Car stereo/audio

[Ikith]

So I just got a "new" car and I was looking to put a nice audio system in it and I started looking around then I realized that I don't know where to start/what to look for.

Can anyone give me a hand picking stuff out and explaining why its good and other good things to look for.

I would like an aux connection and/or ipod connection CD as well though I will probably never use it no need for cassette.

Car has a stock double din radio in it so that is a must since I don't want a huge space chillin there however if there is a cover or... Like compartment that fits in the empty space I may consider it.

[SephYuyX]

www.crutchfield.com should give you some ideas for your price range, etc.
Just select your car, and itll give you all of your options. If youre getting a new stero, might as well replace the facotry speakers too.

[Furtwangler]

when you put in an aftermarket radio(which you will want to, if you do anything first) need a more expensive wiring harness to connect the deck to the car inputs. Most are under 10 bucks, but a few (my friends dodge caliber) takes a 100 dollar harness kit for various reasons.)

You're going to end up spending 4-500 dollars easy, call it 5 or 6 if you can't install yourself and have to have it done professionally.

I always stick with alpine decks, but choice is yours, for the price range you want. Seph's suggestion of going to crutchfield is going to be your best bet for finding what you want. It'll give you sizes and even products based off of those measurements.

The first thing most people do, especially if their car has even halfway decent factory speakers is get a subwoofer setup in their trunk. There's lots of ways you can go with subs. Some people like sharper, kick drum style support added onto their music, others like blasting their shit down the road with rumbles all over the place. The subwoofer spectrum ranges for the most part from 10", to 12", to 15". The smaller size, will respond better to a slightly higher frequency, and consequently a sharper bass note hit. I suggest, and have 12's in my trunk, 2 of them. Most people 1 will be enough.

The wattage of your amp will have to be about evenly paired with the sub(s) in order to get the best performance. Having a basic concept of electricity (ohms, watts, amps, etc) will be kinda necessary if you want to do any of this on your own.

You also have to decide how much of your trunk you want to lose to this. My entire trunk is now useless for anything that is really heavy or sharp, as I have 2 12's and an amp display in a pontiac grand am.

I'd start with that first, then move on to getting aftermarket replacements for your other speakers, and amping those as well (would want a 4 channel most likely amp) and the list goes on. Depending on the size of sub(s) you get, you'll want to look into a power capacitor/distribution block. (more electronics here, I can explain what the capacitor does if you don't know)

Look into the shit that's on crutchfeild and start asking questions. I can write 2 pages on this easily lol

[Seanr]

yea i came here to suggest crutchfield too lol, what i often do is research what i want on crutchfield and then see if i can find it cheaper elsewhere (other sites, ebay, etc)

[Furtwangler]

I really hate the fact this topic was made lol. Now I'm starting to dabble in the thought of easily blowing another 3-400 bucks on parts I didn't bother with when I started making my system. baoksdjfksdf

[Dmitry]

I really hate the fact this topic was made lol. Now I'm starting to dabble in the thought of easily blowing another 3-400 bucks on parts I didn't bother with when I started making my system. baoksdjfksdf

Same here. I need a new head unit but looking at stuff makes me want to buy so much more.

[Fr34k]

I really hate the fact this topic was made lol. Now I'm starting to dabble in the thought of easily blowing another 3-400 bucks on parts I didn't bother with when I started making my system. baoksdjfksdf

Haha I just dropped 7k on my system, I know the feeling. The only thing I would disagree about is you do NOT need a cap. Do not buy a cap, I repeat DO NOT buy a cap. If you are worrying about your electrical system, these are the steps you need to perform based on how much you want to spend and how much power you will be running.

1) Big 3 upgrade. This consists of upgrading your main 3 charging wires with 1/0 gauge wire vs the stock 8ish gauge. These wires are the Alternator + to battery +, battery - to engine block, and battery - to chassis. These three wires alone will greatly improve the efficiency of your charging system (alternator) and allow you to run more power without seeing your lights dim.

2) Upgrading your stock battery to a better battery. This could be an Optima Red or Yellow top, Kinetik 1800 (or whatever will fit in your car), XS Power D3400, etc.

3) Adding additional batteries.

4) Buying an High Output Alternator

Materials for Big 3 will probably cost around $50, Batteries can be anywhere from $100 to $400ish (my XS Power D3100's were $425 each and that was getting it directly from my XS Power Rep, not buying it at a store), and Alternators can run anywhere from $300 or so up into the $600 range depending on what company and how much amperage you want it to put out.

My suggestions:

Buy a deck. Let me know how much you want to spend and I can recommend you a good one. Probably about 99% probability I will refer you to a Pioneer deck, I'm a little biased. Currently running a Pioneer AVH 4200 DVD that I got for around $500 installed from a friend of mine that works at a shop, locally the deck itself sells for $750 but I'm sure you can find it online for around what I paid.

Next, upgrade all of your speakers. They don't have to be exceptional speakers, but ANYTHING will be better than the stock speakers (even a Bose system will be put to shame). I honestly think the best way to choose speakers is to go to a shop near you and listen to their sound board that way you can compare the speakers to each other on the spot. You will have no idea what a speaker will sound like if you buy blindly online.

Last but not least, add a sub and sub amp. Something small like a single 10" or 12" sub in a ported box off an amp that matches the RMS will hold you over until you get the itch to go louder.

Give me a budget to work with and I can try to build you a system.

[Seanr]

I used to have a DEH-780MP when it first came out, loved it. Pioneer/Premier is some good shit.

[Ikith]

Haha I just dropped 7k on my system, I know the feeling. The only thing I would disagree about is you do NOT need a cap. Do not buy a cap, I repeat DO NOT buy a cap. If you are worrying about your electrical system, these are the steps you need to perform based on how much you want to spend and how much power you will be running.

1) Big 3 upgrade. This consists of upgrading your main 3 charging wires with 1/0 gauge wire vs the stock 8ish gauge. These wires are the Alternator + to battery +, battery - to engine block, and battery - to chassis. These three wires alone will greatly improve the efficiency of your charging system (alternator) and allow you to run more power without seeing your lights dim.

2) Upgrading your stock battery to a better battery. This could be an Optima Red or Yellow top, Kinetik 1800 (or whatever will fit in your car), XS Power D3400, etc.

3) Adding additional batteries.

4) Buying an High Output Alternator

Materials for Big 3 will probably cost around $50, Batteries can be anywhere from $100 to $400ish (my XS Power D3100's were $425 each and that was getting it directly from my XS Power Rep, not buying it at a store), and Alternators can run anywhere from $300 or so up into the $600 range depending on what company and how much amperage you want it to put out.

My suggestions:

Buy a deck. Let me know how much you want to spend and I can recommend you a good one. Probably about 99% probability I will refer you to a Pioneer deck, I'm a little biased. Currently running a Pioneer AVH 4200 DVD that I got for around $500 installed from a friend of mine that works at a shop, locally the deck itself sells for $750 but I'm sure you can find it online for around what I paid.

Next, upgrade all of your speakers. They don't have to be exceptional speakers, but ANYTHING will be better than the stock speakers (even a Bose system will be put to shame). I honestly think the best way to choose speakers is to go to a shop near you and listen to their sound board that way you can compare the speakers to each other on the spot. You will have no idea what a speaker will sound like if you buy blindly online.

Last but not least, add a sub and sub amp. Something small like a single 10" or 12" sub in a ported box off an amp that matches the RMS will hold you over until you get the itch to go louder.

Give me a budget to work with and I can try to build you a system.

My spending range is around $2000. I don't want something HUGE like you guys seem to be talking about but I do want something nice.

In case it makes a difference its an '03 Toyota Celica GT.

[Seanr]

What do you want in a head unit? Double DIN Nav? DVD Player? USB/Flash Memory Support? iPod ready? Full color display?

[Ikith]

What do you want in a head unit? Double DIN Nav? DVD Player? USB/Flash Memory Support? iPod ready? Full color display?

No need for nav or dvd. Aux connection, USB/Flash Memory Support, iPod connections/ready, HD Radio... That's all I can think of.

[Seanr]

No need for nav or dvd. Aux connection, USB/Flash Memory Support, iPod connections/ready, HD Radio... That's all I can think of.

so everything after the period you'd like in it pretty much?

[Ikith]

so everything after the period you'd like in it pretty much?

Yep.

[Fr34k]

If you want to "fill up" the double din I'd suggest just getting a double din DVD player or a single din with a 3" screen. Here's some options for you.

Pioneer 4200

http://www.caraudioni.com/images/PIO...TE%20IMAGE.gif

Super badass deck, has everything you want but I think you would have to buy the HD Radio module separate. 7" screen, has USB in the rear so you can route the cord to your glovebox and keep your ipod there, no AUX but who the hell uses AUX anyways, even has a slot for an SD card. Can keep movies, videos, whatever you want.



If you want a single din, Pioneer 8200BT

http://news.cnet.com/i/bto/20100106/...20_610x225.jpg

Single Din with 3" screen, has built in blue tooth, no DVD, nav, or rear cam abilities but the rest is about the same as the 4200. I'm going to assume it has 3 band EQ vs the 4200's 7-band.



The most badass single din flip out atm, Soundstream VIR8300

I fail at youtube links, so here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXuQaZL2rpI

Biggest screen on the market right now, 8.3" vs the rest which are 6.95" or 7". Idk the rest of the specs, BUT LOOK AT THAT SHIT.



Let's say the deck installed runs you about 600, gives about 1400 left to play with.



Spend around $400 on speakers at a local shop, get what sounds best to you. Get better speakers in the front than in the back.



4 channel amp, I'd personally go with a Sundown SAX-100.4 but then again I'm biased that's what I'm using bridged to my fronts.

You could get something like this, I'll call it $200

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_575R300...-4.html?tp=115



That still gives you $800 for a sub, box, and amp.



Maybe something like this for your amp, but it all depends on how much power you want to run.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_500MRP1...All=N&tp=35834

Actually I take that back, an Audioque 1200 will be much cheaper. Got mine for I think $230 shipped to hawaii, does true RMS.

http://www.audioque.com/aq/?page_id=26

I'll call that $300 with wiring kit, $500 left



For sub, I'd go with an Fi Q 12" Dual 2, wire it in parallel down to 1 ohm and the AQ amp will push it well.

https://ssl.perfora.net/www.ficaraud...iew.shopscript

Get all the options, you might as well. I'll call that around $300ish



Gives you $200 to get a custom box built. Don't buy one of those prefab scorpion boxes, get one built to the specs of the sub. You want the correct ft^3, tuning, port area, etc.

Should be a badass system for around 2k.

[Seanr]

o Fr34k already came through.. I was researching this Single DIN Pioneer DEH-P7200HD
http://a248.e.akamai.net/pix.crutchf...00HD-f_mt.jpeg

[Fr34k]

lol I like the 8200 better, having an actual video screen on a single din is still pretty new, I think it's cool.

[Seanr]

I like it too, didnt think he needed the bluetooth though lol. I Think i played with that or something similar at best buy. I just didn't like the way it was shaped, but i may have to look at it in person again

[Ikith]

I'd like to go along the lines of a double din since there will be a big space below or above where the stock dd is.

[Seanr]

You can always get CD pocket thingy's to fill that space if you wanted a Single DIN

Like so http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...0039_large.jpg

[Fr34k]

Yea pretty much any deck you get, you will have the option of getting the double din mounting harness that will fill up the space with something. In my beater (95 saturn) the piece is actually contoured to the shape of the car with a cut out just big enough for the deck to fit in. You can tell it's different since it's newer, but blends in perfectly.

Edit: BUT, you might as well get a double din :D