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      09-12-2012, 10:39 AM   #175
nato-main-man-5am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sid4852 View Post
For what it's worth, I have a pair of 1 month old underseat subs with spacers and connectors in their original boxes ready to go. These are the SWS 8xi.
Those are cool subs. Don't reach well up in to the midrange without EQ, for a 200hz crossover with the doors, and might not shine fully with the HiFi amp and certainly not with the head unit chip based amp that the true "base" stereo has.

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To the OP: If I were in your shoes, I'd not expect anything to help me for $300 BUT I would keep my eyes open for the following (in this order):

1. JBL MS-8 or equivalent: This will de-eq the head unit and have better amplification than you have now. You'll still have crappy speakers but it's a step.

2. Someone's used H/K/Logic 7 speaker set. These are not the most awesome speakers but far better than what you have -- and will fit pretty good (perhaps with some modifications for placing the tweaters in the windows and the larger underseat woofers under the seat. Heck even a used set of the hifi speakers would be a nice step up for you (but remember step 1 first -- you need a way to de-eq the head unit output, handle speaker level signals, and amplify them).

3. When rolling in cash (>$1k) consider even better speakers, and dedicated amplification. Lots of good ideas in this thread -- including Sid's SWS underseat speakers (though I'm not sure if you need more than just spacers, given what you have right now.)

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Bottom line, for $300, I'm not sure there's something meaningful you can do with the base system.

The one suggestion to add an outboard amp and sub is not bad, if you want a bunch more bass -- and don't mind poor midrange and non existent highs. Depending on the music you listen to, that might be a nice step up. But it will be a DIY, budget gear, kind of set up -- and in my opinion does not solve the main problem with the base system, which is too little power, too little range in the existing speakers, etc.
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