Thoughts On A Stereo Upgrade

[Mr. Jalapeño]

After tons of research, I've decided to partially upgrade my stereo system. I just need a bit of a boost...nothing extravagant or too expensive.
Here goes--

Diamond Audio M361I speakers.
Subaru Tweeters.
Kenwood w00x Subwoofer under the passenger seat (..good deals on eBay for these Subs).

I'm thinking of leaving the stock head unit and installing a small amp to help drive those speakers.
Here's where I'm not quite sure what to do, though. Any amp recommendations? What about keeping the stock HU...good or bad idea? I'll have it out anyway hooking up the Sub and the amp.

Any other thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[bajanut]

I was actually impressed with the HU for being a stock. Clarion makes a deasent sterio for subaru, not great or ausome, but adiquate. It depends on what kind of music you listen to. I listen to so many different kinds, from classical to pop to rock. For hip-hop, it is lacking on low end. I upgraded my HU to a Pioneer Premier DEH-P550MP so that I could play WMA and MP3 cd's and I also added the XM unit to it. I love it. I don't listen to radio at all anymore. Only XM, and hardly cd's anymore. It really picked up the entire spectrum a lot. I am only using the upgraded speakers with the tweaters and they are working great with it. No amp needed in my mind. I don't really blast it at all and the sound quality is clear and crisp.

The Sub, I installed a Clarion SRV303 and love it. It doens't put out a lot, but it makes the base notisable and that is exactly what I was looking for. When a good base song comes on, I crank it up and I can really feel it. I wish I had it installed under the drivers seat now, but I put it where the OEM one was so that my insurance company would cover it w/out extra insurance (it had to go where OEM was to be covered).

Ok that is enough rabmeling. If you want a extended review of them, I can PM you.

Some pages with photos that I have taken of my subaru:
http://wgz.org/bmeyer/pic/Subaru/baja/Subwoofer
http://wgz.org/bmeyer/pic/Subaru/baja/GPS
http://wgz.org/bmeyer/pic/Subaru/baja/mispics
http://wgz.org/bmeyer/pic/Subaru/baja/cap
http://wgz.org/bmeyer/pic/Subaru/baja/
http://wgz.org/bmeyer/pic/Subaru/

[Mr. Jalapeño]

Thanks for your thoughts, Ben. Very helpful.
I'll pay particular attention to the part about putting the Sub under the driver's seat rather than the passenger's seat.
Appreciate all of the links to those photos that you posted, too.

[BajaBear]

Hey BajaNut-how do ya like the ARE cap? Does it affect your blind spot or block your view when parallel parking?

[bajanut]

I love my cap. It really makes it easy to through things in the back and feel that they are at least a bit more secure. I have it tied into the keyless entry system so it makes it easier to get in and out. The only down side is that it does not have the best visiability. I have gotten used to it, so parellel parking isn't a issue, nor is anything else. I have put some concave mirrors on the sides and all is good. The windows on the sides are just enough to see out of to see if there might be a car there, but not where. The visibality out of the back is a little reduced by the lock for the window, but I have gotten used to it. I have been thinking of getting one of thoes stick on concave stickers to put back there, but haven't found one that i would be willing to put there.

[Cowtown Dave]

Has anyone done the Subaru Tweeter install? Easy hard? I have the factory single CD and was just going to upgrade speakers??

[Pow]

Has anyone done the Subaru Tweeter install? Easy hard? I have the factory single CD and was just going to upgrade speakers??

Adding the Subie tweeters is cake. I think they come with the instructions but if not it is really just a matter of pulling off the existing blanks (posts on the plates held in place by rubber grommets IIRC), connecting the tweeters to the wires that exist behind the blanks (simple plug n socket), seating the speakers into the grommets and then placing the grill over the speakers. Gotta be one of the easiest upgrades to do on a Subaru.

Just did an upgrade from my stock rearview mirror to the new Homelink/auto-dim/compass unit. I found some grey areas as to if this would work so I've documented my install. I'll toss a write-up on here at some point in case anyone else is interested.

-Pow