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increase bass w/o new HU

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Old Apr 17, 2005 | 07:58 PM
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increase bass w/o new HU

Hey, is there any way to increase bass without upgrading the stock head unit? I cant stand the looks of the aftermarket headunits, but I really want more bass. Is this possible? Is there a way to hook up a sub to the stock stuff? Any other ideas would be great! Im planning on upgrading all the speakers too. Thanks!
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Old Apr 17, 2005 | 08:24 PM
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you can use an after market amplifier with high level inputs and a boom box.
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Old Apr 18, 2005 | 05:18 AM
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very simply actually.

You will need a pack adapter, RCAs, Bass amp, and subs in a sub box. The pack adapter will convert the signal off of the rear speaker leads over to RCA output and from there you can run those into the RCA inputs on the amp.
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Old Apr 18, 2005 | 07:15 AM
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ok, cool, so the sound shouldnt suck too bad if I dont upgrade the wiring? Im upgrading the speakers, just dont feel like running new wire, im not going for perfect sound, just some good bass, and clear sound in all the other speakers. Im also upgrading the stock amp to a jbl one, supposidly, those sound better.
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Old Apr 18, 2005 | 02:50 PM
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you really dont need to upgrade the factory wiring, if you are just putting in new speakers, but if you wanted to put an amp on the 4 speakers, then I'd say yes, upgrade the wires btwn the amp and the speakers. Otherwise no....

Upgrading the stock amp? hmmmm ill bounce that one off of our installers to see if there will be any issues... If you do go JBL do NOT get the powervalve stuff, instead get the Crown/JBL equipment.
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Old Apr 18, 2005 | 06:02 PM
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the jbl one i am upgrading is the "premier" toyota one. Would new speakers make that noticable of a difference. I just dont want to spend money and not get that much of a difference out of it. So far, this would be my setup: new infinity speakers, pack adapter, rca's, bass amp, and subs/or sub. does this sound good? I would probably mount the sub/subs in the rear wall, I dont really want a box taking up space when i fold down the seats, is that ok? Any recommendations on subs/bass amp would be great! I know it would be a heck of a lot easier if i just upgraded the headunit too, but i just cant stand the aftermarket headunits, too much bling, hahaha
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Old Apr 19, 2005 | 05:15 AM
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I found this at crutchfield, with this, I would not need a seperate bass amp right? as it is built in. What do you guys think of this, too cheap, or would it be ok? Here are the speakers I am considering for the front. Here are two I am considering for the rear. 1 2 Any suggestions you guys have on other speakers would be great too!
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Old Apr 19, 2005 | 06:17 AM
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you might want to consider these i've never really liked the alpine speakers. they make nice head units but their speakers are sub-par.
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Old Apr 19, 2005 | 07:25 AM
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those look good, i was looking at infinity, but all i saw was the $400 ones, didnt feel like spending that much, guess i was in the wrong section, thanks! Ill look again for infinity tweeters
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Old Apr 19, 2005 | 07:32 AM
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for some reason crutchfield says that those will not fit in my truck. I thought the 4runner takes 6 1/2 6 3/4 speakers?
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Old Apr 19, 2005 | 01:50 PM
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I just replaced most stuff in my truck as you know.
HU is OEM NAV w/o RCA's liek a typical HU. I used line level to RCA converters to solve that issue.

Front doors are Morel Hybrid 6½'s

Amp is Alpine MRV-F545 runninf the front doos, and bridged to run my old Rockford subs that shall be replaced soon.
It's sounds awesome for just replacing the front door speakers and a 4 channel amp.

The 5 volts on the Eclipse is not worth it for me since this setup sounds so sweet, so I am keeping the OEM NAV.
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Old Apr 20, 2005 | 04:27 AM
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that sounds great, proves you can have great sound from a stock head unit. eventually i want to try to get the nav. does anyone know why crutchfield says the infinitys wont fit in my truck?
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Old Apr 20, 2005 | 03:22 PM
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i've got all boston speakers in my doors and a JL 10" sub. The sub is the only thing that is amped and it sounds great to me. I got a Alpine deck with a Delphi SkyFi hooked into and i love that too. Dibble, i saw your other post about satelite radio and thought i would add that in here. We have sirius at work and i think i like it better, but to each his own. I have a Q logic Q forms custom box for my sub. I thought it would be a great idea cause it would be out of the way. Too bad the box cracked and my whole trim in the back rattle like crazy. about 100 bucks worth of dynamat and a ton of egg crate foam later, the rattle is all gone. we just dynamatted over the crack in the box and that fixed that bang, it was the worst one. so just be careful if you get one of those boxes, they aren't worth the money. I know JL audio makes a similiar one but i have no idea if its any better.
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Old Apr 20, 2005 | 03:25 PM
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one more thing, be careful with your back speakers. crutchfield and tweeter said we needed 6 and a halfs, but they were really 4". we had to come up with an adapter out of plywood to make em work cause i didn't want to have to get something else cause i got a killer deal on the speakers. They came out to be cheaper than any 4" speakers that would have been worth getting.
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Old Apr 20, 2005 | 04:41 PM
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thanks, glad you said that before i bought speakers! im probably going to get the xm radio first though, theres a rebate that ends in a couple days. The reason im getting xm radio is because my friend has it, let me listen to it. Also, the adapter for the stock cd changer port is for the xm commander.
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Old Apr 20, 2005 | 09:32 PM
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The MyFi is probably the COOLEST XM product on the market right now. 299 at Circuit city and they will install it for free (be forward and ask who is the best installer and have that person do the install) and it includes a car kit, a home kit, and every accessory Delphi makes for them. I have one and LOVE it!! Not only will it operate normally on your person outside, but it will also record up to 5 hours of music on its hard drive. If you go XM, get the myfi! I have both XM and Sirius in my truck - love em both equally.

AVOID bazooka at ALL costs!!!! They suck bawlz..... Honestly the only alpine product I like is the Type R components. (I have a cda 9835 - last years 600 dollar HU) Its great just a PITA to tune....

And YES high voltage outputs make a HUGE difference, if you amplify your mids and highs you owe it to yourself to get a high RCA output voltage. I can and have proven it on several occasions....

If I had to pick a great sounding 6.5 I'd have to pint you towards Focal, Morel, CTD, Image Dynamics Chameleon, or A/D/S/

Amps would be Zapco, Brax, Butler, MTX, Kicker, RF

Subs would be Incriminator audio (www.incriminatoraudio.com), Image Dynamics, Kicker, Digital Designs, Resonant Engineering and so forth. Build your own box of I can build ya one....

ps - dont integrate a factory JBL amp....that would be WAY more of a headache than its worth....
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Old Apr 21, 2005 | 09:39 PM
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do you not like the new headunits because they're too flashy? check out nakamichi's stuff. Here's mine:

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Old Apr 22, 2005 | 03:55 PM
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ok, so today i go out to look at speakers, at least the front speakers (one step at a time, hahaha). I went to safe n sound, best buy, circuit city, and tweeter. I heard lots of different things. At all the places i told them i just want to upgrade my speakers right now, but not the best most expensive ones. At sns they showed me some kenwood excelon component speakers, usually 249, down to 199, so i was like cool, ok. So i told him id think about it. At best buy, they told me they don't carry the excelon line, and showed me some alpines, which ive heard are not that good. On to circuit city. First of all getting help was a pain, and their help wasn't good, but anyways they showed me alpines too. On to tweeter, they showed me bostons, and let me hear them, they're awesome, but also $350 just for the front components. The only place that sold the kenwood excelons was sns. I was excited about the deal, but is there a reason they are so cheap now? are they any good? (anything has to be better than stock, but you know what i mean) Tweeter also said, that if i want to upgrade my speakers, i HAVE to get a new amp, and run new wires. Is this true? could i not use the new speakers crossover, and just directly hook it up to the factory wires, he said i would blow the speakers. My conclusion is, to get the infinitys on the link posted before, get the excelons, or save up more $$ for boston, but I'm not sure about a new amp and rewiring too, I'm not looking for a makeover, just something that puts out clearer sound/bass than the stock speakers. Thanks for reading this LOOOONG post!!
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Old Apr 22, 2005 | 03:57 PM
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if you guys can help me tonight or before tomorrow afternoon that would be great! im planning on purchasing whatever speakers i decide on tomorrow afternoon
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Old Apr 22, 2005 | 05:10 PM
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anyone? i searched and didnt find anything on kenwoods. Tough decision between the kenwood, boston, and infinitys.
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