RWagin Posted May 10, 2005 Report Share Posted May 10, 2005 I am thinking of improving the setup in my 850 Wagon. Right now I was planning on doing the following, basic improvements. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.Head Unit:Kenwood Excelon KDC-X589 - I want to have crossovers and a sub out.Front Speakers:Polk Audio db5250 I think I can get them to fit (or keep stock and use built in crossover in head unit)Rear Door Speakers:Polk Audio db5250 or just delete and leave stock tweeters on back pillarSub:Infinity Basslink 10" 200 Watt powered sub.Yeah, I have been on crutchfield today. Nothing crazy and I can install all of it myselfDo the stock speakers have crossovers? I believe there is a 4 X 50W amp somewhere in the car, will a new head unit conflict?I had no plans to improve this until I heard the rear door speakers distorting badly. Turns out they have been replaced with clarion 5 1/4" that sound terrible. Would anyone happen to have some stock rear door speakers available? Thanks to all. I have done searches for crossovers but nothing substantial in the search, plus I wanted to get feed back on the head unit and Infinity sub.I forgot to mention I may plan to install a boost gauge and Air/Fuel gauge below or above the new head unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seifer850 Posted May 10, 2005 Report Share Posted May 10, 2005 everything sounds good... the front door speakers should work as long as they're 5.25".. well, they'll work if theyre larger too, you'll just have to drill some custom holes. And for the rear doors, they're a really wierd size.. you'll more than likely have to fabricate a bracket to put new ones in there. What kind of amp are you running the sub off of? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R4Life Posted May 10, 2005 Report Share Posted May 10, 2005 If you dont mind me making a suggestion. Please don't get the Excelon. I've tried them they are garbage. I use to have an KDC-X879. The face plate went bad twice . Sound wasnt all that either . I am currently using an Alpine CDA-9855. Even though its their inhouse 1bit D/A the sound is better than the excelon. I dont like flashing lights so I like the black interface and the fact that I can turn it off if I want is really nice but you may not like that. The Alpine has a parametric as well as 7 band graphic equalizer. The Alpine has the crossovers and a sub out. I dont mean to sound like an Alpine salesman but I've tried a few headunits in my life and I've found Kenwood to have some build quality issues Speakers are fine. The basslink however, is not so fine. I tried that too in my 850 and it doesnt have quality bass just a lot of distortion. You will probably spend $300 on the basslink. Just get a 10" or 12" sub . Shouldnt cost you more than $90. Get a sealed box another $80 and a mono amp, maybe another $90 - $100. Trust me, you will love it :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWagin Posted May 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2005 Thanks for the input. I won't get the Kenwood and the feed back about the Basslink is what I had expected. I am curious if the factory amp connection can be tapped into to add another (sub) amp? If this is not possible I will be using the rear speaker inputs as turn on and audio source for the amp. I don't want to spend alot of $ and I think my preferred route will be to remove the rear door speakers (or go back to stock), add a sub amp and sub w/box and keep the stock head unit until it gets cranky. I would much rather get the IPD sways and SAMCO hoses before I do any more with the stereo. Is this worth it? Has anyone just added a sub to the factory radio via a similar method. Remember I have a wagon and not a sedan, I wouldn't plan on going any larger than a 10" sub and would like to be under $500 for the entire sub set-up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R4Life Posted May 11, 2005 Report Share Posted May 11, 2005 Which headunit do you have? Do you have the SC-815? If you dont want to spend a lot of money, I mighthave a great option for you. Something I tried when my stereo got stolen and worked great for a year till I got ht by the bug again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R4Life Posted May 11, 2005 Report Share Posted May 11, 2005 I tried this and this works great. Some 850Rs have the factory amp but the amp is not connected to the head unit. The 4x50 amp on the 850 is quite powerful . Don't let the rating fool you. It can easily drive aftermarket speakers with very clean sound. I would first check if the amp is really connected to the head unit. Just pull out the head unit and make sure the amp is connected. There is a Din connector at the back of the head unit. Just replace the speakers in your car to after market ones and you will notice a huge difference. Most amps these days have speaker level inputs. Just use those and a crossover for the sub.You will be pleasantly surprised how good that will sound and how little it will cost. Just let me know if you have any questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theunderlord Posted May 11, 2005 Report Share Posted May 11, 2005 sad... I heart my Kenwood XDC-679.... Im a JVC HU guy, and went with the Kenwood and have been pleasantly surprised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R4Life Posted May 11, 2005 Report Share Posted May 11, 2005 I dont know Kevin. I use to like Kenwood but after strugling with the face plate twice and having it being the reason my car was broken into, I got very put off. It wasn't like I bought the thing off some one on feebay. I also kept thinking it was just me but one of my friends had another kenwood in his car and after about 6 or 7 months , he had the same issue. The face plate went bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theunderlord Posted May 11, 2005 Report Share Posted May 11, 2005 yeha, i hear ya...Mine is less than a year old, so the latch isn't fully broken in yet... and it takes some fanagling to get it on sometimes.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWagin Posted May 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2005 I have a sealed JL Audio 10" box and woofer sitting in the wagon right now. I bought an amp and wires to hook things up myself, this will be a first for me. I am hoping to tap into the din that is now running to the excisting amp and splice the rear outputs and power fed to the JL sub amp. I bought JL because I got a pretty good deal on the hook up, amp and sub. At least I think a good deal, $500 for everything. I'll get model numbers and such soon.The amp has a 1200 on it and says Monoblock or something, wattage is 250. The woofer is a 3 series. I'm hoping this gives the radio more of a "full range" of frequency response.I tapped into the DIN where the amp hooks up to the head unit for the remote turn on and it works! I am looking to tap into the line out for the rear outputs as well, not sure what color wires to cut inside of the DIN wire, anyone know which color controls the rear outs?The six colors are, red, orange, yellow, green(remote turn on), blue, and I don't remeber the sixth, maybe white... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest_MisMy850_* Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 http://www.jlaudio.com/enclosures/CVS110GW3v2.html#This is a link to the sub I have, no info on frequency response Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyby Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 I'm going to push the Alumnapro..... None of those places like best buy know anything about them, because it is all way over their heads...I have 300 watts running to an 8ohm Alumnapro Alchemy MX 10" and it sounds amazing... Put it against anything, and the sound you are going to get out of the Alumnapro will blow it out of the water... First thing people have said is "That's a 10???" Or, "wow that is clear." Mind you its a $250 sub, but.... compared to JL's w-"whatever" $300 CRAP, its a good deal. Don't jump on me for that statement, because when I was in transition I had my friends JL w-6, and it was no where near as clear as my Alumnapro... maybe louder, but it popped when it was really bumping... I can RAPE my Alumnapro, no pops.Anyways....AlumnaproJust my $4,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWagin Posted May 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 Thanks for the feedback. I don't listen to the stereo extremely loud and I have never blown a speaker in my life, "bumping" isn't a concern so a sealed box and a mild amount of power seemed appropriate for the type(s) of music I play.I will say that if I were interested in a higher end sub those Alumapro's look (and sound) nice. I could fill the back of the wagon with them and be in a chocolate milk commercial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyby Posted May 13, 2005 Report Share Posted May 13, 2005 They are very clear too, so if you like listening to Dave Matthews and stuff like that, they are awesome... Sealed box is the way to go, and for mine I only needed aobut a cubic foot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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