Speakers - Components up front and a sub

Speakers - Components up front and a sub

Author
Discussion

KungFuPanda

Original Poster:

4,324 posts

169 months

Friday 24th February 2017
quotequote all
I've read that spending money on a decent pair of component speakers up front and a sub in the back powered by a good quality amp can produce a better sound than most factory systems i.e. BOSE etc. Do you guys think this is true?

vx220

2,689 posts

233 months

Friday 24th February 2017
quotequote all
I'd say so

I had a set of £40 Pioneer components, a £50 amp and a £100 active subwoofer in an MR2 Roadster and it sounded way better than my Bose system in my RX8, or the bose in a friends mx5.

ETA Allow some cash for some sound-deadening material, made a huge difference. If you haven't already, get on to talk stuff website and DIYMA forum and have a read

Craikeybaby

10,369 posts

224 months

Friday 24th February 2017
quotequote all
It depends on the OEM install. BOSE etc doesn't really mean much, it is usually just a branding exercise. You really need to know what speakers/amp the OEM system has.

vx220

2,689 posts

233 months

Friday 24th February 2017
quotequote all
In my old job, Bose stood for "Buy Other Sound Equipment", and my American colleague used to delight in saying "Blows" instead of Bose to customers, they never noticed.

defblade

7,399 posts

212 months

Sunday 26th February 2017
quotequote all
Yes.

The actual results come from the quality of the installation as much as the quality of the kit, mind you - great speakers will sound poor if mounted with air gaps and no deadening.

The 2 main things you will gain are:

1) Staging - just having fronts means you can set the sound up properly, so that the music seems to be coming from in front of you (where the band or orchestra or whatever would be) - you can even point to where certain instruments "are". Bass is pretty much non-directional, which is why you can get away with a sub in the back somewhere.

2) increased volume levels without clipping, once you have set all the levels. Easy enough to do with test tones.

If you are saying "what's clipping?", or just like your head exploding from knowledge and physics, may I point you here.