Hi. I'm new to these forums and just had a quick question. I did a search but couldn't find the info I'm looking for.
I recently bought a 97 Magna TF and was pleasantly supprised at how the stereo/speaker combo sounded. I was originally planning on replacing the whole thing with quality components and an upgraded head unit etc aswell as maybe an amplifier but as I'm a backpacker I didn't want to blow money on something unnecessary.
However I was wondering if I simply replaced the head unit with something aftermarket, but cheap, would the sound quality improve much? Or would I have to change the speakers too to gain much of an improvement.
I don't want to change the head unit only to find that an aftermarket one sounds the same.
I'm not expecting massive volume/bass gains here but just some improvement in the quality. I'm also willing to change the speakers to some other semi cheap coaxials if that's what's necessary.
Thaks for any advice.
Dan

You will see (hear) a marked improvement in sound quality, for very little money, if you're smart about how you do it, especially at low frequencies. If you listen to country music, probably don't bother, but anything else, invest a few bucks and you'll be glad you did.

Brilliant, that's what I wanted to hear. I listen to mostly dance music so low frequencies are my friend.
Thanks NicoXY

No wukkas, mate. I can donate a near brand new Pioneer head unit if you want it. It's doesn't have bluetooth, but it's got everything else. You'll just need a plug and some speakers.

Well is it worth me getting better speakers or could I just get away with replacing the head unit for better quality? I'd happily take up that offer, but there's one thing it does need to have, an aux input for my phone/laptop.

It has an aux input, so you're good there. And definitely replace the speakers. If you realllly twist my arm, I might be able to dig up some six" ones for your doors, though you're on your own with the 6x9's
Actually, maybe not, I might have some in the wreck in the yard......

I've Pm'd you Nico

I replied. Dunno if it worked or not.

i dont know about third gens, but second gens have terrible speakers. With better speakers and an aftermarket head unit you will get louder sound. Add a speaker amp and the quality will be a lot better.

You need to look at RMS ratings when buying anything audio. Peak ratings should be completely ignored, period.

I got a 760w speaker amp. Its actually 240w RMS. It gives 60w RMS to each speaker. Thats some real decent power.

Replacing the factory head units with something aftermarket yields great results, firstly you will notice a distinct difference in the quality of the sound, it wont be so flat and it will a noticeable increase in dynamics. Also it goes without saying that replacing the factory unit with an aftermarket unit will allow more flexibility within a system, how much? Depends on how much you would like to spend on a headunit.

i dont know about third gens, but second gens have terrible speakers. With better speakers and an aftermarket head unit you will get louder sound. Add a speaker amp and the quality will be a lot better.

You need to look at RMS ratings when buying anything audio. Peak ratings should be completely ignored, period.

I got a 760w speaker amp. Its actually 240w RMS. It gives 60w RMS to each speaker. Thats some real decent power.

Most straight from the factory cars have terrible speakers, they are dual cones which allows them to play a broad range of frequencies ranges without adding another speaker, the downside is the more band you try to get a speaker to play the more detail you loose out on, some cars with premium sound actually go quite well because the introduce a tweeter up higher than the doors, so this helps with staging and proper reproduction of sound, will it sound terrific? Probably not but better than the non-premium sound.

You dont always need an amp, I prefer to see what I can get out a car before an add an amp, for example, my girlfriend has a VY Commodore, it had the factory headunit which was just flat, I replaced it with an Alpine 9887 which would sell second hand for about $250, after removing the factory headunit and replacing it with this Alpine 9887 the difference in the quality was astonishing, I replaced the dual cones in the door with one of the cheapest set of Sony Splits I could find, and even though I dislike alot of the mainstream products it sounded pretty good. Now after listening to that for a while I realised that I will not need to fit an amp purely because she was not going to want something too complex, and this simple install sounded better than she expected. If you dont want to go to complex try to track yourself down a set of quality 6-6.5inch components with a decent sensitivity rating, so they will still go alright of a headunit without an amp and then put the tweeter from that either in the dash or in the sail panels.

Also look into applying some sound deadening into your door, a door without sound deadening resonates alot and even if you cannot hear it you will be loosing a lot of your output to a poor door design, spend about $50 on deadner and $10 on MDF to seal the service holes and you will be much happier with the results you get from that aswell.

Thanks people. I am aware that component speakers positioned properly and an amplifier would make a world of difference as in my old car I did the whole shebang. Focal components with crossovers, tweaters mounted in the dash and a subwoofer and amp in the boot along with deadening in the doors and an expensive Alpine IDA head unit. However that's alot of hassel and more money than I'm willing to throw at this car and all I'm looking for is an improvement in sound quality. So an aftermarket head unit and some simple 2 way 6.5's in the doors is sufficient enough for my needs right now. I've sorted something out with Nico on here anyway now so all is good.
But thanks for the advice anyway. I just wish I had the room and could stretch the budget to allow a proper install.

U might think the standard tf speakers are good. But compared to anything else there pritty shitty any speaker like Sony pioneer would be a pritty big upgrade with a new head unit