new to lexus

Going tomorow morning to downtown LA to buy my stereo. NEED ADVICE URGENTLY.

For the rear speakers, should I just replace them with some better midranges or should I get 2-way coaxials??
(with good amp power of course)

The stocks are midrange and I would like to just use those 4" openings unless you guys think it would make a huuuuuge difference with components although and remember I don't care about the people sitting in the back! I just don't want to hear any distortion in the front coming from the back.

London Bill

You have to be careful not to load up the rear deck with too much sound as you can very easily over power the puny and badly positioned 4" fronts and end up with a REAR soundstage - I made that mistake.

Given that knowledge I would go for a rear mid-range either side of a central sub, use a bandpass filter or active EQ to tailor the mid-range, for now I have disconnected the tweeters on my Kappa's.

I have not finished the front system yet but I have a strong feeling that the 4" JBL splits will have to go and work on installing 5" or 6.5" mid -range components behind the stock door trim, the standard 4" mounting would appear to firing down from the horizontal axis (15-20deg).

The front stage is bad, using the stock locations and 4" splits I get good strong rendition from the the opposite side speakers but little from the drivers side door, you have to put your head on the steering wheel to hear both sides equally, it seems the stock speaker mountings (and possibly the tweeter cover)cause "funnelling", a narrowing of the sound dispertion path, this will only really be cured by better speaker location, kickwell pods are horrid and a real no-no given the lack of space.

CmputerWiz

One other thing to think of is how much bass you're going to put in the car. If you're going to put a LOT (as I did) you may want no rear speakers. The airflow from the subs will destroy those little 4" speakers in no time, and cause constant distortion. You could also build like a small box under each 4" to keep them sealed off from the trunk, and I've also seen inserts that you put under the speaker to protect them from bass from behind. (this make any sense? sounds confusing when I read it back..i just know what I mean...lol) And remember this is only true if you're putting in a couple 12's or 15's. I had Alpine 4" in the back for about 2hrs....as soon as I turned up the bass, they had to come out as it was total distortion. It was those or the 15's....and I can't live without lots-a bass.

So much for the dolby surround sound on DVD's

SR

London Bill

If you've seen the underside of the rear deck you will know it is very hard to seal off the speakers because of the irregular shape, one way to prevent bass distoring the mid or full range is to fill the area under the shelf with acoustic fibre-fill (as used in home hi-fi speakers), this will also tighten the bass response from free air subs.

It's also a good idea to Dynamat the fuel tank to prevent the tank from making "boing" noises with the bass beat.

new to lexus

I have no idea how you fit 2 15" in the trunk of an SC!!! :eek:
Did you buy a smaller gas tank?

Anyways I just got back.

Read my post titled "Rate my system" if you guys are interested in what I got.

CmputerWiz

Well if you check out the gallery page on my website http://www.LexusSC300.com you'll see a pic of the subs in the trunk. The box is unfinished, as the carpet hasn't come in yet. And there is "no" space left. Everything I carry has to go into the back seat. For long trips I'll pull out the box and deal with no bass for a while.

SR