Where can I get a cheap ass car stereo

ragtop70

ragtop70

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I'm looking for:
cheap
cd player
station presets (not mandatory, but I'd like it to have these)
fairly recognizable name
new, not refurbished
The cheapest I've found are around $89 (Jensen, I think). I'm wanting one for less than 60 bones. This can be online or B&M, but I'm betting I won't have the B&M store within even an hour of home. Thanks ahead of time.
 
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ive gotten a buncha stuff from thezeb.com never had a problem with them.


There's always crutchfield, and although i know tons of people that get the catalog (myself included), i dont really know anyone that orders from it.
 
dont buy the cheapest car audio stuff, it tends to last the shortest amount of time and really suck while you have it. Keep saving your money for awhile and get a nice alpine or pioneer deck.
 
I'm doing some looking around after someone smashed in my window and took mine. You have to put instillation into the factor as well. Whether you or a family member can put it in, pay a good friend $20 to do it or pay Best Buy $50. If your broke like I am, $20 is a lot of doe. If you need professional instillation, right now till the 11th, CC is giving free instillation with any stereo deck purchase over $100. I saw some Panasonics for $100 on their site. That was the brand of my last stereo and loved it. If you know of someone to put it in for you, look on ebay. I see $200 top knotch stereos go for a 1/3 of the price all the time. Ebay will even tell you if it'll fit in your car, so no worries.
 
I can install it myself. Money isn't a problem, I'm just tight. I'm driving a '95 Monte Carlo that I practically stole ($400). My dad changed head and intake gaskets and it was on the road. I got a cheap set of 16" factory aluminum wheels.
Notice a trend here? I've got about $600 total in the car and I'm just wanting to do a reasonable upgrade on the stereo. It has a Durabrand cd player which would be fine, but the part of the detachable face that holds it in is broken off and it keeps coming loose.
Well, off I go to check the sites that have been listed thus far.
BTW, I've checked Ebay, but I don't know what is a good buy and what isn't. 50 watts X 4? 15 watts X 4? What the heck? That may as well be German because I don't know what it means.
 
[quote name='tornadomann']dont buy the cheapest car audio stuff, it tends to last the shortest amount of time and really suck while you have it. Keep saving your money for awhile and get a nice alpine or pioneer deck.[/QUOTE]

Your my clone, I was gonna same the exact same thing. Alpine and Pioneer are awesome decks.
 
Make a friend that works in car stereo then go Clarion. Fry's is where get a lot of my stuff, but if by any chance you're near L.A. theres a ton of cheap cheap cheap shops downtown. Just drive down S Central street and you'll see a bunch of em.

I'm a huge car audio geek, AIM me on wing3474 if you have questions about various specs.
 
[quote name='ragtop70']I can install it myself. Money isn't a problem, I'm just tight. I'm driving a '95 Monte Carlo that I practically stole ($400). My dad changed head and intake gaskets and it was on the road. I got a cheap set of 16" factory aluminum wheels.
Notice a trend here? I've got about $600 total in the car and I'm just wanting to do a reasonable upgrade on the stereo. It has a Durabrand cd player which would be fine, but the part of the detachable face that holds it in is broken off and it keeps coming loose.
Well, off I go to check the sites that have been listed thus far.
BTW, I've checked Ebay, but I don't know what is a good buy and what isn't. 50 watts X 4? 15 watts X 4? What the heck? That may as well be German because I don't know what it means.[/QUOTE]
A good deck with nice sound will be 50 watts X 4 Channels. A lot of the lower wattage decks are cheap and sound bad. Also the speakers you have can make a world of difference too.
 
I actually work at a car stero shop. If you are actually in the SF bay area you can visit my store.
 
if you have a friend that works at BB he can get you a really cheap deal on a good deck. Their employee discounts are insane...if i remember correctly its what best buy buys them ay wholesale plus a small percentage added on...my friend works at the one in Bridgwater Nj and bought my co worker a kenwood deck(149) and got it for 78...now thats a discount...
anything 50 X 4 is nice and MOSFET is also a plus when looking for a head unit...ebay has cheap decks but most of them are unknown like pyle and lanser...not as highly regarded as alpine or clarion...they arent bad...those companies still do audio shows...i dont know how the quality their head unit is...
 
Most of the time when a deck quotes output at 50x4 (unless youre paying a lot of money) they're talking about peak output, not RMS. Look for RMS at around 20-25x4 for a decent amount of power out of the head.
 
It's not the bottom dolar soultion, but you can get some really great deal in the clearance section at Crutchfield.com. I got the outgoing model of the Blaupunkt Casablance, which was normally $300+ for $129. Like I said, it's more than $60, certainly, but still some good deals to be had.
 
I'm a couple hours' drive from CA (southern Indiana) or I'd check out the places mentioned. I'm currently checking out Crutchfield.
Does anyone have any opinion on the Pioneer DEH-1700? It's a bit under the specs listed so far. I remember 45 X 4 being the max wattage, but I don't recall the RMS numbers. It's on sale, but if it's crap I'll stay away.
 
When you find the model you want at Crutchfield, look at these other stores to get a much lower price. Crutchfield usually sells near MSRP, while most of these sell for around 60% of MSRP or less. Sometimes is because they are not an authorized dealer so you get little or no warranty. These places are reputable:
thezeb.com
ikesound.com (not an authorized dealer for some brands they carry)
onlinecarstereo.com (ditto above)
cardomain.com/shop (usually an authorized dealer)

My two cents: I recommend Pioneer, Panasonic, JVC, Blaupunkt, Alpine. Any model from those guys would be fine.
 
its a very basic reciever...it just does what it does plays music...nothing else...i just dont like that it has no rotary knob. i hate pushing a butting for volume....but thats minor..for 80 bucks tho...this reciever could be worth it...its pioneer too so you cant go wrong..
 
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