Okay I am bored starting them now.
Rear Speakers
In top end cars there are no rear speakers because SQ "sound quality" is setup for optimal performance. In small cars such as the z it is even more unnecessary, you only have 2 people in the car and no rear seats. Rear speakers that close to the fronts will collide and cause the audio to sound multiplied. If you listen to it for a few days you will get use to it and it will definitely sound better than 4 channels. Think of it this way an artist records there music in 2 channel format so the optimum way to listen to it is threw 2 channels. It may sound a bit different at first but as I mentioned if you give it a few days it should grow on you. Either way save your money and invest it in better front speakers.
Bose systems
So some of you may of knew this was coming. Yes the bose system is by no mean worth the money you have to pay to get it. I am not trying to get personal just trying to be informative. The system is not even as good as the base sound system. Why I say this is the fallowing. The bose system consists of a amp and a processor. When you start turning up music the processor looks at the signal coming form the head unit. It reads it and detects what can cause distortion on the speakers. It than cuts those frequency's so no distortion will happen. So as you turn up your volume your highs and your mids "sub" start to fade out to the point where you can no longer rely hear them.
Another poor thing about the bose system is the PITA of upgrading it. If you want to upgrade the system in any means you have to start from scratch. If you just upgrade the speakers "can not", the processor will still do the same thing to the signal. So you have to remove the factory amp which in tern you have to replace the head unit. By the time you are done upgrading it you could of saved a bundle and just bought the base model to begin with, because you have replaced everything in the car. "My apology's to anyone that I may of upset that owns a bose system"
JL Myth
So a lot of you may have heard or been told by people or the internet that JL is basically the best you can buy. This is no way true. There are so many better companies out there for around the same or less price than JL. A few to start with are focal, CDT, Image Dynamics, Rainbow, and Dynaaudio. Do not get me wrong JL is good stuff just there is a lot better for the price you spend for JL. If you are looking for a site that carries the brands and others that I have mentioned please look no farther than
Woofersetc.com the online car audio super store, the largest selection at the lowest prices!
Base Model Speaker Size
In the base model of the Z the fronts are able to fit 5 1/4 or 6.5 inch speakers. As for the tweeters they are 1 inch tweeters. By using the z enclosure spacer rings in conjunction with the plastic that is already in the door you can fit just about any speaker in the door, as I have shown in my California Z build.
Bose Model Speaker Size
Fronts are 6X9's but with the right spacer rings and fitting you can put either a good set of 6x9's or the better choice would be a set of component 6.5's. Rears I believe are 3 1/2. As for the sub it is 2 small 4 or 5 inch woofers.
Capacitors
Before I get into this I just want to say for most of the systems I have seen, and for what the stock alternator is capable of putting out. NO ONE will even need to worry about running one of these. That being said they DO reduce or omit light dimming, but they are not a fix more like a band aid. What a capacitor dose is stores a charge of power that can be depleted very quickly, this allows some of the strain to be taken off the factory charging system. But the cap still have to be recharged over and over again. This in turn may cause damage to your charging system over time. Do not feel bad if you have run one before as even I have at one time. So if your lights do dim a lot it might be time to look for a new alternator and or a second battery that would be mounted in the trunk. The only time you will have to worry about this happening is if you are running over 1000 rms all the time.
Stock Wiring
So some of you might be worried about running new speakers on your factory wiring. Well I am here to tell you as long as you stay below 50 watts going threw the wire you will be fine. If you are planning on running something like 120 watts to the speakers than you will need to upgrade the factory wire in the doors to aftermarket. The reason you do this is for safety. If you try to push to much current threw to small of a wire you can cause damage to your equipment or even start a fire in some cases. A good wire to run is 16 or 14 gauge.
Satellite Radio
So you have your beautiful brand new z and you want to start taking some road trips or some trips threw the mountains. Well I have taken many road trips and ever sense I purchased my satellite radio I have never been able to go without it. Yes you may have your ipod but sometimes that can get old. If you are taking any kind of trip or a big traveler I would recommend looking into getting satellite radio, the quality is great the selection is great and you never have to worry about surfing for channels. Xm and Sirius have merged so it rely dose not matter which one you choose.
Pioneer Ground Noise
So in some cases even z's can get engine noise after a new system install. If you have a pioneer head unit here is the fix. Pioneers have a ground problem with there rca's that causes this. Here is the fix. Take a piece of wire any size and wrap it around your rca ends. Than ground that wire to the chase of the radio. This should fix it and you should be good to go.
