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After lots of reading in this sub-forum, it's clear someone needs to step up and do some explaining. I'm NOT talking down to anyone, just want to help you get the most out of what you have. I used to install and sell high end car audios and spent a lot of my personal money building competition vehicles.
KEEP IN MIND THIS IS ALL MY OPINION AND FOR HELP ONLY. Don't let me tell you exactly what you need to do, just use this for reference. And if you think I'm wrong with something, let me know.
First, and always first, get a headunit. Even if you have stock speakers, get an aftermarket headunit (HU). The amplifier (amp) built into aftermarkets HU's is worlds cleaner than your stock one. Upgrading this alone will make everything further down the road a whole lot easier as well. Stick to name brands like Pioneer, Alpine, Kenwood, etc. Please stay away from Valor, Dual, or other brands that offer a whole lot for little cash. You'll be throwing your money away. When shopping for a HU, look at what features you'll want (bluetooth, usb, etc) and find the best one that matches your wants. Other things to look out for is wattage (even though 90% of them will be around the 45-55x4 config) and RCA pre-outs. Pre-outs is where the amplifiers (if you chose to run them) get their signal from. Most newer HU's will have front/rear/sub pre-outs. Try to get one with all three. Other than that, most all HU's are the same, but some will argue that brand X sounds better than brand Y and blah blah blah. Go to an audio shop (NOT best buy, circuit city, etc) and test all the ones out. See if you like it. Is the menu easily navigable? Is the display easy to read? Keep in mind that the demo wall at audio shops typically have the best speakers money can get as the demo's so don't think the new HU will make your car sound like a symphony...that comes with time.
Next, speakers. There will be tons of comments on this one, mainly telling you which brand to get. There's a fine line between quality among the popular brands, and honestly, you won't be able to hear the difference. Brands aside, here is my personal favorite way to get it set-up. For the fronts, the most important pair, you will want components if possible. Components means it will come with 2 pairs of woofers (the 5.25-6.5" speakers), 2 pairs of tweeters, and 2 crossovers. These are the best sounding because you can put the woofers in the stock locations (or door panels) and mount the tweeters higher to create what's called a "sound stage". If you choose not to run an amp for the front speakers, your factory front speaker wire will go in to the crossover and it will output twice, once to the woofer, once to the tweeter. If you do every thing on the door, you can easily hide the crossover inside the door as well. If you chose the stock dash spot for the woofer, and door for the tweeter, you can hide the crossover in the dash, but you will need to run a wire through the door jamb to reach the tweeter (unless it's on the dash). Slightly more of a pain in the butt. I would recommend putting both in the door to make your life easier and the sound stage will be ok. Now the rear speakers. I personally don't run rear speakers. The reason I don't is because: A. I don't have rear passengers and B. I think that not running rears creates a more natural stereo sound instead of rock-arena style sound. If you chose to run rears, I recommend co-axials. Co-axials are the most typical style of speaker and has the tweeter mounted on to the woofer, making it so that only one set of wires needs to be run and only one mounting hole. I won't go too much into co-axials as they are fairly self explanatory. The last thing I'll say about them is, don't waste your money on 3-way or 4-way's, you will not notice a difference. And of course, when upgrading speakers, bigger usually does mean louder, but that's not always the case. You can buy a 6x9 that has plenty of bass but might have a poor tweeter and on the other hand, you could buy a 5.25 that has very little bass but the most crisp sounding tweeter you've ever heard. Same thing with HU's, test them at your shop before buying. And keep in mind that they will be amped when they are on display as well.
Next up, subs. Now that you have your new HU installed, components up front, and co-axials in the rear, you can start thinking installing a subwoofer. I will explain the subwoofer aspect first, as it's usually the first thing people do after HU and speakers. There are 4 pieces you will need to get your subwoofer (sub) running correctly. These are: Sub, box, amp, and wiring. Do NOT skip any of these, as this will not work correctly. First, the sub. Yet another topic for debate as far as brands, size, etc. Again, I will stress you to not buy anything cheap. You get what you pay for. And don't think that if you buy the most expensive sub you can get, it won't blow. Any sub will blow at any wattage. It's up to you to make sure it stays safe. Now size. I'm a 10" guy. I like the punchy-ness to it and it can still hit low. 8" are perfect if you need something to compliment your speakers and fill in where they leave off. 12" and up for loud, deep, boomy bass. You'll typically find subs in two varieties, single voice coil and dual voice coil (SVC and DVC). The difference is the ohm load and different ways it can be wired. For example: if you have a SVC 4 ohm sub, it will pull a 4 ohm load from your amp. If you had a 4 ohm DVC, you could either wire it for an 8 ohm load or a 2 ohm load. If you are running 2 subs, I recommend running SVC's so that it acts like 1 DVC. This all depends on your amp as well, but I don't have the time or space to get in depth with amps and ohm loads lol. Next up is your box. Believe it or not, this will make all the difference with your sub. There are two varieties of boxes (I will not be discussing bandpass style, because it is garbage), ported and sealed. Sealed boxes are cheaper, smaller, and quieter. However, sealed boxes will have the highest sound quality as well. Please pick one that matches the volume that your sub requires. Your nominal sub's volume will be included with your sub in the instructions. You can stray a little away from the exact number, but keep it close. Now if you want loud, boomy bass, you'll want ported. When choosing a ported box, there are a multitude of numbers and parameters you'll want to look at when choosing one, but in all honesty, I like to run a larger than normal pre-fab'd box. More money = better box also. Now that you're subbed and boxed, it's time to pick an amp. This goes back to the whole ohm load thing, so I'll keep this as concise as possible. When choosing an amp, make sure you know what ohm loads your sub will be running first. If it's a single SVC 4 ohm or similar, you'll want a 2 channel amp. The reason we do this is to bridge (combine both channels) to drop the ohm load to 2. If it's a single DVC 4 ohm, you'll want a mono amp. Basically if your final ohm load from the subs is 4 or greater, get a 2 channel. If it's less than 4, get a mono sub amp. When companies advertise the wattage, it's typically a gross overstatement of what you'll actually see. The closer you get to 1 on the ohm load will get you closer to the advertised wattage. So if the amp's 400 watts at 2 ohms, get a DVC 4 ohm and wire it the amp in 2 ohm to get 400 watts. Confused yet? It gets worse but I'll save it for when people ask. Don't go overboard on the wattage, as a good 200w amp will sound better and be almost as loud as a cheap 1000w amp. Finally the wiring. Get a wiring kit when you buy an amp and make sure it has everything included (RCA wire, power wire, fuse block, etc). I honestly like the Scoche kits at Wal-Mart. An easy way to determine your wire size is:
1-400 watts = 8 gauge
400-1500 watts = 4 gauge
1500+ = 2 or 0 guage
Now if you want to amplify your speakers (everything but the sub) you will need to purchase another wiring kit and amp. I recommend amping the fronts off a 2 channel and letting the HU power the rears. I won't go too much into detail about this, as it's very similar to the sub amp hook-up.
I have not included any actual installation instructions, but if you need them, ask. I probably missed a slew of little things, but there's just so much to know and will address them as they come up. To make things a little easier, here's my list of DON'Ts:
Don't wire your sub directly to your HU, you'll never hear it
Don't cheap out. It will cost you more down the road
Don't mix and match speakers/subs. You can run two diff between the front and rear, but don't change the side to side
Don't run smaller power wire to the amps than you should, that's a fire risk.
Just take it one step at a time. It's a slow process, but if you follow my steps, you won't be waiting on multitudes of parts to make it work. Every step will make it sound better.
KEEP IN MIND THIS IS ALL MY OPINION AND FOR HELP ONLY. Don't let me tell you exactly what you need to do, just use this for reference. And if you think I'm wrong with something, let me know.
First, and always first, get a headunit. Even if you have stock speakers, get an aftermarket headunit (HU). The amplifier (amp) built into aftermarkets HU's is worlds cleaner than your stock one. Upgrading this alone will make everything further down the road a whole lot easier as well. Stick to name brands like Pioneer, Alpine, Kenwood, etc. Please stay away from Valor, Dual, or other brands that offer a whole lot for little cash. You'll be throwing your money away. When shopping for a HU, look at what features you'll want (bluetooth, usb, etc) and find the best one that matches your wants. Other things to look out for is wattage (even though 90% of them will be around the 45-55x4 config) and RCA pre-outs. Pre-outs is where the amplifiers (if you chose to run them) get their signal from. Most newer HU's will have front/rear/sub pre-outs. Try to get one with all three. Other than that, most all HU's are the same, but some will argue that brand X sounds better than brand Y and blah blah blah. Go to an audio shop (NOT best buy, circuit city, etc) and test all the ones out. See if you like it. Is the menu easily navigable? Is the display easy to read? Keep in mind that the demo wall at audio shops typically have the best speakers money can get as the demo's so don't think the new HU will make your car sound like a symphony...that comes with time.
Next, speakers. There will be tons of comments on this one, mainly telling you which brand to get. There's a fine line between quality among the popular brands, and honestly, you won't be able to hear the difference. Brands aside, here is my personal favorite way to get it set-up. For the fronts, the most important pair, you will want components if possible. Components means it will come with 2 pairs of woofers (the 5.25-6.5" speakers), 2 pairs of tweeters, and 2 crossovers. These are the best sounding because you can put the woofers in the stock locations (or door panels) and mount the tweeters higher to create what's called a "sound stage". If you choose not to run an amp for the front speakers, your factory front speaker wire will go in to the crossover and it will output twice, once to the woofer, once to the tweeter. If you do every thing on the door, you can easily hide the crossover inside the door as well. If you chose the stock dash spot for the woofer, and door for the tweeter, you can hide the crossover in the dash, but you will need to run a wire through the door jamb to reach the tweeter (unless it's on the dash). Slightly more of a pain in the butt. I would recommend putting both in the door to make your life easier and the sound stage will be ok. Now the rear speakers. I personally don't run rear speakers. The reason I don't is because: A. I don't have rear passengers and B. I think that not running rears creates a more natural stereo sound instead of rock-arena style sound. If you chose to run rears, I recommend co-axials. Co-axials are the most typical style of speaker and has the tweeter mounted on to the woofer, making it so that only one set of wires needs to be run and only one mounting hole. I won't go too much into co-axials as they are fairly self explanatory. The last thing I'll say about them is, don't waste your money on 3-way or 4-way's, you will not notice a difference. And of course, when upgrading speakers, bigger usually does mean louder, but that's not always the case. You can buy a 6x9 that has plenty of bass but might have a poor tweeter and on the other hand, you could buy a 5.25 that has very little bass but the most crisp sounding tweeter you've ever heard. Same thing with HU's, test them at your shop before buying. And keep in mind that they will be amped when they are on display as well.
Next up, subs. Now that you have your new HU installed, components up front, and co-axials in the rear, you can start thinking installing a subwoofer. I will explain the subwoofer aspect first, as it's usually the first thing people do after HU and speakers. There are 4 pieces you will need to get your subwoofer (sub) running correctly. These are: Sub, box, amp, and wiring. Do NOT skip any of these, as this will not work correctly. First, the sub. Yet another topic for debate as far as brands, size, etc. Again, I will stress you to not buy anything cheap. You get what you pay for. And don't think that if you buy the most expensive sub you can get, it won't blow. Any sub will blow at any wattage. It's up to you to make sure it stays safe. Now size. I'm a 10" guy. I like the punchy-ness to it and it can still hit low. 8" are perfect if you need something to compliment your speakers and fill in where they leave off. 12" and up for loud, deep, boomy bass. You'll typically find subs in two varieties, single voice coil and dual voice coil (SVC and DVC). The difference is the ohm load and different ways it can be wired. For example: if you have a SVC 4 ohm sub, it will pull a 4 ohm load from your amp. If you had a 4 ohm DVC, you could either wire it for an 8 ohm load or a 2 ohm load. If you are running 2 subs, I recommend running SVC's so that it acts like 1 DVC. This all depends on your amp as well, but I don't have the time or space to get in depth with amps and ohm loads lol. Next up is your box. Believe it or not, this will make all the difference with your sub. There are two varieties of boxes (I will not be discussing bandpass style, because it is garbage), ported and sealed. Sealed boxes are cheaper, smaller, and quieter. However, sealed boxes will have the highest sound quality as well. Please pick one that matches the volume that your sub requires. Your nominal sub's volume will be included with your sub in the instructions. You can stray a little away from the exact number, but keep it close. Now if you want loud, boomy bass, you'll want ported. When choosing a ported box, there are a multitude of numbers and parameters you'll want to look at when choosing one, but in all honesty, I like to run a larger than normal pre-fab'd box. More money = better box also. Now that you're subbed and boxed, it's time to pick an amp. This goes back to the whole ohm load thing, so I'll keep this as concise as possible. When choosing an amp, make sure you know what ohm loads your sub will be running first. If it's a single SVC 4 ohm or similar, you'll want a 2 channel amp. The reason we do this is to bridge (combine both channels) to drop the ohm load to 2. If it's a single DVC 4 ohm, you'll want a mono amp. Basically if your final ohm load from the subs is 4 or greater, get a 2 channel. If it's less than 4, get a mono sub amp. When companies advertise the wattage, it's typically a gross overstatement of what you'll actually see. The closer you get to 1 on the ohm load will get you closer to the advertised wattage. So if the amp's 400 watts at 2 ohms, get a DVC 4 ohm and wire it the amp in 2 ohm to get 400 watts. Confused yet? It gets worse but I'll save it for when people ask. Don't go overboard on the wattage, as a good 200w amp will sound better and be almost as loud as a cheap 1000w amp. Finally the wiring. Get a wiring kit when you buy an amp and make sure it has everything included (RCA wire, power wire, fuse block, etc). I honestly like the Scoche kits at Wal-Mart. An easy way to determine your wire size is:
1-400 watts = 8 gauge
400-1500 watts = 4 gauge
1500+ = 2 or 0 guage
Now if you want to amplify your speakers (everything but the sub) you will need to purchase another wiring kit and amp. I recommend amping the fronts off a 2 channel and letting the HU power the rears. I won't go too much into detail about this, as it's very similar to the sub amp hook-up.
I have not included any actual installation instructions, but if you need them, ask. I probably missed a slew of little things, but there's just so much to know and will address them as they come up. To make things a little easier, here's my list of DON'Ts:
Don't wire your sub directly to your HU, you'll never hear it
Don't cheap out. It will cost you more down the road
Don't mix and match speakers/subs. You can run two diff between the front and rear, but don't change the side to side
Don't run smaller power wire to the amps than you should, that's a fire risk.
Just take it one step at a time. It's a slow process, but if you follow my steps, you won't be waiting on multitudes of parts to make it work. Every step will make it sound better.
and throw the extra amp on there.
It's a good thing you don't read the stickies, you might of learned something.
Poverty produces creativity
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