I'm a pretty big audiophile so it's time to upgrade the crappy stock stereo system. I was considering the following components:

Pioneer DEH-P9300 Head Unit

Rockford Fosgate Punch 600.4 75W x 4 Car Amp

Rockford Fosgate 6-1/2" fanatic X Component System

JL Audio Stealthbox 10W3 Subwoofer

Questions:

1 - Should I go with a more powerful amp, such as the RF Punch 800.4 (100W x 4)?

2 - I was thinking instead of RF speakers, maybe use Boston Acoustics. I had BA's in my old car and they sounded sweet. Any recommendations?

3 - Will the JL Audio Stealthbox 10W3 Subwoofer give me enough bass? Should I go with a two 10's in a custom box setup? I would like to keep my limited trunk space but it isn't required.

Does anyone have any recommendations or suggestions? Thanks.

 

You might want to rethink the Pioneer head unit, for the sole purpose of getting everything to work with the in-dash controls (I forget the name of the IR transmitter box you'll need to get... PAC SWIII or SWX or something -- hopefully somebody will chime in here). I'm not sure if the 9200 has the same issue my 7200 does, but if so, it kinda sucks. On the IR remote for the 7200, the brilliant Pioneer engineers decide that the up and down arrows would change radio stations, but the left and right arrows would change CD tracks. Since you can only learn/program one IR signal per button on the dash, it makes changing radio stations a pain, as the left and right arrows for radio simply change the frequency by increments. In addition to that minor issue (you probably don't care about radio anyway), you might want to check with Pinky or somebody else here on the boards with Pioneer experience to see if that head unit can be controlled by wire rather then IR retransmitting. If not, you might consider another brand -- if I recall correctly, some members on the board are using Alphine and some Sony units successfully in this manner.

As for speakers, you should take your favorite CDs to a long car audio shop/installer and listen to all the sets they have hooked up. I personally found the BAs to be too muddy, but it is all individual taste.

Cheers,
Dave

 

I am big into car audio as well. But I am not going to modify the system in the s2000. If I do anything, I'll just swap out the speakers. I had a miata that I tried and tried to get to sound good but failed everytime. So I'm not even going to try with the s2000 as it will just end up draining my wallet. You simply cannot get decent bass in a small convertible. I bought numerous subs for the miata, even the stealthbox. It sounded like crap. No kick, no low notes, just bass noise, not even close to being musical. The BEST sub install I had for that car was a JL microsub shoved into the footwell of the passenger seat. That DID sound nice, although it didn't have enough power to play loud, it was warm and crisp at lower levels. Passenger space was an issue though. I've heard people have had sucess in the s2000 with installing a ~8inch sub under the passenger dash, and it doesn't restrict foot space. That is something I would look into, as a properely setup and placed small sub will sound 1000 times better than a big sub in a bad location (just about everywhere in the s2000). I'm saving my system (BApros, great speakers) for my beater. My wallet has learned from my past mistakes!

 

Actually, you can get good quality bass out of the S2000 for not much cash. A decent system is a must for any car I drive. I drive alot and listening to the engine all day gets boring.

If you just throw in a sub, amp, HU, speakers.. it will sound ok. Getting the bass into the cabin is the only difficult part. What I did to get all the bass without spending $$$$$$$$$$ on a million watt amp and sub was to remove the rear roofwell. The little plastic tub that your roof normally sits on and consequently gets scratched by. Once removed, it's like night and day. Much of the bass rattles are also removed when that tub is removed.

So far, I have an MTX Thunder 8k 10"-$120, Qlogic box- $45, Kenwood amp (600watts rms)-$320, Alpine MD head unit-$204, Phoenix Gold components up front-$94, and Honda Optional equipment 6.5" mids for the rear- $42

How do I rate it compared to the more expensive system I had in my 00 Si? Pretty damn close. I had a JL 12" sub driven by the same amp and it did hit the lows better and louder but not by much.

Overall, I'm happy with my setup and it didn't cost me thousands of dollars to do it.

 

I've got the Fanatic X components and have no complaints.

 

I have a similar setup to what you are looking for. Currently I have 4 - 8" JL Audio W3 subs in a custom box that butts up against the front wall of the trunk. I have the Pioneer Premier P920(?) headunit and all of my dash controls works thanks to Pinky's mod. The in-door speakers are Focal Components. The amps are located in the tool well. I have a JL for the subs and an ADS for the components. I previously had a RF Punch 800a4 but it didnt like the heat and would shut down quite a bit. The ADS and JL are much more efficient and have not shut down even though the trunk is full of stuff

I can still put a set of golf clubs and other stuff in the trunk. The only real space I have lost is the tool well. But no biggie since I do not carry a spare. In regards to the sound, it is quite good. Very good bass response even though I have rear roofwell still intact (I am thinking of removing it). I have plenty of power, I usually have it turned up 1/2 way with the top down and sounds very good at very high speeds (+100mph).

I would consider moving up to the 800a4 but all else should be fine.

 

I have been an audiophile/videophile since the mid 70's. If there was ever an environment that is not conducive to HQ audio, it is the S2000 cockpit. Unfortunately there is no way possible to get anything better than passable sound in the S2000. Did some SPL reading once with top up and down and the results were scarry. Do not have the numbers anymore but dynamic range would be severely limited. Of course will not even get into the fact that the cabin is way to small for any true low frequencies or proper stereo imagining.

 

If you're really a big audiophile, stay away from RF altogether. go with at least MTX on the amps, and the Boston Acoustics for the speakers.

If you read through car auido magazines, there's one thing you'll notice:

The only cars with RF stuff are the cars looking for SPL, not sound quality. That should tell you something.

Blake

 

OK Thank you all for your suggestions... I guess I have some more research to do.

 

I put in a Pioneer deck, Phoenix Gold mids, tweeters and amp as well as a 12" sub:



Unfortunately, I did loose quite a bit of trunkspace. Oh well!!