Hey Guys. I'm finally almost ready to install in a car after owning my Empeg for 12 months (thats how much it impressed me!).

What amp (thats easy to get in UK) do you recommend for a Mk2a in a 99' Civic VTi Coupe? I'm on a bit of a budget so no £600 deals! Totally stock speakers etc. I'm going to remove the CD player that came with it so hopefully I can just swap the units.

Is it worth getting expensive speakers? Would I even notice the difference from El Cheapo stock speakers?

I've found ebay pretty good for second hand amps. Recently bought a Rockford 800a4 for £200 - that's a pretty powerful amp that originally retailed around the £500 mark. Stick to the big names and you can't go far wrong. My rule of thumb for prices of second hand stuff is about 50% of original retail.

As for speakers, it's definitely worth changing the stock ones ! Infinity & Focal seem to be the current vogue, all depends on your budget really. I'm assuming you're in the UK, if so InCarExpress come recommended.

Steve.

Site looks good. I'll have a browse, thanks.

Even cheap after market speakers will be much better than your stock speakers (in most cases). It amazes me that many manufacturers fit fairly sophisticated enclosures and then put absolute cheapest of the cheap drivers in them.

Rob

But if the stock speakers sound ok to you, you can probably make a bigger difference for your money by adding a single 10" subwoofer.

YES!

This Kicker Amp is on sale. Not sure how good their amps are...but they seem to be decent.

In reply to:

---

But if the stock speakers sound ok to you, you can probably make a bigger difference for your money by adding a single 10" subwoofer.

---

Preach it brother !

I'm no expert, but after many installs, if your on a budget, I would suggest the following :

1. Amp up the stock speakers with a high pass filter to block the low frequencies which the stock speakers will struggle to produce. (most amps these days have this level of filtering built in)
2. Power up the single 10" sub to fill the low frequency hole caused by (1)
3. As you are in a a smallish car, I would recommend disconnecting, or fading way out, the rear speaker volume.

I would say this this is the cheapest / easiest way of improving your system, but others on the board will provide better advise if necessary.

I have run cheap brand but high power amps set to a low gain, and got life of 5+ years, so I would recommend this route personally. This would allow you to divert most of the cash to a decent make sub woofer, which is important.