Thinking 'bout Upgrading...

[Rockrz 10+ year member]

I've got a mid size pickup that I need to start thinking about upgrading the audio to something more decent now that one of my 6x9s is blown and I want a head unit that is capable of blue tooth, hands free cell phone use since city ordinance doesn't allow talking on cell phone in your ride lest it be hands free.

Currently, my head unit is a JVC KD-HDW10 and speakers are Pioneer TS-A6992R (6x9s in boxes behind the seats), and Pioneer TS-A1682R in the doors (I think they are 6x4s). One of the 6x9s in the back is sounding bad recently, so I'm thinking about upgrading here since this was all installed in summer of 2009

So, what head unit do you think I should get that can do bluetooth cell phone that also has a USB port in the front AND in the back? (thinking of feeding a USB line from the back to the glove box so I can stick an external hard drive there, and USB in front for guests to plug in as needed), and it needs to be able to play regular and MP3 CDs as well.

I have a couple of pretty good quality speaker boxes for the 6x9s in the back and since I don't want to take up alot of room back there I'd like to keep that arrangements. What brand / model give the best bang for the buck on speakers these days?

And, does anyone use equalizers these days or is that something that comes built in to the head unit? Think I ought to get an amp? I do like to listen to some good melodic metal / hard rock.

I just wanted to pick the experienced brains of the local experts here on the board to see what some of you guys would recommend. I'm hoping to budget less that $500 to $800 on this project and have a decent sounding system so let me know what you'd recommend.

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[Rockrz 10+ year member]

Any recommendations at all?

 

[MXcarAudio]

most car stereos already have blue tooth, if your cell is an s3 or iphone look at mirrorlink from pioneer, instead of an external hard drive just get some usb thumb drives or sd cards, its much easier to lug around and cheap enough that if it messed up u can just get some new ones.

i suggest getting a 4 channel amp to run your speakers, infinity kappa are still good 6x9

Heres an inexpensive good 4 channel amp

Shark SHKAMP100 4 1000W Class D 4 Channel Mini Design Car Amplifier Compact Cars | eBay