I just recently got new speakers up front but didnt notice a huge difference if i get a aftermarket headunit should it sound a bit better

 

should be more of a difference with changing the speakers than changing the head unit. good speakers with a nice head unit and an amp and you're in business for sure.

 

Getting a new headunit is one of the first things that should be done when upgrading any sound system.... When you go to purchase your headunit look for features that you will actually use and not random things. Stuff like built in equalizers and sound controls are a major plus. good luck with your shopping.

 

I hope you mean the other way around.
I got much more difference changing the head unit that I did with speakers.

 

The head unit will make a difference, but to get the full effect you should buy an amp to power all your door speakers, you will be amazed at the improvement in sound quality.

 

When I changed my HU...they removed a factory amp that the installer said I wouldnt need with a new HU. He said something to the fact that it wouldnt do anything for a good HU. Does anyone know what Im talking about?

 

getting a new head unit is always good, especially if your thinking about getting subs of any kind. i know that if you get subs and an amp for them than you can wire the subs to only play the bass for teh entire car meaning that the door speakers wont play any bass, and if you have an after market head unit than you can adjust the bass/trebel and such a lot easier, things start getting difficult when your upgrading your system if you dont have a head unit, there not a must but a huge plus. just my two cents

 

In my '03, I wanted to keep the 6 disc head unit and just install alpine speakers, Kenwood amp and Kicker 8" sub in all the factory locations. The installer said in my case that the HU is only compatible with the stock amp and that if i wanted to change the speakers with the kenwood then i would have to get a new head unit..So, Sabre, I know what your talking about...I just cant believe the stock amp can be the culprit of a couple diffrent configurations.

Anyways, needless to say. I took all the gear and stuck it in my Taco with a schweeeet Alpine CDA-9807.. Big diffrence when you get a quality HU installed.

 

When I was installing my system I installed the HU before I took the factory speakers out. I wanted to c what they sounded like, wow it was a huge difference from what they sounded like with the factory HU. I think the HU makes as big of a difference as the speakers themselves (im sure this varies per combination)

 

Generally speaking, changing the speakers has the potential to impact sound quality far more than a change in the head unit. However, if done improperly, a speaker change can also result in worse sound quality.

Depending on the speakers, the stock head unit may not have enough power to adequately drive the new speakers. This is particularly true with extremely high end speakers - Infinity Kappas, for example, need far more power than aftermarket head units can supply, much less the stock head unit.

Swapping out the head unit may improve sound quality, but most of that improvement is due to equalization functions on the head unit. Separate equalizers, or equalizers built into an amplifier, can produce the similar levels of improvement (and with an external EQ, much, much more).

Aftermarket units may have better signal to noise ratios, and higher FM sensitivity, which enable them to produce a cleaner signal. This, in turn, will sound better when it comes out of the speakers.

However, as a general rule of thumb, the best thing you can do to improve sound quality is to put in aftermarket speakers - this is especially true in a vehicle that is 5 years old, as most OEM speakers are made of paper, which doesn't hold up over time.

If you have a crappy head unit and have crappy speakers, and then you swap out the head unit, the speakers are still going to sound crappy.

~Bill

 

I know what you are talking about. I pulled mine out too when I installed my head unit because the factory amp is a POS. plus you would have to make your own pigtail to use it with a new HU if that is even possible.

 

quote:
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Originally posted by Mystickal
Depending on the speakers, the stock head unit may not have enough power to adequately drive the new speakers. This is particularly true with extremely high end speakers - Infinity Kappas, for example, need far more power than aftermarket head units can supply, much less the stock head unit.
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So if I was planning on buying Infinity Kappa 60.5s for the front doors and a Sony M850 HU rated at 25 watts RMS, does the Sony fall into the not enough power category? I'm guessing that I need MORE POWER!!!!

 

If you listen to your music with the windows up and have a lot of Dynamat lining your vehicle, 25 watts RMS might be enough. If you like to listen to music with your windows down, 25 watts definitely won't be enough!

Kappa 60.5s are rated to take 90 watts RMS, and will handle 270 watts peak. That Sony headunit is going to have a heck of a time pushing 25 watts into them without distortion. It may do it, but it won't give you sound anywhere near what the Kappas are capable of.

If you're going to go to the expense of buying Infinity component speakers, then it makes no sense not to go all the way and get a decent amp to run them.

You'll ears will love you.

~Bill

 

qoute by Mystickal:
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Kappa 60.5s are rated to take 90 watts RMS, and will handle 270 watts peak. That Sony headunit is going to have a heck of a time pushing 25 watts into them without distortion.
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Do you recommend an amp that will feed each of the Kappas around 100 watts RMS and not even consider the output of the HU? If not, do you recommend more or less than 100 watts? Manufacturers? It is wise to install separate amps for the components and the subs? Or is it OK to get a 4 channel amp and bridge two of the channels for the sub. I'm looking more for sound quality than competition level volume and bone pounding bass.

Thanks for your help on this and the other stereo related theads.

 

Hey Mystickal,

Just read one of the other stereo threads and I see that you already answered some of the questions I just asked. Your imput on the type(single, two, four channel)/number of amps needed would still be appreciated.

Bill

 

I really hate when people ask what is the best anything is - the answer is that there isn't ANYTHING that is the best, simply because there are so many different requirements. For example - which shock/spring combo is the best? Well, it depends - do you off road a lot, are most of your miles highway miles, how important is ride comfort vs handling, is the truck raised, is the truck lowered, do you have a heavy winch up front, etc etc. There are too many variables for a 'one size fits all' solution with just about any commercial product. So all I can speak is in general.

As far as amplifiers go, generally it is better to have more amplifiers than fewer amplifiers. I try to have one amplifier for each pair of speakers. For an extremely high end system, this would mean for the kappa/sub combo I would do one amp for the tweeters, one amp for the mid-bass, and one amp for the sub. I would use an electronic crossover before the amplifiers, and dump the passive crossovers that come with the kappas.

However, this setup makes a lot of assumptions. The first assumption is that you have a lot of dollar bills. Having to buy 3 separate amplifiers, an electronic crossover, and all the wiring, distribution blocks (and, most likely, a beefier alternator and a capacitor or 2) may easily exceed your budget. Especially because, for a setup like this, you don't want to go with cheap, crappy amps. The next assumption is that you have a head unit with pre-amp outputs (at least 1 pair, though the more the better). The final assumption is that you have a lot of space that you don't mind giving up.

Every installation has to balance these factors - what the head unit outputs, the space the install will take up, the money backing the project, how the system is going to be used, and how quickly everything needs to be put together. (Those are just a few, there are others).

~Bill

 

I smell what your steppin in bro....

 

Why a separate amplifier for each pair of speakers? Well, with a separate amplifier for each speaker (and a crossover before the amps) each amplifier is only amplifying the signals that each speaker is getting. For example, the sub isn't getting any signals higher than 80-100 Hz, which it can't effectively reproduce. So none of the amplifiers power is being wasted.

With multi-channel amps, there are other compromises that have to be made. For example - tweeters simply do not need a lot of power. So, if you have an amp that puts out 75Wx4 and run it to the 2 tweeters and the 2 mid-bass speakers, a lot of that power is going to be wasted. On the other hand, with separate amps, you can tailor the system to exactly what you want, say, 35W to the tweeters, 80W to the mid-bass, and 300W to the sub.

As mentioned previously, though - this setup takes a lot of time, space, and money.

Amps and crossovers, though, can be mounted out of the way and easily under seats (or behind the rear seats). I've seen them mounted behind body panels (the rear right panel in the 4runner is a really good place). If you want to get more creative, you can hollow out the back of your rear seats and put a tray within, holding an amp or crossover. And I've also done components mounted in boxes physically underneath the car. These ideas can help you save the most of your space.

Things to remember:

#1 - Take the time to plan your system. Don't just buy components haphazardly. A well done car audio system is just like anything else that is well done - it will reflect on how much planning you have put into it.

#2 - Don't overdrive (or underdrive) your speakers. Don't pay for more than what you need, but don't skimp trying to save a few bucks.

#3 - For a sub amp, look for mono class D subs - they provide more power, take up less space, and radiate less heat than other amps. Also, whatever amp you use for a sub amp look for a bass-boost circuit and a built-in low pass crossover.

#4 - For whatever amp you're using to drive your other speakers, look for a built-in high pass crossover. That way, your other speakers won't be trying to reproduce low bass - let your sub concentrate on that task.

#5 - If you use a separate amp for the mid-bass and tweeters, look for both high and low pass filters for the mid-bass speaker. Try to send each speaker exactly what frequencies you want it to reproduce.

#6 - Make sure your amp works with your headunit. Nothing would suck more than to put everything together only to find out that your headunit only has speaker level outputs and your amp doesn't have speaker level inputs. Sure, you can get an adapter, but that tends to introduce distortion.

#7 - Wiring! Don't use crappy wiring - it WILL make a difference. If you have cheap components, by all means, use cheap wiring. But if you use cheap wiring with high end components, the quality of sound WILL suffer!

Hopefully this is enough to get you pointed in the right directions. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask away. If you want specific recommendations, I need to know more info such as your budget, how much space you're willing to lose, and what you want your system to do - as well as what you already have in your system.

~Bill

 

Not quite sure what you mean by that. . . Should I take offense?

~Bill

 

I think you didn't notice a big difference because your 4Runner has a lot more speaker's in the back (not sure how many) if you replace all the stock speaker's with the same brand aftermarket one's, you should hear a noticable difference.

I'm pretty sure 2nd gen and up 4Runner's have at least 6 speaker's (correct me if I'm wrong on that) so an aftermarket head unit that's designed to put out 45-65x4 watts (peak) won't do that good of a job because that's just not enough power for that many speaker's. So a stock head unit is definatly not enough.

I would reccomend getting the same kind of speaker's for the back, and getting a new head unit, and amp ($1,000 should cover everything)

Good luck