I recently bought a really nice '84 Toyota 4Runner. Everything about the truck is great, it's all original (except for some high quality off-road upgrades) and it's mint condition inside. However, the sound system is in need of an upgrade. This is the current equipment:
Head Unit: Stock '84 AM/FM cassette player Front Speakers: 2 4" Polk Audio (fairly new, 3yrs max) Rear Speakers: 2 6"x9" 3-way Polk Audio (same age)
Yeah it's killin' my ears. I've been doing some research, but I'm very novice and I'm trying not to spend too much on the upgrade. I had something like this in mind:
Head Unit: $150-$250 (Alpine, Sony, Clarion ??) Amp: $150-$250 4-channel (looked at the Profile CL640 but the more I learn, I think I would be better with a better quality brand with a little less "power") Front Speakers: Stay with the 4" Polks, add some tweeters. Was looking at some around $25 to $50. I noticed some had built in crossovers. Any good? Rear Speakers: Stay with the 6X9 3-way Polks. Sub: one 10" $50-$100 range. SVC or DVC?
My goal is a decent sounding system for now that I can improve on in the future. The first phase is going to be the purchase of the receiver, amp, and tweeters. If I get a reciever with 23.2watts RMS X 4 can I use that to power the tweeters and the 4" Polks, and then use an amp to power the 6x9's in the back? Will it even hook up like that? Enough power if it will? My next phase will be the purchase of a sub or two. I wanted to then use the amp for the 6x9's and a sub or subs in Triway Mode or 4 channel mode. I probably want to go with just one 10" and then on "Phase 3" buy a second 10" and a nice amp to power the subs and use the original amp for the 6X9's or also the 4"'s if possible.
As you can tell, I'm just getting in to learning about this, however I would like to have some good sound in my truck withouting breaking the bank, at least until I get more experienced. I would appreciate any feedback or advice you could give me; you guys seem very knowledgable in this subject. Thanks!
Hey Jason, just so you know, your stock HU puts out around 13 - 17W rms per channel. So I don't see the point of buying an external amp that's 23w rated. Go for something around 75 - 125W per channel. That way you will get clean sound at high volumes. Most of the low power amps will clip or distort when you turn up the HU. If money is a problem, then do what I did. Buy one piece at a time. Upgrade the HU and tweeters first. That should alone give you clean sound. Then purchase DVC sub and amp (class D). After that, invest on a good 4 channel amp. I did that and it sounds 10x better at high volumes.