Car audio suggestions

[nsafreak]

Well after making the final improvements on my home audio setup and being pretty happy with what I have for headphones for portable use I've decided I'd like to upgrade my car's audio from the factory to something a bit better. The thing is I have zero experience when it comes to working on cars (aside from swapping out the spare tire) and I lack a garage so I'd be working on it in an open parking lot which I'm not too sure if it's a great idea. The car that this will be going in is a '02 Stratus four door sedan. Hopefully I can be guided a bit by these forums and get some general questions answered.

1) I'm looking typically at a DMR to replace the headunit. The only reason I use CDs nowadays is to burn the FLAC files from my collection onto CD so that my car CD can play it. It'd be nice if the DMR could play FLAC but I can deal with it playing back MP3s instead since I don't think I can budget for the same level of music fidelity I have at home. Feature wise I'm looking for bluetooth and USB which seem to be included in most DMR head units. Brand name wise I'm looking primarily at Pioneer & Kenwood although I'll take other suggestions.

2) I'd also like to replace the stock speakers with something a bit better. The thing is I'm not sure what's a reasonable amount to spend on decent car speakers or what's a good brand name. I've seen & heard various speakers from MB Quart, Pioneer and some other manufacturers but I'm again open to options. I'd be replacing the front & rear speakers on this vehicle. The fronts are 6 1/2" coaxials (I believe at least) and the rears are 6x9 speakers mounted in the trunk. Sound wise I'm looking for I guess you could say decent all around speakers. I'm not looking for heavy bass so at this time I'm going without a subwoofer but I do want clear vocals with a good amount of high frequency response. Bass presence would be nice as well.

3) Where to purchase this all from? Again I'm not so sure it'd be a good idea for me to try and self install it since it would involve disassembling front door panels to a degree for the front speakers, getting inside of the trunk to install the 6x9 speakers and removing the factory stereo from the console. So I'm looking for potentially a local shop to purchase this from in the Denver area. So far I've looked at Quality Audio Sound but I'm open to other shops although the last time I did a car stereo install with Best Buy the install quality was a bit lacking so I'll be staying away from them.

4) Budget. Installed what is the typical budget for a system like this? A headunit install alone from Quality Auto Sound was $300. This was for a Kenwood eXcelon headunit + parts & labor. The headunit by itself was $190 so that's $110 for parts, labor & taxes which to me seems on the steep end, but I could be wrong. I was hoping to get a setup installed for around $400, is that too little for a decent system?

 

[nsafreak]

Should I perhaps ask to have this put in another forum? Thought the garage was the proper forum for this type of thing but maybe not.

 

[Kaido]

So to recap:

1. Goal is to improve stock audio on a 2002 Stratus sedan
2. Budget is $400
3. DMR by Pioneer or Kenwood
4. Priority is clear vocals with lots of high-frequency response
5. No dedicated subwoofer, but some bass presence desired
6. Would prefer a professional installation

Yes, labor is what really adds the expense. You might be able to get away with posting an ad on Craigslist to see if someone will do the whole thing for like $150 or something - I know a lot of people who do it for fun on the side and would happily do it for a bit of cash on a weekend afternoon.

Crutchfield is the number one place to get stuff from because they include the extras like the wiring harness for the stereo. Head units are usually the easiest piece to DIY - remove the car's faceplate, crimp the wiring harness onto the stereo, and swap. Speakers get more difficult because you have to take off door panels, carpeting, etc. Sometimes Youtube will have a video tutorial on either speaker installation or something related, like swapping out a broken door panel.

If you want really clear vocals, you'll want to buy a component system with tweeters. Unless your car already has tweeters, this will require drilling some holes, so you'll probably want to have a professional do this if you're not comfortable working on your car (i.e. pay a guy to do it perfectly vs. hope you don't mess something up).

As far as the lack of a subwoofer goes, since you have 6x9's in the rear, you can buy 6x9" subwoofers and use your trunk as a mini infinite baffle (i.e. trunk = big subwoofer box). No separate amplifier or extra wiring required! Something like this:

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=264-837

You can get away with doing this for $400 if you DIY ($99 for a head unit, $130 for rear subs, and the remaining on component speakers & some crimp tools), otherwise I'd say it's a little tight for anything other than low-end speakers + some paid Craigslist labor. Call around to your local installers and see if they have a standard upgrade kit (stereo + speakers + install labor) for a set price too.

 

[Kaido]

I should also note that you can get good, clear audio just by upgrading the coaxial speakers. Personally I don't like component speakers because they're too harsh on my ears (even high-end ones) so I always just do coaxial upgrades. A lot of stock head units only push out 15 or 20 watts of power, whereas aftermarket ones can usually do 50 watts or so without extra amplifiers, so you can get a pretty good power & clarity boost just by swapping out the head unit & the coaxial speakers. My first install was on my old Saturn and I didn't know squat about electronics or cars and it went fairly smoothly (in the parking lot where I lived, no less), so don't be too scared to try it yourself.

The headunit mostly requires crimping; you can buy a simple tool & some little crimp heads to do it. Just stick the two wires in the crimp head & crimp, done. Match up the wires to the harness and do the rest. Pull off the car's faceplate in the console, pull out the old stereo, unplug the harness & antenna, and swap the new one in. Depending on the design of your car, you may need a new plastic faceplate as well (my '99 Escort required a new $30 faceplate because the stereo was integrated in with the HVAC controls and stuff).

 

[HeXen]

$400 isn't much for a decent system, you can get a good burr and brown dac HU for that though. JVC makes a nice one.

The car audio snobs out there will not accept the idea of you using mainstream brands like pioneer..etc. Not that their bad, just often you pay too much for what you get which isn't much. Just pointing it out. Here is a good forum for great advice http://www.caraudio.com/forums/forum.php

For online purchases, this place is cheaper than crutchfield....often quite a bit cheaper, great shipping and very reliable, have used them for years. http://www.sonicelectronix.com/

Focus on the front speakers. Most audiophiles don't even use rear speakers. For rear fill, just use the stock ones.
For mainstream brands, I like JLAudio and Rockford Fosgate. Car Audio has changed a lot, most manufacters are owned by a parent company that owns many brands, most made in China.
Don't worry about all that, just spend a good portion of your budget on the HU itself. The speakers second and the wire kits 3rd. The amp practically doesn't even matter anymore, they all sound pretty clean and Class D has come a long way. 75watts per chan is plenty for speakers, even 50 watts. Doubling the power is barely perceptible when cranked up.

Don't forget, the gain is not a volume knob. Most people never set it correctly.

Pro installation can be expensive, I think it's $200 just for the HU alone but I guess it depends. I always did it myself but I remember CC used to charge that much.

 

[boomhower]

Budget is really tight for a HU and speakers. No need to pay for installation. Order from Crutchfield and do it yourself. They include instructions, diagrams, wiring, etc. You supply some basic tools and connectors.

 

[Kaido]

The car audio snobs out there will not accept the idea of you using mainstream brands like pioneer..etc.

I always chuckle when I read "car audio snobs" or "car audiophiles" because any real audiophile knows how terrible of an environment a car is, from the interior shape to the exterior road & engine noises, so I always laugh when I see people putting ridiculously expensive "audiophile" systems into their cars :biggrin: Besides, all the hardcore guys go this route:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...peakers-IMPLANTED-ears-listen-music-time.html

:awe:

 

[nsafreak]

Thanks for the advice guys. Taking another look at my front speakers they are of the component variety as I do have tweeters mounted above the front dash. I may go ahead and try and do as much of it myself as possible and take a look at some videos or online tutorials on replacing my car's speakers. If it looks like something I can handle I'll go ahead and do it myself if not then I may go the craigslist route. Part of the reason that I don't want to expand the budget so much is because I'm well aware that it's a car that I'm installing this audio hardware in and for me it'd be pretty silly to try and get something on the same level to what I have at home in my car.

 

[Kaido]

Thanks for the advice guys. Taking another look at my front speakers they are of the component variety as I do have tweeters mounted above the front dash. I may go ahead and try and do as much of it myself as possible and take a look at some videos or online tutorials on replacing my car's speakers. If it looks like something I can handle I'll go ahead and do it myself if not then I may go the craigslist route. Part of the reason that I don't want to expand the budget so much is because I'm well aware that it's a car that I'm installing this audio hardware in and for me it'd be pretty silly to try and get something on the same level to what I have at home in my car.

Well, that's not to say that you can't get some serious improvements & get great sound. My first pair of aftermarket speakers were like, I dunno, $49 a pair or something, and they were a HUGE upgrade over the stock ones. So while there is such a thing as going overboard (some people spend upwards of $10,000 on their car audio systems, but it's good to have a hobby and it keeps the economy rolling! haha), there is also the reality that an upgrade is an upgrade, and if you want better sound, you can definitely get better sound!

Since you already have tweeters, that will make it a lot easier - you'll basically just be crimping wires and pulling off some plastic, nothing too overly difficult and definitely something you could do in a parking lot if needed!

 

[Kaido]

Also if you're interested in buying used, normalicy has a monster thread over in FS/FT:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2180239