Hiye ICE expert guys, I have a Kembara with one bad condition stock cassette player, two nifty RM55 6.5 inch front speakers and two pretty torn up 6.5 inch stock rear speakers. As much as I'm not that much an ICE enthusiast, I do believe its time I do something about my car audio.

I recently visited a car audio house and did some surveying. Just for some info, the stock speakers that came with the Kembara were pretty powerful with the mid and lows but lacked clarity. However they gave up soon after I started blasting my music and since then I had to change speakers twice and have been relying on my front speakers. The stock 4 speakers are 6.5 inch speakers and wont fit anything larger than that. I dont have the space for a box woofer but am interested in getting some extra bass punches.

After surveying, the most practical and affordable thing to do was to switch to a better head unit in which I chose one with preamps and an AUX-in. I'm not too bothered about mp3 cause I'll use my phone for that. Therefore, I chose the Sony CDX-GT150S (Click to View).

When it comes to speakers, I'm going to stick with my fronts cause they're pretty clear but lack the low thumps and basses. Since my rear stocks are torn up, I'm thinking of replacing them with 6.5 inch woofers so they can fit the original placing. However, I'm not sure if this is possible since I lack knowlegde in the world of ICE but would I need an amplifier to power the two subs? Or is the Sony Head Unit enough for the job? Also, will the bass be significantly strong with 6.5inch subs without a box?

Hope to get some advice on this. Thanxx guys!

Reserved for pictures and others

the simplest setup is get a 4 channel amp, 2 driving the front (which u dun wanna change) and buy a 6"x9" speaker for behind, the other 2 channel driving this 6x9.... no need subbie anymore coz 6x9 has bass aledi (which is not quite bass enough la )

if u r going for a sub, better get a pair of 8 with box (simplest setup looo), put them behind, powered by the 4 channel amp...

*u need to state what ur budget first actually, not what u need (unless u have unlimited funds for ICE ) then ppl can suggest u what u shd do to enhance ur ice

Hiye, thanx for the reply and your suggestions. However, as I've stated, the rears of my Kembara can only fit 6.5inch speakers and has no room for the larger and wider 6x9inch types. That is the reason I'm opting for 6.5inch subs as I dont want a box in the car.

first of all...wats ur total budget and wat kinda music u listen to??

since ur gonna be buying 6.5" speakers...id recommend getting a good pair of 6.5" components and putting them in the front...and ur current fronts to be shifted to the back.

for extra bass u could try getting an underseat woofer....something like THIS... find sumthing like that (with built in amp) and u can save the space in ur kembara... SHORT DISCUSSION HERE ... theres also a link to 6.5" subs in that discussion.

next thing ull need once u got the components and the underseat woofer would be another amp... a 2 channel would be enough just to power your front components. rear speakers can connect directly to HU.

if you got the 6.5" woofer instead of the underseat woofer, the u should get a 4 channel amp to power all the speakers...

also, since u have the budget for a 1.8k player, id recommend getting an alpine or an eclipse. personally, id stay away from sony. their HUs since the XPlod series has a tendency of skipping to the point of insanity after a few months. Pioneer is also another consideration since it would be a good budget choice....bang for buck!

keep in mind that if u get 6.5" woofers for the back then ur rear passengers would probably be hearing only boom boom boom instead of the whole songs. hence the need for rear speakers

sony... i will avoid those too... tend to skip after a while of usage... for HU i would suggest you to look on Pioneer or Clarion or Eclipse...

well... my suggestion would be get a 2way component set for your front and move your current front speaker to the rear... then a powerful 2 channel amp for your new front component... then it further enhance your staging and the bass... but if the bass is not enough then 4ch is the best lo... well stat your budget for the whle setup and we will find the best bang for bucks item for you...

cheers...

This post has been edited by craziechild: May 15 2006, 06:21 PM

Not easy to pump a 6.5 midbass. Soundproof your rear door for better bass.

Hiye, thanx for your informative reply but I think you misread the model number for the HU I chose or maybe the link doesn't point to the right one. The cost for it is merely RM399 and not RM1800. As you can see, I have quite a restricted budget. That's pretty much the reason why I didn't go with underseat subs as they start at about RM800 right?
Anyways, I was thinking why not hook the fronts directly to the HU since they dont require that much juice compared to the rear 6.5inch subs and get an amp just for the subs at the back. Is this a practical setup? Thanx for the links, I'll check them out.

Hiye, is Sony HU really that bad? Anyways, I'm actually seeking an affordable branded CD player with an AUX-in. As long as I have that for a fair price I dont mind.
Just to ask, can 6.5inch component speakers have the equivalent amount of bass as a 6.5inch sub? I'm actually trying to minimize the cost as much as I can because I already have a fairly good working pair of speakers in the front so I don't mind changing the torn ones in the rear. As for budget, I'd say about 600-700 for the HU+speakers+amp.

I don't understand, what do you mean by not easy? As in its not powerful enough or not deep enough? The rear speakers of the Kembara aren't located on the rear doors but rather near the baggage compartment.

kenwood's w00x underseat sub @ RM600 @ brothers ampang! that shud resolve us bass problem....

(but at this price better get a cheap, single 10" sub wif cheap box wif cheap 2 channel amp for it @ less than RM400) < find small, ported box is enough for ur kembara...

the cheapest bass solution is get a cheap, chaplang, tube, powered 8" sub @ jalan pasar @ around RM150+ only! (i dunno anymore cheaper solution than this)

This post has been edited by pokju: May 16 2006, 01:35 PM

600-700 for HU+speakers+amp aint gonna be easy man...ur only choice of shopping would brothers..and everyone knows their stuff is crap...did that mistake once...and never intend to do it again.

but then...since u have no choice... i suggest..

HU - kenwood or pioneer (try to find one with ur needs)..i used to use the lowest end kenwood (KDC-1018 or sumthin like that) for almost 3 years and it was the best rm418 ive ever spent. sold it to a friend and its still running fine (total=5 years).

speakers - get 6.5 inch 3-way speakers...that should give u a little bass.

amp - 4 channel amp to power the 4 speakers.

like pokju said...jln pasar would be your best bet for amp and speakers.. and also brothers...

This post has been edited by mADmAN: May 16 2006, 02:52 PM

Sorry dude, I have no net connection at the office, even if I have, I can only view. By the time I pressed the REPLY button, break is over... Hahaha.. Yeah man, it is that slow....

Anyway.. Sorry I misread your post. From your post, you said you wanted something with clarity and bass and also you want to retain the 6.5" at the rear which is not situated at the door? Am I right? Okay.. Here is what I think. Just an opinion. Beforehand, you must understand ICE is purely about preferences and also one man's meat is another man's poison. So opinions may differ and sometimes conflict do happen. But always keep an open mind.

If I were you, I would move the RM55 6.5" speakers to the rear powered by the HU, while for the front, I will get a 2 way component consisting of 1" tweeter and 6.5" midbass. Further soundproof the front door for better midbass response. Then this 2 way component will be powered by the amplifier. Alternatively you can power the RM55 6.5" speaker(after you moved them to the rear position) by the amplifier if you are getting a 4-channel amp. Unless you want a tube sub then you dont need the RM55 6.5" speaker to play sub. Honestly I can tell you after even fixing the 6.5" as woofer, the bass will not be that strong. I used to run a 6.5" midbass using a Soundstream Picasso amp, it simply cant be a good subwoofer. An active sub is good. But I have no experience in those. Since you already have a HU, you dojnt need anything else.

I would suggest getting a component that is easy to run yet will give you what you want(btw, you didnt states what kinda preference you want) An example, a buddy of mine is running such setup...

HU - OEM Sentra
Front component - Alpine Type S, SPS-171 (1" tweeter + 6.5" midbass), rated at 50W
Subwoofer - Alpine Type S, SWS1242(Dual Voice Coil 12" sub@1.1cft)
Amplifier - Rogers RSA-428(rated at 75Wx4)
Cabling + RCA - Cap Ayam

He listens to Linkin Park, Metallica, and sometimes Il Divo... This is just an example of a simple setup. He got some of the stuff pretty cheap as they are 2nd hand. So if you dont mind 2nd hand stuff, you can always keep a look out for bargain items.

Cheers!

neo79....ur friends setup that u put up... the front comps alone will eat up all his budget already

but i do agree on getting comps for the front...just that need to find one within budget only...heh

This post has been edited by mADmAN: May 17 2006, 11:25 AM

kekeke, very true.

if he dont mind 2nd hand, there are a lot of comps out there

hmm... RM800 is very hard to get a full setup le... hehe... if can stretch a lil bit till RM1000 or RM1200 then will be easier... with tht budget i would say keep your eyes on the buy sell section...

cheers...

IF, u know how to scout around, u'll get a full simple setup @ less than RM800.... 2 comp set, a 10" sub, 2 channel + 4 channel amp....

yeah im interested to know your final result because im driving a kembara too. Im planning to install mohawk sound system to my car.What is your oppinion?

Make sure what kind of music u like to hear loh... SQ or SPL?

im kind of like bass sound..so is it SQL or SPL?

Bass one ..I think SPL la...
SQ more on Vocal, sound effect, musical....

seems like this thread has dead since last year..but i got an question..i just wanna replace the original kembara speaker to a better one with more bass and better treble..no need those amp + woofer or complicated setup can you guys recommend me cheap cheap 6.5" speaker, btw kembara uses 6.5" speaker right?