Stereo Questions

[Baron]

The factory amp is total junk and is inadequate from a power standpoint. If I were you, I would put a little additional effort into the project and put in a new amp. You won't be sorry.

Most of the high end component speakers are actually less efficient than factory speakers, which means you will need more power to drive the aftermarket speakers to equal levels. Now, the aftermarket speakers generally have much more power handling capacity, which ultimately gives them the ability to get significantly louder than stock. But unless you have enough power to drive those aftermarket speakers to their limit, you will probably be dissapointed with the results from a loudness perspective. Replacing the factory speakers with aftermarket ones will give you better sound quality at low to mid volume levels, but beyond that, you'll need an aftermarket amp to really get the result you're looking for.

My experience with Viper interior trim is that it's fairly easy to remove and replace, and there's plenty of room to run wires underneath the carpet and along the side sills. There are lot of cars out there that are a heck of a lot harder to work in.

By the way, I did a system in my GTS you may find interesting:
http://vca1.viperclub.org/ubb/Forum14/HTML/013047.html

 

[Mike Brunton]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Dr E:
I think what I will do is replace the speakers and head unit and see how I like it. I already replace the door speakers with aluminum cone components, and I think it's a great imporvement, although the soundfield is too bright since the subwoofer *****! I ordered the JL Audio 6WO-4 today for the sub mounting. It's an infinite baffle sub, so I"m expecting decent bass from it. With all that, I gues si'll judge whether I'll need a new amp or not. My judgements about installing one are changing: I took the doors off the Viper to install the components, and I've never had an easier time taking doors off a car . . .

Has anyone kept the stock amp? How can it be so bad; it IS still an Alpine . . .
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

On my car (a GTS), stage one was replacing the rear "woofers" with Kicker 6" mini-woofers. Alot better! Then, I replaced the door speakers with quality components. ALOT better!

Then, I decided to replace the head unit and add amps. I ran new wires (not hard - the battery is right next to the trunk and there is a grommet in there already), installed the amps and it was a HUUUUGE improvement.

If I were you I would replace the speakers first since you're going to get speakers no matter what you do. Then go for the head unit if you still want more. Then, if you want still more, go for the amps and run new wires. Thats the way I went about it and I was very happy.

 

[Snake Bitten]

Hey Doc,

I replaced my head unit three months ago with a Pioneer and could not get the thing to work with the factory amp...I have installed some pretty smooth sets in my day, but for the life of me, I could not get the high level outputs to match up with the inputs of the stock amp, and I have wired systems with common negatives many times...Even tried wiring the inputs in both the "R" (RT) position on the amp and in the "C" (Coupe), finally gave up and ran up up to Best Buy and replaced the stocker amp with an Alpine MRP-F200 ($200), based on a previous thread I had read here...this worked perfect...removed the din plugs on both ends, wired up the high level inputs from the deck (and the remote amp on, and I think a ground or two, and some other wires), tossed two high level to low level converters in the trunk, then hooked two RCA cables with inline 75 ohm ground loop isolators to the amp (oh, you're gonna have noise when you upgrade your stocker plug wires)...mounted the amp back in the stock location (fit like a glove!)...With the door speakers (Kicker) running on channels one and two (HP X-over on) and the 6.5" Kicker Sub bridged on channels 3 and 4 (LP X-over on, bridging was not required, just thought it was cool) the end effect is a pretty decent sounding set that I can hear over my exhaust when I want...500% better than stock...