Well, spent last weekend putting the full system in the B4000 and for a system built on a "budget" it sounds fantastic.

System includes:

Alpine CDA-9851 (transfer from old car)
Kicker KX 350.4 (refurb purchased from Car Domain for $150)
Infinity Reference 6000CS Components (Car Domain $105, model year end clearance)
Infinity Reference 1040w 10" Sub (Crutchfield $69 after $20 refer a friend discount)
Used Q-Logic Box (Ebay, $23 including shipping)
Sirius Satellite Radio Tuner ($99 - Crutchfield)
Alpine iPod Control ($99 - Crutchfield)
Knu Konceptz 4 gauge, 4 channel amp install kit ($37.99 - knukonceptz.com)
Misc. Speaker adapters, wiring harness, dash kit ($35-40ish Car Domain)

Total spent: Approx $650-$675 including shipping and tax where applicable

All parts purchased from authorized dealers so warranty is in effect.

My Review:

For the money, the infinity reference 6000CS are some of the best speakers I have heard, ever. It's tough to find a component set in that price range, let alone one that sounds great. I had never heard the 6000CS speakers in person and I normally wouldn't buy speakers without listening to them first, but in this case I was very pleasently surprised.

The sub hits hard and does exactly what I want to do, fill in the bottom end on the wide variety of music that I and my wife listen too. If you want harder hitting subs for just SPL look elsewhere, but in this case it's only getting 185 or so Watts RMS and that seems to be plenty for this sub. Don't get me wrong, it does hit when it's asked to, but for $69 it sounds fantastic.

The headunit, Alpine. Enough said. It's a middle lower end model from Alpine but I love. It doesn't have all the soundshaping tools that higher end units have, but the truck is primarily for my wife and she isn't quite as picky as I am so it suits our needs just fine.

The amp is clean, runs cool, and for the money was the best thing I could find.

There was even enough money left in the budget to get Sirius and the Alpine iPod control. I love the way the Alpine iPod control works. They nailed it. And we all know about Sirius. I love it and my wife got hooked on it from listening to it in my car so she wanted it for the truck.

The Full album of images can be seen here on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/surfergeek/sets/931096/

 

sweet....my "budget" stereo added up to be approx $1100.

 

yeah, I had a tough time keeping it in the budget, if I would have had to buy a new headunit and didn't find the refurb kicker amp it would have been a lot more.

Anything for my car under a "budget" would be like $1,500 to start. he he

 

how about some pics.

 

Taking pics today. :D

 

First post updated with pictures...

 

how do you like the tweeters mounted there i was thinking of getting a set of seperates (infinity 6x8's) but was unsure of placement of them.

 

The sound is nice, the proximity to the midrange is good, but depending on your component set you might want to knock the tweeters down on the crossover. This particular set allows you to adjust -3db on the tweeters and I am thinking about it.

The install was easy at that location and imaging is decent.

 

thankes getting ready to redo some of my system, new head unit,1/2 din eq, new front speakers and maybe another rockford amp to run my rears.oh by the way system looks good.

 

where did u get the radio bezel at thats sweet i have been looking for one in carbon fiber and i heard some of the mazdas came with one

 

Yup, it came that way with the car. We bought it used with 10,000 miles on it, but I am going to assume it came that way from the factory.

The bezel in my Mazdaspeed had the same finish on it.

 

Looks good and it was in a nice budget range too. Wish i would of had a budget for mine. Way to much money into it know.haha

 

Looks good, man. I bet it sounds damn good for the money! I've got more bass into mine than SQ right now, unfortunately (bass is always cheaper to start out with lol). My budget system consists of the stock speakers (distort at higher volumes with 19w RMS lol), a Pioneer DEH-1100 (low end Pioneer, like 19w RMS x 4) that I had lying around, a Pioneer GM5000T (380RMS x 1 @ 4-ohms, but AB amp so it runs hot, 2-year warranty though), and an Infinity 1230W SVC 4-ohm 12" sub (300RMS, 1200Max) in a custom 2.0ft^3 ported enclosure that I and a friend of mine built (nothing fancy, still not covered lol but cost about $25 in materials). It cost me a little less than $250, it sounds 10x better than stock, but it is DEFINITELY lacking in the high end frequency range. The 380RMS is plenty for me right now as the sub still sounds clean and it makes every panel in my cab rumble and the rear sliding window flex (I'm more into SPL, in case you can't tell lol!)

For the money, I love it! I'm (hopefully soon!) going to be getting some Infinity 5x7's (don't know whether Kappa or Reference, yet) powered by a JL 300/4 (if money permits). Once that's done, next stop is a new head unit and some Dynamat, and then making it all look as good as it sounds lol!

 

First, thanks for the kind words. :)

The 300/4 is a GREAT amp. I have a 300/4 and a 500/1 in the setup in my car.

However in the confined space of our truck cabs, You would be better off getting something nicer like components for the front doors and running your rears off of deck power. I'll be bridging my 300/4 into 2 channel mode and replacing my current components in my car with most likely a pair of Focals and running my rear doors off of deck power in the very near future.

You really want the sound stage to be in front of you. Still put something in the rear doors, but Save some money, get a 2 channel amp, and spend more on the front doors. You won't regret it.

The front doors in this truck are great because of the speaker placement they make it nice and easy to have an elevated sound stage as the speakers don't get blocked by legs in the cab.

 

Thanks for the advice! I was really thinking about doing that, spending more money on the front and get a 2-channel amp and then run nothing or the stockers in the rear off of deck power. I've never heard a setup like this before (hell I'm the only one of my friends who knows anything about cars, much less car audio! lol), so you can understand why I would be leaning more towards the 4-speaker setup. Hell, I guess I could give it a try, and if I don't like it, it's not like I can't sell the stuff and replace it later on down the road, though from what I've been reading it's the way to go. I think you've helped me make up my mind. Thanks again!

 

That's the way to go.

If you do get a nice amp and a good pair of components for the front doors, try fading your deck 100% to the front without the rears or run the rears at a very low level. In all likelyhood the stock rears will just muddy things up if you put a good pair of comps in the front doors.