[hella356]

Well just got my 2016 Avalon, love the car but the stereo is completely stock. No amp but sounds ok. I still have my Aoto 6 that I pulled from my other car. I have $500 gift card from work for Amazon. I can build and wire anything but lack the knowledge of selecting good components. Can I put together something that sounds decent for only 500? Do I swap out the head unit? Do I keep the tweeters in my dash and go component? If I build my own sub box, what size of speaker? And do I look for a 5 channel amp or separate and get a sub amp? Thx!

What's an Aoto 6? Head unit?

If my entire rig got stolen, and I had a hard $500 limit, I'd be looking at the classifieds here, along with Craig,s list and similar. But with a hard $500 Amazon gift card budget to work with, I'd go with one of the Power Acoustics integrated DSP/amp combos. Probably the 5 channel. A bit clunky, way overrated power rating, but sufficient output. $215 on Amazon, leaves enough $ for some decent tweeters & midwoofers, some deadener, possibly squeeze in a sub driver, as well. Having gotten used to fully active + DSP, I can never go back - so I'd be looking for the cheapest way to retain that. It may be that there are more effective ways to quality sound for that budget, though.

Thread about the 4 channel version of DSP amp

 

[hella356]

I forgot about the Amazon thing. I know a couple that run the power acoustic dsp and they say it works.
I heard one about a week ago but the install was horrible and there was noise. But it was an active set with no protection on some nice old f1 alpine tweeters and they have been for a while now with no problem. So if they can do it you probably do it.
I think I'm about to grab one to try out.

I talked a buddy into trying the 4 channel. Good results so far with minimal tuning work. Has a huge van, so went with 4 channel version & external sub amp in case he needed more sub power. Another friend with a mid-2000s Hyundai Elantra has expressed interest in upgrading on a budget - for that small car, I'll give the 5ch version a go, as the sub output on that one is likely in the 200-300W range, which should be sufficient.

It ain't a competition-level device, but thus far it's worked a treat for dirt cheap. AFAIK it's the cheapest entry into active external DSP with amps.

 

[hella356]

Sorry, a small wideband to take the place of a cheap tweeter.

I have no experience with widebands, but from what I've read, that definitely can be an option.