I hit a deer in my Excursion last week. Until then I was perfectly fine with the stereo. Had to drive a Hyundia Sante Fe for 4 days (how embarrasing) but the stock stereo kicked *** (to my feeble ears), and upon getting my Excursion back, the stock sound is no longer acceptable.

I've been reading and researching for a few days. I've come up with a few ideas, but I know at least one of them is probably a bad idea. Please, humor me for a moment.

1. Step one will be to upgrade the (4) door speakers. Probably going to use Infinity Reference 6832 / 6822's. Yes, I have heard them before.
1a. For the immediate future, I will not be installing an amp, and run the factory head unit.

2. Bass? I will want a "little" more I am sure. Here is where I start to get confused, and will propose one idea which is probably no good.
2a. JL makes a 6x8 sub that should fit the stock location in the rear quarters. I could mount two of them. Yes, I know I would need an amp for them. First, in that location, how would they sound? Second, not being in a box, would it even work at all? http://www.crutchfield.com/S-bCagyg2...-C5-570cw.html.
2b. If I go with an amp, should I use a 5 channel that can power the door speakers and a sub.

3. Bass coninued. Thinking of going with an underseat sub, such as the Kenwood wOOx, or maybe an infinity basslink. Would really like the underseat install of the Kenwood. Of course, the JL stealth box would be great, but its a bit more than I want to spend. Anybody have experience with this Kenwood Unit? Kenwood KSC-WA62RC — The wOOx Powered Enclosed Subwoofer at Crutchfield.com

Thanks in advance,

Airslot

 

In no particular order.
The amp is up to you, however 5 channel amps limit you alot. Plus if you decide you need more bass, you will have to add another amp instead of just replacing one. Also, The class D amps that typically get used on Subs are a little more efficient, takes less power to drive as much as a class a/b and runs a little cooler. It's up to you but I wouldn't do it unless space is really a problem.

With a lot of prep work, you can make any space into a box. Seal it up and stop anything in the space from rattling and you'll do pretty well. Stuffing will also be your friend, poly fill can make the speaker think it's in a bigger volume. But you should still get the volume close to what the speaker needs.

One thing to consider about not running an amp with speakers that would like 50-75 watts is the OE head unit will only feed them about 25% of what they want. So you'll likely only get 1/4 volume out of them until you add the amp.

 

Thanks for the reply. I've been reading for several days and come to the conclusion that I can do it right, or do it cheap, but like everything else in life you can't have both.

The project continues...

Looks like in the end I'll have a new head unit, door speakers, sub w/ amp, and maybe an emp for the door speakers.

All this because I had better sound for 4 days thanks to a dumb deer

 

[in best Darth Vader voice]

"It is your destiny!"