G_H: Appreciate it!
And I couldn't agree more, the factory system is better than alot of others but definately benefits from some healthy nudging. Aye I understand what you mean, this is my daily driver... well it's my only car (I try not to drive around the city if I can help it) so it get's put to varied and sundry uses. If not for that I'd have yanked the back seats in a heartbeat!
GTS: I would say that dealer was surely thinking more about his pocket than anything else. These things are hardly junk - all joints are glued, sealed and screwed. I'm pretty surprised a retailer would bad-mouth Q-Logic, they've been putting out quality stuff for quite a few years. I'd be happy to put an Amp addendum up, heh who knows I may get a wild hair and do a full review on it.
I'll get some pics tomorrow once I've got some light outside, in the meantime the amp I'm using is the Sony XM-280GTX (
http://www.xplodsony.com/products/?C...Q&MD=XM-280GTX). It's an AB type amp so audiophiles may not like it much but it suits my purpose pretty well.
I'm still using the factory head unit (in dash six disc changer) - I'm still pretty happy with it and not having to find a location for a cd changer is really nice. If I can find a aftermarket multi-disc in dash unit that won't cripple my fun money fund I may upgrade but until then I'm sticking with the factory unit.
To be honest if the amp didn't have the adjustments it does it would easily overpower the rest of the speakers. The internal low-pass starts at 300hz which rendered every cd I tried unbearable. After I moved the amp to it's final home under the seat I tweaked it using the adjustments on the amp. Dropped the crossover down to about 120hz, set the bass boost (for signals under 40hz) to about 5db and dropped the input level down a bit it and it sounds great. It pushes the little 10's hard enough to feel it in your chest if ya crank it.
I've already upgraded the rear pillars to Sony XS-V6833's (
http://www.xplodsony.com/products/?C...rs&MD=XS-V6833) unintentionally... turns out those black grilles on the factory pillar speakers aren't supposed to come off, heheheh. I'd planned on swapping them out anyway just not quite this soon. I do plan on swapping out the doors as well - most likely with Sony XS-V1633's (
http://www.xplodsony.com/products/?C...rs&MD=XS-V1633). I'm not a cheerleader for Sony btw, they are just a known quantity and have a decent sound to 'em.
I'll post up the other info tomorrow. Again thanks to both of ya for the kind words, makes swapping the html for forum codes worthwhile!