What is Reddit's opinion of FAST Rings 6.5" 3-Piece Car Speaker Enhancement Kit?

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The foam rings are called Fast Rings. If you've already got the door apart, they aren't much added cost, and can help some. https://www.amazon.com/FAST-Rings-3-Piece-Speaker-Enhancement/dp/B016LFVKHY

Try running your current vehicle with the fader turned all the way to the front, so the back speakers are off, and see if you can live with it for a week. Some don't notice, others find the lack of fill in the rear troublesome. It's personal preference.

Update: Ive been reading around online and have found a common cause could be mixing + and -, so I tried just isolating the sound to one speaker and that didnt change anything.

If I turn the bass setting on the EQ up all the way I finally start to hear some lows, but its not normal.

I am thinking of buying some of these because there is definitely an awful lot of room in the doors I have and it could just be an awful setup at the moment.

In the meantime I appreciate other suggestions. I will probably get a tiny under the seat subwoofer as well...

You will find as you gain experience that it is not just this subreddit that hates Boss. Go on any car audio forum with experienced people and they will all tell you the same thing. Going through life you will figure out that spending hard earned money on things that don't deliver as advertised are a huge waste and inconvenience and should be avoided. Plus why support a company like that?? Now having said that you are where you are and all we can do is work to improve your set up and help you learn.

First figure out your goals and what you need to get there. I would recommend upgrading the front speakers and amping them. this will make the biggest improvement to sound quality after a headunit. Since music is recorded in 2 channel the rears are just duplicating the fronts. this makes them bad for sound quality as it muddies the staging and imaging. Fronts will get plenty loud to keep up with a decent sub stage.

>New speakers $150 - it feels wrong to have an amp that costs 3x more than the speakers themselves. I might be wrong about this? Idk There is no need to spend 3x's more. find an amp that does rated and will hold up there are several budget models that are reliable. Pioneer, Zapco, Phoenix Gold

>4 channel amp $100 - looking at Amazon (I know, not the best place to shop for audio equipment), I came to a conclusion that any 4 channel amp under $50 is going to cause alternator whine and not worth messing with. Anything 50-100 isn't as powerful as I'd like but some are doable. I think what I want is ~50RMS @ 4ohm.

I would recommend upgrading the front speakers and amping them. this will make the biggest improvement to sound quality after a headunit. Since music is recorded in 2 channel the rears are just duplicating the fronts. this makes them bad for sound quality as it muddies the staging and imaging. Fronts will get plenty loud to keep up with a decent sub stage.

If it were me I would sell the rear speakers. Save money until I could afford a decent set of front components. Something like these JBL. The best bet is to go to a few shops and listen to wha tthey have. Remember thought the shops will hav ethem amplified and could even have some processing going on so be aware of that. I would also invest in some sound deadening for the font speakers this will make an improvement to even the stock speakers. You could do Fastrings and Noico pretty cheap and make a big improvement to midbass 60 Hz and up.

>Edit: how is this? Can I plug this into the back of my stock head unit and push the stock wiring with it? How exactly does this kind of all amp work?

That amp is a glorified headunit amp. They are known to have issues and provide an unclean signal.

Amazon

here that should work

For $500 I would go:

Morel $150

Phoenix Gold $130

Amp Kit $40

Fastrings $25

CLD $25

Audio Control $87

Total- $457

Dream car or not everything can go to next install except cld and Fastrings.

If you are getting it all installed then just go to a few shops and get some quotes on equipment and installation. that way you will get the best deal possible. They will also be able to tailor everything to your tastes. Also they will be able to deliver full warranty on everything.

>Do I need to sound deaden everything?

The more you do the better the results. at the very least you will want to do some CLD in the doors with Fastrings Also depending on the sub stage you will want to do some in the trunk or hatch area.

>Do I need a second battery? Or alternator?

It depends on how big of alternator your vehicle currently has and how much power your new system will draw. most of the time you will not need to upgrade anything if you stick to 1000 watts or less but again if you only have a 70 or 90 amp alternator you might have to upgrade.

>Should I just upgrade the front two speakers instead of all 4?

Music is recorded in 2 channel so all you have is left and right signal. It is not surround sound like your home theatre set up. So the rears just replicate the fronts. If you want sound quality then you will want to start with only front speakers and an amp for them. This will make getting good staging and imaging easier. Rear speakers will muddy and draw that to the rear of the vehicle.

>How do I match the head unit to the speakers?

really the only you need to worry about is matching the ohm rating. the headunit will supply power at a 4 ohm load so you need 4 ohm speakers. Aftermarket speakers are designed around being used with an amplifier for the most apart so do not worry about power handling as headunits will not deliver enough power to tax the speakers.

>Is it even worth it to upgrade the head unit? How would I know which one fits?

Upgrading the headunit will make a big difference in sound quality. Most OEM headunits are pretty bad. You can go on Crutchfield and enter your vehicle, it will list all the headunits that fit your vehicle.

4 speakers and the headunit is tough for $300. Any aftermarket speaker will want to be amplified to get the most out of it. A headunit will only put out about 14 watts per channel so cranking will be limited. Also replacing factory speakers will most likely reduce midbass as oem speakers are designed to peak the midbass. So some work will be required on the doors to get sound quality significantly better you can do Fastrings and some SOund Deadener at a minimum.

If it were me I would replace Headunit, front speakers and buy a 2 channel amp. Still very tight budget.

Cheapest I would go headunit, speakers, amp. then you will need an amp kit, dash, kit, and other miscellaneous items.

That is terrible do not spend your money on it. Crunch, Boss, Pyramid are all the very worst of the worst when it comes to car audio. The Hertz will definitely sound much better than the stock speakers. You might lose some midbass since alot of OEM systems build in curves to boost low end. You can overcome this by doing some sound deadening. you can go cheap to start with using Fastrings to something more elaborate.

If you are not willing to go the traditional subwoofer and box route (which will make huge improvements and true sound) then I would look at the infinity.

It takes space to make bass.

A) 6.5" have better sound quality generally. You would have to spend more money on 6x9's to get them to sound good.

B) Sounddeadener you dont have to buy from them but there is a lot of info on the site about sounddeadening. fast rings Cheap and easy.

You can do 6x9 in the rear deck to get some bass. I would not get 3 ways as the midrange driver is to small to reproduce the required frequencies accurately. Just go 2 way.

I just installed these FAST rings and this sound deadening material and was surprised how much mid bass it added. I'll install this from now on with any speakers.