Thanks for the advice. For clarification, I do NOT have a bose system. I have a 6 speaker system in my car right now. With that in mind, do I really have 8" speakers by the front door? Threads before this state a 5 1/4" stock speakers. Based on what you said, a component system for the front with tweeters on the dash sound like a good idea. Should I stick with just coaxial 2 way speakers for the rear door or get component system also?
And I'm a little confused about the sub part. I understand that the kicker hideaway sub will probably not produce the best bass that I want. I should get a 5 channel amp with a bass tube?
As for installer, I'm not quite sure about best buy... yes they have a warranty but I have never heard a positive thing about them. The guy down the straight is a one man team, but as per reviews he offers solid work and his own lifetime warranty. You're right it might be better to go to a bigger shop around my area, but I am a little skeptical as they seem to just want money instead of providing quality service.
Thank you for the clarification. Not having the BOSE system makes things much easier.
The Non-BOSE system should consist of the following:
Front Dash: 3.5" midrange/tweet in dash
Front Door: Oversized ~5-6" speaker midrange/woofer (does not act as a sub)
Rear Doors: full range speaker
The headunit powers everything, and is probably 10-20 Watts RMS. Hooking a 4 channel amp into it can easily be done with a 4 channel hi-low line out converter or choosing an amp with a decent speaker level input.
Now you have a bit more wiggle room. The big decision between speakers comes in the fronts. The backs are find being coaxial, they are fill. For those chose whatever model is closest to your front speakers. 85% of what you "hear" comes from the front, the backs are just fill.
As far the fronts of 2 Coaxials versus 1 component set, it really depends on simplicity / versus overall output. Here is what I mean in options:
Front Options:
Option 1: Dash: 3.5" coaxial, Door: 6.5" Coaxial (this is the size that fits with a premade adapter you can easily buy)
This setup is going to perform best on a 4-channel amplifier. The factory radio or even a basic aftermarket don't have enough power to make this setup sound good. Also consider that your Ohm load may become to low for a radio alone. Overall, the sound level would probably be louder than the component approach. That being said you will have effectively 2 extra tweeters to keep in mind for your sub level choices. To keep things sounding even you would need a slightly bigger sub over the Kicker Hideway
Option 2: Dash: Component Tweeter, Door: Component woofer (same not above)
This setup is much simpler and leaves the greatest room for expansion. This setup can perform OK on radio power alone, but would be much better with some form of amp. If you truly want to go stealth, that make small 4-channel hidden amps (an example would be the Alpine KTP-455U) that are good for boosting radio power. The main problem here is that step, whether or not to go with an amp. You can always add one later if you need more volume/range.
There are two things to look out for in component speaker choices. Some have external crossovers, some have inline crossover. How the car should be wired now is that somewhere in the car the dash speaker is wired in parallel with the door woofer. This is good for speakers with in line crossovers (Alpine SPE-610C for example) as you can just wire the woofer in the door, and wire the tweeter in the dash easily.
If you choose one with a separate crossover, you have to find a point the vehicle to mount it and run whichever wire is connected to the tweeter, and the other connecting to the woofer. Coaxial speakers for example if you look at them have typically inductors/capacitors soldered on to the speaker, this serves the same purpose hence when you can get away with 2 coaxials if you choose.
Sub choice the Kicker hideaway is good if you go the amplified route, but it falls off quickly once you throw in a 4-channel. Luckily the fact that this is a CUV means you do not have to overcome a trunk. They also make larger self powered boxes if you wish which give a bit more. You do not need anything terribly large for this.
A 5-channel gives you the best of all worlds and gives you the most power to work with. Clarion makes a silly small 5-channel you could use which would work for the setups we spoke of.
Smaller shops are ok as long as they have a good warranty and give you the time to go over how they would do things and why. (For example why build a speaker adapter when you can buy them for like $12)
I worked for BestBuy for 8 years and I know why the bad reviews. There are some REALLY TALENTED installers at BestBuy buy that company will f#$% you over hard. A lot of folks loose confidence and just come in to do their job and nothing more. They are also really crunched for time and assistance as they are expected to install and be a sales floor person at the same time.
Let me know if you need anything else.
