OK this is what i have so far, for a $2000 budget, installing into my galant hatch, with stock 4" speakers in dash and 6" speakers up the back. also no, i'm not going a sub setup so shush :P

Head Unit:
Eclipse CD8445 (http://www.eclipse-web.com/cd/cd8445.html) - $550
(looks like an awesome unit, last years model so now being cleared for the new ones)

Splits:
Focal 165v2 (http://www.focal-america.com/Products/Polyglass/PolyglassV2.html) - $399

Rears:
Focal 165Cv1 (http://www.focal-america.com/Products/Polyglass/PolyglassV1.html) - $329

Amp:
Audison SRx4 (http://www.audison-america.com/Products/SRX/SRX4/srx4.html) - $529

thoughts/opinions/watever else? lol

I'd say a sub... bridge 2 channels of the Srx4, or swap it for a Srx3. Run the rears of the HU.

As for the sub itself, no idea, maybe a single 13" Focal V2 ($350ish? K2 would be $500)

Just chuck it in a nice sealed box, should give you that bit extra.

Add some sound deadening to the front doors, liquid deaden the underside of the parcel shelf and all your door trims.

Make sure you prep the doors properly, MDF mount everything, seal it up the bet you can, wrap door pins etc. Plenty of how-to threads on here.

Make sure you run decent power wiring, 4 guage - and make sure you run an equivalent ground from the body to the negative terminal of the battery. Make sure you give the current a way back to the battery, the vehicle ground can only support an extra 8guage on what it already flows.

Otherwise it soulds like you have some mighty fine components there, I rate Eclipse but don't like the design of them. Prefer Alpine myself at that money. Nice speakers, sub definitely needed!

Yeah ditch the rears and spend that money on a sub and box. Then you'll be laughing...

are you sure u don't want a sub? even a small one??

are you sure you want such high profile rear speakers????

get some 3 way 6" pioneers or some JB hifi speaker to chuck back there. With that, you have the option of getting only a 2ch amp and power the rear with headunit. fade to the front when you're alone and fade evenly when u have passengers.

With the money you save, invest in sound-deadening and proper installation of ur equipment. You could mount that amp under ur seat since you don't want a sub. save u on speaker cable and power cable. just need to find a good ground point, protect ppl from kicking it and possible cooling issues. (Nobody likes a kicked in audison amp)

i'd still like 2 have some sound out of the back, so do u guys just recommend say getting some pioneer $100 speakers and wiring them to the HU?

also the guy said while the stats on the amp dont have it very high, it delivers that sort of wattage in real life, rather than others being inflated. also said it delivers it cleaner. true/false?

also can the amp say run the splits and the sub?

i'd still like 2 have some sound out of the back, so do u guys just recommend say getting some pioneer $100 speakers and wiring them to the HU?

also the guy said while the stats on the amp dont have it very high, it delivers that sort of wattage in real life, rather than others being inflated. also said it delivers it cleaner. true/false?

also can the amp say run the splits and the sub?

trust me, you'll like that amp. yes it will run splits and a sub.

trust me, you'll like that amp. yes it will run splits and a sub.

cool lol this is the first stereo i've done, just changed the HU over b4, so just wanna do it right, but still within budget.

so total:

HU: $550
Amp: $530
Splits: $400
Rears: $100
-------------
1580, plus install costs ( :( )

HU will b bought from a seperate store to the rest, but i'm sure i could get a deal on the rest packaged with install. sorry but the splits do need to be sorta customed into the door panels (not just cut circle and put it in lol) so gotta atleast maybe do that.

might maybe pick up this stuff, then lil later on pick up the sub...hmm that sounds good

if you have 4" speakers in the dash then yes, to install the splits you will need to "get custom".

It depends on what is behind the trims, but you should be able to fit a 6.5" set in there somewhere. Run the splits in the kick panels, that's in front of the doors where your feet go, but not too far forward.

Yes that amp will run a sub, no worries about that. You will need to bridge two channels together to make one big "beefy' channel for the sub.

All round your gear is great, and cheap buying too. I am a bit suprised at that. Remember that decent cabling will cost up to $100, and the deadening and ancilliaries could add up to $400 or so, before installation.

I would get a pro audio place to graft pods into your doors, and fit the speakers, and do a good deaden on your doors. It's worth the money, you will get the best out of your system anyway. The fact there are no speakers in your doors already makes me think there may be some cutting involved, so get a pro to do it.

yeah thats wat i'm gonna do with the splits, and probably the amp...the installer recommended puttin the tweeters into the plastic bit of the side mirrors (the triangle), said he does it alot coz its a good spot...is it?

besides the headunit, the other prices are rrp prices of the stuff, so there may even b some more room to move, specially if i get them to install it to.

good to know that u audiophiles like the stuff :)

Yeah, the gear is all good, should do you for the best part of 5 years. Only things you may/will need to do is deadening, mounting etc if you wanna look at competing in CAASQ. The gear itself will get results at that level.


yeah thats wat i'm gonna do with the splits, and probably the amp...the installer recommended puttin the tweeters into the plastic bit of the side mirrors (the triangle), said he does it alot coz its a good spot...is it?

No, it isn't. One tweeter is much closer to your ears than the other. For best staging (the sound coming at you, rather than one side banging you in the ear), you should try to get the distances from your ears as even as possible.

The tweeter should also be close as possible to the midbass also, otherwise you can get separation issues.

For this reason, the best place to put the tweeter is in the kick panels. There was a post by Fats a couple of days ago which showed his Morels. Or you could look at some of FHRX's work on his website. The vast majority of the time, the tweeters go in the kick panels.

EDIT: Fats' splits install
http://www.caraudioaustralia.com/forums/uploads/post-12861-1146905585.jpg

Three-way splits install I really like.... thinking of going virtually the same in mine:
http://www.fastfoursforumscarclub.com/temp/fhrxstudios/images/lancer_8.jpg

As people had said Front splits fully deadened and smallish sub.

As for the Audison amp, I love them!! I run 2 of them, SRx2 and
SRx2s. The SRx2 is rated at 65WRMS x2 and it is running splits rated at 55WRMS and the amp has not trouble giving the splits to much power, we had to turn the gains down for fear of damaging something, and the fan doesnt even come on.

The SRx2s runs a 450WRMS sub ( Boston G5 ) and it does so with poise and venom. Really pushes it hard, can get the fan activated after about 20mins of abuse. :D

yeah the kicks is definately the go, especially with those tweeters, they are very bright. I had them in the sail area and really didnt like them (I had 165V2's before the morels).

FHRX recently showed me some pics of where he had placed tweets in magnas and you would be very surprised. In the picture he showed me of a 3rd gen there is no way you could even see the tweet when sitting. I am planning of fiddling with my placement on the weekend.

post away fats, i wanna see

yeah the kicks is definately the go, especially with those tweeters, they are very bright. I had them in the sail area and really didnt like them (I had 165V2's before the morels).

FHRX recently showed me some pics of where he had placed tweets in magnas and you would be very surprised. In the picture he showed me of a 3rd gen there is no way you could even see the tweet when sitting. I am planning of fiddling with my placement on the weekend.

Yeah I wanna see to!!!

I am at work but I will try to do it tonight.

I had heaps of pics somewhere of where he mounted my tweeters... cant find any of them though, got pics of everything else though :doubt:

Wow! is this the Hertz fan club. It seems like if you dont have a hertz sub or stewie griffin in your avatar, then you just arn't the coolest lol. Maybe I need an avatar

Sorry I havent posted those picks up, I am having trouble with the attachment at home. It seemed to work fine at work though. I will try and get them while I am at work on Monday

Thats better.....

Yeah i have seen/heard an install from fhrx where I couldnt see the tweeter...

Wasnt a fan... High frequencies especially need at least line of sight, otherwise they can't propagate.

Unlike misbass/subbass where waves can easily pass through and around objects, high frequencies don't have that luxury. Bury them too deep in the kickpanels and the dash/centre console will block too much.

Wouldnt mind seeing some pics still

Peace
Tim

When you have the Boston harsh tweeters set to 0db you dont mind them being mounted high in the kicks. Lifts the stage very high and considering I am 6'3" and sit up straight due to a bad back, my stage needs to be high!!

Hertz subs are great, I just put a 15inch HXS on mine to annoy the guy who only has the 12inch HX on his... should I mention names lol

Plus I want one!!!!!!

still not sure about mounting the tweeters in the kick panels :S

just get every thing else wired up and then get the blutac out before you make any final decisions (see my install update). Also make sure you listen to a lot of stuff before you decide on a position.

I found that some music was fine but with other music the tweeter was really harsh. I guarantee that they would have sounded nicer (to my ears) in the kicks.

you do have to get the angles right though, you cant just whack them in there.

Having said that, I think I will be moving my morel tweets to the A piller. The morel is a very different tweeter to the focal though.

damn you chraisma.. you found that pic before me... :(

I told you that I have both 12 and 15inch pics.... I prefer the 15 though! lol

But I have better 12inch pics that I took with some excursion!!:D