Yo everyone! It's great to be part of the AMC :)

Anyway, I am getting sick of the very limited and crackly sound from my 12-year-old stock setup. I am looking at a minor stereo upgrade. Here's what I have been offered so far:

JVC KD-G505
Generic 6" 3-way front splits mounted at the doors
Generic 6x9" mounted at the parcel shelf

All this for $550 neg. including installation.

How much do you think I should pay to get the job done? Do you have any other suggestions? I have no idea about sound. I just want clarity with a bit of bass without cutting too many holes and attracting too much attention.

Thank you very much in advance for your help!

Jeff

Generic 6" 3-way front splits mounted at the doors

By "generic" I guess you mean cheapy no-name gear? Bad move, very bad move. If you're going to spend $550, you might as well get decent speakers. 6 months or so ago I bought a Pioneer CD/MP3 head unit, Pioneer 6x9s and Kenwood 4" fronts, all for $620 fitted, and you could probably get the same setup today for cheaper. Oh, and it rocks. :)


Z

I would get 6x9 3 way Pioneers in the rear for about $90 - $100. Then I would get 4" 100 Watt Kenwood Speakers in the front for like $60 i think. This is what I have in my car and it sounds really good for the price. I think the main reason I got the Kenwoods in the front was because the magnet is small or something because it's hard to fit 4" speakers into a TR normally. A 200 Watt Pioneer headunit would cost about $200 - $250. So all up the parts you would need would cost about $400. Then you need to add labour onto that which would probably be no more than $150 which makes it less than $550. So I would get:

a) 200 Watt Pioneer headunit - $200 - $250
b) 3 Way 6 x 9 Pioneer speakers - $90 - $100
c) 100 Watt Kenwood 4" speakers in the front - $60
d) Get a friend to install them or pay $100 - $150 to get it installed.

Total cost $350 - $400 without installation.

Hey Zaphod and Pikachu, what can I say? Thanks :)

The JVC KD-G505 is apparently a 50Wx4 MP3/CD head unit, so that's not too bad.

I can't remember what was the brand of the speakers quoted, but I think it is Axis or something like that.

So Pioneer 6"x9"s are the duck's guts, eh? Cool. I've had a look around...but they are all so eye-catching! Are there any Pioneers that look more sedate, perhaps even with the brand name removed from the speaker grille? I don't want to attract unwanted attention and worry about the stereo getting stolen every time I leave the car outside.

Also, I don't want to replace the 4". I am just going to disconnect it and install 6" splits in the front door skins where the door pockets are.

So, for $550, install:
- JVC KD-G505
- 6" front splits...Pioneer as well?
- Pioneer 6"x9's at the back

sounds good everyone?

Can't wait to get this done! Insurance can wait :)

Jeff

yer go pioneer at the front as well, may as well. kenwood suck ass IMO

Are there any Pioneers that look more sedate, perhaps even with the brand name removed from the speaker grille? I don't want to attract unwanted attention and worry about the stereo getting stolen every time I leave the car outside.Jeff

Probably not, but you may be able to fit them under the factory covers, depending. There was another thread on here somewhere about doing that - I think you need to modify the speaker hole slightly to allow the speakers to sit slightly lower.

Z

Don't worry about the pioneer speakers showing too much, almost everyone has them, and it's not like they are top of the line anyways, but then again thiefs are desperate.

Kewl thanks ppl! You all rock! :D

So I'm better off buying all the stuff by myself, and just pay the dude for installation, eh?

Does any one of you want to install it for me and earn some extra dosh? :)

Where is a good place to buy all that gear? You reckon I can get a 200W MP3/CD head unit, 6" Pioneer 3-way splits and 6"x9" Pioneer 3-way (or more?) myself for less than $400?

Got an iPod too, so maybe I can link them all up somehow?

Thanks champs for your education. It is *much* appreciated :)

Where is a good place to buy all that gear?

I bought mine from my local JB's, and was pretty happy with them. Did a good job of the installation, too.

Z

www.caraudioaustralia.com

Retail is a joke...

And focus on some good front splits over anything else. This is what you'll be listening to.

Peace

Tim

JB sounds good. Will go over there one day.

Went to Car Audio Australia...plenty of good advice there, but where do I get stuff other than 2nd hand?

I have just found http://www.fhrxstudios.com/ and they look alright. I might give them a yell and see what they can do for me as well.

Thanks dudes! Will let you know how I go.

Jeff

PM fhrx, he's on these forums occasionally and very helpful.

Ok ppl. I've got some quotes for:

1) Pioneer DEH-P5750MP; Boston FS60 splits; plus pods custom made to fit the speakers where the door pockets used to be. Including sound deadening and labour: about $1,200.

2) The above, plus Audison SRx3 amp, Optima batteries, terminals, earthing kit etc. for $3,000.

What do you think? Fair prices?

Jeff

So how much do you want to spend. Persoanlly clarity and cheap car audio is not something you can achieve. My last cheap system added up to $2,000 and that was still running off the headunit without a amp.

If you are trying to keep under $500 bucks then you have to make do with cheap stuff, if you want to spend 1,200 then you will start to get a decent Headunit with decent front speakers, If you want to spend 2000 then you will get a very good headunit and very good front splits. Spend about 2,500 you get top of the range gear. All depends on what you want to call sound quality

Thank you funky_fresian_cows for your input. I do understand that quality goes up the more you spend.

My question actually is: are the quotes reasonable for what I am getting?

Thanks!

Jeff

Top of the range can go well over $50k as well.

Depends what u want. U can get something loud, for a couple of grand.

I don't know retail prices, but sound deadening can be around $100 - $250 per door.
Optima Yellow tops can be had for $300-$350 new.
Terminals /earthing/wiring ~$150+

How good are ur technical skills? Installing a headunit is a good step, u should be able to do this urself.

But if you have the money get someone else to do it. (just because u pay them doesnt always result in a good job though) Depends on the store/employees some do a great job for cheap others do a crap job and take all ur money.

Peace

Tim

Thanks s_tim_ulate I am fine technically. Used to muck about with everything.

The major hurdle is time. By the time I finish work on weekdays, plus church and housekeeping on weekends, there is no time left and I get too tired anyway. So I'd rather pay the money for someone to do it in a couple of hours, than for me to "trial and error" and lose the car as my daily driver to and from work too.

So the prices look fine then. I will see when the dude is available to get it fitted for me.

Will post some pics once it is done.

Thanks people!

Jeff

I'm sure that you already know this:

1) decent headunit = marked improvement with stock spearkers (12 months ago I paid $450 inc install for a Pioneer 4650MP + alpine 1" splits)

2) upgrading stock speakers = marked improvment of sound. For $119 I got Eclipse 3-way 6x9s for the parcel shelf, and for $99 got eclipse 3-way 6.5" for the front.

I must say that compared to stock, the sound quality is excellent (around $700 in total).
Next move is to amp the lot, then later down the track add a sub.

You don't have to spend big $$ to improve what is there.
Of course the more dollars you are willing to commit the better the sound will be. What do you want/what do you need? Loud? Clear? (you can have both for $$)

Playing around with some of the sound boards at Tonkins the other day, I took in some Rodriguez Spanish Guitar to test some new speakers. I was highly impressed by the Eclipse 4.5 inch 2-way - so clear and crispy! Much better than my 3-way 6.5".

Oh and fell in love with the rockford fosgate 8" sub!

Stimulate is your man if you want to speak names, quality and setting things up.
I just know that for what I spent, I am really happy with my sound - but then again anything is better than the stock tapedeck with those cream cone eurovox speakers.

Top of the range can go well over $50k as well.

Depends what u want. U can get something loud, for a couple of grand.

I don't know retail prices, but sound deadening can be around $100 - $250 per door.
Optima Yellow tops can be had for $300-$350 new.
Terminals /earthing/wiring ~$150+

How good are ur technical skills? Installing a headunit is a good step, u should be able to do this urself.

But if you have the money get someone else to do it. (just because u pay them doesnt always result in a good job though) Depends on the store/employees some do a great job for cheap others do a crap job and take all ur money.

Peace

Tim

Of course if you have more money than brains top of the range can just keep going and going, 32,000 for splits can get out of control.

Top for me is going a 1000+ deck, I prefer Nachamichi ( is that the right spelling) or Eclipse in decks. Then front splits about 800+. Speakers are a personl choice as each area of the world produces a different sound, same as amps. I prefer the european/britsh sound over the american sound. I like Eton, Focal speakers

So while you can go balistic in price I feel 2000-2500 will get a very nice deck and front speakers. Of course not everyone wants to spend that type of cash.

Personally I have never seen a set of front slpits under about 700 that i liked. The sound just isn't open enough for what I like. But each to their own