Cheap Ass Car Stereo?
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rajchakrabarti
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best buy does a decent entry level car stereo.....other stores like tweeter ( not sure if its around ny), do the more expensive installs.. then you might wanna check your local audio/video dealers also.
Tennisjon2002
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[quote name='ww3676']Yeah, but BB is the evil empire and i hate to shop from them... How is Crutchfield? Anyone know?[/quote]
Expensive
Expensive
Check out crutchfield for head units that are on clearance. You can get teh previous years' top of the line model for around $300. Check out tweeters(if you have one) for open box amps and subs. Alpine amps and clarion head units are awesome. Extant subs are decent if you get them on sale. I have a 10" and it rocks my truck pretty good. If you want teh best speakers in your doors, get these http://www.carreview.com/Speakers/Focal/PRD_52772_1805crx.aspx
rajchakrabarti
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if you don't like bestbuy, try Circuit city or amercian appliance..
badmrfrosty20
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Just to add to this topic..
What are some good car stereos that are under $100?
What are some good car stereos that are under $100?
[quote name='rajchakrabarti']if you don't like bestbuy, try Circuit city or amercian appliance..[/quote]
American Appliance hasn't been in business for like 3 years.....
My word of advice, IkeSound, and look into the Blaupunkt Phoenix ($109) or the Blaupunkt MP3000 ($93, not always in stock), both very good CD/MP3 head units at a good price. The company is reliable, that's where I picked up my MP3000.
American Appliance hasn't been in business for like 3 years.....
My word of advice, IkeSound, and look into the Blaupunkt Phoenix ($109) or the Blaupunkt MP3000 ($93, not always in stock), both very good CD/MP3 head units at a good price. The company is reliable, that's where I picked up my MP3000.
badmrfrosty20
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Err...bump. Really need aid in this subject....
lionheart4life
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Hey, I'm from Rochester too and would also like to know of a place that is fairly cheap as well. Nothing really stands out to me, since I would think specialty shops mark up the prices on car audio more than a Best Buy or Circuit City would. I've seen some good deals in the Circuit City ads before, so keep an eye on those from week to week. They sometimes include free installation, but this might not be useful if you're going to install yourself.
Ericnmel99
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Bigdirty- You say you've bought stuff from Ike Sound before??Does it come new? Cause they have really good prices.
pimpinc333
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Dude get ur stuff from Circuit City.......Get a good headunit of either alpine or pioneer and get ALPINE speakers.
My setup is Pioneer head unit with the OEL display.
Alpine Type-R 6 by 9
Alpine Type-R 6.5 door component set.
This setup is awesome and witht he alpine 6 by 9 u wont even need subs cuz they have smooth and clear soun and bass.
GET THEM lol
My setup is Pioneer head unit with the OEL display.
Alpine Type-R 6 by 9
Alpine Type-R 6.5 door component set.
This setup is awesome and witht he alpine 6 by 9 u wont even need subs cuz they have smooth and clear soun and bass.
GET THEM lol
Ok,
First look into doing some work yourself. I mean installing a few door speakers (if stock location placement is good) is not hard. Running a bigger wire to them and attaching it to an amp is even easier.
Look into it a little. Take your time and buy the individual parts yourself for the install.
Are you looking for an entry-level system or are you trying to win a competition? I am guessing an entry-level system to bump around town in etc.
So I would not discredit Crutchfield. Their prices include unlimited lifetime assistance even if you install the head unit or whatever in a new vehicle later. They also include a guide to your car and all the dash kits, adapters etc with their receivers. Check open box or clearance and you can find some decent deals.
I have had many brands of non sub speakers and find that Pioneer (3 ways) seem to do a pretty good job at a minimal cost. I prefer them over Blaus, Sony, Jensen, Kicker, Clarion (although very good), Kenwood, JBL, and Boston Acoustic, Alpine I might have had a few more brands over the years.
Then depending on what type of music are you looking for subs? I personally have found that a sealed box gives the best all around performance. It’s tight to the bass and doesn’t drag it out if you throw in a rock CD. Bandpass and vented boxes seem to drag out the drum hits more than intended. And if you like R&B or rap the sealed boxes also sound really nice.
Always go for more, smaller subs than one bigger one. The reason is you push more air. So if you are limited to say one 12" or two 10" go with the two 10" you will get better sound and have more "rumble" if that’s what you are after.
You can always buy a box if you are not inclined to build one yourself. But get the box after a sub has been chosen as each sub is going to have a different recommended required air space. It will depend on size/brand/model as well as what type of box you are using i.e. sealed, vented, bandpass.
Don’t assume if you hit up Best Buy and buy a $125 box and throw two 10" subs in it, it will be the best as it most likely wont be a perfect match.
If you decide to build a box yourself you want at least one angle if you build a perfect square box it has "dead space" and will actually hurt your performance.
Carpeting a box is actually fairly simple with the knife and some spray adhesive. Again if you are inclined to do this. You most likely could put together a much better system yourself and learn to build it in the process than a 'Pro" install. Unless you start getting into some serious work like fiberglass, plexi, custom setups. That I wouldn’t recommend for a beginner.
On to Subs. I hope someone doesn’t come in here and slam me due to everyone having his or her own preferences. I personally like JL Audio. I have had Kicker, Sony (crap), Jensen (if matched with a box surprisingly good for $30 for 12" a pop), earthquakes, Fosgates, Godfathers, Profiles, MTX, Advents, JBL, hifonics, and some other off brands like Rockwoods, etc.
The Kickers bumped very hard and very low. I blew the foam out multiple times, melted the lead wires, burnt coils etc. I had them rebuilt every time but after a while it wasn’t worth it. I then went to Jensen’s while I waited for my JL's to arrive and was shocked at them. Many people that heard my system had no idea Jensen’s were powering it.
Anyway hopefully some of that info helps. If you give us more details we may be able to help more.
I think Ike Sound used to be on Ebay as a store and I swear I ordered from them and was very happy with the items.
First look into doing some work yourself. I mean installing a few door speakers (if stock location placement is good) is not hard. Running a bigger wire to them and attaching it to an amp is even easier.
Look into it a little. Take your time and buy the individual parts yourself for the install.
Are you looking for an entry-level system or are you trying to win a competition? I am guessing an entry-level system to bump around town in etc.
So I would not discredit Crutchfield. Their prices include unlimited lifetime assistance even if you install the head unit or whatever in a new vehicle later. They also include a guide to your car and all the dash kits, adapters etc with their receivers. Check open box or clearance and you can find some decent deals.
I have had many brands of non sub speakers and find that Pioneer (3 ways) seem to do a pretty good job at a minimal cost. I prefer them over Blaus, Sony, Jensen, Kicker, Clarion (although very good), Kenwood, JBL, and Boston Acoustic, Alpine I might have had a few more brands over the years.
Then depending on what type of music are you looking for subs? I personally have found that a sealed box gives the best all around performance. It’s tight to the bass and doesn’t drag it out if you throw in a rock CD. Bandpass and vented boxes seem to drag out the drum hits more than intended. And if you like R&B or rap the sealed boxes also sound really nice.
Always go for more, smaller subs than one bigger one. The reason is you push more air. So if you are limited to say one 12" or two 10" go with the two 10" you will get better sound and have more "rumble" if that’s what you are after.
You can always buy a box if you are not inclined to build one yourself. But get the box after a sub has been chosen as each sub is going to have a different recommended required air space. It will depend on size/brand/model as well as what type of box you are using i.e. sealed, vented, bandpass.
Don’t assume if you hit up Best Buy and buy a $125 box and throw two 10" subs in it, it will be the best as it most likely wont be a perfect match.
If you decide to build a box yourself you want at least one angle if you build a perfect square box it has "dead space" and will actually hurt your performance.
Carpeting a box is actually fairly simple with the knife and some spray adhesive. Again if you are inclined to do this. You most likely could put together a much better system yourself and learn to build it in the process than a 'Pro" install. Unless you start getting into some serious work like fiberglass, plexi, custom setups. That I wouldn’t recommend for a beginner.
On to Subs. I hope someone doesn’t come in here and slam me due to everyone having his or her own preferences. I personally like JL Audio. I have had Kicker, Sony (crap), Jensen (if matched with a box surprisingly good for $30 for 12" a pop), earthquakes, Fosgates, Godfathers, Profiles, MTX, Advents, JBL, hifonics, and some other off brands like Rockwoods, etc.
The Kickers bumped very hard and very low. I blew the foam out multiple times, melted the lead wires, burnt coils etc. I had them rebuilt every time but after a while it wasn’t worth it. I then went to Jensen’s while I waited for my JL's to arrive and was shocked at them. Many people that heard my system had no idea Jensen’s were powering it.
Anyway hopefully some of that info helps. If you give us more details we may be able to help more.
I think Ike Sound used to be on Ebay as a store and I swear I ordered from them and was very happy with the items.
As for picking things up.
If you are going a basic
head unit
2 front door speakers
2 rear speakers
2 subs
2 amps (1 for highs, and one for subs with built in x-overs)
Or you can add in a few bass blockers on the door speakers, or x-overs, I mean from that point there are a lot of things you can start to add.
First find out what you want to go with before buying the Head unit. If you are going with the above setup. I would make sure the head unit has enough "Pre amped" (which is pretty standard now) outputs. You will need to have 2 sets plus a sub output of RCA connections.
What this does is it allows you to run a separate RCA wire for each front and rear, right and left channel. So if the music or movie is supposed to travel in a circle from front left to rear left, rear right, to front right it will.
If you get just one output on the head Unit then the front and rear speakers will be run off one channel and will all be mono (front and rear) with each other. You will still have right and left sounds just not a distinguished front and rear separation.
Most Head Units come with a separate Subwoofer output.
A personal secret I have always had good luck with is buying the smaller gauge speaker wire and running it double to each positive a negative of each speaker. So instead of dropping serious cash on a real thick wire go with say a 16 gauge for the door and rear speakers and run both the positive and negative to the positive and then do it again for the negative side of things. Gives more than enough current and also is easier on the wallet. Home depot has decent prices on speaker wire in per foot prices.
If you do the above for the subs run with a 14 gauge or 16 gauges at minimum.
I personally go with a decent RCA wire and run it on the opposite end as the power and remote (remote turns the amps on and off) wire. I never have and never probably will drop the extra cash on "Monster Cable" RCA’s
A friend of mine who ran all Orion and JL ran the cheapest RCA wire he could find and never had interference from power sources. His car bumped very loud and sounded good. I had nothing to say.
Then if you are listening to my advice on the pioneers. Sometimes Walmart etc will have a decent 2 or 3 way Pioneer in stock that will do its job when amped.
If you are looking for Subs I am a little leery of buying used as you don’t know what has happened or what work ahs been done. You can find some cheap Jensen’s at most places Meijer, Walmarts etc. Don’t go get road gear, Sony Etc. Stick with a decent brand or if you are going with lower quality go with the Jensen’s. Now this is only on the sub end of things I have not liked the sound of the Jensen 6x9's or 6 1/2" speakers.
For amps... you can pick up Profile amps for a decent price again not the "best" but prices go up and up for what people think the best is. Also again Jensen used to make a decent amp. It was maybe 100-400 watts and ran in the $50-$150 price range. The newer ones I have not had experience with. The older Blue (machine logo) and the older Blue anodized ones were decent for the money.
Obviously others like, JL, MTX, possibly Kenwood and Pioneer make decent amps but you get into just a bit more for pricing. And again you can always find a more expensive amp. If this is the first time don’t go to huge/pricey.
Keep in mind the THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) of these things and also look for what voltage they are getting the stated amps at. Some companies will give an amp rating at 15+ volts and that can be misleading as the normal alternator doesn’t run that high. So therefore on a lower voltage system the amps will be lower. Some on the other hand are at 11 or 12 volts and thus you might get more in your car.
Keep in mind that I believe anything below 0.09 is not audible by a human so if you look at an amp and it has a THD of 0.07 that’s going to be fine. You get into the 0.09 - 0.1+ range you will start to hear the distortion and may not like the sound of it.
Don’t listen to all these people that run the capacitors on their systems. That’s just a band-aid. What it does is store power for the larger bass hits. Well what if the bass is constant or hits so frequently that the power cant be "stored".... Well then it doesn’t work. To alleviate this problem get a battery isolator. It allows the alternator to charge two batteries.
Link to one kind here: http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/.../storeId-10101/p-4520/c-10101/catalogId-10101
then install another battery and if needed a voltage gauge. I ran this in my supra and never had the voltage drop below 12. I ran with 3 JL Audio (Dual Voice Coil) W6's, each getting 1000 watts, 2 Pioneer 4 way 6x9s each getting 250 watts, and some 3" Blau highs up front getting 100 watts each. I ran a Profile amp for the front speakers and two SOAT amps for the 3 subs and two 6x9's.
I also had a crossover, Audio Control Epicenter and the voltage gauge. Make sure you get a sealed battery for inside the car.
Anyway as far as head units I personally love Panasonic. It is the #1 electronic company in Japan and for a reason. Their stuff lasts period.
If you are going a basic
head unit
2 front door speakers
2 rear speakers
2 subs
2 amps (1 for highs, and one for subs with built in x-overs)
Or you can add in a few bass blockers on the door speakers, or x-overs, I mean from that point there are a lot of things you can start to add.
First find out what you want to go with before buying the Head unit. If you are going with the above setup. I would make sure the head unit has enough "Pre amped" (which is pretty standard now) outputs. You will need to have 2 sets plus a sub output of RCA connections.
What this does is it allows you to run a separate RCA wire for each front and rear, right and left channel. So if the music or movie is supposed to travel in a circle from front left to rear left, rear right, to front right it will.
If you get just one output on the head Unit then the front and rear speakers will be run off one channel and will all be mono (front and rear) with each other. You will still have right and left sounds just not a distinguished front and rear separation.
Most Head Units come with a separate Subwoofer output.
A personal secret I have always had good luck with is buying the smaller gauge speaker wire and running it double to each positive a negative of each speaker. So instead of dropping serious cash on a real thick wire go with say a 16 gauge for the door and rear speakers and run both the positive and negative to the positive and then do it again for the negative side of things. Gives more than enough current and also is easier on the wallet. Home depot has decent prices on speaker wire in per foot prices.
If you do the above for the subs run with a 14 gauge or 16 gauges at minimum.
I personally go with a decent RCA wire and run it on the opposite end as the power and remote (remote turns the amps on and off) wire. I never have and never probably will drop the extra cash on "Monster Cable" RCA’s
A friend of mine who ran all Orion and JL ran the cheapest RCA wire he could find and never had interference from power sources. His car bumped very loud and sounded good. I had nothing to say.
Then if you are listening to my advice on the pioneers. Sometimes Walmart etc will have a decent 2 or 3 way Pioneer in stock that will do its job when amped.
If you are looking for Subs I am a little leery of buying used as you don’t know what has happened or what work ahs been done. You can find some cheap Jensen’s at most places Meijer, Walmarts etc. Don’t go get road gear, Sony Etc. Stick with a decent brand or if you are going with lower quality go with the Jensen’s. Now this is only on the sub end of things I have not liked the sound of the Jensen 6x9's or 6 1/2" speakers.
For amps... you can pick up Profile amps for a decent price again not the "best" but prices go up and up for what people think the best is. Also again Jensen used to make a decent amp. It was maybe 100-400 watts and ran in the $50-$150 price range. The newer ones I have not had experience with. The older Blue (machine logo) and the older Blue anodized ones were decent for the money.
Obviously others like, JL, MTX, possibly Kenwood and Pioneer make decent amps but you get into just a bit more for pricing. And again you can always find a more expensive amp. If this is the first time don’t go to huge/pricey.
Keep in mind the THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) of these things and also look for what voltage they are getting the stated amps at. Some companies will give an amp rating at 15+ volts and that can be misleading as the normal alternator doesn’t run that high. So therefore on a lower voltage system the amps will be lower. Some on the other hand are at 11 or 12 volts and thus you might get more in your car.
Keep in mind that I believe anything below 0.09 is not audible by a human so if you look at an amp and it has a THD of 0.07 that’s going to be fine. You get into the 0.09 - 0.1+ range you will start to hear the distortion and may not like the sound of it.
Don’t listen to all these people that run the capacitors on their systems. That’s just a band-aid. What it does is store power for the larger bass hits. Well what if the bass is constant or hits so frequently that the power cant be "stored".... Well then it doesn’t work. To alleviate this problem get a battery isolator. It allows the alternator to charge two batteries.
Link to one kind here: http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/.../storeId-10101/p-4520/c-10101/catalogId-10101
then install another battery and if needed a voltage gauge. I ran this in my supra and never had the voltage drop below 12. I ran with 3 JL Audio (Dual Voice Coil) W6's, each getting 1000 watts, 2 Pioneer 4 way 6x9s each getting 250 watts, and some 3" Blau highs up front getting 100 watts each. I ran a Profile amp for the front speakers and two SOAT amps for the 3 subs and two 6x9's.
I also had a crossover, Audio Control Epicenter and the voltage gauge. Make sure you get a sealed battery for inside the car.
Anyway as far as head units I personally love Panasonic. It is the #1 electronic company in Japan and for a reason. Their stuff lasts period.
bread's done