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I just bought a brand new Toyota Corolla Cross but wanted to upgrade the cars audio system. I would max out the volume knob almost everyday leading to distorted music at high volume. I met with one car audio shop that says they're fine they just need an amp and a Hi low converter, and I want to add a sub and would need another amp for that, but also met with another shop that said they would swap out the speakers and they're made from Taiwan (cheap). How many amps do you think I need? Do you think I need to replace the speakers or should the new ones be fine with an amp?

PS. the one shop said they'll do new pioneer speakers an amp and sub for 1100, but the one that just wants to use an amp for the speakers and an amp for the sub would be 1300. Who do you think I should go with? 

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  • 4 weeks later...

If you're are currently maxing out the cheap factory speakers with a factory radio that puts out almost no power at all, then by adding an amp to them you are just going to blow them, the only saving grace would be setting the high pass filter on said amp higher removing any lower frequencies from the speakers so you'll be driving around listening to basically tweeters with no midbass and that wont sound too good.. So if this is that shops method it sounds like a hack shop that just cares about getting customers in and out and getting paid all while not catering to the customers wants all while apparently charging more money for less gear and an easier install.
I would avoid that shop 110%.

You as a customer need to decide what you want, how much money you want to spend on said gear and install.
This is your first step period.
The second step is shop around, you went to 2 shops, maybe go for a drive to a close by city and see what other shops have to offer along with brands and prices.

IMO $1,100 is a lot for some Pioneer products, you can go buy that at Wal-Mart and save a lot.

The thing is a good salesman see's a sucker a mile away, not saying you are one but if you're clueless to audio and they know that you'll be taken for a ride and end up having buyers remorse down the road.

As Nauc said, I wouldn't worry about the rear speakers at all and just leave them powered by the radio and the money you would have spent on the rear speakers put forth getting a better line/model front speakers. Instead of doing some cheap coaxle type speakers maybe get a mid tier set of components in the front that will sound even better yet, or some nicer coaxles than said Pioneers that the shop was trying to sell you on and get some sound treatment done inside the door. Besides it's not like  your drive your car in the back seat so who cares about those speakers, it's always something that can be upgraded later on if you feel the need.

Now for the sub, there are so many options out there and its going to come down to your budget, and this is going to tie in to the amp(s) and how many you need and what route you should possibly go. If the sub you go with doesn't need too much power and is around a 300-500 watt rms sub you can easily get by with only using decent 4 channel amp that is rated 100watts rms by 4 @ 4ohms and what you do is you run the upgrade front speakers off channels 1 & 2, and then you bridge channel 3 & 4 together for the sub.

Basic Hi/Low converters are junk, full of distortion and many of the cheap ones typically go bad relatively soon. At the very least you need to use an AudioControl LC2i Pro for multiple reasons
1) It will give you a front L/R output for the front speakers, and it will also give you a Sub L/R output.
2) It comes with a remote bass knob to turn the sub up and down as desired.

3) It has a feature called Accubass which basically restores the bass that is lost by the factory radio that automatically turns down the bass to protect the speakers as you turn the volume up.

4) It can handle up to 40volts per channel of input signal from the factory radio which many other hi/low converters can't and one of the reasons many fail not long after.

5) It has a couple methods of remote turn on such as dc offset audio sense and the old fashioned remote turn on. This is key because in many newer vehicles with everything being turned on/off with data signals through Canbus, so finding ignition switched or remote wires to turn on amplifiers is almost impossible especially when you're using the factory radio (unless you tap off the fusebox but that usually gives you turn on/off pop through the speakers). So this unit is able to tell when you turn your radio on and then it will turn itself on along with any other amp(s) you add.

6) For everything you get and gain from this unit it's fairly priced for $140. No other Hi/Low converter is going to come near this in terms of features and adjustability, and at the price point it comes in at it should be the 1st if not the only option that not only shops but anyone should be using. Me personally I won't put a sub in a car using anything else, and will pass on the job and tell the customer I'm not interested in the job if they bring me a cheap Hi/Low or wont spend the money for this.. Period!

So just for fun this would be a pretty decent setup using one 4 channel amp setup like I described above for $952 in fairly decent product that is not the cheapest you could go by any means but also not the most expensive, and shopping around on different sites could probably find a little bit better pricing but this is just for reference from one site.
Hi/Low converter https://www.sonicelectronix.com/item-178427-Audio-Control-LC2i-PRO.html

Front speakers https://www.sonicelectronix.com/item-93360-Rockford-Fosgate-T1650-S.html
Sub https://www.sonicelectronix.com/item-165605-Kicker-VL7R122-45VL7R122.html 

Amp https://www.sonicelectronix.com/item-183143-NVX-XAD41.html It will give the front speakers 100 watts rms each at 4 ohm, and with channels 3/4 bridged @ 2ohms it will give the sub 600 watts rms, so everything will be matched with its needed RMS power.

Granted this doesn't include a 4awg ofc wiring kit or install, but this should at least give you some what of an idea on how far your money can/could go if you're not being taken advantage of, and I can bet that neither setup from either of those 2 shops will sound anywhere as good or as loud as these 4 simple items.

 

 

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