Picked spcgry up from audio shop on the weekend.... the system finally sounds like it should ...
Two day tune cost under $400 which was pretty cheap, given the hours Chris spent on it
If you have aftermarket speakers but have not had your system professionally tuned, I can thoroughly recommend getting it done..
The critical mass speakers in the fronts, have turned out to be the biggest surprise.
I was always a bit worried about them living up to their rep because, the brand is virtually unknown and the critical mass web site is super shady with lots of fake endorsements. Honestly did not expect them to perform as well as they did, super bright and crystal clear even at max volume
..... will be a shame to relegate them to the back seats
So stage 1 of the audio upgrade complete. Will need to collect a few more bits (speaker pods, amps etc) before we can complete the build
The plan for the next stage is to step the quality of the components up a notch, and complete the audio build the way it should have been done in the first place..
Rear set up
The critical mass 4" and tweeters up front will be moved to the rear compartment to replace the IFBMW focals
Will connect them to a new dedicated amp and run the rear set up in passive mode
Front set up
Will install the Focal utopia speakers up front, hooked up the a new dedicated amp to run the front set up in active mode
The IFBMW 8" underseat subs will be removed and replaced with the focal utopia 6" in the doors to handle the mid bass
The focal utopia 3" and tweeters will be mounted to the A pillars in custom speaker pods from Germany
Sub woofer
Replace the 10" alpine sub with the Focal 13" sub after making some mods to the visual ice box in the boot
Will probably need a bigger mono block amp to run the new focal otherwise will stick with the alpine pdx 1.6 amp
Processor and amps
Currently have a audison bit 8.9, 8 channel processor, but not sure it if can handle the 3 way active front and rear passive set up
If not will need to fall back to the older audison bit 10, which can handle the configuration
Will also need to add a couple of new amps to keep everything juiced up
Once all installed, will need to give everything a time correction and tune
Can't wait
Pics below
Pic 1 - Spcgry outside tower audio
Pics 2 & 3 - Custom A pillar pods on order