Budget sound system upgrade

[deeyo]

I want to upgrade my car's sound system, but don't want to spend too much money. It's a '96 bmw 328 with the stock sound system.

I don't want to spend more than $200 but i don't know if that's lowballing it too much.

anyway, i most importantly want more clarity in the sound, not so much a bunch of power. I'll probably be listening to most music through an ipod. Can i get a pretty good improvement in sound just from changing the receiver, or should i up the speakers?

And can you get decent sub thats not the kind that sits in the trunk?



thanks

 

[zerocool84]

Speakers are kind of like getting good tires, they are probable the most important parts. You can upgrade the engine/headunit all you want but the tires/speakers are what put the power to the ground sort of speak.

 

[deeyo]

so i guess ideally i'd want to replace everything, but if not, would it be better to replace only the headunit or only the speakers?

hmm.. but i think i'd rather get a new headunit for an aux-in, though i know you can just wire an adapter somewhere else instead

 

[sandorski]

Speakers will make the most difference, however, to do that you also need decent Power from an Amp. An Amp, not a Head unit.

 

[Apex]

If push comes to shove, generally speakers are the best place to start, giving you the best price/performance jump.

This being said, some speakers are made to work with the head units (ie. Blose), so sometimes you may not get as big of an improvement as you would hope with just the switching of speakers.

 

[deeyo]

what's a good store i can go to to discuss my options? will something like circuit city do? I'm in the SF bay area

 

[shocksyde]

I think you'd be better off doing your research and shopping online at a place such as Crutchfield.com.

The guys at CC or BB will most likely try to sell you ***** speakers.

 

[ognabor]

Originally posted by: sandorski
Speakers will make the most difference, however, to do that you also need decent Power from an Amp. An Amp, not a Head unit.

if youre getting an amp, youd better be getting a head unit too >.<

Originally posted by: shocksyde
I think you'd be better off doing your research and shopping online at a place such as Crutchfield.com.

The guys at CC or BB will most likely try to sell you ***** speakers.

you're "better off" doing your own listening. do your research, for sure, but go to brick-and-mortar locations and listen to the speakers you're thinking about buying. any speaker store worth a damn will let you play around with their speakers. granted, they won't sound the same in your car as they do in the store, but it's better than going exclusively off some magazine, online reviewer, or forum. if the speakers sound good to you (or don't!) that's all that matters. even if they come from the dreaded Best Buy.

my 2 cents, $200 isn't enough to do anything justice, but i'm crazy.

 

[NTB]

So replacing factory speakers without replacing the factory head unit wouldn't be worth it? I recently purchased an '07 Mazda 3, and the factory speakers aren't worth a crap, so I was considering replacing them, while still using the original factory head unit.

Nathan

 

[TechBoyJK]

Originally posted by: NTB
So replacing factory speakers without replacing the factory head unit wouldn't be worth it? I recently purchased an '07 Mazda 3, and the factory speakers aren't worth a crap, so I was considering replacing them, while still using the original factory head unit.

Nathan

Especially in older cars, If the headunit works, I'd start with the speakers. Any decent head unit with some power will be ok to push some good efficient speakers, and yes you will hear a difference.

For a decent Head Unit, you are looking at about $200 at least and $50 for install and installation parts.. For most cars, you have 2 speakers up front and 2 in back. Some cars have components up front... We can argue about brand names, but I replaced my brothers stock honda head unit and speakers with a $180 Sony Xplode head unit and the speakers with $50 per set sony xplode speakers and it made a world of difference.. all bought at walmart

This is coming from someone who has a $4000+ car stereo..

woofersetc.com is a good place to buy as well, probably 80% the cost compared to crutchfield

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: NTB
So replacing factory speakers without replacing the factory head unit wouldn't be worth it? I recently purchased an '07 Mazda 3, and the factory speakers aren't worth a crap, so I was considering replacing them, while still using the original factory head unit.

Nathan

I am on teh same boat as you. Their 6 speaker non-bose system blows and from what I hear, the bose one is better, but not by the premium they want. I kind of think it is more the head unit though.....

 

[GoatMonkey]

How are you connecting this iPod? Cassette adapter, FM? Those things have horrible sound quality even on good speakers.

$200 is not going to get you a full system, especially if you're talking about adding a subwoofer. If you're going to leave anything off of this system I think it would be the subwoofer. A new head unit with an iPod connector or line-in and some new speakers will go a long way. A sub is just a big, heavy, waste of space.

If I was forced to make a choice between speakers and a head unit, in your case I'd go with the head unit first. Mostly because you're connecting an iPod. This is assuming that the original speakers are not shot.

 

[deeyo]

hmm thanks all.

yeah i was thinking about connecting the ipod through a headunit. I should just look out for one that has decent power and is easy to operate, huh? I think i will not mind going over $200 at all now actually =x

So Techboy, those sony speakers were $50 a set, meaning 100 for four? And i've seen head units with the features i want for like $120-130. That'd suit me pretty well, i think.


The stock setup i'm on is the 2-front, 2-back. The front has two small speakers (or at least speaker holes, i haven't opened it up) like 2.5" and 1.5" in diameter. These handle the highs, and the much larger rear deck speakers take care of the lower end. There's lot's of overlap in the range coverage though, i gave it a good listen today while fiddling with the fader. Would i then go for the same sort of speakers, or is there something better i can do? I've read briefly about component speaker setups but i assume thats a lot more money.

 

[MetalMat]

a sub & amp, even a cheap setup (like a bestbuy brand) will be a night and day difference.

 

[dud]

For $200 ... I vote for a nice set of Infinity Reference speakers. You can get them new, at a significant discount on Ebay. I know I did.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Originally posted by: deeyo

So Techboy, those sony speakers were $50 a set, meaning 100 for four? And i've seen head units with the features i want for like $120-130. That'd suit me pretty well, i think.

Yea, just about $100 for four, and those were 6.5's and 6x9's.. My brother, who is a working DJ in alot of St. Louis clubs, was completely content with the sound. He added two 10" subs, and used the headunits crossover to tune the sound. I would first figure out your budget. How much can you really spend. If you need a quick fix, like I did for my brother, go to walmart and get the explodes. but if you have time and want the best bang for your buck, look around for some infinities, alpines, etc.. on ebay.. I would buy new from whereever though just to avoid installing a bad used speaker.. waste of time. You can find some good deals on woofersetc.com A good brand is CDT, and they sell cheap. You can find bargains for CDT on woofersetc.com all the time.

Might also want to post on caraudio.com forums as well... You'll find deeper conversation about the different brands and bargains..

Oh, Alpine makes a really nice Ipod deck which is about $250.. It is Ipod only, no cd player, but the deck controlls the ipod so you dont have to touch your ipod at all...

 

[NTB]

I really would like to keep my factory head unit, to keep that whole nice 'integrated' look. It is a new car, after all What if I bought an amp with speaker-level inputs, in addition to new speakers?

Nathan

 

[TechBoyJK]

that should work, but using the line level adapters for the amp will create some line noise in your signal that wouldnt be there if you used an aftermarket deck with quality preouts

 

[deeyo]

so i got a Pioneer DEH-1900MP on eBay. But then i think i have weird front speakers. They are like 3" plus a tweeter. pic

but 3" speakers seem hard to find. I see 3.5" on crutchfield, but i'm pretty sure the ones installed right now are smaller than that.


If i get new 3 inchers and tweeters, and then new speakers for the rear deck (6" i think), would it be pretty straightforward to set up?

 

[ognabor]

Originally posted by: TechBoyJK
that should work, but using the line level adapters for the amp will create some line noise in your signal that wouldnt be there if you used an aftermarket deck with quality preouts

it's unfortunate that factory head units dont come with preouts. i'd pay a premium for a system that was set up like that... keeps the factory look, but allows the addition of amps while maintaining quality.

and yeah, JL makes their "almost" solution (Text), but it really isn't a solution. too inflexible.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Originally posted by: deeyo
so i got a Pioneer DEH-1900MP on eBay. But then i think i have weird front speakers. They are like 3" plus a tweeter. pic

but 3" speakers seem hard to find. I see 3.5" on crutchfield, but i'm pretty sure the ones installed right now are smaller than that.


If i get new 3 inchers and tweeters, and then new speakers for the rear deck (6" i think), would it be pretty straightforward to set up?

theres probably a crossover between the front speakers and the headunit.. If you can't find this crossover, things won't be straightforward, and even if you do find the crossover, it might not be built for aftermarket speakers. I doubt the factory headunit has seperate otuputs for the tweets and the 3"s so there has to be a crossover somewhere... If you can find a similar 3+1 (mid+tweet) setup, it should have its own crossovers..

 

[deeyo]

oh nuts, this is probably more complicated than i thought..

" The Harman Kardon system employs the same new in-dash unit as the standard system; its 10 speakers are all upgraded from the standard ones and include-

14-mm soft dome tweeter in each front door
65-mm midrange in each front door, with Harman Kardon logo
140-mm woofer, with dual voice coils for phone use, in each front side
panel(ahead of door, under the dash)

Two 65-mm midrange/tweeters in the rear shelf.
Two 160 x 230-mm (approx. 6 x 9-in) woofers in the rear shelf.

Amplification is eight channels at 40 watts each, for a total of 320 watts of audio power - which should satisfy the audiophiles among our customers! Other premium features include:
Parametric equalizer bands and individual high- or low- pass filters for each channel
Split-band auto distortion limiting
Spatial- enhancement circuitry
Full protection against adverse condition including thermal, over-voltage or short circuit "

 

[deeyo]

anyway i found a good bmw forum, so i think i'll start asking around there.

thanks for all the help!