Another stereo upgrade Q....

[Brian K 2]

I want an upgrade. Priorities are(1)price, and (2) ease of install, and (3) performance.

Is 500 bucks unreasonable for unit, speakers and a better small (self powered) sub? I want all plug and play. Do I have to run new wires to all speakers? And what increase of sound can I expect. Kinda hard to answer I know. I can't put 1000 watts and 2500.00 bucks like I did my last truck. I need a remote and Ipod ready too! Thanks as I know this has been beat to death here.

 

[Jacob Dryer]

$500 seems tough.



I was only looking at retail prices on crutchfield not ebay or anywhere else.



alpine headunit $180 + $20 for remote + $30 for ipod adapter



$230



That doesn't leave much for speakers/sub/amp.

~$100 for 2 speakers

Cheapest self powered sub was ~$150



That puts you right around $500.. and honestly won't be great but will be better than stock.

 

[shawn stonbraker 2]

Bk, not to much advice from me except get what you want and can afford. You will get all kinds of opinions on what is the best and what sounds the greatest. The only opinion is what you end up with. I use all "low end" stuff, and to me, it sounds great. To others here it might not but it is what I can afford, and I love it. I have an 8" sub behind the seat, a 10" that is on the seat (for now), a 600W 2 channel Kenwood amp running the subs, Kicker 6X8 3 ways in all the doors, and the stock head unit. Total invested approx $300.

 

[Jake Levin]

BK, you might want to consider building the system over some time to be able to put more money into it. Start with a really good headunit and go from their. $500 for everything will be very tough. you can get a really good headunit for $200-$300 and speakers for around $100-$150 a set.

 

[Josh Langel]

Don't you ever put that letter in upper case by it self... unless you want to die.

 

[Brian K 2]

Don't you ever put that letter in upper case by it self... unless you want to die.

Haven't spent much time on here and even I know what/who you are talking about. Thanks for the replies. Some amps work better with the stock system? My last stock system did not in ways of static and distortion.

 

[TomT]

I agree with what jlevin told you. Get a good head unit and new door speakers for now then add a sub and mono amp later. Shop around. I got a good deal on a used Alpine mono amp on ebay. Found a decent price 10" sub on the internet. Probably don't have much more then $600-$700 invested total and the sound is fantastic.

 

[Bill V]

Bk, there is a member on this site who goes by the name "Q", whose personality--well, let's just say that it rubs some people on this site the wrong way. He's been relatively quiet as of late--which is probably why you haven't seen him, experienced him, and therefore understood Mud's comment.

 

[Brian K 2]

I know of him, but not well enough to forget about writing the whole Q thing.....awwww there I go again, my apologies.

 

[shawn stonbraker 2]

Bill V, I think the "Q" is gone. Rich took care of that problem.

 

[Brian K 2]

Sheeeesh I de-railed my own thread....back to the matter at hand. There are amps that work better with stock equipment? My last truck stock didn't like the amp at all. Static/hiss....

 

[shawn stonbraker 2]

Bk, mine is for the subs only. There is no other noise except bass coming out of the subs.

 

[TomT]

I wouldn't buy an amp for the stock head. You would just be magnifying the crappy sound that's already there. Get a decent new head unit with at least 40W x 4 and that's all the power you will need for the door speakers. Then get a 150-250 mono amp for the sub.

 

[Brian K 2]

I wouldn't buy an amp for the stock head. You would just be magnifying the crappy sound that's already there. Get a decent new head unit with at least 40W x 4 and that's all the power you will need for the door speakers. Then get a 150-250 mono amp for the sub.

40Wx4 is the amp size right? Do they even make a head unit that powerful? Can I use the factory sub after I power it, if not how much for a factory fit replacement.

Really I appreciate all the comments. Esp. since this is one of the most talked about on here.

 

[TomT]

Most Alpines are rated at 45w x 4. Audio gurus will tell you the ratings aren't exactly true but I can tell you my Alpine puts out plenty of power for my door speakers. I would get a seperate amp for the sub.

 

[Axel Deneselya]

I recieved my 07 on the 1st of december. By the 3rd of december I had swapped out the speakers for alpine 5X7s. The difference was huge. then on the 5th I swapped out the head unit for an Alpine 9857 with XM and ipod controls. At this point it sounded great and the head unit+ speakers came in under 500 bucks. (about 450 if I remember correctly) and I could have stopped there, but I had ordered the amp months earlier (the car arrived 2 months late) so I had this Brand new amp sitting in a box and I just had to put it in. This really gave me the low base I was looking for out of the 5X7s but if I could do it over, I could probably get similar results by adding a self powered sub without the amp and crossed over the 5x7s with the high pass filter in the head unit. I am not a base head so the base produced by the 5X7s is fine for me.