05 Subaru LGT Wagon Gradual Upgrade

praedet

This is for a 05 Subaru Legacy GT Wagon...

So, I do not have the time for a full audio upgrade right now. Eventually there will be a DIY fiberglass box with sub in the rear of the wagon, an Alpine PDX4.150 for the front and a PDX1.1000 for the sub, with a JBL MS-8 or something like it for running TA, etc. I will be putting in LOTS of sound deadening throughout the car as well as a foam attenuator?

I currently have a Kenwood DNX8120 in the car and only the factory sub (not very good). I have not purchased speakers. I wanted Polk SR6500s, but they are gone. I am leaning towards the DLS Ultimate UPI6 component speakers in the front. I plan on using the stock location for the mid-woofer (lower door) and probably putting the tweeter in the kick panel.

First off, is it ridiculous to do the upgrade of just the front door speakers w/ some deadening but without the external amps? I do not have the time to do the full upgrade now but would love to have the better SQ from the new comps?

Secondly, is the mid-bass in the door, tweeter in the kick panel a bad idea?

Lastly, should I be looking at other speakers?
Thanks for any help on this?

Ted

arun1963

The Kenny gives you 13 band eq and time alignment. Normally this would be enough dsp to get your car sounding really good. I'm not sure though if the TA is adjustable for each speaker, or if its one where you select between 2-3 options. If its the later then it's pretty useless.

After market speakers would sound better than the stock speakers, for sure. However if you run them off the hu power, you will start hearing the hu amps distortion past about 30-35% of max volume. While your hu will put out 22 watts rms, this will be at about 3-5% distortion. I would definately amp the components. Yes, seal the doors once you install the new speakers.

The SR's are gems, but sadly they are gone. I like DLS speakers. I have heard the Gothia and they were very nice. You can also check out the Madisound website which has some good options. I would also recommend Scanspeak as a brand. Only issue with Scans is that the midbass does much better in smaller enclosures than your typical door. They would do great in kicks though. If you want to keep it simple the DLS is fine.

I wouldn't mount the tweeter in kicks. I would look at mounting the tweeters about halfway up your A pillars. Even the sail panels would be a better location than kicks for tweeters. If you plan to add a processor down the line I would also look at stuff like the bit1/bit10/alpine h800. If you are picky about stuff like tonality, imaging and having a good stage (stuff you would be used to with your 2ch setup) then I would go with a processor that is fully adjustable rather than the MS-8. The MS-8 is more of a plug and play device and is fine if thats what you want.

Hope I answered all your questions.

BeefJerky

arun1963 wrote: »

The Kenny gives you 13 band eq and time alignment. Normally this would be enough dsp to get your car sounding really good. I'm not sure though if the TA is adjustable for each speaker, or if its one where you select between 2-3 options. If its the later then it's pretty useless.

I have the same head unit, and the TA is quite configurable, and separate for each speaker. It is adjustable it feet, up to about 20 feet. I don't remember the exact steps, but I think it was kind of funky; something like 0.00, 0.33, 0.50, 0.66, 1.00, 1.33, etc. It's probably not as exact as something like the Bit Ten, but good enough for most cases.

After market speakers would sound better than the stock speakers, for sure. However if you run them off the hu power, you will start hearing the hu amps distortion past about 30-35% of max volume. While your hu will put out 22 watts rms, this will be at about 3-5% distortion. I would definately amp the components. Yes, seal the doors once you install the new speakers.

If your stock head unit contains any non-defeatable equalization, it may make your aftermarket speakers sound quite bad. I say this from the experience of trying to use the stock head unit in my Honda with aftermarket speakers. That didn't last long before I replaced it with the DNX8120. I did run my speakers off the DNX8120's built-in amps for awhile, but it was too easy to reach its limits in my opinion. I also vote to add an external amp.

The SR's are gems, but sadly they are gone.

Agreed, however, keep an eye on ebay. I managed to get a used pair for a very good price that way.

praedet

Thanks for the response folks. So I guess I have to keep the car as is for another year or so until I have the time for the full upgrade...

I thought that the Kenwood would have enough output for non-stock speakers for now...