Hi guys,

it's my first hatch and I don't have a clue what I'm doing.

My previous car was an STi with the following setup:

Sony MP3 headunit
Orion 4 x 65w amp (2 channels for splits and 2 channels for subs)
Boston rally 6.5 splits in the front
crapty stock speakers in the rear doors
2 x 10 inch W4d4 JL subs in the boot

I was pretty happy with the setup but wouldn't have minded a little more bass. I listen to pretty mainstream music and I would have to say that I'm more interested in sound quality than deep deep bass. I prefer my bass to be more punchy.

Now, with the new car I'm starting totally clean, ie all new gear. Where is gets difficult is that I want to keep all (or as much as possible) of my boot space. I'm prepared to sacrifice the spare wheel, but I'll need to find a spot to keep the jack etc. See pic below:


My (rough) plan was to try and fit the sub (thinking 1 x 12 at this stage) + the amp + the jack etc all in the hole left by the spare wheel. The only thing in the way is the threaded bolt right in the middle (which will need to stay). I was thinking that if I get a shallow sub pointing up towards the roof and some type of false floor, the whole thing might work ok?

I found this special shallow mount sub on the Pioneer USA website. It's called a TS-SW124D (click here for specs)



So far I'm keen on the Pioneer DEH-P8650MP for the head unit (click here for specs)

This is where I start to run out of ideas.

I would like some 6.5 inch splits & a quality amp but the amp can't be too big.

For the splits I was thinking Infinity Kappa Perfect 6.5 but only because I've seen them for a good price.

Absolutely no idea re the amp.

What I want is the best gear for a reasonable cost, ie I don't mind spending the money if I'm getting a reasonable return, but I'm not interested in getting the top of the range stuff if it's not going to make (much) of a difference.

If I could get some feedback and recommendations, that would be great.

thanks!

Hey Spdrcr,
First I'd say take the car to Marty at FHRX Studios (www.fhrxstudios.com) and see what can be installed where. With that pioneer sub, it looks like you could build a box along the sides of the boot and still keep your jack, etc in the wheel well.

You could do something like my car but your's will be a whole lot shallower:


Thats a WRX boot by the way - to give you an idea.

Consider the Tru Technology T 4.65 amp to power your whole system. RRP $1019. I'm using one of these amps now to power a set of 2 way 6.5" and a 12" sub and its got plenty of power on tap. And its also quite small.

The Perfects' are nice splits and if you could get tham for a good price go for it!

Bye,
Mo

werd to the trutech having heaps of power, i have a T4.65 runnin splits and a sub and it gets so loud!

cant wait till i get the T2.100 bridged for the sub and the T4.65 bridged for my dyn 340s ::drools::

How about this, available from your local Blaupunkt dealer:

The options are limitless really...my suggestion would be...

Alpine CDA 9827 head unit $569
Phoenix Gold X100.4 amp 100 rms x 4 $999
Dynaudio Sys 220 $899
Image Dynamics ID-8v3 subs x 2 $249 ea

or how about

Clarion DXZ-646MP head unit $599
Rockford Fosgate Punch 4004 amp $699
MB Quart RCE-216 $599
Image Dynamics subs as above $249 ea

You could look into Focal speakers if they are more your thing...a set of 165a splits are about $399...

I would suggest you look into a couple of 8's for subwoofers, in a hatch 2 8's is enough for most people, are shallow to boot, and require about .33 cu ft of volume each so your sub enclosure will be nice and compact...

As for the speakers...have a listen to as many as you want and pick which sounds the best to you, I can make a recommendation on what I have used...and the three I have mentioned while all sounding good, do sound very different...

As for amps as long as it's high quality, is built well and has the power and features you want you will be fine...

Good luck with your system...and awesome car by the way...Clio's rule!