need stereo advice
 

Hey all--after reading through old posts on here and ODW, seems a bunch of you liked the Boston Acoustics Pro 6.5"s in front and BA Pro 4.5"s in the rear...

I had e-mailed this guy who sells stereo stuff online telling him I was thinking of getting a new head unit, a no-frills US Acoustics 4-channel amp (4065 or 4085), and the BA Pro setup above....

He said that I only need to replace the front speakers and have them driven by a 2 channel amp as replacing all 4 will ruin the imaging. He said let the head unit power the factory rear 2 speakers.

He then recommended Audio Development 60 front speakers and a Monitor 1 Mk-2.7 amp for them.

(Also, I originally didn't want subwoofer 'cause I value my cargo space, but then he showed me this Q-logic enclosure which I thought was real neat [I read some of you didn't like the JL Stealthbox]--he recommended a MK 2.120 amp to power an Arc-10 D2 10" sub... )

(Then I thought, why not get a 4 channel amp, let 2 channels power the front 2 speakers, 2 channels power a sub, and the head unit power the rear 2 speakers.... )

Any of you who have BA speakers, or have replaced all 4 factory speakers, what do you think?

I dunno...I was all keen on getting the BA Pros, a head unit, and an amp..then all these options came up hehe...
:hillbill:

I replaced all 4 speakers..6.5's in the front...5.25's in the back..

I also have the Q-Customs enclosure...i assume you're talking about the same one..which fits over the back right wheel well, and contains a 10'' subwoofer..powered by an amp.

My system sounds really good.. a very clean sound..with a lot of bass. I've been more than satisfied..

Hey C2-etc..

How do you like that Q-form thing... does your cargo area vibrate excessively? Did you have to line the area with dynamat or similar?

HOw'd you get 5.25"s to fit in the rear? I thought the rear doors only fit 4.5"s... (2001 4Runner)

Also..what kinda amp are you using? 5 channel ?

I have a set-up similar to that. He's right about the rears, don't waste any power on them. I have a 4 channel amp bridged to power the fronts (DEI Studio), and the rears are powered by the head unit. I think I'd be just as well off with them totally disconnected but then my rear passengers would be out of luck! One 4 channel amp to power the fronts and a sub will work fine, just make sure it's got the options you need.

-Imaging
Imaging describes the extent to which a stereo system reproduces the location of instruments and vocalists as they were positioned during recording and mixing.

-Soundstage
Individual vocal and instrumental "images" make up your stereo system's soundstage. The better the soundstage, the greater the sense of its definite width, depth and height.

Basically from the books that I read (two) I was lead to believe that these were just to where you actually wanted to aim the music for best sound. If its you in your car 95% of the time then get the speakers you want and attept to aim them toward you. IMO everyone is going to have a favorite speaker, so rather than tell you to go get such and such brand go to the store and where they have one of the speaker set ups and test out their speakers and find out which you like. Circuit city and Best Buy have these setup pretty well. Look for something with a lifetime warantee if you can. I know not many places have this but I bought some Memphis speakers a while back and they had a limited lifetime warantee on them. Just my two cents.

Also check out Caraudioheaven.com. thats where I got the definitions from.

I like the enclosure a lot..haven't had any trouble with vibrations..and didn't have to line anything..

It's especially nice since it matches my interior..thus looks like it's original equipment..like it's supposed to be there...

About the back speakers..i dunno if it is different for you since you have a '01...but i have a '97..and the stock speakers in the back were originally 5's...however since that is an uncommon size, i went with the 5 and a quarter...it took a little modifying to make them fit..and added a bit of time to the installation..but in the end it worked out nicely.

My amp is a 4-channel..

all my factory speakers have been replaced by mb quart ones, it sounds much cleaner than it used to and I can turn it up much louder if I want to, also I added 2 DEI 12 inch subs in the back, they don't take up too much room and put out enough bass for me. I have one two channel amp by concept to power the subs and a 4channel amp by lightning audio to power the speakers.