Aftermarket sound systems

I have a 2006 Limited with the standard radio.  The bass seems to be a little weak. Has anyone replaced their speakers and gotten an improvement in the sound?

wsteinhauer...I'm sorry I just found this site,  I could've helped you out a long time ago.  I replaced my door speakers with Infinity Kappa Series 62.7i two way coaxials in both front and rear doors.  The soundstage improved (IMO) and the center channel became less prevelant than with the factory speakers.  I left the factory tweeters in as well as the center channel.  However, this will improve the sound of your music from the mid-range on up.  This solution will not improve your bass.  The factory sub is a pretty decent one, but it has trouble with the really low notes.  The only way you can improve that is to install an aftermarket sub.  I did that in my Azera, you can check the pics at http://www.carspace.com/allmet33 
 
If you don't want to go with Infinity Kappa series speakers, another good option would be the JBL GTO series.  The reason I throw these out there is the factory speakers are 2 ohm speakers and the Kappas and GTO's are as well.  I know there are a couple other brands that make a 2 ohm speaker, but they are hard to find.

Thanks for the info.
 
What is brand and model is the receiver in your Azera?  I went to your carspace site but couldn't make out the name.
 
 

 
"Pioneer FH-P4200MP double DIN unit, Infinity Kappa 62.7i speakers in front & rear doors. I currently have a Phoenix Gold Xenon 600.1 amp pushing an Alpine Type-R sub, but I'm in the process of building a new sub enclosure/amp rack. I'll be using the same amp, but the new sub is a Pioneer TS-W2502SPL capable of handling 800 watts rms."
 
From: http://www.****/2006-Hyundai-Azera-cmdview_item-cid585.htm
 

 

dude sorry but how the f**k did you get stereo out of there. i cant figure it out. im on a deadline and i need the system done by saturday so i need your help as soon as possible.

Getting the factory stereo out is actually easier than you would think...once you figure out where all the screws are.
 
Okay...
 
First...carefully remove the faux wood strip that goes along the top of the dash above the stereo.  You should see screws behind it...remove all of them.
 
After that, slide your fingers along the bottom of the console, below the storage compartment located below the climate controls...you should feel two holes, there are screws in them that need to be removed.  A stubby philips head will do the trick.
 
Then, pull the fuse panel cover and you'll see a screw located towards the bottom...remove that.
 
Now, you'll need to locate the two screws that hold the panel under the steering wheel column in place, remove those and carefully pull the panel down (it does not need to be removed completely).
 
Once you've pulled it down, there is one more screw located below the ignition that needs to come out (that's right, you had to lower that whole panel just to get to that one screw).
 
Now that all the screws are out, you should be able to pull the stereo console cover away from the dash.  Be careful as there are harnesses connected to the clock, humidity detector, hazard light button and climate controls that need to be disconnected. 
 
Once disconnected...you now have access to the stereo.  You'll notice 4 screws holding the unit in place, once you remove those...it's a matter of sliding it out, disonnecting the wire harness and antenna.
 
What I found to ease the install of the new stereo is to splice the aftermarket stereo's wire harness to the wire harness adapter first (just a matter of matching colors up).  Then, plug the connected harnesses into the factory harness, then plug the stereo in and don't forget the antenna.  Turn your car on and make sure everything comes on the way it's supposed to and if it does, then I will normally take the stereo out, wrap the wires with electrical tape (from plug to plug) and then reinstall the stereo and secure it.  After that's done...just put all the dash panel screws back in in reverse order.  Word of note, there's a rubber ring around the ignition hole, remove that and you'll be able to line the hole up with the ignition.  Once you've popped the panel back in place, install the rubber ring and THEN secure the panel.
 
If you have any more questions or need any more assistance...let me know.
 
Hope this is helpful!!!

thanks alot man. that actually helped alot lol. alright one more question. where did your run the wires through. i took out the stereo and saw there was this funnel type of thing that the wires where in running behind the airbag on the passenger side. i didnt exactly want to mess with that knowing that the airbag might go off when i turn on the car. so it would be a big help again if u gave some places to run the wires through.
i have a flipscreen the brain is most likely going under the passenger seat.
one amp (going in the trunk)
2 subwoofers (obviously in the trunk)
capacitor (in the trunk)
stock speakers so that means there gonna connect through the headunit
i need help wiring all those wires plus the power cable.
since the brain is going under the passenger seat and the passenger seat is electric i dont need to cut the carpet that much.
i was hoping to follow the electrical wires from the seat to the dash to give me a route for the wires to connect to the headunit.
also how do you remove the panels under the door where u step on when u get in if i get that ill jus run the wires through there. 

No problem man.  You sure there's no place behind or under the dash that you can secure the brains to make it easier??? 
 
Well...here is what I did with my system.
 
As far as the power wire for the amp, I drilled a hole through the firewall down by the brake pedal.  The power wire, I ran under the carpet down the driver's side of the car.  I lifted up the door sills and the clips that hold the carpet in place and threaded it all the way to the back that way.  Once you get it to the side panely by the rear seats...it's pretty easy.
 
The RCA cables...I ran those under the center console.  I actually took the driver's seat out to do this just to make it easier.  Just make sure you remember all the connections you undid so you can put them all back together when you put the seat back in.  Anyway...with everything out of the center console, there's a panel in the bottom you can pull up and undo the screws that hold it down.  You don't have to take it all the way up to run the cables under the carpet (between the rear of the console and the front of the rear seat).  Once the cables are at the back seat...done deal.
 
You don't have to worry about the airbag deploying as long as you're careful.
 
The ground cable from the amp...pull the rear seat out and grind a spot down to bare metal, then run a self tapping metal screw and you'll be good.
 
How many watts is the amp you're running for your subs?  If it's 500 watts or less (RMS) then you don't really need a capacitor.
 
To remove the door sill covers...just use a flat tip screwdriver, slide it underneath and carefully pry them up.  They pop out of clips that hold them in place.
 
As far as your door speakers go...by going with an aftermarket head unit, you would really want to consider replacing at least the door speakers to handle the extra power thats will be kicked out.  The factory speakers will do fine for a while as long as your sound levels are moderate, but cranking it up regularly...you'll soon lead those speakers to a short life.  LOL
 
If you get around to changing them (it's really simple), go with speakers that run a 2 ohm impedence.  Two that I know of are Infinity Kappa Series and JBL GTI Series.  Just a lil FYI.
 
I hope all of this info helps you out, if you have any other questions or concerns...let me know.
 
Good luck!!!
 
 

thanks man. big help
aight this is the updated info for now:
for the power wire i didnt drill a hole on the firewall instead i found a a tube like thing(which had a sh*t load of wires and i though that would be a good place) and drilled through it and ran the wire.
the wire ended up coming out from the bottom of the dash from the passenger side.
i put the brain in the trunk cause i ordered the wires (because the last ones were messes up) and they ran all the way to the trunk so that was a good idea at the time.
the amp is a 1200 watt 2 chanel amp so yea i needed a cap lol.
the rest of the wires i ran through the right side of the car and got to the end which was when i found out i need to remove the WHOLE back seat section jus to get to the screw that held the panel down lol.
but the worst news is that i found out that there is something wrong with my brain it works but doesnt let the speakers work.
i have a kenwood kvt-717dvd t.v. and because the brain doesnt work properly the amp wont turn on because i connected the remote wire to the electric antenna wire which connects to the brain.
in the back of the brain their is a fuse port but im not sure if i should put a fuse their because i dont remember if their was one before. so i was wondering if u suggest me putting a fuse there. or maybe give me some suggestions on what might be wrong with it.
thanks.
 

Well...the cap won't hurt either way.  1200 watts, huh?  It's unlikely it's 1200 watts x 2 RMS...not unless you paid a S#!* load of money for it.
 
I'm pretty sure it's not the brain of your head unit that's not allowing the speakers to come on.  Is it the Scosche wiring harness you got?  If so, call them and ask to speak to one of the techs.  Let them know what is happening and ask them to check and see what the wire order in the harness is supposed to be.  It could be that you ended up with one of the older ones that was put together incorrectly and they would be able to tell you which wires should be in which locations (this is the problem I had when i first put mine in).  After 3 different harnesses...we figured it out and they sent me one that was set up correctly.
 
If there is a fuse port, then you would most likely need a fuse in there.  So that too could be your problem as the brain isn't getting the power it needs.  If you have the owner's manual for it, then you can find out what size fuse to put in there usually it's gonna be a 5 or 10 amp fuse.

yea sorry the amp is 600 x2 lol
i kno for a fact its not the wiring harness because one my friends (which is actually good with systems) checked it out and said everything is ok.
im hoping its the fuse thats missing im going to buy one today a 5 and a 10 just incase. im pretty sure its a 5 amp but id rather make one trip then two to the store.
thanks once again.

600 x 2 RMS!!!!  That must be at 2 ohms, right?  You're gonna have hella bump comin from ya trunk playa!!!
 
I'm hoping for your sake it's the missing fuse, however...if you put a fuse in and it still doesn't work...it's the harness.  There's no way anyone can check the harness out and know it's okay unless he knows the order in which the wires are supposed to be in the harness (sorry, no offense to your friend).  I've been installing for over 15 years and it wasn't something I figured out until I spoke with a tech at Scosche.  I would like to think they got it right after that back and forth and all my frustration, but like I said...you could have gotten an older harness which was wired wrong.  If it's just the fuse, then by all means...congratulations!!!!  If not, then you know you have another avenue to explore before you throw in the towel.
 
Let me know how it turns out, take some pics and show the install!!!

yep it was the fuse lol also there were also 2 wires that were wrong one was connected to a diffrent wire than it was supposed and the other wasnt connected at all lol.
so yea the instalation is complete it has a good bump to it.
youve been a good help and ill have pics up within a day or two.

Cool, cool...I'm glad to hear everything worked out for you!!!  Now you get to enjoy the music.  Just wait till you get around to swapping out the door speakers...you'll be amazed at how much better it will sound.

One thing you may want to do...disconnect the factory sub (if you haven't already).  You can remove the panel that's behind the rear seat back so that you can lift the front edge of the rear deck cover high enough to access the harness that plugs into the sub, just pull it off and you'll be good to go.  I say this because if you bump your system at high levels, after a while...the stock sub will blow due to the extra power that the aftermarket head unit is pushing.  Mine is currently connected, but as soon as I get some decent weather...I'll be disonnecting it for sure to get rid of that ugly cone vibration of the sub distorting.

Not sure if the head unit you have allows you to set the high pass filters to the front and rear speakers, but a setting I found that works really nice for seamless sound...cross the front speakers off at 80 Hz (hpf), the rear speakers at 100 Hz (hpf) and the aftermarket sub at 80 Hz (lpf).  I've toyed with other settings and this seemed to give the most full sound all the way around.  Just a suggestion.

Again...CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
 
Too bad you're not in my area, I would LOVE to hear how a 2 sub set up sounds in the trunk of the Azera.  I've got a single 10" right now, but I am planning on adding a 2nd sub once I build the new fiberglass enclosure.  I will finally get to use my Phoenix Gold Xenon amp again, but instead of it pushing 600+ watts to a single sub, I'll split the power and let it feed to that can handle 450 watts each.  The idea I have is for the subs to fire away from the rear seats and the amp will be mounted out in front of them like it's floating.  We'll see if I can pull this off, but if I do...I'm planning on painting the enclosure a gloss black to match the car.

thanks alot man.
its sounds pretty sick and i havent tuned it yet either lol so hopefully itll sound even better once i fine tune it.
thanks for the speakers settings im gonna try them out, i cant wait to put aftermarket speakers (which is probably gonna happen).
but the thing is my "600 watt x2" was kinda bogus lol so im gonna move on to a better amp (not higher, but an amp that actually does do 600amps lol)
thanks again and good luck on your future system upgrade it sounds pretty sick.
ill try to post pics today if not tomorrow.

I can only imagine!!!  What kinda amp is it that you have now?  Maybe I can point you in the right direction in finding one for you for a really good price.  Just let me know the specs on the subs you're pushing.

Word of note:  Any new amps you buy now...well, there's a new thing called CEA-2006 Compliant which basically means...if they say an amp is pushing a certain amount of power...it is.  It's a uniform standard that all manufacturers are supposed to follow (the legitimate ones anyway).  So...it'll say 600 watts x 2 @ 2 ohms, but that's at 14.4 volts.  In most cases, you're not getting that voltage at the amp in your car, it's probably gonna be between 12.8 and 13.6 (usually, but some cars to push more voltage), so in reality...the amp is probably pushing between 525-550 watts x 2 @ 2 ohms.  Just a lil FYI for ya.
 
Amp options:
 
This one is pushing 560 watts x 2 @ 2 ohms.  Visonik, while not considered elite like MTX, Rockford Fosgate and such...they have been making a name for themselves as solid performers for those looking for power, but are budget concious.
http://cgi.ebay.com/VISONIK-2400w-2-CHANNEL-BLOCK-OF-POWER-CAR-AMPLIFIER_W0QQitemZ280187369390QQihZ018QQcategoryZ39732QQcmdZViewItem
 
Now...if your subs are 4 ohms each, then this amp would be perfect for you, it's a 4-channel amp, but it can be bridged down to 2-channels.  As you see by the specs...it's cranking out 600 watts x 2 @ 4 ohms (also note that it's doing this at 13.8 volts, not 14.4).  Not sure if you've heard of Cadence products before, but they are seirous and legitimate.
http://cgi.ebay.com/CADENCE-1200w-RMS-4-2-CHANNEL-COMPETITION-CAR-AMPLIFIER_W0QQitemZ280187370648QQihZ018QQcategoryZ39739QQcmdZViewItem

i have a boss amp i heard they were a good company but overrated but i got their amp anyway to try it out. i was actually suprised because my cap says 14.sumtin. once i tuned it i was suprised with the results.
i hits pretty well i tuned the speakers hpf and now its pretty good but i put the subs to 100 because i though it was a little better.
i have 2 alpine type s subs i already broke them in because there was a point where they where jus siting in my room and i hooked them up to my jvc system lol they actually hit really good until i blew my jvc lol.
i have a video of them on youtube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=_I3pmAP-1KU
i might wanna upgrade but not for sure because they sound pretty good right now so i might stick with this amp and upgrade later on.

Well...my first set up was a 10" SPL sub with a Boss Audio Riot 850 amp.  It pushed that sub like crazy!!!  It was only a single 10", but folks thought I had 2 12's in the trunk.  LOL  The amp never overheated, never clipped...never gave me any problems.  I sold and installed the amp & sub in a guys 3000GT, so that amp has been going strong now for...over 6 years now!!!  Boss products don't get any respect, but folks are suprised at how good they sound when they don't know what it is.  The only knock I have against them is not knowing how accurate their power ratings are.  I don't think they use the 2006-CEA Compliant Standards.
 
Does your cap stay at 14+ when you turn your music up?  I know with mine....music played moderately it hovered around 13.5-13.8...as I turn it up, it drops down to 12.7-13.1.

Alpine Type-S's are good too.  I had a Type-R that my Phoenix Gold amp fried. 

I would have kept with the Boss amps, but I needed to upgrade to showcase my skills when I show my system off to potential clients that I may do installs for.  If they think I use cheap components for myself, they'll think I would do the same for them.  However, one thing I always tell my clients...go with what makes you happy as you're the one that has to listen to it every day.  If you're planning on doing sound competitions or stuff like that...then spend the money for top notch stuff.  If this is for your everyday listening enjoyment...then work with what fits in your budget and pleases you.

Honestly, if I didn't have my Phoenix Gold amp sitting in my garage right now, I would keep the current set up I have in my trunk now (Phoenix Gold Xenon 10" sub being pushed by a Kenwood KAC-7202 2-channel amp)...it's running at about 450 watts rms.  However, I really want to use the PG amp, so...I had to buy a 2nd Xenon sub and split the power off the amp.  The Kenwood amp (which I've had now for about 4 years will go in my Outlook and push a couple of subs in there for me.

Another thing you may consider is changing the enclosure you have the subs in.  You would be amazed at how much of a difference changing the box can make.  If you have a sealed box, try a ported one.  If you have a ported one...try a bandpass box.  All of them have their advantages and disadvantages.  I usually go with sealed, but I'm toying with making my next enclosure ported when I put the two subs in there.  We shall see!!!!

kool im thinkin of making a box but dont kno yet.
the car isnt really fully mine i share it wit my sister so im probably gonna get another car and thats when im gonna put a real system in it.
probably make my own custom box and put some mtx subs in there.
but for now the azera is a great car to have a system in it.

Awwwwwwwwwwww....man, that's gotta suck!!!  So when you get the other car, will you get the Azera or will you get the other car?
 
Can't go wrong with MTX subs, especially if you can get a deal on them.  A couple of Ebay stores I know of...
 
http://www.indoaudio.com
 
http://www.audiosavings.net

yea i kno. hopefully when i get the other car i can work it out wit her to trade lol. it sucks but watever life has to go on. hopefully when i get another car itll be at least half as good as the azera is lol. but thanks for the sites im gonna check them out right now to get a idea on how much i need to save up.

LOL  I'm pretty sure you'll pull something together!
 
I think you'll find you won't have to save up too much.  Trust me...when I found out what was available on Ebay, I was relieved to find out I could install a quality system and not drop big loot!  Put it like this...Pioneer head unit (double din), Infinity Kappa Series coaxials, Phoenix Gold amp and subs...and I spent less than $800!!!  I've seen folks go into Circuit City or Best Buy and drop almost $1000 just to get an amp and pair of subs.
 
Knowing how to do it yourself is priceless!!!