Well...the time is near to turn my audi back in. I'll be purchasing a 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid this time around. No lease this time, so I'll be able to play with the audio. I have ZERO knowledge in car audio. Anyone here have any suggestions on how to bring better sound into the new car?

Wow Craig, didn't see that one coming! From an A4 to a Civic Hybrid? Sorry, man.

LOL! Just kidding - giving you a hard time. Those hybrids are pretty neat cars.

The claimed interior noise level of the Civic at highway speeds is 66db. This seems exceptionally low, and is in the realm of what luxury cars were achieving not that long ago. This is a good thing.

The key is to be able to hear the quiet passages of music (which will need to be above 66db), and yet not distort when the dynamic part kicks in. This means good separate amplification for all speakers, as well as a quality sub.

Because of all the different materials at all different angles, the reflections and absorbtions in a car are huge. You will NEVER get a nice flat response curve. Depending on how fussy you are, you may want to add a parametric EQ and pay someone to "EQ" the car to smooth things out.

The one issue I can see is the amount of trunk space you require for trips with Roger & Mr Bear. The battery pack for the Civic's IMA is sandwiched behind the back seat. This is normally where the sub box and amp "rack" go. Both these things take up significant trunk space. Just something to consider.

Also, I know that the Accord hybrid has an Active Noise Cancellation system that is integrated into the factory stereo. This makes it nearly impossible to swap it out. Years ago, the Civics alarm system was tied into the stereo as well. I couldn't find anything on these things in the new Civic, but you may still want to ask the dealer.

Hope this helps.

I read some nice things about these. Any thoughts? What else would be required? Like I said, car audio isn't my thing.

I did an overhaul on my car audio a few months back. I didn't go with (but will possibly add later) a sub, but just wanted something better than the paper-coned speakers and a new "head unit" (radio)...

I swapped out the speakers first since they arrived first, and honestly, I didn't notice a LOT of difference. It was better, but not great.

The biggest improvement came when I swapped out the head unit for a better one. WAY less distortion on the low end and at higher volumes.

So then I thought, did I need to swap out the speakers at all???? So one Saturday, I put the factory speakers back in. Nope. They are junk compared to the new speakers. I guess when you have junk speakers, you can put in a junk radio at the factory. Then no speaker sounds really good. But if you replace the junk head unit with a really good one, it will make good speakers sound great, and the junk speakers at still junk.

With that said, the sound was still better with the factory speakers and new head unit over anything with the factory head unit. So the biggest improvement should come from a new head unit, unless you are lucky and the head unit in your vehicle is top notch.

When I was looking to replace my gear I started looking here and here. There is a lot of good info to be had on these two forums.

Good one Wid. Those are very good links.

Here ya go. http://forum.elitecaraudio.com/index.php

The guys that chat on the SQ competition forum are all audiophiles. That is where I go for advice when I install a new system. If you are just looking for something loud, the guys at spl competition forum will hook you up.

No matter what speakers / electronics you buy, you’ll need to dyno-mat everywhere you can (with close attention to the speaker locations). Most of the time, that will make just as much of an improvement as new gear.

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