Ok, this isn't thirdgen related, but I was wondering if you guys could help me out with this anyway. I just got a new beater car, a 1981 Ford Fairmont. It was free from my grandma so I'm not gonna complain and it's in pretty decent shape with only 40,000 miles on it.
The thing that REALLY sucks about this car is that is has an AM radio. That's it. And as far as speakers go, it only has ONE. That's how it came factory.
Now I need something better than this for my 5 hour trips to and from college, so I want to put in a cheap system.

I'm thinking a Cheap CD headunit used off ebay (for around or under $100), and some cheap (but not crappy radio shack or pep boys cheap) 6 X 9's in the back. What do you guys think? Any recommendation on brands or even models of Speakers or Headunits to look for? Thanks for all the help in advance!

 

That all depends. How much total are you planning on spending?
SSC

 

Try to avoid cheap brands of headunits, you'll regret that later when your CD's stop playing! Be carefull when buying them off of ebay, my friend bought one that wouldn't play CD's at all, and had alot of trouble returning it.

 

i have a sony cdx4250 that i bought for my daughter about a year ago for $150.00 and she only use it for 2 maybe 3 months tops ill let it go for 100.00 email me if interested

 

I'm planning on spending around $200 for the head unit and two 6X9's...

 

Oh, ok. Can you say wallmart
Ebay is a good place to find cheap stuff but who knows how long it will last.
If im in the cheap mode I want the ability to return it if it breaks. Road gear wallmart "laugh" is good for the price you can get a cd player
for 80$ a cheap amp for 40$ two boxes unloaded 6x9 for 30$ and I would reccomend going to kmart for some audiovox 6x9's 40$.
that bring up the total to 190$ + 10$ for an install kit wires ect, 200$.
If you dont like the stuff you can return it but this is probably the best and cheapest way for sound. As for the people who are laughing right now at the road gear recomendation my friend had one of thier cdplayers and it wasent bad at all, it wasent the greatest but it worked well.
SSC

 

Thanks for all the help so far guys....

I guess I should have emphasized when I said "system" that I meant just a head unit and two 6x9's. If I go with subs I'll probably just get a tube so that I can easily swap it out of my Camaro when I'm racing or into my Fairmont winter beater when the IROC is stashed away for the winters. When it comes to my Camaro I'll spend extra for quality stuff, so I'd get a really high end tube, but I don't want to waste alot of money on the Fairmont.

 

for the "cheap" system, i'd recommend installing front speakers instead of only rear speakers. when the music is coming from behind you, it makes me wanna turn around to listen to it. it sounds better when the music is right in front of you, its called imaging. usually the back speakers are only so people in the back seats can hear the highs over all the bass

 

I know about imaging, but I'd rather have good full sound (such as that from a 6 X 9) coming from the back than crappy sound ( like from a plate bouncing off the winsheild) from the front. Since I can only afford one pair of speakers right now, I'm going to get the 6 X 9's so that I can hear the broadest range of music (high's, as well as lows). It's also the easiest install. The car doesn't even HAVE speakers in the front right now (well, one), so it'd be a huge pain to wire up the plates compared to 6 x 9's in the rear.

 

Also try www.ubid.com, its like ebay except that alot of there stuff is actually in their wharehouse so there isnt the rip off factor and most of it is new, if your lucky you can get stuff realllly cheap.

Ryan