Zelephant

Before I start, let me say that I am already pretty happy with the basic stereo in my truck. It's a Kenwood deck, Polk front speakers and Hifonics rears. No amp. I listen to mostly orchestral stuff and don't need a lot of bass, and the sound quality of my simple setup has surprised my friends more than once.

That said, I'm looking to redo the rear interior of my truck this winter, and I don't want to do this more than once. Since I'll have the interior stripped already and I'll be custom making the panels, I'm thinking I might want to add a tiny amp and a pair of cheap subs now while I'm at it. I don't want to wish my system had more kick sometime down the road and end up cutting up the interior AGAIN. If I want to upgrade, it'd be as simple as mounting higher-end gear in place of the cheap stuff I'm looking at now.

The key here is price. Again, I like my stereo the way it is, adding these at all is bit of an indulgence. The stuff I'm looking at is totally minimalistic. I'm considering this woofer:
http://www.amazon.com/PYLE-PLG64-6-5...822609&sr=1-11
I don't see a way to fit a sub bigger than 6.5" in the rear without it cutting into cargo space. These seem good for the price, but I'm open to suggestions. Also, I'd want to build tubular enclosures for these; how do I know how many cubic inches to make them? Once I have a number to work with, I know enough math to work out the details.

I'm considering these two amps:
http://www.amazon.com/Sound-Storm-La...822975&sr=1-10
http://www.amazon.com/R1002-2-Channe...9774391&sr=1-5
I only want two channels since they're only going to power the two new woofers. Are either of these significantly better than the other, or not really? Sure they're tiny, but my thinking is they still put out 4 times the power of the deck.

I'm open to any and all suggestions, as I am not very familiar with the finer points of car audio. If you have something to add, please weigh in!

Torpedo

Back in high school - many moons ago, so keep in mind my knowledge on this is nearly 15 years old - i had a pair of Pyle 10's. They sounded great.

The amp can make or break a system. They use to sell Boss in our local flea market down in south Georgia. They were some of the most noisy amps ive ever heard. hummmmmmmmmmm - better get use to that. Plus, i've always lived by the rule an old stereo guy taught me... you want your amp close to the same power rating as your speaker. Its just as bad to under power a speaker as it is to over power one. I know you want to keep it cheap, but keep in mind with sound equipment, "get what you pay for" has never been truer. Id spend a little more on the amp and experiment with the speakers. In my day Rockford Fosgate was the best bang for the buck. The equipment was usually of high quality and sounded great.

LGs_Woody

the 6.5 in subs are a no go...those arent considered subs, they are more of a mid. if your wanting a little bass then go with two 10s. you can get kickers pretty cheap and are great for the price. i can fit kicker 10s in both my 93 and 85 single cabs, but there isnt any space left after you build boxes with the correct air space. tubular boxes are okay but square or rectangular boxes made out of mdf wood is the way to go if its possible. be careful on buying cheap amps, for instance, a CHEAP amp may be labled as a 250 watt amp but prolly will only push about about 200. and a 2 ch amp takes that 200 and split it 2 ways, so each speaker will only get roughly 100 watts. but id recomend a better quality amp pushing 500-750 for 10s. oh and a tip is to bridge the channels so the amp is pushing the full amount of watts to each speaker

Zelephant

This is a utilitarian rig, I DO NOT want a sub box sitting in the cargo area. I can build tubular enclosures into the panels themselves and keep them out of sight, but there's no way I can fit anything bigger than a 6.5" woofer. The only place I could fit something bigger is in the storage compartments in very back, and I want that space free. If that means I have to settle for mid-range instead of true subs, then so be it.

Thanks for the explanation about amp wattage, I thought they sent their rated power through each channel. At this point, I'm thinking of either going with this amp:
http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAu...dio_CE502.aspx
Or just getting a pair of 6.5" woofers and mounting them up unwired until I can spring for a better amp.

Torpedo: Thanks for the tip about powering speakers, I'll remember that! With the amount of noise in the cabin already, I don't think I'll be able to hear an amp humming, though. I checked out Rockford Fosgate. Their stuff looks like quality, but not something I can afford, unfortunately.

c0ugar69

I am putting a setup in my 4runner, I am building a sub box to fit in the passenger rear panel with a 8" JL audio sub the box is going to be 14x14x7" and i have a 4 channnel ssl amp and a bazzoka amp for the single sub. I would go with an 8" sub at the least. I am trying to figure a way to mount the rears up high on the roll bar. good luck with your system.

Zelephant

For mounting speakers on the roll bar, have you thought of something like this:
http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAu..._MT8252WS.aspx
I've seen that done on 1st gens before.

Will you have the sub box in your build thread? I'd love to see how you're fitting 8" subs. I can't visualize anything bigger than a 6.5" fitting back there.

AK.taco.kid

im not to keen on the 6.5 inch subs i think it would be much better if you get a 8, but sence your adament on 6.5 i think the (http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...-10CVT654.html) im not into kicker but there the best cheep 6.5 out there, and for an amp i would say (http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...t-FX1.400.html) wire it to 2ohms and be carefull with the gain, it should be alot better than the mids you were looking at, it will give you the bass your looking for. i would get some new component speakres in front tho, and get a good 2 channel for them and deaden the doors. that will be a very nice system

c0ugar69

I did look into that but too exspensive. I ended up getting some 3 way box speakers that are small and come with a bracket that i clamped to the roll bar. they sound pretty descent too, now i just have to eliminate the noise from my electric fan in the tweeters..still havent been able to get it solved, I have ground loop isolaters on the rca,s, and a power filter on the head unit and eq. may have to put one on the amp too.