jimmybob

Well it's that time for me again. Had some major hail damage on my 2002 Civic so Autopac wrote the car off and gave me a good settlement. As a result I will be receiving a new 2012 Mazda 6 at the end of the week Having been away from the car audio thing for awhile I could use an opinion or two on a system - nothing fancy with emphasis on SQ and stealthiness. My budget is around the 1500-2000 mark and after a few hours (days?) of searching online I'm probably more confused than ever. So with that in mind....

Head unit:
Narrowed it down to either the JVC KW NT300 or the Clarion NX602.
They have very similar features, both have a rotary ****, and are in the same price bracket. Again, as SQ is my main concern, the JVC seems to win as far as flexibility (more eq options, time alignment), but the Clarion has had some great reviews on it's stellar pre amp section as well as 4V outputs compared to the 2.5v on the JVC. Opinions? Other options?

Speakers:
Polk MM6501 or ?????
The reviews seem very positive and the 1" SD tweeter should fit nicely in the factory sail panels. This part has me the most perplexed. JL, Diamond Audio, MB Quart, the list goes on and on, and in my experience listening in a showroom has been no help to me in determining whether they sound good in the vehicle. Any an all opinions welcomed

Amp:
JL Audio XD700/5 or Polk Audio PA D5000.5
Keeping with the stealth/simple concept, would like to go with a one amp solution. I'm not looking for SPL, just some nice tight bass with a little thump once in awhile. I'm also going to bi-amp the front comps (no rear fill), so I don't need a ton of power for those either. Good idea? Bad?

12" Sub:
Polk Audio MM1240DVC
Probably the most certain part of the system. I plan on building a custom FG enclosure in the corner of the trunk. It works well in smaller enclosures and has a fairly shallow mounting depth so it should work nicely.

Nothing is set in stone and having been away from car audio for awhile has left me pretty uncertain on my choices. My last car was an ongoing experiment and I really don't want that to happen again. So all opinions good or bad on my selections are welcome and feel free to call me crazy

Athanatos

clarion has some nice decks, but what made me not use them in my van is the phonebook feature via bluetooth, now I am referring to the older nz/nx series decks, that it had to be reinitialized every time you re-powered the deck, for the kind of work i do and the amount of people that i talk to every day it is quite annoying (phone has around 900 contacts) i can't be bothered in wasting time for that issue

now if you are concerned with SQ as well around the same price (even cheaper at crutchfield and amazon) there is the kenwood DNX6990HD with 5v pre outs and 80 ohm impedence, plus they use garmin gps technology with navteq maps (updates are more frequent compared to the other brands)
it also has a nice some other nifty features just read them in the manual http://manual.kenwood.com/files/4f98c9f920466.pdf

edit

also forgot, don't need any bypass relays or cable movement to use the gps/dvd video, just ground the parking brake signal wire and bob's your uncle

jimmybob

Thanks for the reply. The Kenwood looks like a nice receiver, and having owned a one of the higher models a ways back (5v outputs as well), I can attest to the good SQ it possessed. Price wise it seems more money than the other two I listed (I can actually get Clarion through work), but I'll give the link to the manual you listed a read - it might be worth the few extra bucks.


The JVC appears really easy to bypass the PB like the Kenwood- Clarion needs a special relay for about thirty bucks - not a great deal of money, but it is one more thing than can potentially cause me grief down the road.

SQmonster

iTrader: (2)

Clarion does not equate to sound quality, unless you spend $2k on the deck.

Kenwood makes Excelon for their SQ product. It works very well.

mommjomma

Also to add that the Clarion NX602 has unofficially been recalled due to many problems that theJapanese are trying to figure out. Clarion whould get out of the head unit business, they are all junk. Clarion does make great ampliers and subwoofers though!!!!

JohnnyRock1588

iTrader: (22)

I'd second the kenwood over clarion all day everyday.
Really never was a fan of anything clarion ever did besides their high end drz units.

jimmybob

Excellent feedback, just what I'm looking for. I'll be in the big Peg on Saturday, so I'll head over to Advance to check out the Kenwood - Visions stocks the JVC unit by the looks of things.

Any thoughts on the speakers/amps? Not looking for crazy expensive, but I like natural sounding/smooth speakers (had a set of kickers with titanium tweets - my ears are still ringing). The amp is another question mark (class D) - I've read they are much improved compared to the first models as far as full range use, but are they as good as the A/B for SQ? Been out of the loop for awhile as I've been using the same 4 channel since forever (Alpine MRV-F303).

Athanatos

The only thing I can comment about the speakers is on the polk not sure on that model line but I've used the en drive line (the 2 way passive kit) in my old truck and they sounded pretty good running off the deck itself, there are for sure better but in the end you have to listen to them yourself and make.your own judgement call

mommjomma

Check out the Audison SR5, a great 5 channel that ive seen as low as 399. While your at it you can have a listen to the Audison AVK6 components that ive seen as low as 349. With the 5 channels available you can bridge it to 3 channel for more power with passives or go 5channel front, rear and subwoofer, or 5 channel with subwoofer, midrange-midbass, and tweeters using the electronic filter built into the amp and not use rear speakers or power them with the deck amplifier

jimmybob

Advance stocks the Audison line so I'll have a look at those as well. I was thinking of b iamping the front speakers (passive on the tweets, active through the head unit on the woofers), and using the internal amp to power the stock speakers in the back. I like the sound without rear fill but with this setup I can switch the internal amp on/off if say I have rear passengers.

Damn, this stuff is a slippery slope, the more I delve into it, the higher the budget is getting