Aftermarket stereo on luxury car ?

[mastershake575 10+ year member]

Going to be purchasing a car this summer. Price range is $11-13K. Looking for a car that has around 50-70K miles

Family member works for a big luxury car company and if I go through him he will want to sell me a luxury car around 2011-2013 (Cadillac CTS, Acura TLX, Infiniti G35/G37....ect).

I noticed these cars seem to have very complicated head-units and dash features such as climate sensors, touch navigation, rear camera's....ect

How difficult would this make my life if I wanted to invest in a $2-3K sound system ? My current car which is a 2005 civic was super easy to do everything (aftermarket headunit, 4x 6.5 speakers, 2x12s in the trunk, singer alternator, XS battery).

If doing an aftermarket install on a luxury car isn't that bad I wouldn't mind buying one but if its a pain the *** I might just look at buying something more basic like a Corolla/Camry or an Altima.

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[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

its a pain in the @ss unless you do a DSP. The dsp can bypass the system completely or integrate everything in.

 

[moparnut]

You will also need to find the appropriate interface units that will allow plug and play integration of your new head unit. PAC or idatalink should have what you need to keep everything working. Plan on adding in the neighborhood $200 (give or take a few dollars) for the harnesses/interface units.

 

[mastershake575 10+ year member]

its a pain in the @ss unless you do a DSP. The dsp can bypass the system completely or integrate everything in.

I had someone else in another forum tell me this exact thing as well. He said even lower-end cars are getting more and more difficult to replace headunits and that the DSP will give you in most cases better sound options/control while not having to deal with replacing OEM radio.

 

[dsw1204]

I had someone else in another forum tell me this exact thing as well. He said even lower-end cars are getting more and more difficult to replace headunits and that the DSP will give you in most cases better sound options/control while not having to deal with replacing OEM radio.

I would say ever since about the year 2005 or so that almost all car manufacturers started integrating everything with the car audio controls. And, because of this, it is nearly impossible to purchase a new aftermarket head unit and install it. Thus, your best bet, as stated earlier, is to get a DSP (Helix, Mosconi, JL, MiniDSP, etc.). That is a good start.

One of the better upgrades, and least expensive, would be to sound deaden your car, the doors at least. You will see a big improvement is sound, even with stock speakers. After that, your options are wide open. You can choose amps, component speakers (or raw drivers if you decide to go active).

Oh, yes, you have the option of staying passive (keeping the crossovers that come with your component speakers) or going active (this is where YOU set your crossover points either with a DSP or from the amplifier), and each channel of your amplifier is driving ONE speaker driver...unlike when going passive each channel of your amplifier will power your right front components [both your mid-bass drivers and tweeters], left front components, etc.). This is a very simplified description and going active is much more involved, but hopefully you get the point.