Well, one of the things I can't stand about being in other people's cars is when they have the stereo blasting and no bass to back it up... at that point, it's just a lot of screaching noise and it gives you a headache rather quickly.

My Jeep had 2 pairs of Infinity Kappa Series speakers (4x6 Dash / 6x9 Rear Box) powered by a 4-ch Planet Audio amp... an Alpine Type R 10 (Dual 2-ohm) subwoofer powered by an Alpine V12 (MRD-301) amp and all of that was controlled by a Clarion Pro Audio HU. I was very happy with that system, but now that I've already got a nice base system in this Mazda... all there is left for me to install is an amp and a subwoofer - so I went ahead and ordered some stuff this evening. Hopefully it should be here by the end of the week so I can have it installed and play with it a little before I leave on a 2 week vacation back East...

Basically, the amp and sub setup is very similar to my previous one. I purchased an Alpine Type R 12 (Dual 4-ohm) which will be powered by the Alpine MRP-605 (which is not the fancy digital version I had before... but it is a newer model) - I will be putting it in a large vented box (anywhere from 1.5-2.0cu) so it should sound pretty loud and hit pretty hard =)

I'll keep you guys update with pictures and a simple review of it when I have it installed! I'm excited =)

 

sounds decent. how much did u spend on amp and subs set-up. i been out of stereo for a little bit, just sold my RF hx2 10's and 800.2. thats the last nice system i had, but i was thinking of somthing reasonable cost wise and space wise. btw, what car are you putting your gear in.

any way gl with the new system.

skeeterbeater79

 

Local stores and online stores like Crutchfield charge 299 for the amp and 199 for the sub, but I picked up my stuff at Online Car Stereo for 215 for the amp and 145 for the sub w/ free shipping. There are a couple places that are a little cheaper even with the shipping prices but they have some bad reps. I did not want to deal with that, hehe.

I will be throwing it into a M3 Hatchback though.

 

Well I just wanna thank everyone for the advice and help on the car audio stuff. My sub and amp came yesterday and after work I went and picked up all the wiring and stuff. I was going to wait until after work today to install it but I got anxious and started everything last nite with my friend. We got all the wires routed from the hood back to the trunk space so all there was left to do today was put in the fuse, wire up the headunit and install the sub and plug it in! It hits hard, but I can tell I need to do some fine tuning... I think I will end up buying an aftermarket headunit eventually so I can have some more control.

Anyways! I'll get pictures after I get back from my trip to the Eastern US in two weeks =)

ttfn!

 

If you dont mind could you make a diagram showing step by step of how you put everything in?

 

Well, I'm back East for a couple weeks but I can surely do that when I get back home! The installers at the stores will tell you it's extremely difficult to work w/ the Mazda3 headunit, but as long as you know how to splice wires and hook all the electronics up, you can do it yourself in not too much time. It took me about 3 and a half hours to do, and that's with running into a few obstacles. Routing the wires through the firewall from the battery is not difficult if you have some long pliars or a skinny arm.. and routing the rest of the wires to the back of the vehicle is ridiculously easy - all of the kick panels just snap off and you can run the wires under those down the sides of the car to keep them hidden.

 

Congrats on the sub. You'd hate my setup from what you said in your first post (mine's stock) but I don't listen to music with much base in it anyway (rock from soft to metal) but congrats. I bet it sounds good.

 

Well hey... the stock system had pretty decent bass and sounded pretty good... I'm still not completely sure if mine was the BOSE setup or not, but it sounds just as clear at the same settings as my friends 6 w/ the BOSE in it.

But yes, after having the car for a few weeks It wasn't enough for me so I had to go get the sub.

 

if you have the BOSE setup you will notice a subwoofer that says BOSE on it under the passenger seat and a digital amp under the drivers seat. The midrange speakers at the bottom of the 4 doors will also say BOSE. When you turn on your car or ACC, the radio will display BOSE sound if the car is equipped.

 

Ah okay... I was just wondering cuz my friend was at a car show and a guy had my same vehicle w/ the BOSE setup and there were no BOSE emblems in his either.

The covers for the speakers are all surrounded in silver/grey too so I was just kind of curious.

Anyways... it doesn't matter now - I have a sub and after I play with it a little and eventually get a new HU - I'll be one happy camper.