Car AudioCar audio related questions and helpful hints for building the best sound system for your car or getting the most out of what you have.
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Hey all, I'm lookin to upgrade my all original RS (which includes the tape player, and all original speakers. . which still sound great by the way) and I have about a 300 dollar budget. I want to atleast get new rear 6x9's. . . would that be the best option for the rear? I know multiple speakers are supposed to fit back in those holes. . . but I've been told 6x9's would give me the best sounds. . . if so though, which ones would you recommend for a good mid-range. Also. . . head unit wise. . . I know I could search but they are ever-changing and I wanna get the best one for the money. I'd like to spend about a hundred for 2 6x9's and about 200 or so on a head unit.
Which brands and models would you all recommend? MP3 playback is necessary. . but I'm not worried about ipod hookup and all that crap.
hi, OhioRS and welcome to thirdgen.org i'm in the same sutuation as you. for a head unit you should be able to find a good pioneer at bestbuy or circuit city for under $200, that what i'm looking for. as for 6x9's you should be able to find some decent ones for that price just make sure the magnet is not too big cuz it may not fit in your car.
hi, OhioRS and welcome to thirdgen.org i'm in the same sutuation as you. for a head unit you should be able to find a good pioneer at bestbuy or circuit city for under $200, that what i'm looking for. as for 6x9's you should be able to find some decent ones for that price just make sure the magnet is not too big cuz it may not fit in your car.
Heya. . thanks for the welcome Great site here. I guess I just wanted the most bang for my buck. . . ya know? There's a ton of cd players to choose from, but a lot of them just have useless features I'd never use. I want mp3 playability, a set of preamps, a nice brightness, but not annoying at night. . and a good sound =) As far as 6x9's. . what brands and models will fit right in?
Get a head unit that has a USB plug, get an external hard drive, then you can store all your MP3s that way, with no discs to swap, etc.
I've got a great Pioneer CD player, but I wanna sell it, and use the $ towards a USB plug unit. I never listen to broadcast radio anyways. Just can't find a MP3 only head unit that doesn't have broadcast receiving capability.
Its a brand new company out of japan i think. They can produce the stuff dirt cheap, so you get it from them without the middle man markup. Because theyre new, they dont have alot of stuff. Mostly just decks and head units for now, no speakers yet. Im getting the 79.99 grey one, MP3-391, says BABY ANN on it. Its cheap, it matches closely the colour of our dashes, and i love the design and features and most of all the price. 60W !!!!!! RMS!!!! Thats unheard of.
Look under CAR IN-DASH. Keep scrolling down. The best deals are the ones with screens.
Dollar for dollar you can't do better then a Pioneer.
__________________ Now I HAVE_A_Z
89 IROC 350 TPI
98 S10 ZR2
86 H-D Sportster
"My favorite color is the radio..."
"The voices agree with me!"
Friends don't let friends install car stereos.
Stick with something from a well known company like Pioneer, Kenwood, Alpine, etc. Sometimes it's tempting to get one of those unknown flea market brands with a million features for less money, but there's a reason that it costs less. Most of that stuff is cheaply made korean or Chinese junk that simply won't last, and quite often, won't function properly from day one. With a Pioneer or a Kenwood, you're getting a good, reliable unit that may not have a million bells and whistles, but will sound good and will function properly.
For speakers, that becomes more subjective, but for that reason, good quality is even more important. 6x9s will be the easiest fit, and at your $100 price point, will likely sound as good as anything else. If you want to step up to some higher quality, then moving into a good quality pair of 6.5" component speakers is the way to go.
Stick with something from a well known company like Pioneer, Kenwood, Alpine, etc. Sometimes it's tempting to get one of those unknown flea market brands with a million features for less money, but there's a reason that it costs less. Most of that stuff is cheaply made korean or Chinese junk that simply won't last, and quite often, won't function properly from day one. With a Pioneer or a Kenwood, you're getting a good, reliable unit that may not have a million bells and whistles, but will sound good and will function properly.
For speakers, that becomes more subjective, but for that reason, good quality is even more important. 6x9s will be the easiest fit, and at your $100 price point, will likely sound as good as anything else. If you want to step up to some higher quality, then moving into a good quality pair of 6.5" component speakers is the way to go.
Well thats fine, but lets not forget Japan, they have some pretty good technology coming out of there, and quite frankly theirs is more advanced than some of the stuff the US produces.
However, some ppl cant always afford to go the route where you buy the top of the line $300 deck. These ones have the bells and whistles, and cost less than half the price. MY freind bought a $500 DVD player with 7" LCD screen, where as the name brand at best buy sells for $1800 on boxing day.
As for quality, its a deck, youre not offroading with it or anything. My freind has had his deck for a little over a year now in his truck. He had pioneer deck before, with JL audio speakers all around from the previous owner. He upgraded with this DVD player, an amp from rockford fosgate and a 10" sub, and i dont know if its any better than the pioneer, but the quality definately didnt go down.
If youre hung up on who produces what, and always beleive dishing out the big $$$ will ALWAYS get you good quality, then i respect you opinion, but deals exist too.
However if u are looking to only get a certain brand, but cant dish out the $$$, do what i did, buy a used one. Those things depreciate like crazy.
Well thats fine, but lets not forget Japan, they have some pretty good technology coming out of there, and quite frankly theirs is more advanced than some of the stuff the US produces.
However, some ppl cant always afford to go the route where you buy the top of the line $300 deck. These ones have the bells and whistles, and cost less than half the price. MY freind bought a $500 DVD player with 7" LCD screen, where as the name brand at best buy sells for $1800 on boxing day.
As for quality, its a deck, youre not offroading with it or anything. My freind has had his deck for a little over a year now in his truck. He had pioneer deck before, with JL audio speakers all around from the previous owner. He upgraded with this DVD player, an amp from rockford fosgate and a 10" sub, and i dont know if its any better than the pioneer, but the quality definately didnt go down.
If youre hung up on who produces what, and always beleive dishing out the big $$$ will ALWAYS get you good quality, then i respect you opinion, but deals exist too.
However if u are looking to only get a certain brand, but cant dish out the $$$, do what i did, buy a used one. Those things depreciate like crazy.
Some good points there, but I'll say this... good stereo equipment almost always costs $$. 9/10 times, the price is where it is because it's worth the money. In my opinion if you can spare $300, buy the best $300 unit you can... but do yourself a favor and get some decent speakers and possibly an amp or you will just be flushing money down the toilet.
I have been very happy with this. Best features I could find for the money. I installed this in my GTA. Has wired remote so I could get the adapter to use my steering wheel controls. Sounds great. Never had a problem with a Sony product. Plays MP3, AAC, WMA and ATRAC3plus.
I also have to recommend Crutchfield. They may not be the rock bottom cheapest, but with the free stuff they give you, the install is painless.
Well thats fine, but lets not forget Japan, they have some pretty good technology coming out of there, and quite frankly theirs is more advanced than some of the stuff the US produces.
However, some ppl cant always afford to go the route where you buy the top of the line $300 deck. These ones have the bells and whistles, and cost less than half the price. MY freind bought a $500 DVD player with 7" LCD screen, where as the name brand at best buy sells for $1800 on boxing day.
As for quality, its a deck, youre not offroading with it or anything. My freind has had his deck for a little over a year now in his truck. He had pioneer deck before, with JL audio speakers all around from the previous owner. He upgraded with this DVD player, an amp from rockford fosgate and a 10" sub, and i dont know if its any better than the pioneer, but the quality definately didnt go down.
If youre hung up on who produces what, and always beleive dishing out the big $$$ will ALWAYS get you good quality, then i respect you opinion, but deals exist too.
However if u are looking to only get a certain brand, but cant dish out the $$$, do what i did, buy a used one. Those things depreciate like crazy.
The stuff on that site you posted is NOT made in Japan. That's cheap korean or chinese flea market crap.
I've sold and installed stereo equipment for better than half my life. I know all too well the pitfalls of cheap equipment. Cheap head units sound terrible, and are so cheaply made that they have a very high failure rate. Regardless of your budget, you're much better off buying a good quality unit with less features than a piece of crap that does everything.
Unfortunately, this is one of those lessons that almost everybody learns the hard way.
The stuff on that site you posted is NOT made in Japan. That's cheap korean or chinese flea market crap.
Youre absolutely right, i never said they were from japan, was just pointing out the US isnt the only ones who make good stereos.
Also a good deck can make a huge difference, i installed a complete sound system in my car for $350 canadian, and it kicks very nicely. It took me about 3 months to collect it all, just watching for deals, and it would have been cheaper, but no one had good used speakers for sale, so i spent $170 on just 4 speakers. $80 on 2 10" kenwood subs in a box. $20 deck, from dynex, which worked amazing, except it skipped, so i sold it for $40 and bought a clarion for $40, its not the greatest quality, low on the watts, so im shopping around for another deck. Also, i spent $100 on a phoenix gold amp because the guy didnt know what he had. Turned out to be a 500 RMS.
Now i know that doesnt add to $350, the cost was offset by some stuff i bought and sold, that went towards this.
Point being, if youre on a budget, youre likely not gonna get a good sounding system. However, you can still find a good deal, just get it used. MAKE SURE YOU TEST IT BEFORE YOU BUY IT.
Boxing day, hehehe...
With what you get for what you pay these days a can't believe this is all that big a deal. You can pick up a Kenwood that will play MP3, has a built in USB port, add XM or HD radio for $180.00 full retail. Give it a month or two and start looking for deals (E-bay BS and what not) I bet you could score one for $150.00. Look at what that little box does for 180.00. And it does it reliably! Come on, you've gotta pay to play. And paying 180.00 isn't bad at all. Nice warranty, but not real likely to need it. For $280.00 you can get a nicely equipped Pioneer that will read AND file search an 80G USB hard drive, Control not only your i-Pod, but ANY USB MP3 player that uses USB mass storage format (which other then the i-Pod is 90% of them). Charges the battery while you listen too. The Pioneer is more expensive but is take a lot of memory and firm-ware to do all that. And again, top notch quality. But the Pioneer DEH-P3800 can be had for under $90bucks and plays MP3s. You may not be able to the USB Pioneer an a real low budget with a set for 6x9s, but you can get the Kenwood and a set of speakers for a steel! (for what you get)
OhioRS, You Didn't mention anything about USB. Look at the Decks like the Pioneer DEH-P390 ($140), DEH-P4900 ($180) or Kenwood KDC-MP335 ($140), all retail prices. All of which are nice respectible decks that get you great bang for the buck and will leave you with some money for a set of 6x9s.
You wont be disappointed. You will pay retail, but it will come with EVERYTHING you need, and it will be at your door in three days. And they give free lifetime tech support and install help.
I personally recommend JBL stuff because I often use their professional stuff at work and I'm never disappointed. I replaced my 6x9s with JBL GTO507c components. $160 @ crutchfield, but I think that was a special...well worth it though...they sound awesome - very transparent...not much bass though...got a sub for that.
You want the best bang for your buck? eBay.com baby.
Go to your local electronic stores and see what you want and then go on eBay and price match. If cheaper eBay, if not store buy it.
I'm a Alpine fan i got
SPR-69C 6 x 9 2-WAY COAXIAL CAR SPEAKERS 6x9 TYPE-R
and
Alpine CDA-9856 In Dash CD/MP3 Player
Both together cost me less then 300 on eBay. I think i payed maybe 250 with shipping for both so you can go buy yourself some nice front 4x6s with your extra 50 bucks
Quote:
Originally Posted by online170
Dont forget currency conversion guys, the prices im stating are all canadian dollars. It makes a difference.
He's from the USA. So its better for him. and if he eBay's like I said its even better because its a bitch to get shipping to Canada (customs fees and shipping is just outrageous)
Last edited by hellsatan; 06-02-2007 at 04:21 PM.
Reason: Automerged Doublepost
i've owned a few different brands... JVC, Pioneer, Kenwood, Sony, Alpine... etc. the Kenwood crapped out... brand-new CD's would skip after i'd had it less than a year. the Pioneer and the JVC started doing similar things a little after the 1-1 1/2 year mark. as far as i know the alpine i bought is still thumping. bought it in sep. of '02, put it in my truck... CD's at full blast and crazy driving to boot. ran like that for a year and a half. then i sold it to my brother in law. he's still got it. he goes muddin and off-roading all the time with the tunes cranked... NEVER had a single problem out of it. i'm an alpine customer for life now.
i found my alpine in a car audio store on sale for $170. nothing fancy... no mp3 playback... but that's 5 years ago when MP3's were a new thing. and the nice thing about alot of alpine's: they come with a seperate sub rca out and sub level controls in the head unit... i loved that function.
check out etronics.com. i haven't found anyone that can consistently beat their prices. greatr customer service too. and by now i'm sure even some of the low-end alpine's have cd/mp3 capabilities.
are there any units that one can buy that work with the GTA steering wheel controls? i have the money to buy any unit i want, but whats holding me back is that fact that i do enjoy using my steering controls and i would get so annoyed if i had a new unit and could not use it. I would prolly have to get a unit and a new steering wheel.
No aftermarket head units will work with the factory steering wheels controls. A wireless remote head unit & a PAC unit are needed.
I've heard ONE TIME that there is an Alpine unit that can use the factory steering wheel controls, but it was never backed up, not even the model # was supplied with that claim.
No aftermarket head units will work with the factory steering wheels controls. A wireless remote head unit & a PAC unit are needed.
I've heard ONE TIME that there is an Alpine unit that can use the factory steering wheel controls, but it was never backed up, not even the model # was supplied with that claim.
thats good enough for me, will this unit work with my car and steering wheel with the adapter? DEH-P880PRS
I don't see any mention of a wireless remote contol, on that unit.
Basically, what the PAC SWI-X does is tie into the steering wheel, then output the infrared signal to the aftermarket stereo. In other words, you have to mount the PAC unit to send the infared signal, like in an overhead console.
Great site here. I guess I just wanted the most bang for my buck. . . ya know? There's a ton of cd players to choose from, but a lot of them just have useless features I'd never use. I want mp3 playability, a set of preamps, a nice brightness, but not annoying at night. . and a good sound =) As far as 6x9's. . what brands and models will fit right in? 
That's cheap korean or chinese flea market crap.
