Stereo install in Houston, TX - recommendations

[Yarflana]

Any recommendations for a quality, trustworthy place in Houston?

Plans are to do the following in an '08 3dr liftback 1.5 liter to improve the sound a bit:

Headunit - 2 din with nav
Amp to power from components and rear speakers
Replace front speakers with component speakers
Replace rear speakers with whatever would replace them without modifying the location much if at all.
Dynomat where it counts to enhance sound quality (not looking to reproduce a live performance, so that should help keep the technical discussion to a minimum).

My budget is $1,000-$1,500, installed.

Any suggestions on the best items to get with this budget would be greatly appreciated. I did talk to Crutchfield and they suggested the following:

Headunit: Kenwood DNX7190HD Navigation receiver
Front speakders: Polk Audio db5251 for your component speakers
Rear speakers: Polk Audio db 651s
Amp: Alpine MRX-F65 to run the Polk speakers

Looking to install the tweeters in the door sails and mids in the stock location for the front speakers.

I am not really wed completely to anything firm, so if someone has a suggestion that makes overwhelmingly better sense than what I am suggesting here, I am all ears.

Thanks to everyone for any thoughts. I know you take time and effort to respond.

Take care,
Pat

[vten]

Hi Pat,

Double din source unit with a built in audio streaming is a good start.

As for the speakers , you want to have a better setup for the front compare to the rear .

Are you planning on adding a subwoofer as well ?

You can save a lot of money by installing everything yourself , as the Yaris is a very simple car and DIY steps is available on the forum.

I'm no mean an expert in car audio, but I spent a lot of time and $$ buying and hoarding amps before :)

Tan

[Yarflana]

Thanks, but no subwoofer for now. Just want to up the stock setup and see if that gets me enough of an improvement. I am more of a midrange and highs kind of listener. Any base from the rear speakers would likely suit me fine as long as it is sealed in well.

I likely could see myself installing the unit and other myself, with taking my time of course. Placement is likely the most critical decision of course.

[vten]

If you're handy , try to make a custom pod on the A pillar for a tweeter placement , as for me it create a good soundstage . Or you can always bolt the tweeter onto the existing A pillar ( around the bottom area ) .

You need a good strong mid performer , I like to use at least 6" mid up front .

So my ideal setup would be 7" kits(mids,tweets n xover) up front , small mids (4")rear , single 10" sub and a good strong 5/6 ch amp in a single chassis to avoid too much wiring .

Shop around , buying used equipment is a money saver too :) , just be careful dealing with crazy ppl out there .

Good luck pat,
Tan

[Yarflana]

Tan...thanks for the pointers. I think that helps me a lot. I like the one-amp direction.

Any good suggestions on what amp I should go with?

Pat

[vten]

honestly, I like a big chassis surfboard amp..it look badass :D. but I aslo a fond of the alpine PDS-5 amp. it packed with power, very eficient, look decent , all in a small foot print chasiss. you can even put it under your driver or passenger seat.

another brand that i love is the DLS Ultimates, they are made in sweden ...they are sweet sounding amp ...just like their ladies ..oops ...moving on ..lol

you can tell how I love them in the attached pics

[Yarflana]

I think although I would not look to put in a sub at this point, getting the amp that will have the ability to provide a sub some power is the way to go initially, vs. piecemealing it with not enough channels.

[vten]

yup, more is better :)

[sqcomp]

you can also think about bridging down a 5 channel into a 3...

[Yarflana]

Yeah, I did that before when I had a 5 channel and only wanted to run 3 channels (fronts and a sub only), but with a 5 channel, now, I can run 2 to fronts and 2 to rears and leave the 5th channel open? Right?

[vten]

yes you can.

if you can add the subwoofer, it will bring the whole music experience on different level compare to just the mids setup, as the mids cant produce the low frequencies....try a small format sub with a compact enclosure that you can plug/unplug if you need the space . or make a custom false floor

[Yarflana]

I would actually love putting an 6" to 8" inch sub right under the back seat, fully enclosed. Wedging it in there past the retaining bar of the lower part of the backseat (liftback) seems like a good spot.