My car stereo

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DoZeRxXx

DoZeRxXx

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ok it is about time i put a cd player in my rip off car. does anyone know what kind of cd player i should put in my car. i will probably grab a sub or speaker too while i am at it.

so what do you guys think. 1000 watt sub with a 900 watt amp. or a couple 6 inch 100 watt speakers. i plan on spending less than 500$ (just just barely more) tomorow. i think i could pick up a cd player and sub amp and box for somewhere around 400 and the speakers would cost around 350.

so is there any suggestions on what exactly i should get. i am planning on going to 3 different stores: best buy, a little place called northwest audio, then a place called radio and tv (they are a wholesales place). the nearest circuit city is about 250 miles from me so that is out of the question. any other suggestions on places?

i didn't know where to put this forum either so i just slapped it in the rumble strip. i am on my 20 minute lunch hour from school, so kind of short on time right now.
 
Are you planning on installing the stuff yourself ot getting it done, becasue the install will really bite into your 500 bones...Panasonic makes great decks, I got a high end one and put it in myself last christmas, that alone ran me $500..
 
A better idea would be to get a stereo you can hear music through, rather than one which makes your ears bleed. From 170 feet away.

You should be aware that stereo equipment does almost nothing to the resale value of a car (apart from the difference of having none at all, to having some.), so if your car is already a "rip-off", you're going to be throwing cash at it that you'll never, ever recoup.
 
I suggest atlest two 6x9's (for the rear deck where the rear window slopes down) , two 5x4's (for the doors), two 1 3/4 tweeters where the a-piller and the door meet (where it slants at the front of the door), and if you want a lot of boom, a subwoofer or two. Honestly, I think 1000 watts is overkill (but it sounds awesome :D) As long as your speaker are well placed and hooked up correctly, you really don't need more than about 4-500watts. My friend's 2004 Accord has 120 watt system stock and I could have sworn it was atleast 250 but because of the speaker placement it sounds awesome. 👍
 
famine, the point of getting an aftermarket stereo system has absolutely nothing to do with resale value. You purchase it to enrich your music experience...there is nothing like listening to a well balanced audio system...although most new models have better sound systems that you can buy for $1000 or less...
 
And a 1900 watt (RMS) system inside a CAR is nothing like listening to a well balanced audio system. As previously alluded to.
 
Yea that much power is basicly for competitions so why spend all that money for a 900 watt amp when you could just get somthing with 300 or 500 for way less and sound just as good. Take a look at some of JL audio's stuff, they have some realy nice stuff for a good price. What size subs do you plan on getting?
 
diMe
Yea that much power is basicly for competitions so why spend all that money for a 900 watt amp when you could just get somthing with 300 or 500 for way less and sound just as good. Take a look at some of JL audio's stuff, they have some realy nice stuff for a good price. What size subs do you plan on getting?
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Even that much is excessive for listening. I had a 75 watt Rockford Fosgate amp with a couple bass tubes and 6" Infinity door speakers connected to an Alpine CD player. I never needed to turn it up more than halfway.
 
Im a bassist so I got a 250W Alpine amp powering 2 10" subs. It's plenty if listening is all you want them for. Get a better quality amp rather than a higher powered one unless you are just looking to show off by having the whole block hear your THUMP THUMP THUMP.
 
The most I would ever have (unless I was competing) would be around 600watts. I want to feel my music as wells as listen to it! :D
 
i was thinking either 600 800 or 1000. as far as i know 1000 is like what, 20 more? thats kind of why i said 1000. i think i could probably pick up a sub amp and box for around 300 right? then about 150 for a cd deck that would be around 450.. then what 20 for sub installation?

as far as cd decks, i think best buy usually offers free installation if you buy a good cd deck(anything 99 or up), then i would probably just have them do the sub while i am there. if not then i can just run down to nw audio and see if they do it.

i will end up messing around at best buy for about 5 hours later on today, then end up running to some dif place and picking them up. but best buy has a pretty good deal for cd decks.

back to the point. should i just grab a 500 watt sub then with a 450 amp? how much would that cost with the JL audio stuff? i see best buy has a 500 watt lightning audio sub for 30 each, but i hear they aren't a very good sub.
any responce within the next 8 and a half hours would be greatly appreciated.
 
I would suggest ordering a Crutchfield magazine and looking through, or use their online vehicle thing to see what fits your car. If you order from them, they even provide you with wiring harness and detailed instructions for your car. 👍 http://www.crutchfield.com
 
Lightning Audio is total junk, and Crutchfield is highly overpriced. Buy a Dayton Series II, Quatro, or Titanic subwoofer from Parts Express. They're awesome subwoofers and will outperform just about anything else. Then have someone with a decent box building program get you the specs for the best box for it.

As for amplifiers, as long as you avoid Lightning Audio, Mobile Authority, Legacy, and Pyle you should be alright. And I'm not up on the latest CD players so I'll leave that to someone else, though I have a Power Acoustik head unit in my 'Lac and it worked beautifully before the car's battery went dead, and they're fairly inexpensive.
 
ok, i am going. i'll just have to stay at best buy for a while(they have it all wired up on a wall, then you press a button to hear which speaker/sub you want)

i'll avoid lightning audio and sony explode's, i know they aren't very good
 
My stock system (in a vauxhall corsa) sounds really bad.....I think it is because the speakers are really cheap. I have heard way better stock systems before (Ford Fiesta)............I have a few questions.....

1) can you fit new speakers into the stock positions?......like if you were to replace the two rear ones and the door ones could you just fit them into the previous hole without cutting anything!

2) whats the best way of testing out your speakers quality.....should you play it loud, soft, a range of music or radio.....etc etc...?
 
Play it at your standard listening volume :dopey:
That is the best way to see if it sounds good. And use a CD or another form of digital storage. If you use radio, use a good digital radio signal. Play something with bass, high notes and vocals. Or just select three different tracks that are best at bass/high notes(frequency)/vocals.
 
I'm putting a stereo system in my friends car, should be nice.

JVC head. Can't think of the model right now, and I don't feel like looking it up, however it's darn nice.
1600 watt amp. It's Generic, however the THD isn't too bad, and it's a 4-channel bridgable, so 2x800 watts or so.
2x1600watt peak subs. Yeah, 180oz double-stacked magnets on each of them. 800 watt RMS a peice, 1600 wat peak a peice. They'll be in a bandpass box, haven't decided the specifics on it yet, though. Decibal response of 93.8, frequency response of 20-500.
For now, stock speakers. They aren't so bad as long as you don't blast bass through them, like most people have to do without subs.

Obnoxious? No. There is this novel invention some guy came up with...It's called the volume nob. You can...get this...turn it down.

However, don't get me mistaken, I'm all for quality over quantity. I just happen to think if you can afford quantity and quality, why not.
 
ok, bringing up my dead forum. i bought a dual... something and i can't get it wired up.
well best buy charged 100 to install it so i just had a friend do it for me. well anyways, he did it and it worked all fine except it doesn't have any memory. so i was askin people who would have an idea and they told me to just undo the yellow wires (should be power and memory right?) well i undid them and then when i put them together it made a little shock and now it doesn't work.

so i was wondering, does anyone know how to wire up a aftermarket sterio into a 97 grand am. or if i blew a fuse with that little shock. if i did blow a fuse, how much does a new one cost, or would i just be better off wireing the power through the cig lighter?
 
Typically you need switched power so when you turn on the car, the radio comes on and constant power to retain memory. These are two different wires going into the stereo. There should be a wiring diagram to show which wires these are. Also, Best Buy has wiring harnesses for around $20. That should make connections go a little quicker. They might not have one for the brand you bought, depending on what it is. I know they have Pioneer, and maybe a few others. Hope this helped.
 
well the yellow is the power, i found that out yesterday (darn fuse) and the yellow should have constant power going through it right? i just don't get why it doesn't have constant power for my new one rather than my old tape player.

also, i had 2 wires which my friend left alone which he said is for the theft lock. is there only 1 wire for the theft lock or what
 
I might be incorrect but isn't red usually constant power? Did the stereo come with a wiring diagram? What make and model is it? That would help out, also.

As far as the spark, was the battery disconnected? That would have caused an arc. For the theft lock, I didn't need to hook it up when I put in the AutoStart in my '99 Grand Prix. I wouldn't think it should matter for the radio. Again I could be wrong.
 
TB
I might be incorrect but isn't red usually constant power? Did the stereo come with a wiring diagram? What make and model is it? That would help out, also.

As far as the spark, was the battery disconnected? That would have caused an arc. For the theft lock, I didn't need to hook it up when I put in the AutoStart in my '99 Grand Prix. I wouldn't think it should matter for the radio. Again I could be wrong.
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I believe red is constant, yellow is ignition, and black is ground.
 
Burnout
I believe red is constant, yellow is ignition, and black is ground.
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So if that is correct, the radio shouldn't work unless the key is turned on. Is that what is happening, DoZeRxXx?
 
umm, yeah. ok thanks guys, i figured it out. the yellow wires were hooked together and the two red ones were hooked together.
 
Sorry to bump an old thread, but I didn't want to make a new one if there was already one.

So I just got a cd/mp3 cd player and two speakers for my Corolla. Now I have no idea about car audio at the moment, and I would be reading the Audio section of Hot4s, if it weren't for the ridiculous prices of things in there.

What I want for my system now is some bass. I do have a 1000 watt amp, my mate gave it to me because he couldn't get it to work. I haven't installed it yet, I will see if dad can fix it. Anyone in Australia know of good, cheapish woofers, and possibly a box for it? Or does anyone have some advice?
 

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