HELP me buy a new system!

[Leonard99]

I am at a complete and utter loss here.

I know absolutely NOTHING about Car Audio. I have a 91 Honda Accord SE 4-Door. Someone recommended my Crutchfields.com or something and when I went there it was like it was all in greek. I don't know what I need and everything has weird names like "Receiver" and stuff. I certainly don't know what a subwoofer or Amplifier is or if I even need one, (I don't need or want a really loud system at all) Anyway, I'm hoping you guys can help with that. Hopefully someone can walk me through it because I'm a complete newbie to this.

Ok here's my situation...

My car stereo has a fairly simple cassette deck. Today the Ipod cassette tape adapter that I was using to listen to my ipod in my car got stuck in my cars stereo tape player and the stereo itself now won't even turn on. This is added to the fact that my antenna has been screwed up for years and only ever goes up halfway (while making a weird noise) and also my front speakers are completely blown out.

So I've finally decided to look into getting some kind of new stereo system installed in my car. I'll probably need to have at least the front speakers replaced (should I get the rear ones replaced as well?), the antenna, and get some kind of new deck, although a cd player would be pretty much worthless since I'm not going to lug around a bunch of cds when it's much easier to play everything using my Ipod so I'll definitely need one with an ipod jack. Or I suppose I could just go with another cassette deck and use my ipod cassette adapter. But hey it's the 21st century right, so I should probably go with CD player with ipod jack.

As I said above I know absolutely NOTHING about car audio much less car audio installation so the idea that I could or would even want to install this stuff myself is pretty much a joke. But I surfed over to Cart Toys' website a moment ago and noticed that they had an Ipod FM transmitter adpater for $39.99 that looked exactly like the one I bought for my mom on ebay for $2 plus shipping. This makes me VERY worried about prices. I'm thinking that maybe I should just find out what exactly it is that I need, order the stuff off of ebay or some other good online wholesale type car audio place and then take it someplace and have it installed.

As for what I'm looking for exactly. Pretty much as cheap as you can get without it being actual junk. I don't need top or even near medium of the line stuff. I just want something that works and won't cost me alot. The fact that I'll have working front speakers will pretty much automatically improve the sound of what I have now.

I would love to get your guys' advice in all these regards.

Where is the best place to shop for Car Audio both online and off? For offline, I live in Tacoma, WA, does anyone have any recommendations about good places to go near that area?

What exactly kind of system I should get? All the equipment,etc. Links? Please make it cheap, (although it would be nice if it did look cool, hehe) the prices I saw at Car Toys were insane.

Anyway, thanks for any help!

Click to read more...

 

[Vegas WRX 10+ year member]

Sounds like you deffinetly DONT need amps and subs.

I prefer alpine so i will use them.

I have bought from onlinecarstereo.com and NEVER had an issue.

headunit, you just need a basic, IT WORKS type of thing.

Alpine CDE-9852 $161.00 http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=16468

Plays cds/mp3 and you can use an FM transmitter to play your ipod. You will need a wiring kit that you can pick up at walmart for like $15.00

Speakers you have 6 1/2 all around, I THINK.

Alpine SPS-17C2 $59.00 http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=16415

They will sound perfect run off the deck. This isnt going to be the loudest best sounding system in the world. But it will be better than stock and do what you need.

And all for around $300.

 

[Nate_100 10+ year member]

Being your first post and a noob , I would suggest using the SEARCH link. There have been MANY posts about what to buy for your first time etc and all the answers always vary and everyone is very opinionated and this can go on forever. The easy thing to do is read all the other posts and try to go from that. You might not have a big response from the senior members as they have answered tons of these kind of threads. Being that your new to this forum, the first thing you should do is read all the sticky posts at the tops of all the pages. You will understand WHY after you have done that. Hope this helps a little?

 

[Leonard99]

Thanks for the replies fellas. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif I will indeed do some searching Nate. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

I was looking at the Dual XDM6820 ($79) has something called an iplug which is apparently an ipod jack extension.

Still not sure about speakers. The cheapest look to be around $50 a pair. On that note, how on earth am I supposed to know size speakers will fit in my car? Hell I'm not even all that sure where the speakers that are in my car actually are.

One other question, since I'm on a budget do I need to replace my rear speakers if they work fine?

 

[Leonard99]

Here are a few pics of my front speakers that I just snapped with my digital camera...they are on the door.

 

[Krown 10+ year member]

What year/make/submodel is your car? We can tell you exactly what size speakers you have with that information.

EDIT: Sorry, I forgot you had already mentioned it. Your rear speakers are 6''x9'', fronts are 6.5''.

 

[Krown 10+ year member]

One other question, since I'm on a budget do I need to replace my rear speakers if they work fine?

Not if they sound fine to you //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Leonard99]

Just got off the phone with BestBuy since my uncle recommended them...

First their customer service ***** but that's another issue.

The prices...the guy said his cheapest head unit was a kenwood kvcu-105 for $85.99

And then there was gonna be another $20 for something I didn't really understand he said it was what connected my factory car stereo to the new one. I wonder if I'll need whatever the hell this is if I try to install this myself.

And then the install was $49.99

All that was just for the Head Unit, their cheapest speakers were $29.00 but then install for that was 41.99

So that's about $225. I think I might be better off buying the stuff online and trying to install it myself. I asked the guy if it was easy and he said he couldn't be sure until he saw my car. He talked about getting into the dash and stuff. I dunno, online prices are so much better. Crutchfields has that mastersheet thing. I put computers together on my own and I learned that from just reading online guides and watching a guy do it once. I imagine I could instal this one my own if I needed to.

What do you guys think about installation? Is it easy? Do you need special tools, etc?

 

[skylineTT 10+ year member]

install is easy but a lot of newcomers dont want to take their dashes apart to do it. best buy rips you off hard on installs. you can get a good HU for like 100 bucks that plays cds and all that stuff. for door speakers, you can get lucky and find a pair of pioneers for like 30-40 bucks or cheaper sometimes. you can use stock wiring to get it all together. not really many special tools needed. i always use a current light to tell me which wires to put where but other than that, an ordinary philips head and maybe some sockets will do.

 

[Krown 10+ year member]

And then there was gonna be another $20 for something I didn't really understand he said it was what connected my factory car stereo to the new one. I wonder if I'll need whatever the hell this is if I try to install this myself.

I'm sure he was talking about the wiring harness. Wiring harnesses make installation MUCH easier, especially for those who have never done an install before. If you order off Crutchfield.com, you get a wiring harness for free (as well as a mounting kit, which could run you another $20 elsewhere).

I would NOT recommend Best Buy.

 

[Leonard99]

Ya I will definitely not being going with Best Buy. Don't worry about that. The speakers I'm looking at now are the Polk Audio db650. They seemed to be extremely well loved everywhere I look. And they have over 100 great reviews on Crutchfield.

As for Head Units...I'm trying to decide between the following...

JVC KD-PDR30 ($149) http://www.crutchfield.com/S-ZhO09EsgfMR/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=300&I=105KDPDR30&search=jvc+kd%2Dpd

VS.

Sony CDX-GT610Ui ($169) http://www.crutchfield.com/S-ZhO09EsgfMR/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?search=Sony+CDX%2DGT610Ui&i=158GT610UI

I chose them becase they've both got Aux on the face, both have remotes, and are both ipod ready without having to buy one of those ridiculously large adapters for an extra $80. Past that I really don't know much about them except that the JVC is $149 and the Sony is $169 and that the sony also has a USB hook up on the face.

Anyway, what do you guys think? Which one has the better features, looks, etc?

Personally I think the JVC actually looks cooler. Kind of like it's veering to the right. The Sony looks a little Box-like for my tastes. I like the JVCs text font better than the Sonys, too. On the other hand I always wanted to have one of those bright blue screens for my cd player. The reviews for the Sony say it's almost too bright even though you can't see it in the pic. I'm not sure how bright or blue the JVC screen is going to be.

So I dunno what do you guys think?

 

[wesl56 10+ year member]

personally, i think both of those are ass-ugly lol im sorry

based on brand tho, id 100% go with the JVC as i have experience with both brands' car audio line, and the JVC is far better

i like this one better, its only $50 more

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-lzE3kAqbsXT/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=300&I=105KDG730

i have a friend that has a similar JVC deck with that exact display and it is very easy to see in the day time and not too bright at night

 

[72 chevelle 10+ year member]

Install isn't too hard. All I had to do was watch one of my friends do it once and I was fine.

A wiring harness makes it simple. You take the plug out of the back of your old radio, plug it into the harness and wire the harness to your new deck. It's pretty much matching colors.

Tearing into the dash isn't hard either. Simple handtools is all that is needed. Most dash install kits for aftermarkert decks come with instructions as well.

 

[Leonard99]

After someone mentioned on another board that both of my choices were bad and that I should look into putting the AUX in the back I've decided to revise my desired specifications. The new ones are: a remote, an AUX in the back and that it's compatible with one of those seperate iPod adapters.

Originally the reason I'd chosen the above two Head Units is because they both had remotes, AUX in the front, and were iPod ready without needing a seperate adapter. But after reading that other post I realized that with the AUX in back instead I could easily run the wire through the little cubby space under my stereo even if I had to drill a small back in there. And I have just enough cash where I can just go ahead and purchase one of those seperate iPod adapters. So I realized that if I made those changes to my specifications then I would be opening up many more choices for possible and better quality Head Units.

So I would love it if you guys could recommend me a few of the best Head Units for under $200 that fit the above mentioned specifications.

Thanks

 

[Motley 10+ year member]

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-yFCEvxSd9Qe/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=300&tab=detailed_info&i=500CDE9881#Tab

Alpine has the ipod hookup included....