911GT2

Looks nice, I was trying to stay away from blue lighting, which severely limits my options. I'm definitely looking for something stock looking. Everything in the FD is red, and my Commander is of course green, so I was tyring to get a red/green thing going, but thats not proving too successful. I like that one though, looks nice.

Ok that makes sense. But what I'm thinking is that the level of bass I care about can be provided by regular 3-ways. Again, this is not supposed to be a competition stereo, just a usable replacement for the stock system.

If everything else somehow becomes cheaper and I can afford the sub, maybe I'll consider it. But thanks for the info either way.

InsaneGideon

911, if that's the case, I'd get a nice powered head unit, fronts and a sub. It'll seem much louder as you won't have to drive the hell out of the head unit to get decent bass (which is what requires the most power).

DCrosby

I work for Sony, have never had issues with their home entertainment products, and I own a Buch of their stuff...

I was concidering it for two reasons... 1 I like the Red Accents on the explode speakers... they go with my red car, jut like yours.... and 2 I get a pretty descent disount on their stuff...

Here's what I was thinking of putting in... and like someone said it has no amp, so you need to wire / buy your own amps...


Sony CDX-M3DI

It's like $699.00 and then there's one that's $999.00 where you can supply your own memory stick images or small mp3's and they'll run as your BG for all your radio controlls... So you could make it an Ornage BG and then you'd have the match you're wanting...

If you're seriously interested, and still have a Job PM Me...

911GT2

DCrosby thats a really cool idea and all, but paying more for the head unit than I planned to spend on the entire system definitely is NOT cool. Now if you could get me a big discount...?

rotarypower101

iTrader: (1)

F that expensive headunit stuff
Just get a used laptop with a large hard drive and wire up a set of remote usb controls to winamp or whatever software you like.
Its nice to have it in there for the datalogic anyway.
Just make sure you dont leave it out for those asshats that like to steal stuff to see.
Under the seat seams to work well.

Roger Collins

come on people
how many threads do you have to read before you get it


sony sucks
don't buy it
don't let friends buy it
don't let your dog eat it.

Jesuscookies

iTrader: (1)

If you skimp you are going to regret it.

I have an eclipse head unit in my car. They sound great, and in the 5 years I have owned it, never a problem.

Rocford fostgate amp. I think its a 4 240 but am not a 100% sure. Same thing 5 years never a problem.

The sony stuff sounds way to bright, and IMHO is not any better then the other garbage they sell at Best Buy and Circuit City. Stay away from that crap.

You can put together a very clean sounding system for under 1K, and you will never regret it.

mrb63083

iTrader: (4)

yeah using a sony headunit for that matter (not too sure about speakers) but i know they're crap, i've had two and that was one too many. I just got a new Pioneer headunit, works great, never had problems with it

FDNewbie

iTrader: (10)

im def not an expert, but when i went 2 circuit city to get my my sub, they warned me bout the sony xplod...said they had a lot of the speakers and amps blow. low quality.

i personally take the word of the guys there...they put in prob 10-15 systems a day, every day. and some are CRUCIAL systems. that...and it's a circuit city audio express, so that's ALL they do...

just my $0.02

but i do feel wut ur sayin 911...one of the initial things that attracted me 2 the sony xplod was the look...red would def. accent my interior...but id rather have it work haha

Gibenstein

iTrader: (2)

You know I have that Sony Xplod CDX-MP40 in my Camry.. Honestly I havent had a problem with it. Going on 2 years now. Really enjoying it.

keynote22

they sell xplode at walmart...nough said about that.

Read sony product stats...they all perform the same pretty much. The higher the price the more buttons and lights it has.

High end sony might be good...... but most the stuff is mass produced, price pointed for the average joe, and in a sparkle box so you'll go, "oh this is pretty! It must be good." ...jumping dolphin graphics and pu'rty chrome ***** does not make for good sound.

Look at how simple the highest quality sound pieces are....macintosh, eclipse, nak...all their money goes into quality parts not doo dads.


Alpine is best all around for quality, price, performance....unless you step up to competition stuff. IMO

keynote22

ebay sells lots of good stuff cheap...just dont buy reconditioned....especially reconditioned nakamichi!!! = crap!

Only buy from power sellers with warranties and you'll get great deals. Got my alpine mp3 player for 2/3 of what the store wanted, even using a "buy it now" option.

dancincake

The old Sony Mobile ES products were great, my old ES Head unit is still going strong in my friends car. I loved the control's and adjustability. IMHO when Sony went to the Xplode crap, quality went way downhill. I havn't bought another Sony Car Audio pruduct since, and I wont.

If your looking for an inexpensive head unit, go with Alpine. Quality is great, controls are straightforward, sound is good, and the built in EQ and crossover is very evective.

If your looking for inexpensive speakers, I would go with Infinity reference components. Although your best bet would be to hit up all the audio shops in town and listen to the mids and highs, as everyone is looking for a different sound. In fact, alot of the higher end components have a strong emphasis on the tweats, which I don't like, it hurts my ears. I love good strong mids with balanced highs that don't overpower. Can anyone say Focal K2's?

I always liked Alpine for an inexpensive mids and highs amp. Good clean sound and excelent quality.

As far as the low end, that all depends on what type of bass you like and what type of music. Don't buy anything without listening to it first!

Even though I've sold all the brands i've listed here at one time or another, i'm by no means an expert so take it as you will. Good luck and have fun.

Gibenstein

iTrader: (2)

They also sell Pioneer at wal-mart if I am not mistaken.

superfoot

edit:double post

superfoot

this is what im putting in my car! 12" rockford sub and amp.speakers and the 4 channel amp is also going to be rockford.im goig with a alpine head unit.here is a pic of my amp and sub.im getting piece by piece then once I have it all i'll have it installed.it cost about 300 to install a complete system.well thats how much I got a quote for at best buy.and no I didnt buy this at best buy.

FDNewbie

iTrader: (10)

<< thats how much I got a quote for at best buy >>

a word of advice...def. dont have best buy install it. they use connectors to join the wires...it's a mess, and wont give u as good sound quality as you'll get from professional installers that soulder (spelling?) like dedicated audio shops, or even circuit city. just make sure the place soulders

my $0.02
i dunno much bout the equipment and setup you mentioned...so i cant help on that

Molotovman

iTrader: (49)

I've had a sony head unit and some 6.5" xplod's for two years now, and stock speakers in the front of my 87 base. They been fine and sound good, over the past two days i pulled the interior of my car apart and ran new speaker wire to each speaker, in effect making my own system. I replaced the stock front speakers with some 4 inch pioneer's. I dont have much money but 208 watts coming out of my headunit is fine for me. My car sounds great and is clear. If I were you I'd stick with your original plan and buy everything from best buy, but make sure to get that replacement thing they have, so if something does fail, you get new stuff. And for speaker wire, I'd just find a spool and cut lengths from it, its cheaper and works just as good as that expensive **** with the semi-transparent insulation.

911GT2

Well just to let everyone know, I did end up getting the Sony Xplod stuff that I had originally picked out. Head unit, speakers, and amp. It all seems to be good quality stuff. I'll post back here after it gets installed, and hopefully squash the "sony sucks" rumors that seem to have come out of this thread.

Side note: www.etronics.com had all the stuff for about 2/3 the price of crutchfield. All of it was ordered on a wednesday night ~9pm, and got to my door that friday afternoon. If you plan on buying any electronic stuff, I highly recommend them.

pianoprodigy

The Sony stuff will sound ok to you, I'm sure. Once you hear some higher quality stuff though, you'll hear the difference. Best of luck though!

911GT2

All I want it to do is sound better than the stock 10 year old Bose system thats in there, and play a god damn cd when I put it in the player. Obviously I'm not looking for show competition stuff, given my budget. I have no doubt it will be fine, but I'll let everyone know.

Herblenny

iTrader: (13)

All the head units are about the same.. Man.. I like the sony.. I have the black out sony head unit.. I didn't want all those little buttons everywhere.. I want something clean..

I'll be upgrading my stereo in next 2 months.. I'm putting in single 10W6 JL in the spare (custom fiber glass enclosed), 5inch MB quart comps seperate, 6.5 Boston pro seperates, and Xtant 604 for the mids and high and Sound stream for the single sub... (Monster 1 farad cap, don't really need one but I thought it will give me extra points).

So far, I like certain models of Sony.. Not all..

911GT2

I finally got the stuff installed in the car. Teamafx (Joe) did it today, and he's the man for those of you that don't know him.

The head unit is in, along with the amp, and the front speakers. Somewhere along the line I got confused about rear speakers, and the 6x9's don't fit in the stock rear speaker locations. Joe just used the stock bose bass tube, and it actually sounds damn good to me right now. I will have the Sony 3-way 6x9's for sale, if anyone is interested.

All told, the system sounds a whole lot better than it did, and even better, I can put a CD into the deck, and lo and behold, it plays the CD. That makes me happy.

To the Sony haters out there, it sounds fine to me, so go screw No seriously though, to the untrained ear (me), it's perfectly suitable. Thanks to all for the help, special thanks to Joe.

DJ Kontakt

good to hear Sony can still do its job.


For the price its not THAT bad

I never had problems with the Sony stuff I used to use, I just grew out of it.

rx-7ames

iTrader: (1)

i have been using a sony explode head unit for about a year now and it has held up great so far. i like the head units but that is all. i would never put sony speakers or amps in my car. i have audiobahn speakers. 4" 2 way in the front and 6.5" 3way speakers in the back. they are powered by a 400x4 mtx amp. i also have one 12" mtx sub powered by 350 watt mtx sub amp. i think the mtx amps and audiobahn speakers a great. anyone else use this stuff before? i found good deals on it so it didn't hurt my budget that much. maybe one day i can afford the good rockford fosgate stuff but for now, this setup will do, and is much better than sony everything.