Car Audio Buffs........advice needed.

[Nutdotnet]

Alright so I am going to get a Head Unit for my car and probably some front speakers. That is if my Home Theater ever sells (which you can see by going HERE ). Anyways, I am lookin to spend around $250 for the Head Unit and under $100 for the speakers. I think the speaker size is 5 1/4".

So I am asking you all what is good out there for those kind of prices, I know not much, but would like your suggestions.

I also plan on doing the install myself. I have done a few complete systems a few years back so I know what I am doing but I want to make sure I get everything I need. I have a 1990 VW Jetta w/AKTIV Speaker system. I have no clue what the AKTIV Speaker system is so if someone wants to tell me that would be great. So if anyone has done an install on a A2 VW then please fill me in on what I need to get, and what I need to look out for.

Thanks!

 

[Modge]

check out crutchfield.com they have everything and the prices are reasonable. sometimes you can find a good sale. Personally I think a good mix between price and quality would be Blaupunkt.

 

[Nutdotnet]

Yeah I am thinkin about going with crutchfield if I decide to do it myself. Ya get free wiring harnesses. . Anyways, my main concern is with the installation itself. If anyone has every done any installs on a A2 VW please let me know how it went!

Thanks

 

[amnesiac]

Crutchfield has impeccable support but they're expensive. Go to www.soundhabit.com or www.sounddomain.com

Great sites with great service and prices.
www.audioreview.com has reviews for anything car audio.

 

[Nutdotnet]

Yeah I guess my main thing is with the speaker installation. I haven't been able to get a good answer of what can go in there and what can't. For instance, crutchfield's website says that 5 1/4" Speakers will fit in the doors, but only two different models show up. Some Blaupunkts and some Jensens. Sorry but I do not call those quality. I want to get the infinity reference 5 1/4" but I am afraid that they may be TOO DEEP. I just haven't found info about the allowable depth for my doors.

 

[Aihyah]

your right about infinities and depth though, their newest ones are even deeper. Magnets are very wide polk has a series with silk dome tweeters with smaller magnets.

 

[Emulex]

Hate to tell you but the AKTIV stuff must be completely removed. As in rewiring all the speakers. It's a wierd common ground amp'd system.

Also you've got 6 speakers in the car. Bad. You cannot run the front dash and kick panel 5.25" (or 4" if you look) off the head unit. Too low of ohm's. Will cause your fronts to be too loud, and your head unit's internal amp to overload in a few minutes. Seriously. I made this mistake of trying with a nice pioneer unit. No dice.

If you nuke the front dash speakers i spose you could put a component set in, but a head unit probably wont have the power to drive components.

I just replaced my head unit, and ripped all the AKTIV junk out. Get read for a lot of work, restringing wire..

drop me an email rigor@mediaone.net if you need any more advice. I'm about to drop some components and an ADS powerplate in to get it done correctly. Thank god i have a bunch of stereo parts laying around.

Btw, i suggest, figuring out how to put 6x9's in the rear deck. Will sound 100X better than the crappy small 4x6's back there!

Pioneer makes excellent cheap speakers. They are designed to sound good, from the head units' power. Anything better in quality, you'll probably have to get a 50x4 quality amp to drive them and all the wiring associated.

Hope this helps

sam

 

[rootaxs]

It may not be audiophile equipment but do consider some Cerwin Vega's (Stealth Series). I've got 6 1/2 components in front and 6x9 3-ways in the rear of my Civic Coupe, powered by an eXcelon X815 HU. It sounds awesome, the sound stage is just right, highs hit good, lows are pretty good as well.

When i first heard people saying "With these Cerwins, you'll think you have a small 8" sub in your trunk".

They weren't kidding. It's not boomy at all. Just a right mixture of everything.

 

[rootaxs]

By the way, you might also want to try Smilephotovideo.com , they've got pretty decent prices as well.

I've never ordered from Soundhabit before but if their E-Bay ratings is any indication of their worth i'd suggest you stay away from them.

Crutchfield is good support and research-wise but they have pretty steep prices. Then again they're the only online vendor that's authorized by the brands they carry (e.g. Official factory warranty always goes with the products)

 

[snakesnfrogs]

What Emulex said is true---AKTIV=pain in the ass. The '92 Passat we had had the AKTIV system in it, and I had to run new speaker wires for everything. I'm not sure about this, but I seem to remember there was a problem with the antenna as well---some kind of special adapter is needed to use with an aftermarket head unit. According to Crutchfield's catalog, the maximum speaker depth is 2 1/2" for the front doors for your car.


edit: you might look here. They've got a huge selection and some good prices.

 

[Emulex]

yah my 90 g60 has a fuba powered antenna, and it does need some adapter thingamabob. I just bought a brand new pioneer that was slightly damaged (ripped out the antenna cord, used in box) for $50 and wired it up cause i had a JVC (Junk with Various Controls). It sucked so bad it took like 30 minutes to figure out how to use it every time i got in the car I like having a nice remote and a knob to control my stuff.

Expect to spend a lot of time and a pretty penny on doing your radio.

btw, AKTIV is like 6 watts of massive power per channel. whoa.

 

[scorp00]

I'm absolutely against crutchfield, just because their prices are WAY too high. I got a receiver from a little car audio shop around here for $100 less than crutchfield was asking. I also saved $250 on my amp, and $150 on my subs.

I highly recommend going to a small car audio store, they know WAY more than crutchfield/best buy/circuit city. Because it's all they do. And their prices have to be lower to get people to come to them. Also, the place I bought it from won the state competition for car audio something like 8 times.

 

[Nutdotnet]

Yeah I kind of had a feeling that the AKTIV speaker system could give me problems. I just really don't have the time to re-wire everything and what-not because I am driving up to Alaska from Oregon in a week and am still finishing up college. I will probably just deal with the stocl speakers for now until I get up to Alaska and can have more time to mess around with that stuff.

 

[Emulex]

I have a better suggestion. Leave it stock (and working) until you can install it properly. The whole head unit etc. If you feed the wrong load into the AKTIV you might blow it, or your head unit up. Aktiv is NOT speaker line compatible. It is also not really "RCA" line-out level compatible either.

Either do it right, or don't do it all.

 

[Nutdotnet]

Yeah but the whole point of me doing this is so I can have a CD Player to listen to on the 4-day drive.

What the hell were those germans thinkin? . I understand the whole "ohm load" thing. I know that head units are not designed to be able to handle a 2ohm load. So what you are trying to say is I am going to have to rewire everything and if I plan on using the dash and door speakers I would have to get a 4-channel amp of some sort. That would make sense. I was just hoping for a clean easy install. All the past cars that Ihave installed complete systems in have all needed complete re-wiring due to the previous owners idiocity. I was hoping to make it so if I ever sell the car I can exchange everything rather easily. At least with the head-unit. I should be able to use a wiring harness with that so I can plug right into the exisiting wiring harness for the stock deck correct? I haven't taken the stock head unit out yet so I haven't seen the wiring back there.

 

[perfectlysane]

crutchfield is crap

 

[Nutdotnet]

Wow, that was an insightful post.

 

[Operandi]

Why not just leave the stock wire in the vehicle along with the stuff that u add. Just make sure you mark what each wire is, testing wires isn?t fun believe me . That way if want to sell the car just take out your aftermarket stuff and put the stock back in. It should be too hard, right?

Phillip Doede

 

[Nutdotnet]

I don't know. I don't fully understand the AKTIV system simply because I haven't found too much info on it.

I am not getting to worried about it yet though. I still have to sell the damn Home Stereo System!

 

[Emulex]

Should we bring up the "Bose" system in Nissan's, the fiber optics in mercedes/bmw's, or others? Every manufacture uses a proprietary system to achive the best sound for the money, and they design the cars this way, you happen to have a very old car. Just the way it is.

Find a buddy that knows how to run wires, its quite easy to do. Or pay a stereo shop $100 to run new wires and install it for you.

Either way, you'll have it right, and it will sound good.

 

[Nutdotnet]

You make it sound like I don't know what I would be doing.

I know how to run wires, I have done five complete systems in two of my cars, my brother's old car, and two cars of friends. Each time we have had to run wires for the amps, the speakers, etc... I was simply hoping that becuase everything was stock in this car it would be just an easy simply job using wiring harnesses and what not. According to you it isn't. I will not have a problem running new wire if needed, but I simply do not have the time to do it right now with college winding down and getting ready for the move.

So on the door speakers it appears that the door panels may need to come off in order to take out the speaker. Is that true?

 

[Emulex]

I dunno about your application to be honest. I have a rado. Shift the AKTIV
coverplate to the right (towards front of car) It will pop out.

Those door speakers are 4", but you can fit some small depth 5.25's in there for much better sound. I suggest using a component set and have
the tweeter in the Triangle on the windows. there's really nothing you can put in the dash that will sound good at that size.

You'll probably have to nuke the dash speakers, the ohm load will be too low for a head unit to run 4 speakers (door/dash) off the head unit.

By the way, aren't you a vortexer? If not, get off this forum and hit vwvortex.com, theres a bunch of nice folks in the car/audio forum that probably have done some jury-rigging.

I've actually seen a head unit hooked into AKTIV, but honestly, it sounds like ass

 

[Nutdotnet]

HEHE. Yeah I am a vortexer. I have posted my question over there but no one has been much help, oh well I will get an answer from someone.

Yeah I was planning on "nuking" the dash speakers and just using the door speakers for now. Eveuntually I am going to get more into it but after this my money is going to go to fixing up the car, not toys.

Yeah I went to Crutchfield (I don't plan buying from them but they have a pretty good website) and the only 5 1/4" that they have that would fit in the doors are Jensen and Blau's. Um, no thanks.

I already too the coverplate off, but it doesn't look like I can just take the speaker out. There is like only one screw and it doesn't look like it is holding the speaker into the door.....

 

[Deeko]

lalala I haven't read the other replies but oh well. I think Kenwood or Panasonic are best in that price range for head units. You might be able to get 5.25" Polk DX speakers for under 100, that would be real nice. If not, the EX's aren't half bad either.

 

[Emulex]

head unit: Clarion pro audio (i got a spare dx515 brand new i was going to put in), Or 2000/2001 pioneer line.

Very cheap, very good quality sound. $140-150 for either brands will get you a very good head unit with a usable remote, and decent stable head unit power. (2001 pioneers are 50 watt MOSFET)