im looking to upgrade the whole stereo system and am new to the whole thing. hopefully someone can help me out

so there are speakers all over the car:

four in the bottom of the doors - for these i plan to install sony Xplod 3 ways, which i already have two of.

then theres the smaller ones in the top of the front doors and all the way in the rear. what should i put there?

its very difficult to buy an aftermarket headunit that will fit by the looks of it compared to a japanese car. will it be fine to use in regards to sound quality? how can i install an ipod adapter into it?

what kind of amplification should i be using?

 

There area few questions that need answers first. What, in addition to what you've already got, do you want out of the system? How much are you willing to spend? How important is "the stock look" to you? Have you done any research on brand name?

I have had nothing but bad experiences with Xplod equipment (and Sony in general) so I would tend to advise staying away from it. Popullar opinion and consumer reports say the Xplod line up is lacking and poor in design. On the other hand, if you've got the speakers already there's no need to go get new ones. Use the two that you have and put them in the rear doors. However, I would buy something different for the front doors.

As for the tiny speakers at the top...those are called component speakers. Aftermarket component speakers are easy to find. They utilize an amplifier that acts more like a filter than anything else. The amp only allows high end sound to pass leaving the bass for the front door speakerrs. Typically, when you buy component speakers you buy the ones that include the speakers that fit into the lower part of your door. The kits include the speakers, the amp and the tiny components. I'm not entirely certain if the tiny speakers in the back are also components but if they are then you've got a couple choises of how to handle them. You can replace them with a component set up similar to the front (which would mean no more Xplod 3-ways), you can just splice them into your rear channel or you can splice them into the components up front. If they're just regular speakers then they'll be tied into the rear channel anyway.

There are fit kits for just about every car on the market right now (with the exception of the right hand drive 240 modles) so getting a new cd player in there is not a problem. Pretty much everything aftermarket uses the standard DIN size measurements. Comparitively, you're right. It was way easier to install a system into my wife's Toyota 4Runner than it was to throw one into my Brother in laws Volvo S-40. However, in the end they look the same.

Regarding your I-pod hookup, every aftermarket head unit has some kind of auxilery input port on the back of it (provided you don't buy a cheap deck). Usually, it's for hooking up a CD changer. However, for $12 you can buy an adapter for that input that will allow you to hook up any external device with a head phone jack. In fact, some brands are actually coming out with I-pod control capability where you can opporate the I-pod with the sterrio controls (that's around $120). There's also a $30 auxilery hook up that will allow you to use the serial port on an I-pod instead of the head phone jack...if you get the right one you can set it up to charge you I-pod at the same time. Better sound but less adaptability. the posibilities are endless.

Aftermarket decks generally put out more power than factory ones. If your plan is to simply replace the factory system then you won't need to amplify anything. However, if you're planning on throwing a subwoofer into the equation then yes...amplifacation is necessary. That whole conversation can't start until you decide how much money you want to spend on this project. the other thing to concider is....are you going to have someone else install this? that'll cost money too.

 

Thankyou very much for the help!

I want to be able to crank it, have big bass for the rap and house i listen to, but also be clear for the rock type music.

I don't want to spend too much as i only make $112 AUD a week. I already have about $300 though and am willing to save for a while.

Brands - MTX sledgehammer subs look good, Alpine headunits are nice, MB Quartz component packages are nice but expensive (titanium? no wonder.. ), don't know about amps or wires. The only reason I was looking at Xplod stuff is because its cheap and a couple friends have it; their stereos sound alright but they aren't anything extraordinary. I'll get rid of the 3-ways and buy a second component package.

For the stock look thing, I found this http://www.scosche.com/scosche/insta...its/VO4149.asp . This thing will be great! i can buy a cheaper headunit and have more choice, install it more easily and have a good look. The only problem is the only place they sell them is Car/Sound Domain and they won't ship to Australia. I emailed Scosche but haven't got a reply yet. Does anyone else make something similar?

The iPod thing will be fine now that i have figured the whole headunit mess out.

I have three friends who are all heavily into their sound equipment and will help me install everything.


THANKYOU!!

 

i've been reading www.carstereo.com and it has helped me a lot. Everyone should check it out if they are new to the whole stereo thing.

 

Fantastic! I found that fit kit on e-bay actually...I think i linked it in another post of yours.

$300 is a great starting place. If you want to do everything at once keep saving, but you could also replace just the head and get your wiring planned out. When I installed a system in my 240 that's what I did. That way, when I had enough $$$ for the amps and subs I didn't have to take appart the dash again.

Everyone who knows me knows I'm a huge Pioneer junky (I just can't stop....for better or worse!) The only ***** in my Pioneer systm is my 3 MTX subs...and I love them too! But, i respect Alpine and Eclipse and some of the other brands. I knew a guy who had a strickly X-plod system down in Georga....it was some of their early generation stuf back when they were still putting effort into it so it sounded great. I just don't know the exact date Sony lost interest in their audio line...must have been after I found it becasue all my sony equipment died.

The one piece of addvice I've got is not to go stingy on your head unit....It's the brain of your system and should opporatae to the fullest potential of your desires. You can buy the best subs and amps and speakers in the world and they'll still sound like **** if it comes out of a cheap head. With that in mind, start researching the RMS ratings, voltage out puts, RCA preamp out functions and EQ functions.

Good luck!

 

I found that Scoschekit on an amazon store, so i'll be ordering it soon. It pays to look around more!

I'm thinking one of these for a headunit http://cgi.ebay.com/PIONEER-PREMIER-...QQcmdZViewItemPioneer Premium! along with the iPod kit they make, the fit kit and the wiring will be my first mods. It's gonne look stock with all the matching colours haha.

Any advice on the components? By the sound of it you're gonna say Pioneer so I'll look into them.

For a little while the 3ways are going to be used in the back until i can afford to buy more components. This will be fine?

Still don't know about an amp. One with multiple channels to power everything or two, one dedicated to the sub and the other for the speakers? or maybe just one for the sub and let the speakers run off the headunit power? I know that will be quieter but it will do untilI can afford another amp.

thanks very much for all this help. I owe you a beer or 10!

 

mmmmmmm.....beer.

the DEH-P780MP is a great head unit. It'll play MP3, WMA and MP4 burned onto CD! They didn't really add anything more to it from the 680MP other than a color display and a different color background light. But that color'll look great. The Premier line up is super neeto. It differs from their other players (which convieniently just add another 0 to the end of the number) when it comes to pre-amp out voltage and EQ tunability and greatly improve the quality of sound coming from your subs and speakers.

For the moment, your speakers probably don't need to be amped. If you're going to get the components anyway you're going to have two amps in your car already. I guess I'd get all that hooked up first to see where your sound levels are. Also, there are alternatives to amping your speakers. You could get an aftermarket EQ. Most EQs have a built in 200 watt amp. the benifit of this is you don't need to worry about gain settings, crossovers, per channel numbers or high pass filters. However, it can get a little crazzy keeping track of 17 different EQ settings. Once you get used to it though....SWEET. Since you've got double DIN sizes to work with anyway you'd have the room.

Those 3-ways will be fine. I don't know how much luck you'll have with the rear components. If it comes down to it you could just leave them out of the system until you've got a viable replacement. The thing I'm not sure about is whether or not you're going to have to bypass the factory amps for those components...they may have a goofy conection or power suply that makes them factory deck specific....stupid OEM.

Amps are a tricky animal. there are all kinds of different classes of amps. this link is a breakdown of the different classes and what they mean. Every audio manufactorer right now has class A and AB but recently they've started coming out with Class D. The first indicator of the difference in class is the watt rating. If a brand has two amps realativly close in watt output (Pioneer has a 800 watt amp and a 760 watt amp) chances are the lower of the two is a class D and the higher is a class A or AB. Class D is more efficient so they can get away with less watts...the RMS ratings will also differ.

The other thing to concider here is how you power all these amps. An alternator can only handle so many extra draws on it's power suply before you burn it out. Also, the more amps the bigger the guage wire you'll need...which in turn is more $$$. You'll also need to find a way to fuse all those amps....Rockford Fosgate makes good fused power distributor blocks.

There are all kinds of ways to hook up a system and I just recenly had an opportunity to revamp mine to a plan that i've been wanting try for years. I've got the P680MP with a 12 band EQ. I have two 3-way 6x9s and two 3-way 4x6's on the front channel and two 3-way 6x9's on the rear channel of my EQ. Then I've got a 300 watt amp on the rear channel RCA output with a 10" sub on it and a 760 watt amp on the sub woofer RCA output with 2 10" subs...in stereo as opposed to mono. I've reached the end of my alternators capability without dimming the headlights but it was worth it!