Ok, I'm not into car audio as much as I used to so I'm kind of relearning some of this stuff. I want to get more volume to compensate for all the road noise and I'd like some more clarity while I'm at it. I'm not looking to rattle windows and I need to do some of this in pieces cause it is so dang expensive. I am not going to replace the stock stereo.
I went to Car Toys and they said I need to do an amp first. If I just do a speaker change, it will actually sound worse than it does now.
I went to Quality Auto Sound and they said to do the speakers first. They will be clearer over more range and it will sound clearer and with the added clarity, it will sound like it is a little bit louder but not much. I may lose some low end cause of the crossover though. And doing just an amp will just give me loud bad audio. They also said that although there isn't much power going to them, as long as I don't blast them, I won't blow them.
So, which do I do first?
Also, I listened to a set of Boston Acoustic 6.5 for the back doors and liked them in their booth. I listed to a set of Alpine (type R?) and they were ok but listened to a set of Premier for the front and liked them in the booth. Has anyone tried Premier 6.5 components for the front? Or the Alpines? IF I went with the speakers first, what am I looking at for sound if I went with either of these? Will the volume be lower if I just put the speakers in and no amp?

 

First off... don't replace your speakers first. I have an aftermarket head unit pushing more power and that alone made the factory speakers that I still use sound WAAAY better.

The PROPER way to get a much better sound is to install a subwoofer, pull your bass from it, and get your highs and mids from your interior speakers. The best setup to do is to put in components, with tweeters in the front pillars pointed diagonally toward the windshield to bounce the sound off and to the right locations in the car... but that takes a little bit of custom work to do it right and pretty.

I'm not picky about my sound and I don't look for boom... but here's how I feel about what you want to do.

I couldn't get highs worth a crap with the factory stereo. I drove a different Mazda 3 today with the same result. You don't specifically need new speakers for more clarity, and like you said, you don't need anything that would shatter windows or whatnot. I really suggest getting an aftermarket unit, but unfortunately you don't want to change the radio out for one.

If you want super duper duper clarity, then yeah, you'll eventually want to change out the speakers if just a new headunit doesn't work. Another thought could be to use an EQ if adding one with the factory radio is possible, though I'm not 100% that it is.

I just know that the factory radio was sorely disappointing to me and I got all the sound I needed with just a swap of radios. Only thing I wasn't satisfied with was bass... and I have a cheap little 10" 300w subwoofer and it works great.

And as far as price, just look in the right places and it wont be too bad. I got my head unit on ebay for, like... $150ish I think... and I got my sub, amp, and prefab ported box at a place in Houston for about $175.

 

as knucklehead11 stated the stock stuff sucks.. well actually ill give it compared to all other cars on the same level as the mazda3 its the best but it could be better for sure. but put a nice little 10 in there. and your set.

 

Any idea what the cost is for the wiring harness to hook up the steering wheel controls to the aftermarket deck? I have an '08 mazda 5, but should be pretty much the same as the 3 in this regard.

 

Thanks. It seems like I should get an amp first.