Get what your ears like and go for it. You will be a lot happier with your system with no regrets.

That's how I wound up at Freeman's, listening to the ESK's. The first shop I went to made all kinds of suggestions, but said that they didn't have any wired up to listen to because they would sound different in my car anyway. :icon14:

Thanks for the input. I'm taking my time narrowing down HU, speakers, sub(s), amps, camera, tablet mount, etc. and have seen a lot of good info and advice here.

im glad this thread has been a big help to not only me but other people in the community. after all i wanted this thread to help out other as well.

will do =) nothing will be really happening untill the spring when i take my Z out of hibernation.

Well I finally ended with this setup..
H/U (New)
Kenwood Excelon DDX491HD DVD receiver at Crutchfield.com

Components (Already installed)....will be upgrading next.
Custom Sounds Car Stereo Store - Custom Sounds

3-1/2's (New)
TR350-CXi - Car Audio - Evolution® - TR - Coaxial Systems - JL Audio

Amplifier (Already installed)
Alpine MRV-F300 - Custom Sounds

Subwoofer (New)
CP108LG-W3v3 - Car Audio - Subwoofer Systems - MicroSub

The 3-1/2's needed some fab work to get them to fit. They are a little deep. My H/U is currently pushing these.

The front channels from my amp are pushing my front 6-1/2 components and the rear channels are bridged pushing my microsub.

My thoughts and views on this?

Excellent surround sound quality with highs, mids are still a little muddy, and the lows sound very good too. I have now realized that my components are the weakest link and upgrading these will probably make it right for me. The micro sub box is low profile and fits between the rear wheel bays and under the strut tower. It hits pretty clean and hard but remember if you go this route it's an 8" and not two 10's and will not rattle your windows out. Good,deep clean bass for the size though. Its also Velcro'd in too.

Honestly I think my first step should have been sound proofing first then audio shopping next and will be doing this in the spring and I suggest to all members to go this route.

i think everyone should sound proof there Z. very noisy in the car with out it.. i have it through out my entire truck and doors and its quiet but not too quiet were i cant hear my exhaust ;)

Agreed. I bought 60 SQFt of Dynamat, and 45SQFT of MLV/CCF. 12SQFT of Thinsulate Acoustic.

No, I don't anticipate using it all, just would hate to be short! :ugh2:

i agree better safe than sorry.

Hello all, I have been following this thread for some time. In June of last year we had a garage fire that was started by a 2001 Explorer. Long story short it took out my wifes Lexus and my 2012 Altima. All is better than new now. But.. in the search for a new car for my wife I found a Black 2013 370Z with 3k miles for $28000. I put this in it right away (Kenwood Excelon DDX8901HD) But now it's income tax time I'm ready for some speakers and a amp. I am hearing great things about the Hertz line but didn't see them at Crutchfield where I normally buy my stuff. Wondering how the Hertz and Focal line would compare. I'm able to spend up to $500 or so on the speakers. Also these will be my first components. I am able to do all the work myself (retired postal electronic tech) Not afraid to tear it apart. Sorry so long.

I had Focal 165KF's in my first 370Z and have Hertz XL's in my second. The mids are a bit different but the most noticeable difference is in the tweeters. My experience is that Focals have a sharper sound to them whereas Hertz are somewhat less aggressive.

I like to listen to my music fairly loud and depending on the type of music I was listening to the Focals pronounced crispness had a tendency to start bothering my ears after awhile. I don't really have this issue with my Hertz tweeters.

Don't get me wrong I enjoyed my Focals a great deal and had I been able to get them out of my wrecked Z before the insurance company took possession I would have in a heartbeat. To give it perspective, if the worst decision you ever have to make is whether to get Focal or Hertz components you live a charmed life. ;)

Welcome to the forums BTW!

Good info. Thanks. I just turned 60 and this is my first Z. Maybe a midlife crisis. Na. I was a gearhead in the 70's burning up the streets with another Z. Z28. Now I just want to cruise around and listen to tunes. I listen to older rock like zz top, eagles, Pink Floyd etc. When I got the car I put what I thought was a decent headend. The Kenwood. I like it a lot. XM, Stream Spotify from my Samsung S5 on BT, USB drive full of music. I am going to go with Components this time and see how that goes. Let me ask this. Pretty sure I know what you will say. If I go with the Focals or the Hertz do I need a amp for sure? I know it probably depends on the speakers. And I'm not going to run a sub. Just curious. I guess I would be more apt to spend more on the speakers If I didn't need the amp right now. Thanks

I'm sure my answer isn't a surprise, but I always recommend an amp for aftermarket speakers. You don't "need" an amp, but most headunits simply cannot drive aftermarket speakers well.

I love my speakers dearly, but given the choice of my Hertz components running off my headunit vs less expensive speakers plus a decent amplifier I would choose the latter without hesitation, every time. I'm sure you will get varying opinion on this, but that's my 2 cents.

As an aside Kenwood's Excelon units like you have are very nice. They have a strong focus on sound quality and just have an amazing selection of audio options. I can't imagine you being anything but well pleased with it.

Sound dampen first then upgrade your speakers. You will be very happy that you did.

Thanks guys. I will take your advice and get a amp. I kinda knew that was the way to go just wanted to hear it. Yes the kenwood HU is nice. When I bought the car I held out money to get something decent. So here I go shopping for speakers and a amp. This will be a fun project. And I will read the forum about the dynamat. I have the base model with 6speed mt and it gets a little noisy at times. Very fun to drive.

If you are getting enough sound out of the HU, no real need for another amp. Want some more volume? Then get more amp. :)

Do you know if I could Bridge the front and back speaker outputs on my Kenwood HU the same way you can on a amp? Just Curious.

Kenwood-Excelon-DDX8901HD

Don't do this.

There were some Pioneer headunits that allowed you to bridge the rear channels to run an efficient sub, but what you are considering is a good way to smoke your headunit.

I just called Crutchfield and talked to a woman that recommended these with no amp. She said they sound amazing. Any thoughts? Thanks

Infinity Reference X REF-6500cx 6-3/4" component speaker system — also fit 6-1/2" openings at Crutchfield.com

Nope. Not going to.

Just talked to a lady from Crutchfield that said the best bet without a amp would be Infinity Reference X REF-6500cx. So I'm torn between something like this or better speakers with a amp. Not sure if it would be worth it. I think I'll go to a local shop and listen to some speakers.

I suggest you go with an amp. You will have a lot more options for speaker setup and you can also get it louder too if you wish. Your front components will love the power.

Great thread a lot of valuable info in here. Thx

As Nillas mentioned earlier how the focals would fatigue his ears after long listening at moderate volumes, the Infinitys are 10x worse on the ears. Their tweeters tend to be a little harsh.

But if you are so inclined http://www.amazon.com/Infinity-Refer.../dp/B007SNMQDQ Please don't pay crutchfield prices unless absolutely necessary....:tup: http://www.woofersetc.com/p-11545-re...er-system.aspx

I think we should dub thee audio god Ron. :tup:

I appreciate the vote of confidence, but I am indeed, a mere mortal man. I just happen to have a passion for car audio for the past 30+ years. I came up years ago trying out everything that came along (that I could afford), from the $15.00 craig eq booster, and the pyramid 300 watt 7 band eq with built in alarm system (another $15 item that most here will not remember..lol ) To a lot of the higher end audio items on the market in the last few years. I have spent more $$ over the years than is imaginable, and met a TON of people that share my passion at shows across the country with every brand of equipment there is. I still attend, and compete at those shows today.
I enjoy sharing the small amount of knowledge I have accrued over the years, and like to save others the trouble of spending countless dollars, time, and effort searching for a decent product in an endless sea of choices.

Thanks Ron and all the others for the good info. After serious thinking today (long nap) I'm not going to screw around with the cheap stuff. I have the money or will in 2 weeks. I just try to think of all the angles before I buy. With the Kenwood HU that cost me over $600 I honestly can't go cheap on this. I am going with the Hertz HSK 165XL or the HSK 165 depending on how much I spend on amp. I did a install on my last car and went cheap and was never happy. Alpine single din and polk audio coaxials. Always had buyers remorse.
I will take your advise and buy from WoofersEtc. I have always used Crutchfield because they were easy with all the install stuff. I will have to figure out if I need a spacer or adapter for the door speakers. I have the Base unit. Everything else I can handle. It's winter here and I haven't had the z out much but it will be warming up soon and I have a big garage to work on it. Mike

You will need spacers. If you aren't going to make your own the ones from Zenclosures with a 5.75" center hole will be a perfect fit. Zenclosures Speaker Spacers

If you go with these be sure to make a note on your order that they're for a 370Z. One of the 3 mounting points for the spacer is pretty tight against the door panel and Mike will modify the bracket slightly to make sure that it clears it.

That is great info. Thanks a million. Bookmarked. I'll start ordering everything in about 2 weeks. I get about $1000 back from irs every year. Kind of a savings account if you don't mind them using your money all year. But it works for me. Now to get some ideas for a amp. WoofersEtc has some great deals on amps. I didn't know that Foose was involved in amps. I'm going to try to keep the amp to about a $200 limit if I can. Then get the HSK-165's. And I am going to get the Dynamat Xtreme Door Kit . Excellent. Thanks all.

hmmm so these spacers will work with the hertz 165's

Ronrizz used no spacers.....;) Fit 'em right in. But I bought without Blose

Ron I remember seeing you saying this before and have yet to understand how you did it. If I recall correctly when I tried to install the XL's without spacers the magnet butted right up against the window guide rail inside the door shell. This is also on a non-Bose, but perhaps I just didn't have the speaker positioned correctly.

It was extremely tight, for sure, but Juuuust enough clearance. Stance will need mounting plates because he should have 6x9's up front.

Well after much research I ended up getting the Focal 165FX's with the Focal Solid 2 Amp. I also took the advise of many to Dynamat the doors. I ordered the speakers Thursday from ABT in Chicago and and they arrived Friday. Free shipping. I also got the spacers from zenenclosures. They worked great. Just finished getting everything back together and it sounds nice. The factory speakers I pulled out were cheap crap. I couldn't believe it.
Anyway here is my question for anyone out there tonight.

On the Focal amp there are 3 controls
1 Gain - I can handle that
2 Crossover- HPF-FULL-LPF Not sure on this setting with my setup
3 FREQ- 50-150 HZ Not sure on this either

On the Crossovers I left them at the factory settings.
Tweeter=0db
Woofer=High

Thanks, Mike

Speakers look good man, those are some beefy spacers!

I'll let someone else handle the question you just posted, but FWIW, when we are talking about dynamat for the doors, it's the outer door skin you want to do. That's where the majority of the sound waves will be hitting, that's what's going to resonate the most, and that's what is going to improve your SQ most noticeably.

In order to do this, you need to remove the window glass from the door, then remove that metal piece you covered in matting. That will give you access to the outer door skin. The piece you did matting on doesn't resonate much, it's pretty heavy gauge and secured quite well. I'm not saying don't do ANY dynamat on it, but a couple strips is more than sufficient.

I realize at this stage this is hardly good news, but if you want to do it right, this is the way to do it. The FSM has all the details for complete door disassembly. For reference, here are some pics:

http://www.the370z.com/members/edcon...sasembly-2.jpg
http://www.the370z.com/members/edcon...or-dynamat.jpg

Wow, I should of done more research. I guess I just went by the Sticky in this Forum by Slik Nic. Going to have to be good enough for now. I'm spent working on this all weekend. But... when the weather gets nice I can do it up right. Thanks for your input.

When you have some time to kill:
Welcome to Sound Deadener Showdown | Sound Deadener Showdown

Everything you'd ever want/need to know about sound deadening and then some.
:tiphat:

Thanks I will check it out over my morning coffee.

Use HPF on your components and LPF on your sub and tune accordingly. Full allows all frequencies to pass through all your speakers. I'm sure Ron would be able to explain it better for you though

In reading over the thread again I notice that you have decided to run without a sub. If that's the case, you can certainly leave your crossover at Full, which will feed the components 20hz to 20khz. they are spec'd at 55hz to 20khz, if I'm not mistaken.
Typically your sub would handle the frequencies from 20 to 63hz, and your components will take over at 63hz to 20khz. Since you will be feeding your components frequencies lower than they are spec'd to reproduce, you may want to go easy on the gain control, so as to not overpower them in that range.
If you were to cross them at 63hz without a sub, you will be missing a few octaves below 63, which will bother you if you are picky.......

I suggest this.....Set your crossover HP on your amp at around 60 to 80hz. give it a listen. If it sounds good to you, leave it. If it sounds to you like it is missing something in the low end, switch it back to Full