so far what ive done is put in 6 1/2 speakers in the back and 3 1/2s (i think, 3 and something for sure) and a JVC head unit to give them a bit more kick. they sound pretty good, but im not getting the base my buddys ES300 gets with his stock system. Also, when i crank it, it gets distorted.

So, ive moved on to thinking about a sub, planning on getting a 12" polk sub with their company box made for it, with their amp to power it. Im thinking this will take the bass off the speakers as much and let me get a better quality sound all around.

The other thing is, i have to fade to the rear speakers a bit and turn it up higher to get a good sound, at no fade, the rear sound a bit... weak maybe? is that normal? i know they go through an RCA but still, im not to keen on all this audio stuff.

So i guess my main question to you fellas is, am i doing it right so far?

 

Doesn't sound right..... Did you pay close attention to the + and - from the radio to all of the speakers? Are the rears wired to the radio or the facotry amp somehow?
Here's a few things to consider:
The polk sub is good (I used one in my Lexus), but for good sound quality you want your mid-range speakers to be putting out the right mid-bass sounds. Otherwise you have the highs (from tweeters) and lows (from the sub) and nothing inbetween to make it all balance out. The mids will not do any of the low, deep bass but they should be punchy if installed correctly.
I haven't messed around with the audio in my Audi, but I know that my Lexus had great mid bass (after I replaced everything) and it is due to the way they are built.... they are solid, and the door is sealed better than others so the speaker can "build pressure" and produce nice sounds.

I am sure others with more knowlege on the matter will chime in at some point.... good luck.

 

i had it installed at best buy, and he integrated the amp into all the speakers, if it helps

 

THIS^^ may be your problem right here. I'm no audio expert but I avoided taking my car to any of these box stores to have a so-called specialist install my car audio. There are plenty of horror stories to read about on the internet by now.

There are definitely adjustments one needs to make to the audio system when the speakers have been upgraded. As suggested above, try adjusting the treble, bass, and mids to balance everything out.

 

Well.... Best Buy wasn't the right way to start. But what's done is done.

Are you sure that they are running all of the speakers off of the factory amp or just the rears? What stereo was in before? Was it the Bose, Symphony? What year is your car? Speakers in the rear doors or back dash?

In my car, the amp is only for the rears (was only for the rears, it's removed and I don't have rear speakers)..... If they used that one little amp to run all of the speakers, the sound would never be right. You can't use a 2 channel amp to run more than 2 speakers and have it work right or sound good. You might want to figure that out first. If they did wire everything into that amp, you might better off buying a 4 channel amp and putting it in the factory amps spot and running all of the speakers off of it.

Having thought about it, I would recommend stopping in at a real car audio store and have them take a look/listen and see what they recommend doing. If I have an issue with an audio install (which is rare), that's the first place I go for opinions.

When you decide to do some more audio upgrades, try and resist the urge to go to the big box stores and take it to a professional.

I hope you get this all sorted out... I wish I had more to offer, but I had to promise my wife that I wouldn't do audio upgrades in this car, so I really don't know much about the audio and how everything is wired.

 

Just that has helped a bunch hah. Its a 2001, speakers in back dash. Im not positive if he ran all the speakers off the factory amp, im gonna have to find out. He said something about the back speakers going through RCAs and the front not doing that so maybe thatll clear things up? Im not too sure about what that necessarily means hah

 

It sounds like you have (had) the same stereo I have. The factory stereo sends power to the front speakers, and a "signal" to the amp in the rear which powers the rear speakers.
So you have:

RADIO--- speaker wires to front speakers
|
|
signal (RCA wire) to amp
AMP--- speaker wires to rear speakers

Assuming they wired everything correctly, you shouldn't be getting distortion. I would still suggest having a pro take a listen.

 

For sure, sounds good. It may even be the way i have the bass treble and mid set up. Like its more then just a +-6 to each one, theres frequencies and some Q something to deal with haha. But would you agree that a sub would give me a nice all around sound? I dont even wanna be the jackass that bumps the **** out of it, i just want it to sound nice like an ES300 stock system :P

 

A sub would be a good idea if you want a "fuller" sound... and subs don't always have to be over the top, shake everything and set off car alarms, etc. I had this one in my last car: http://www.polkaudio.com/caraudio/db/index.php?s=db1212
I LOVED it. It had such great range and sound quality, but it also had the ability to hit really hard if I wanted it to. I was only running about 350 watts (true watts, not peak.... pay attention to RMS wattage, not peak wattage when you shop). My amp came with the level control **** that I installed in the dash so I had the ability to turn the gain up/down on the amp, and my Pioneer receiver had the Sub Out control as well.... it was very easy to dial it in so it wasn't overpowering the rest of the speakers.... unless I wanted it to

Adding a sub will be a different sound than a Lexus ES300 though.... Depending on the year of his car, it has larger speakers than the A4 (front 6.5" rear 6x9") with the option of a 6" or 8" sub (can't remember).... they also have a factory amp that powers all of the speakers very well. The rears usually put out good bass for factory speakers, and that is most likely what you are hearing and like. A good quality sub/amp package will produce much lower bass (the rumble) and much harder bass (the punch) than any factory stereo will and you you will love it. You will need to have someone with knowledge adjust the settings for you and make sure that the EQ is setup right and that you are sending all of the low frequencies to the sub, the mids to the mids, and the highs to the tweeters.
Careful though, cause it gets addicting.

 

Your problem is that Polks LOVE power. I have 2 Polk 6.5" in my car running on 150 watts RMS a piece. The bass for 2 speakers is amazing and sounds like a lower powered 10"

Your JVC head unit is only going to put 20-30w RMS to the speakers so your clipping out the unit. Also I'd recommend looking into getting Bose front door cards so you can run 6.5" front speakers.

Basically your biggest problem is the head unit though. A 4 channel amp would do wonders and a 5 channel with Sub would do even better.