GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Has anyone kept their original CD and added an amp and some woofers to it yet? If so, how does it sound?

Just finished up a bit of an upgrade to audio system with the stock 6 disc changer over the holidays. I removed the factory amp from under passenger seat and replaced with an Alpine MRV-F300S (older amp but good power and sound). At the head unit installed a soundgate LOC 4 line level convertor. Needed this to match up levels with the amp. These are a bit pricey but the sound is clean with great frequency response. The amp is powering a new set of JL Audio VR650CXi coax speakers in the front doors and a JL Audio 8.1 microsub in the rear hatch. I had to run new power wire from battery. 8 Ga. The stock power wire carried a lot of alternator noise when I tried it with the new amp, so it was pretty well useless. The stock head unit has a built in amp. Low power, but what i did was use the rear speaker leads to run the stock tweeters in the front doors. The rear door speakers are unhooked. I personally do not like sound that comes from bottom of rear doors. Just MY thing... anyhow what I can now do is use the fader on the radio to raise the soundstage a bit in front of car. Sounds a little confusing, but to me it makes for a bigger soundstage in the car upfront where I sit. Overall I am very pleased with sound. It can go quite loud and still stay crisp and clear. The sub is only an 8 inch but bass stays very tight (no big boom). The entire install took me about 2 days. (big learning cureve) If you search around on the forum there are plenty of pictures etc on how to remove doors, radios etc. cohocarl has done a great job of documenting alot, his info was priceless The only thing I can add is that if you want to replace speakers make sure you test for polarity. The colour coding on wiring harness's is a bit messed up. In my car the wires that left the stock amp changed colour somewhere in the car before they got to the speakers. Makes no sense to me but maybe a mix of GM and Toyota wiring harnesses in the car. Use a good voltmeter and you should be able to trace without a problem. Anyhow bottom line is any change you can make to stock system will yield an improvement.Cheers

I have the JLAudio XR650csi in front and the Coaxials in the rear. Right now using the Stock Amp. I had the same problem with the Color coding.I just ordered an Alpine 7894 Head unit and an Infinity Basslink Sub.I am not sure If I should just use the 27 watts RMS from the Apline, or hook the head unit upto the stock amp.

By the way to answer your question the amp is rated 200 watts peak. I don't know the RMS. My guess is somewhere around 20 Watts per channel.

I'm sure the stock amp would work OK. But if you can get an external amp that has good power to drive the JL's it will be better than the stock and/or the Alpine internal. MAybe bi-amp and run the tweets off the Alpine internal!!!Let me know how the Basslink sounds when you get it installed. I've read some good things about it.Cheers

thanks peeps....I have an appointment to get the work done in the morning, I will let you know what it sounds like, and how much the price in all was. I will just have 1 ten inch woofer, with some new woofer box that is out. (supposed to be really good, it is some kind of black shell on it.) the 2 factory tweets, plus 4 more. 2 in the middle and 2 in the rear. 400 watt Fultron amp...do you think that is enough for the VIBE? Let me know...

Can You tell me if you can play Mp3 Cd's in the Vibe ? I was hoping that the Cd player would handle Mp3 's for longer lasting music enjoyment.

quote:Can You tell me if you can play Mp3 Cd's in the Vibe ? I was hoping that the Cd player would handle Mp3 's for longer lasting music enjoyment.No, the Vibe factory CD-players are not MP3 compatible.

Yes, it does play MP3's, that is all I play. I guess some of you peeps are not making the CD's right. Or don't have good sofware to burn with. I use Nero 9.90 The latest....and the greatest.

I don't think that is what he means, or he needs to explain in more detail.If you copy MP3 files directly to a CD and attempt to play it in your factory CD-player, it won't work.If you use a burning software program (like Nero) and specifically create a music CD out of MP3's, then it will work.A true MP3 deck will play actual .MP3 files directly off a CD. You can possibly fit 300 .MP3's on a CD and play them in an MP3-compatible player.

Whoa! Are you making an audio cd? Is Nero converting your mp3 files to regular Audio ones? How many songs are you getting to an CD?

so he means, is he wants to make a data disc. On an audio CD, it depends on how long the song or how big?

quote:so he means, is he wants to make a data disc. On an audio CD, it depends on how long the song or how big? Right, on a true MP3 deck, you create a data disk full of actual .MP3 files copied to CD.An Audio CD uses the burning software and converts the .MP3 files onto the CD thus making it identical to a store bought CD.

okay, i understand what he meant now...thanks frost

I use Nero and i get up to depending on song lenght 16 to 18 songs on a cd

quote: The amp is powering a new set of JL Audio VR650CXi coax speakers in the front doors and a JL Audio 8.1 microsub in the rear hatch. Sorry to cut and paste, but I just asked the question about the JL's in another thread. So, they fit fine in the Vibes doors?? Cool.

The JL's fit fine provided you use the stock speaker basket as a spacer. About 1/4" clearance to the window.Cheers

Actually, I used the stock baskets initally, but was not thrilled with th e sound, So I bought a 1 inch spacer ring and used that. Sounds much better, well worth the $15. The stock basket seemed to muffle the sound.

Interesting. The spacer must provide a better connection to door, thus eliminating any resonances caused by the thin plastic in the stock basket. ie: better bass, clearer highs...I might try this myself - THX for the tip..

Thanks for the info guys.