I just bought the new JVC AVX44 head unit and two 6.5" kicker subs to replace the stock ones...the result is a far worse sound system then my stock one, my cousin told me its because the new subs are a 150rms each and there drainning all the power from the stock amplifier and thats why I'm getting hardly any base and a low quality sound! do you all think the solution is a new amplifier? and if so how hard is it to install? I'm thinking getting a two channel amp just for the subs and running the speakers/tweeters through the head unit? any ideas or sugestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

The reasoning sounds good. And a good solution.

 

There is a seperate amp or crossover for those subs in the car floor somewhere. The wattage is probably not enough to power those new subs. You should have matched all the specs from the old speakers to the new one's as well. Search through the forum threads for stereo hookups. There are alot.

I'll tell you what I did and my stereo sounds great. I replaced the head unit. Left all the stock speakers hooked up as they are. Ran a seperate line from the sub output to a seperate amp and sub. Works fine.

Stan

 

Hey guys thanks for the replies, I've heard that aswell that there is a amp in the back, but the amp in the front is a 4 way from what I know so I assumed it powered the 2 subs and 2 speakers, if there is a amp in the back does anyone know where it is?

Stan I was thinking of doing the same thing but I dont know how to hook up the amp to my new headunit...hrmm nothing worse then spending a tone of money and getting a worse then stock result.

 

The stock subs are 2 ohms and the Kickers I would bet are 4 ohms. This equates to the amp not producing as much power for the new subs and poor sound quality. Ditch the stock amp and buy a new one...You will be much happier with the output!

 

I am running those subs in the stock location. The kickers come in either a 4 ohm or 2 ohm setup. I bought the 2 ohm and yes bought a new amp. The stock amp is not very powerful. Match your amp and your speakers for power output and you'll be happy. There is only one amp under the foot well. If you put in a second amp you're going to have to put it in the back. With the power seats there is no room under the seats for an amp. Getting the amp wiring back there is not too bad but it takes time and money.

 

the amp wiring on this car is really easy, coming from the passenger side at the battery there is a hole in the firewall with precut grommets that are easy to punch out run the wire through under the carpet pell back the carpet wall behind the apssenger seat and slide the wire through the big gapping hole where all the factory wiring /door lock stuff go through take out the rear hatch liner to get at your wire all done

 

I put in a new head unit.

It runs the door speakers and factory subs from the factory amp (no wiring changes other than a capacitor in the door mid-ranges)

The sub I installed (with it's own amp) runs from the sub output on the head unit, bypassing the factory amp.

It was an easy solution and sounds great.