Originally Posted by vettegood

Ok, after many years of procrastination and one unsuccessful $1500.00 upgrade 1 year ago, I finally decided to bite the dust again and try to upgrade.

I was very disappointed with the first upgrade pretty much just switched speakers put 2 6" kicker subs in back and changed out the door speakers with 2 ohm infinite 6.5 " and new Hertz tweeters in side windows. This was a catastrophe it was professionally done. I also had sound deadener skin placed in doors and trunk (that was good improvement)1500 bucks total.
Ok, I went to another guy here in Scottsdale, AZ that I trusted and asked and questioned him about what he would do. He is extremely knowledgeable, patient and considered one of the best in the business by his peers ands expert installer. His name Don, owner of Soundwerks "only the Scottsdale Road and south of Oak street Location", NOT THE Phoenix location it's terrible(really bad) Two different business owners, same name!

Here's what we did first ( when I say we, I really mean he, I just paid!) New amp JL Audio 700 watt 5 channel, I wanted to leave the original head unit so we used a product called Clean Sweep made by JL Audio. It is meant for people to keep factory head units and clean the signal from it thru the factory amp to new amp it uses a CD to process 132 different band widths and clean and strengthen the signal. Keeping the original head makes for a cleaner install and no visual changes to the car plus you keep all the features for tuning.

Now we removed the kicker subs and place full range JL Audio 6.5" C2's in rear, replaced front door lower speakers with JL Audio C3's w/tweeters and crossover added a ipod connector, we also stayed with the hertz upper door tweeters and the original 3" in dash. We did tuning of the system with resistors and the amp configurations.

I am finally happy with XKR sound! Great imaging and lots of sound from everywhere, including the back area with beautiful music! Always felt the sound only came from dash board area before.

The cleanSweep is really a terrific piece of equipment (fairly new technology, about 3 years) and of course the rest of the JL speakers are terrific as well.

Oh yeah I forgot one thing actuallt saved the best for last, "the biggie" we built a wood and fiberglass box and placed a 8" JL subwoofer in the front passenger foot area, that is the Coupe de' Gras to the system now it has depth along with clear clean Hi's, Mid's and Bass.

The subwoofer placement is great, front passenger foot area only takes away about 5" of foot room but when you put seat all the way back you'd have to be 6'3" or more to notice. No unnatural metal vibration just clean sub woofer base sound and none of this upgrade is seen in cab or trunk.

The new amps fit right in the side amp compartment in trunk and all looks no different than original OEM equipment but the sound is definitely NOT OEM, it is as good as a medium high end home system maybe even better. Top down windows up and the extra watts make it so you cannot hear wind at 75 MPH just smooth unadulterated music.

I really like the ipod experience as well (my first one) takes a bit of getting use to but worth the versatility and sound quality which is actually a little better than original CD unit with zero skipping on bumps.

I am in Arizona and have talked with at least 7 professional installers and Don is the only one I trusted to do this upgrade, found out the first upgrade installer company did the speakers incorrectly with double crossovers and out of phase wiring, a huge waste of money 1500 bucks!

This upgrade was not cheap but it is GREAT! 3K, but now I am finally happy so it is absolutely worth the money.

My 2001 XKR has been almost completely refurbished and plan on keeping as daily driver for some time to come. 85K miles and a 9.5 out of 10. New leather interior front and back seats and door panels, new convertible top, new wheels, new paint (Roman Bronze, best color ever!) Many mechanical issues repaired, Chains and tensioners etc. My after market warranty has been berry, berry good to ME! all in the last year, so this is why I decided to finally upgrade stereo and I'm sorry that was not the first thing I did .

Sorry for the lengthy description, but if anyone is planning on doing upgrade this is the way to go, JL Audio equipment with CleanSweep new amp and new JL Audio speakers with accompanying subwoofer and enclosure with ipod ( I thought of doing a Sirius radio addition but CD'S or ipod are great for me).

If you decide to upgrade do not try to skimp it is a waste of money and you will be sorry and disappointed in the long run, much cheaper to do it right the first time around. Hope this thread does not fall on deaf ears!!. I'm off to Itunes..