Audio Help

[PrinceFamiliar]

I just got a 98 Explorer Sport with the factory sound system. I want to upgrade to nicer speakers and add a subwoofer. I would set my budget at around $250, I don't know anything about car audio. Can someone help me out and let me know what I need? thanks

 

[HuiDaddy]

You need more money!!!

 

[swak6287]

huidaddy, what do u have? premium sound or just regular. if regular, yah u need more money. premium, then u can dowhat i did. infinity 510series is a tweeter and woofer component system for sale at crutchfield for 99. then, the rear for bass, u can get JBL also for 99 bucks. that is if u have premium. as far as a sub goes, i would goto the junkyard and look for a limited or eddie bower and pull out the sub in them for less money. good luck

 

[Skippman]

You options are pretty limited with a budget of only $250. My first move would be to replace the head unit with a good mid-range Sony or Pioneer. I believe you can even get Alpines for that kind of money now. But this can get to be an expensive hobby. Let me show you what I mean:

Head Unit:
Alpine IVA-C800 $2,130

Amps:
Rockford Fosgate 200a4 $ 350
Crossfire 100x2 $ 360

Speakers:
Boston Accoustics Pro Series 5 1/4" Components $ 250
Boston Accoustics Pro Series Tweeters $-----
Boston Accoustics Pro Series Crossovers $-----
Boston Accoustics Rally Series 5 1/4" Components $ 160

Subwoofer:
MTX Blue Thunder w/ Thunderform Enclosure $ 90

Power Cables:
Rockford Fosgate Dual Amp Install Kit (4 Gauge) $ 160
Rockford Fosgate insulated hi-grade RCA cable $ 45
-----------------------------------------------------------
Grand Total (Minus Installation): $3,545



I'm Not trying to brag. Just warning you as to what you can get into. I remember when I had my Jeep. "Hmmm, a CD player would be nice." The beginning of the end. As anyone who reads this will atest I got KILLER deals on certin things (The MTX Sub and Enclosure, Pro Series). Just remember, BUY now or PAY later. It never hurts to shop around. When I was buying my alarm (Alpine SEC-8063) I was quoted prices from $450 (Not Installed) to Audio Express's $299 (Installed, $20 extra for hookup to the IVA-C800). Shop around. Tell the other stores the deals you've been quoted from other shops. You have nothing to loose but you money.

On a final note, if you take my advice and get a new head unit, get one with pre-amp outs, 4-Volt if you can get them. I had the 2-Volts on my old Sony and the 4-Volts on the Alpine make ALL the diffrence in the world.

 

[Nate46290]

Yeah you are going to need more money. If you wanna lose all your money FAST buy a stereo.

cd player (a cheap one) $250
sub $100
amp $200
speakers $150
amp kit, box $150

And this is all if you buy off the net. So my advice is if you don't want to spend a lot of money don't get a sub. Just replace you stock speakers otherwise your going to need a lot more money.

 

[Skippman]

Wabbit,

Thanks man.

Skip



But, AS I WAS SAYING.... car stereo's are a hobby like anything else. You can get into it, and you can GET INTO IT. Take for instance model trains. Who among us hasn't had a model train running around the christmas tree? But how many of use devote our entire basement to one huge, elaborate layout?

I have goals for my system like everyone else. My major goal is to incorporate a "Book PC" ( Dead Link Removed ) into my center console. By doing that I can:

1.) Play DVD Movies

2.) Connect to a serious GPS ( http://www.delorme.com ) complete with USGS topo maps.

and

3.) Play MP3's with no loss in audio quality



Peace,


[Edited by Kris Guilbeaux on 08-06-2000 at 02:41 PM]

 

[Turner55]

ANYWAYS, everyone's right about it going to cost a LOT more than $250...to give you an idea: i stick to the pretty cheap, but also good stuff...i got a pioneer deh-1000 cd receiver (which i might add was the cheapest pioneer cd receiver i could find) a few months ago for $140...saved $40 installing myself...then a few days ago i bought 4 pioneer 6x8's...that white kind...for $99 a pair, which makes $200...and i also saved $40 installing those myself...that's $340 for the cheaper kinds AND it's not even including the subwoofer you want and if you dont install them yourself that's another like 80 bucks...i'd save up if i were you and have at least a $500 budget

[Edited by Turner55 on 08-06-2000 at 11:50 AM]

 

[explorer93xlt]

I dont know i think for 250 you could get something good , but you are all right the head unit would be the most expensive , i built my hole system for about 250 , http://home.att.net/~riccardis/Explorer1.html i mean its not the best stuf out their but it gets loud and clear, but your right thats not including the premier head unit i paid 150 for, oh yea Skippman you did't really pay 2K for a head unit did you?

 

[wabbit]

speakers make the sound...

If $250 is a "hard limit" (for now... ), go with two sets of decent speakers. This will be a vast improvement over the factory "premium" units. These will help now, and they will be in place if you choose to upgrade other components in the future. $250 won't come close to getting you the best 2 pairs of speakers but many are available near that price that will be much better than stock.

 

[Kris Guilbeaux]

watch what you post.

I have been seeing things on this post that every one is getting mad about. This forum is for Ideas on what you can do to help PrinceFamiliar on setting up his system. This is not a place to start fights about what looks good or sounds better. If your post was deleted or edited I felt it was not needed in this post. This question has a very simple answer.

The budget of $250 you can go two ways new head unit or new speakers. For sub ect. it will cost much more money.

My system has a Sony head unit and changer, 4 pioneer 6x8 3-ways and 260 watt amp of a JL Stealth 10" sub box. This cost me a little over $1500 for the system.

Also remember what you pay for some thing in one place might cost some thing else somewhere else due to cost of living ect. If it is a rip off where you live it might be a good deal some where else.

In conculsion if you are not going to help PrinceFamiliar dont post.

Thanks for you time


[Edited by Kris Guilbeaux on 08-06-2000 at 02:58 PM]

 

[Skippman]

Explorer93xlt,

Yes I DID pay close to 2K for a head unit. And that was a deal. Alpine puts the MSRP on that thing at like $2300. I
paid $1700 installed from my friends shop. Now your asking me "Skip, have you lost you d#*&$# mind!?!" and to you I say "Yes, buy ohhh... what a ride!"

Actually I bought it to be the centerpiece of my on-board computer. If you check it out on Alpine's website ( http://www.alpine1.com/html/ivac800.html ) you will see that it's no ordinary head unit. To those of you who are fimilar with car audio it's the CVA-1000/CVA-1005's big brother. Excessive I admit, but it's got bragin' rights written all over it. I'm working on a future article for this board and my new website detailing the installation of that, as well as the up-comming book PC.

Back to the subject at hand... For my money the head unit makes the system. Go to Best Buy (or some other such store) and look at the open box stuff. Most of it you can get for 30% less than what a new one costs. If you do this, be sure to pay the extra $5-$10 for the "protection" plan. That way if it's broken, you can get a new one without any problems.
Whatever you buy, make sure you can listen to it before you buy it.

Peace,

 

[Kris Guilbeaux]

Skip,

That is a very nice player. I was looking in to the same unit for a while. But I found out DVD audio is about to debut late 2000 early 2001. With this in mind I am sure head units like the one you have will have a built in DVD player is on the way. Plus the other thing that stopped me is that Sony has not put a player like this out which mean toss the chager out the window.

The head unit is the Heart of that system. With out the head unit you have no music.

 

[JTang]

Hey Skipp,

That PC sounds sweet. Is it really only 200? How do you intend to connect it to the system? How is sound managed with the inputs on that particular head unit?

As of now, there aren't any MP3s where you can have no loss in playback quality. The only way to do that is to have the file compressed with no data taken out, prolly no where near the 4 meg size either. However, hard drives are getting so cheap, it could be that you could just convert the whole track into wav and put it on a hard drive.

Usually, the only (so far) successful way to really enhance the limitations of MP3 for car audio purposes have been two options: TDS Audio Enhancers, (www.tdsaudio.com) or the Audio Control equipment with high definition expansion circuits. They both work in the same basic way, which is, I believe, just screwing the the THD and mildly distorting the music.

However, since you might be adding an actual CPU, you might want to look into this technology at SRS Labs: http://www.srslabs.com.

Very cool sorta stuff! When do you think the full install of everything will take place? Please also take pictures along the way of the install. Can't wait to see 'em.

Jon

Explorer93XLT - LOL! Sweet music on your page, man!

 

[Skippman]

JTang

I'm a computer engineer by trade (work for SBC-Advanced Solutions,Inc. The DSL People) so building the PC isn't even a challange. PC Chips makes an excellent bare-bones kit for $175. ( Dead Link Removed ). I'm going to put a Celeron 400 in there with one of these extra 128mb sticks of RAM I have lying around. I'm going to get a DVD drive for it. The only thing that concerns me is that the hard drive I want is like in the $400 range (IBM 70 GIG) I think I'll just get a cheap 40 gig and use that. My only concern about the whole project is how to control the power consumption of the computer. How do I issue a start-up and shut-down command to the computer. I guess if it supports the new "Advanced Power Managment" system I could set it to go on hybernate.... I JUST HAD AN EPIPHANY! If I could rig the hybernation switch to trip when the ignigtion is turned off.... yes, I can do that!!! <runs to begin working on the plans>

 

[HuiDaddy]

sorry guys. havent checked the post in a few days. well, seriously... $250 is NOT a lot of money to play with. i mean the saying, "you get what you pay for" is sooo true! do NOT go to radio shack and hook up a jensen/optimus system in your car! pay a little more now and it'll be soo worth it later! if you go cheap, you are just gonna end up payin more in the end upgrading. i spent $250 alone on my infinity 5.25 Kappa series component speakers for the front. I have 5.25 polk ex co-ax in the rear. i have a Rockford Fosgage 600a4 powerin my system. two channels push the infinity components each with 75 watts and the last two channels are bridged to a JL Audio W3 10 inch Pro Wedge box. Bridging two of the channels pushes +300 watts into the JL Audio 10". The rear speakers are just powered by my stock headunit. i spent just under a $1,000. but i dont see any need to upgrade in the near future. just keep savin up!!!

 

[Ru Dawg]

replacing stock stereo

Prince, for 250 the best you could do is replace the factory 6x8's with a very decent set of 3-way 6X8's. I replaced mine with Pioneer 180Wmax 3-way 6X8's (all four), and they sound great, and they were about $90.00 a pair. But I also replaced the head unit with a Panasonic DF-88 cd player (40Wx4), that ran about $380.00. My system sounds great..needs a woofer or two and an amp, which I hope to do soon. And here's a tip..look for what you want in Crutchfield..if ya find something you like, go to the local stores with a copy of the mag. If you find the same thing in the store for more $$, show them the Crutchfield price and the store will probably come down at least 10 bucks below Crutchfield.(I did this w/my speakers...and it worked..got a $30 discount on the set!)

 

[HuiDaddy]

if you want CHEAP, im talkin CHEAP, audio stuff, http://www.sounddomain.com is where its at. i cant stress it enough. Whatever they have, it will definately be almost 40% cheaper than what crutchfield carries it for. i cant stress it enough, http://www.sounddomain.com . i purchased my Rockford 600a4 from them for $329. no tax, no s&h fee. Crutchfield carries the SAME amp for a whopping $479. Unauthorized dealer, PHISH!!! just install it correctly. and if there IS something wrong with the amp, sounddomain.com has their waranty. Try talkin crutchfield's prices down with their "Sales Representatives". dont think Bill Crutchfield will be too happy with that... dude, if you dont decide to purchase anything, they still have a pretty killer site with a bunch of installs for almost every car ever built!!! hopefully i can get a hold of a digital camera so that i can finally post pictures of my install. dude, you guys have helped me out soo much, you deserve to see what you have helped me out with.. take it easy.

 

[Skippman]

If I can get my PC installed before October I'm taking the "Echo Mirage" to this years IASCA finals. Not as an intrant, but as somthing to show off. Gotta get those pic's developed.

 

[PrinceFamiliar]

Thanks for the help everyone. I think I've decided to wait until I can invest some more cash into my sound system and then go all out. I'm going to check out all the site you mentioned and plan from there. Thanks again...

 

[93exploder]

Go To Best Buy and make a friend with someone that works there. I used to work at Best Buy and they get 50% discount on all car audio. And yes that means that these places have 100% markup, what a rip off ! But see if u can make a friend and get him to buy your stuff.


Clint


93 Explorer XLT
Rancho RS5000 shocks
K&N Air Filter
Michelin LTX M/S ( Soon to be BFG AT's)
Pioneer DH 1100 head unit
Pioneer 5x7's in the doors