SUV Speaker Placement

Systems

I'm an old Skool guy from back in the day. My sound systems in both my car & home are built around the sonic quality. Hence, my affinity for Polk Speakers..

With that being said, I just brought an '04 Kia Sorento, a midsize SUV. Which comes with a Delco CD player & 8 speakers system (counting the tweeters as separate speakers, well that's another story). Anyway, I've decided to replace the factory system with the following:

Alpine CDA 9835 head unit
Polk MMC6500
Polk MMC650 in the rear
A modest Sub
JL Amp (haven't decided on which one)...

As far as the installation is concern, I still want my car to appear stock, except for the head unit. Which means I will be mouting the speakers in the same location as the factory speakers.
Now to my question, what's the current prevaling school of thought in regards to speaker placement in a SUV? I'm putting the MMC6500 in the front. Should I put the MMC650's in the rear doors or in the cargo area? Ultimately I know I should try both and see what sounds best to me. Since I'm paying an installer to do this I need to keep my cost down. Of course if it sounds horrible, I will pay to have them moved, but I would like to know what's my best shot on getting it right the first time.
Also, can I mount the SUB in one of the un-used factory speaker locations (rear door or cargo area, depending where I mount the MC650's), would that present a problem, installation and/or sonic quality?

If you have comments on the gear I've selected, I would be interested in reading your opinons.... thx

neomagus00

if you have stock locations both in the dash and in the doors, you should be fine. the 6500 should be plenty loud, so i'd say nix the rear speakers altogether (rear speakers tend to smear the detail of the fronts, but time alignment and preference really decide). your chosen HU does indeed have time alignment, and this is a big nod towards rear speakers, if you want them (if you do, i'd say to put them in the doors, not the cargo area, but this is just my audio knowledge, not prior experience, speaking). the TA will also be very helpful in using the stock locations.

it is most unlikely you'll fit a sub in a factory speaker location; for a car like that and your goals, i'd vote for a single good 12" sub, and that would never fit in a door. i'm sure the prevailing vote will be for the adire brahma, but what is your price range for the things you didn't mention yet?

MacLeod

Neo's got it pretty much covered. Rear speakers are mainly for rear passengers and dont really add much to your sound quality. But if youre hauling people around all the time then rear speakers may not be a bad idea. In that case I agree with Neo in putting them in the rear doors, if theyll fit. You may have to drop down to the MMC525 if the 6.5's are too big.

As far as subs go, I would recommend sticking with Polk. Ive listened a lot to their Momo subs in both installations and in Tweeters soundroom and I think they are among the best sounding subs on the market, and when you consider their $100-150 price range you cant go wrong.

I think going with a JL amp would be a good idea. They are about the best out there. I would stick to the E series as they are not regulated and clean as a whistle.

If you want to go with a 2 amp system I say get the E4300 for your speakers and the E1400D for the sub which in this case I would get the MM2124DVC.

If you want to keep it simple and go the single amp route you can get the E6450. This is a 6 channel amp and you would run your front speakers off the front 4 channels and your sub bridged off the rear channels which for this application would be the MM2104.

Now these E series amps are rated at 45 watts per channel and 150 bridged. These things are ridiculously underrated. Carsound mag recently tested the E6450 and it put out 73 watts per channel and 215 bridged. And when driving the front 4 channels at normal levels and bridging only channels 5 & 6 this thing put out 307 watts! And this thing retails for about $350!!

So there ya have it. A dual amp system would have more bass but cost more and take up more space. The single amp system would have a little less bass, sound just as good, cost about $300 less and be easier to install.

Systems

Thanks Mac & Neo...... I'm going to take you guys suggestion & have the rear speaker installed in the rear door... The HU & speakers will be installed next weekend. I'll probably wait until next month to have the sub & amp installed....have to keep track of my pennies...

I'll dropped back in to let you guys know how it sounds.... THX!!!!