[Car Audio] Which First? Speakers or Amp? Also a preout question.

[BrianA]

Hello everyone. I am hoping to get the opinion of any car audio people.

I am looking to upgrade my stock speaker system (2001 Honda Civic EX coupe), but I am only able to do it a bit at a time. I can do either:

- new speakers (probably Infinity Reference) , front and rear, or
- a 4-channel amp, approximately 50x4 with the stock speakers.

Which one should I do first? I understand that an amp adds a little life to the stock speakers, which in this car arent bad. True or False? Obviously not as good as a full custom job, but better than no amp?

Eventually I will be doing both, but whatever option I dont do now may be a few months away. So I dont want any "amp now, speakers next weekend" type answers I will probably not be mounting any subs, ever. I am going to rely on good clean sound coming from the 6 speakers.

Also, the aftermarket deck already in the car (JVC KDS570) has only one set of preouts. I want to hook up a 4 channel amp to power the fronts and the rears. My limited understanding of car audio has led me to discover that you can setup a 4 channel amp with 1 set of preouts by using RCA splitters. Correct? Is there any pros or cons to doing this? (btw, a new deck is out of the question)

If anyone needs any clarification, let me know. I look forward to your input.

Brian

 

[tontod]

Get a decent set of speakers first, because I doubt the stock speakers can handle that amp, they will probably blow.

edit: woohoo, a golden member finally.

 

[lsd]

I think the infinitis will sound better with the HU rather the the stock speakers with an atfmkt amp. Sound quality will slightly degrade if you use rca "y-adapters", I know because I did that before . However since your going the budget route it wouldn't hurt t use them. If you do have some spare cash you can get a cheap crossover.

 

[rootaxs]

Here's my experience with this:

Stock radio + stock speakers = Not so good sound but liveable
Stock radio + upgraded speakers = Not much of a difference unless you're a true audiophile. It sounded just a bit better to me and you can usually pull your volume up a bit more due to the increased sensitivity of the upgraded speakers. However with the increased volume still comes a higher possibility of clipping which will destroy your aftermarket speakers in due time.
Stock radio + stock speakers + amp = It only gets louder to a point but the quality of the sound still is .. well, stock.
Aftermarket radio + stock speakers = Sounds a whole lot better and is money well spent for a first upgrade

You know the rest.

 

[teckmaster]

usually but not all the time, the stock speakers are matched to the output of the head unit. I personally wouldn't hook an amp up to speakers unless they really needed it. Your deck for instance is 40wx4channels, if your speakers can handle 100w, then I might consider an amp. Anyways, I would upgrade your speakers first. I did mine a couple months ago and if your stock speakers are only two ways which they probably are, I would put three ways in. The three ways sound so much better.

 

[rootaxs]

oops. i overlooked the part where you said you already had the JVC. sorry about that.

anyway, i'd go for the speakers at this point, unless you're going to pump the volume up to the max having an amp at this point in time doesn't really help yet unless you're thinking of getting that sub really fast.

your headunit can pump out at least 15watts rms and your stock speakers (usually) can only handle 2-5watts rms so you have a lot of leeway to work with.

 

[Spendthrift]

definitely go with speakers first, imho. the infinity reference are a pretty good choice. i run infinity kappas in my car and ive been pretty happy. depending on what styles of music you listen to you may want to check out alpine speakers which run about the same price as the infinitys and sound great with jazz, but to my ear they lack in the low end on most music. mb quart speakers are sweet if you wanna pay for them.

and the amp is definitely worth it as well, but after the speakers. it will give the low end a punch that the deck just cant. however, i think youre going to run into a problem with only one set of pre-outs. i dont think youll be able to fade from front to rear which is rather important. to balance the sound in your car so that you dont get too much music through the fronts or rears you need to adjust the fade. if you have no idea how to do this or what im talking about pm me. im not a jvc fan anyway so id say buy a new deck with at least two sets of pre-outs. but im sure youre on a budget and thats not at all what you wanted to hear. putting off the amp for a while and upgrading the deck instead might be something to think about. have fun!