£130. Sub vs Upgraded speakers

[James and his MR2]

Good afternoon all,

Where is my £130 better spent, I have a 4x45W sony stereo currently. I love bass but still want decent sound quality, atm with standard speakers its good until you turn it up a bit  s:evil: :evil: s:evil:  

I have a choice of a good set of speakers with in-built bass V  m http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inphase-USW10-C ... B00379UM7M m  which has a built in amp and will fit under the seat

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance

[markiii]

your sure it will go under the seat?

not a lot of room under there

[andyroo104]

Sound proofing the doors vastly improves the bass.
Andy.

[Pavett1990]

In my experience over the last 7 years I find the Inphase subwoofers quite good but the speakers themselfs awful.. I'd recommend a small subwoofer (either under dash or behind seats in bins) and a set of vibe slick speakers..

This is my bootbuild mk1 lol..
Currently on mk2 but looking to go for mk3 very soon



I have changed the subs to the JBL all round.. But next I'm going to be fibreglassing the front and spraying it instead  s:D s:D

[James and his MR2]

7 years Pavett?? I thought you was born in 1990 lol. Looks awesome. So a set of vibe speakers are good at like £50 cost are they? If so ill go for that

[Flipside]

Like this.

[shnazzle]

The USW10 will NOT go under the seat  s:) s:)

I've got it temporarily mounted to the wall behind the bottom of the passenger seat but will be mounting it under the steering wheel (same place as the under-dash sub box) when the weather gets better.

[James and his MR2]

Ok Shnazzle thank you, whats ur set up with that USW10?

[James and his MR2]

Like this.

Bit more that £130s worth i think flip?

[shnazzle]

Ok Shnazzle thank you, whats your set up with that USW10?

Simplez: USW10 connected to my Sony single din. Lovely bass and stock speakers sound much better even at higher volume as they're not being loaded with the bass.

[James and his MR2]

Great news  s:D s:D  Thanks

[Pavett1990]

Well just shy of 7 years lol passed when I was 17.. In 2007 lol will be 7 years in June lol..

Yeah vibe speakers are just as good quality and a decent price too.. I'd recommend vibe all day long

[shnazzle]

Ps, if you're going to put a sub in the cubby hole, do it like above without the doors. I put my sub in the cubby hole with the doors closed to test what it would sound like and I came to the conclusion within 10 seconds that it was utterly pants.
I wanted the best bang for buck without losing storage space. Can't beat the USW10 mounted under steering wheel.
No separate amp, easy wiring, remote to control bass volume...all good.

No the bass isn't ground-shaking, but it's enough to make my softtop warble  s:) s:)

[Flipside]

Like this.

Bit more that £130s worth i think flip?

Fair point. But worth it.  I also have a jl under dash sub. Sounds awesome.

[James and his MR2]

I'm thinking of these but may spend a lot more not sure yet. Can get these for like £25 so seem to maybe be too cheap. Opinions?

 m http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_265869 m

[Pavett1990]

The subs are great with edge (mate just fitted 2x12") never had experience with speakers lol

[James and his MR2]

So ill upgrade my speakers and then buy the USW10/underdash sub if im still not happy

[nathanMR2]

I agree that good speakers are the way forward providing your stereo can power them.

However the good thing about adding a sub and having such a small car is that you can turn down the bass off your stock/basic speakers and use them pretty much as tweeters. With the UD sub it has enough range to give you enough balance for a good sound.

I uprated my door speaker well before i installed a sub. However when i did install a sub i ended up turning the bass down on the door speakers as it wasnt needed and i didnt feel it was really adding anything and got the feeling it was clearer this way.

For the record and just incase you were interested i have got a spare UD sub box which may or may not be availble should/when you want it.

[James and his MR2]

May be interested Nathan ill let you know. I have ordered some speakers and tweeters and if im not impressed enough I will be buying either the USW10 or one of your UD subs. Thank you

[Anonymous]

James.. can i just say for the record that the sub won't fit under your seat.

I ended up doing a custom rear bin install!

Rich

[shnazzle]

Think we covered that already  s:) s:)  
Can barely fit an ice scraper under the seat.

[trickyD]

The door speakers are some of the crappiest I've ever heard in my life!
That and the thin metal doors make for somehow awful sounds.
Please upgrade your head unit and speakers. Look at a sub afterwards.

I changed my head unit to a cheap Alpine and it sounds better, but clearly the Toyota speakers are sh*te

The beauty is that virtually any (cheap) aftermarket speakers will be a massive improvement

[shnazzle]

I had a good play with my setup today in traffic  s:) s:)
Partially mirroring TrickyD's comments above:
- the stock speakers are absolute PANTS. I'm definitely replacing mine soon. They rattled and distorted all over the place when I put it up loud (louder than I would ever put it to be fair)
- lots of stuff in the doors seem to need pegging down to stop them from rattling.
- head unit makes a huge difference, so definitely get that (thought you already had that...sorry)
- the USW10 woofer is more than sufficient for my needs. But if you're a total bass-head then, no, it won't shake you testes out your mouth. Still crazy bass though.

So my personal upgrade order would still be:
1) get better head unit
2) flash door cards and make sure there are no rattles
3) get (active)woofer
4) get better speakers and tweeters

But 3 and 4 best done at the same time if you can afford it.

[trickyD]

Oh yeah +1 for insulating the door cards and the metal doors as well (flashing or Dynamat)

[cptspaulding]

How easy is it to remove the door cards to do this? Just had a quick look through the How To's & nothing jumped out at me.

I have nightmares of breaking clips & plastic pins & ending up with my door cards half hanging off as a consequence.