ive installed more than a dozen full systems by now...
and for most of the time...the system do not sound good right out of the box...
you have to play around with it...

i can tell you that with even the good alpine units out there...the internal xover isnt all quality...
once u push the HU to the point where signal clipping occurs..
it gets pretty bad...
theres even reports that alpine HUs sub preouts do not perform as claimed...

with all that said bout HUs....the reason why i suggested a budget active xover is because most have built in line driver...ull get better non clipping signals...and u get more precise tuning..
a lanzar 3 way xover can b bought for 50 bucks...
try that first b4 dropping another 300-500 for another HU...

yes...different HUs have different characteristics to sound...i dont doubt that...
but to improve what u have now...sound dampen the doors and try the settings first..


btw....i was thinking of going eclipse and nakamichi..
but im considering carputer now