i had no plans to touch this car's stereo any time soon, if at all, but daniel is a chithead & a bad influence. :daniel:
the soul factory stereo, for such an inexpensive car, really impressed me...it's not at all offensive to the ears, imo. it has very lacking bass, imaging isn't great, and there's not a lot of volume, but there's nothing incredibly bad like so many other factory systems. if i had to complain, the tweeters sound pretty bad (but, it does have tweeters! most cars in this range don't) and there's very little low end. that said, it's certainly livable. however, my name is chris, and i have an audio addiction, so i of course have spent entirely too much on things i don't really need. :D
so, the gear list as it stands now (all ordered & in the mail):
morel virtus 602 (purchased off diyma)
2x jl 10w1v3's
jl rd900/5
rockford dsr1 processor
i decided pretty early on that i wanted to run morel in this car, for the simple fact that every morel setup i've ever heard has been simply fantastic. i really like that they have plenty of output at their disposal, without being painful. i had originally planned to go with the tempo ultras purchased new, but i found the virtus in the classifieds just before i was going to order the tempo ultras and figured why not get a slightly higher end set for less money?
as for subs, i needed something fairly shallow that would still sound good, without breaking the bank - i also wanted to have good output, preferably two subs, and wanted to go with a sealed box this time...so i figured i wanted to stay under $200 each, and needed under 5" depth as much as possible. the soul has a foam tray under the cargo floor in the hatch that is roughly 7.5-7.75" deep that i'll be using for sub box + amp rack, so i'm trying to keep my box exactly that deep so the standard floor can still slide in and lock as usual. there's not a lot of subs that fit those specs without going up quite a bit in price - i think ideally i would have gone with the jl 10tw3's but they're a bit out of budget to grab two. i was looking between the w0v3 and the w1v3 in the end, and decided on the w1 because it's a smidge shallower & doesn't have a pole vent, so the motor can go right up against the back of the box. i had hopes of being able to run the morel mw 1054's which look to be essentially renamed ultimo sc's for significantly less (link here) since i loved the ultimo 12 so much, but they're just a bit too deep for my needs right now.
on the amp, i was thinking of running an mtx pair from i believe the early 2000's-ish, the mtx thunder6304 & 6500d, which are both collecting dust at my parent's place. the 6304 was in my first car before i replaced it with a pdx-f4, and i remembered that it was fairly easy to kick it into thermal protection, and since these are going to be trapped under the floor i wanted to avoid any heat issues, so i picked what seems to be a solid, efficient amp. also, i really like the look of the rd series & it's nice that these have the clipping indicators for setting gains...just something small that's a bit helpful in a pinch.
plan for the hatch is to have two separate downfiring boxes on either side of the hatch, with the amp & processor in the center. my only concern is not having a ton of room between the sub & floor (i'm guessing maybe 2-2.5" max, probably) but i believe most of the sub will be firing into gaps around the spare tire & into the wheel, so i suspect there may be enough room to not cause any issues there...fingers crossed!! if there are issues i may redesign things at some point and remove the spare, since the car came with a flat tire kit + i have roadside assistance.
anyway...that's that for now! i hope to have some of this started on or before thanksgiving, and the equipment should all be arriving this week aside from the processor which crutchfield says is out of stock till 10-12. i'm really excited to work with the dsr1 and test it out, it seems super enticing being so cheap & having the ability to be tuned via the app which looks to be very functional and intuitive. i'll post some pics of the gear as it comes in, and maybe get to start working on the boxes next week sometime before i head to san francisco on vacation!
