SXT Sound System.... I'm lost

[ugotd8]

Hi guys. Great forum you have here. I just bought an '06 SXT that has the RAK unit (6-disc MP3). It also has the VES (DVD in the console facing rear). It has been literally years since I've shopped for audio equipment and I have to admit, I know very little about it. Here is what I do know, when I turn the stock system up loud, it sounds terrible, even with store bought CDs. I don't want window shaking bass, I just want clean sound with power. So, off to Best Buy I went. Guy tells me there is nothing usable in the stock system and I'll need a new head unit, amp, crossover, amp bypass (?), and all new speakers. Not what I wanted to hear. Off to another Best Buy and the guy listens to the system and says it's just my speakers bottoming out because of lack of power. He says a new head unit and an amp bypass are all I need. I'd really like to install the Kenwood DDX512 and as little as possible after that. So, finally, the question: can I just get the Kenwood and use the stock speakers and get the sound I want? Oh, and one other question: I'm pretty sure the stock system has 6 speakers, how would the Kenwood (which shows 4X50W) hook up to all 6 speakers? Please excuse my ignorance and thanks for reading.

[HemiLover]

Welcome aboard! The weak link in the factory system is the speakers, so hooking up the kenwood to them aint gonna do diddly. Try one step at a time if you're low on dough.....upgrade the speakers first, then if that doesnt do it add a 4 channel amp to power them, using a line level converter on your stock head unit.

[JamminWagon]

what you can do is basically my system minus the sub,



the HU powers the dash and the 4 channel amp powers the door & rears.

What stinks is that the BostonAcoustic (BA) has an outboard amp that is controlled by the HU via the CANBUS. This is the reason for the need of an adapter. The other thing is that the BS opps BA speakers are single cone and any coaxial would sound better. Another thing with the BA is that they are 2 ohm speakers. There are a few 2 ohm replacement speakers out there but the majority are 4 ohms. You wont really notice that the difference.

I started off with coaxial speaker replacements and it sounded like a totally new system. I swear the $19 Lightning coaxials at walmart would sound better than the stock speakers.