Car audio concept advice!

Car audio concept advice! - Anybody know the 09 Corolla door speaker depth?

I want to change the factory sound system to improve music clarity and dynamics, and add subwoofer bass. (The stock system goes louder than I need.) I don’t need the best, but I am looking for best value and I have been reading what people are saying is good, and trying to go in that direction. Friday I will go out and listen to car speakers, and there is a dealer in town for Cadence, which I am interested in most right now.

I have a 2009 Toyota Corolla LE with door component speakers. I plan to install a Cadence CWM-6 KIT with a 6.5” dia. mid, top mount 3” depth, and a 1” tweeter. Does anyone know if the speakers should fit? Judging from other forum threads I have seen, I am guessing they probably will fit with a spacer adapter (how thick?), I also want to put a XTC foam baffle in with a 1” diameter port to the inside of the door. I understand this baffle may subtract 0.5” to 0.75” from the 3” speaker depth. From the Crutchfield guide for this car it looks like it will take 2 11/16” depth at least.

Besides the Cadence speakers, I have been considering (in increasing cost order) the Infinity 6020cs, Infinity Kappa 60.9cs, Polk dB 6501, DLS C6A, Diamond Audio S600S and DLS R6A. All have non-metal tweeters in my attempt to avoid overly bright or harsh sound.

I am trying to stay with good sounding but high-sensitivity speakers (i.e. 92 dB to 94 dB) to keep power demand down, to stay with a small cool-running high-efficiency class D amp (like an Alpine PDX footprint) probably under the driver’s seat or under the rear deck. (I am not sure how to mount an amp under the rear deck since it is an uneven stamping and limited space between the speakers.) I want to try to keep the factory “big three” wiring stock until out of warranty – I don’t want any crap from the dealer if I have an electrical problem. I am guessing the amp should be about 75W RMS per channel 12v @ 4 ohms x 2 front and 300W RMS per channel 12v @ 4 ohms x 1 (or bridged) for the subwoofer. The subwoofer, from a previous car, is a JL Audio 12WO-4 rated 125W with 300W peak in a sealed JL enclosure. I am guessing the amp won’t demand much over half power, the headlights won’t dim and my power wiring can stay stock for now. I don’t know.

I want the system to be completely stealth (anti-theft) so I am staying with the factory (optional) 6-CD changer head unit for now. It has a lower cutoff about 40Hz for the front channels so they should be protected from low frequency damage in addition to the amp crossover. The rear channel speakers will be disconnected and the power routed to the high-level amp inputs (or line output converters or processor) for the sub. The sub is in the trunk. I don’t know whether to leave the rear speakers as kind of passive radiators or remove them so sub sound will get into the passenger compartment easier. Leaving them is easier.

In the future I may get a navigation head unit, but I need to research it and think of what I want out of it for connectivity options and features as well as near factory fit and appearance. I will run the RCA cables from the amp up to the head unit while I have things apart, for future expansion. The current factory head unit probably won’t take advantage of the quality of the rest of the system now, but in the future a quality NAV unit may really bring the system sound to life.

I have looked into processors, but they can add a lot of cost to my budget and complexity for what I am trying to do right now. I think I can get decent enough frequency response balance to the sound, out of an amplifier using the crossovers in the amp in conjunction with a (frequency variable?) bass boost control. I have not decided about sound deadening yet because it looks like it is a lot of work and money and weight. I am thinking of doing the front doors now while they are apart and waiting to see what else I want to do after I have it running for awhile. I am guessing these initial modifications will cost about $700, so that is my rough budget for now as follows:

Speakers: $90 Cadence CWM-6 KIT (factory outlet)

Foam baffles: $15

Amp: $450 High efficiency Class D, small footprint, line inputs or line output drivers – TBD

Amp wire setup: $100 - TBD

Speaker wire: $15

2-10’ RCA cables, Monoprice: $25

2 front doors sound deading - $100 TBD

Sub and Box – sunk cost

All comments and suggestions are welcome!

Hopefully this is sufficient information to work with. I can’t stay at the computer for instant responses but I will check in as often as I can. Make assumptions where need be.