audison fronts can really do, and your rears will just be choking to death from poor signal and distortion trying to keep up.

I can't even find specs on the JVC which tells me this thing sells on features alone and not on its ability to cleanly reproduce sound. ProTip, if it sells at WalMart, it's not because it's pimp AF. If a professional audio guy is telling you this setup sounds amazing I would seriously walk away and never look back. What you have here is a budget build with strangely out of place front speakers. As long as you are aware of that up front, fine man I get it. I've done some seriously budget builds in my vehicles before when I was first starting out. I was never under the illusion that it was going to be anywhere near next level though.

My Advice:

If you are going to get these for the fronts:
https://www.audison.eu/products/prima_apk690_system/

Get these for the rears
https://www.audison.eu/products/apx-6-5/

For a little more money you can get a much better amplifer in a smaller package with the same power and leave room for adding a mono sub amplifier later (they have a matching one):
https://www.audiocontrol.com/car-audio/power-amplifiers/acm-4300/

This stuff going to cost more? Yes
Will it PWN the setup you have above? Yes

What HU you choose to use is your call man, but keep in mind you want something with strong 6 CH outputs, like 4V, and something with a decent quality DSP section so it's not noisy and you are sending a clean strong signal to your amp(s). Also, do yourself a favor and never listen to music broadcast over Bluetooth. Get you a big fat USB stick and put some high bit rate or lossless audio on it, and let it live on your USB input like it owns the joint.

 

Not a buzz kill at all. I appreciate your input and the time you took to answer and educate. Thank you.
A couple points. I dont listen to music on bluetooth so that not an issue. I am 62 years old, saw every rock band in the 70s that I could afford. Most of my hearing loss I attribute to Molly Hatchet concerts on back to back nights (BTW it was worth it even though I say "what?" every time my wife speaks). That being said......I wont be getting sub. This is already more than I was allowed to spend on my birthday present.
I had the wrong model number on the head unit...it is KD-TD70BT. I dont know if that makes a difference but I thought I'd make the correction. The one place I heard you loud and clear on was the rear speakers. I may upgrade to JL C2 650X. Should better balance the setup.
You also have to remember that I listened to the stock non-JBL system for 13 years. My original intent was to add a stereo that would allow me to talk on my phone hands free. I have a feeling I am going to be pleased with my result.
(fingers crossed) The difference, while not perfect, should be night and day.

 

I agree, I think you'll notice a difference. Let us know when you're all buttoned up!

 

Crystal clear bluetooth and clean sound up to my highest comfortable volume level. Could it better.....I dont doubt that it could be. Do I need better....no. The Audison front speakers are unbelievable. I doubt spending big money on the rears would have made an appreciable difference.

 

No thanks to you I was forced to buy some damn Audison speakers because I couldn't stand not hearing them myself. Guess what, they're hard to find! Not a lot of vendor options in the US and nobody has them in stock, or will sell them online. Hunting down these jokers is not for the faint of heart!

Might be some Hertz HSK165s up for grabs soon. I'll definitely report back on which ones I like more.

 

If you need contact info for my friend...let me know. He is an Audison dealer rep.

 

Thanks man. I got it figured out though... for now. We'll see how far down the rabbit hole this leads. I may end up deciding to do the rear doors as well. My local guy sells Hertz so he's probably in contact with Elettromedia, who does US distribution for both Hertz and Audison. For now I have stuff on the way from Austria and Italy.

I'm really interested in these jokers too but I don't want to go 3-Way right now, I'd need more amplifier or to reinstall a passive crossover as well as a place to relocate the tweeter to.

https://us.audison.eu/products/prima-ap2-wide-range-speaker/

 

Hey Dolbytone....how did your evaluation work out? I have been playing with my new system for the last few weeks and finally got it dialed in to my ears and I'm loving it. One other question. I'm going to subscribe to some music app and I was wondering what you would recommend. Have you tried Tidal?

 

I was just at Elettromedia last week shooting the shit.... They're the only "legit" source for dealers to get Hertz/Audison in the US. A dealer has to be direct
with them or there's a chance they have limited distribution in the midwest/eastcoast(I'm only familiar with how they sell on the West Coast).

If a dealer has Hertz they should have no problem getting Audison product(only issue would be if they're are out of stock)!

 

I’m still playing with it so I don’t have deep insight into the Voce components I have but here are a couple observations.

Audison and Hertz are remarkably similar. I think when your dealer says Hertz = loud and Audison = Clear there’s more to the story.

The Voce speakers have a more linear response in relation to volume. At lower volumes you will start to get warmth in the sound before the Hertz speakers do.

At moderate levels both sound the same. At high levels the Audison speakers give up well before the Hertz speakers do.

The Voce tweeters have a better dispersion pattern, the dome is more “domey” but the down side is you can’t mount them as close to the hole inside your door, mostly because the grille prevents it by sticking out quite a bit. I have mine crossed over a little too low but my initial impression was that they sound a small amount more silky than the Hertz tweeters I have, probably due to being larger mostly.

I currently have baffles on order to help remove my door cavity from affecting the response so I can reevaluate everything once I install those and the angled spacers I have.

For now I’d say go with Hertz if you like really loud but I still want to listen to it with the Hertz woofer and the Audison tweeter paired up.

Regarding streaming services, I just don’t do it. I’ll use iTunes to manage audio files sometimes but I exclusively listen to music that I have purchased, ripped to the highest quality file that I can play back on my stereo. That doesn’t include FLAC currently, which is why I’m going to replace the Clarion I purchased 10 years ago.

 

Ultimately the Voce speakers didn't satisfy. I installed the Hertz speakers back in the front doors. Right now I'm listening to those paired with the Audison tweeters but I just ordered some Hertz Mille Pro tweeters. They will probably sound the same as the Audisons but I've been wanting to try them out. I get a smoother midrange response from the Hertz speakers as well. I couldn't really see it on the RTA but my ears are telling me it sounds less harsh.

Bottom line of baffles is they will reduce the bass you get from your door speakers if you leave them sealed. My only other concern is that they get enough air to stay cool since there's almost no volume behind the speaker now. I'm leaving the baffles in because I get plenty from the sub, and my door speakers now sound natural.

 

I guess it’s just personal preference but if it was me I’d just skip rear speakers and put that money’s towards a better set of fronts. Rear fill for me shouldn’t even be heard in the front

 

If it’s time aligned you don’t hear it, same as with a subwoofer, and the effect of having rear fill means your stereo is just louder.