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New member Username: MadmardigainPost Number: 1 Registered: Aug-05 | Hello, When it comes to car audio I am a complete novice. I've never looked at the stuff and have no clue what make one product better than the other. I recently purchased a new 2005 For Escape XLS. What I am wanting to do is make some general improvements to the cars audio. I am probably going to keep the factory CD Player Stereo in the car since I run much of my music from my IPOD player via ITunes. So I'm basically looking at improvements on speakers and stuff. I really know nothing about what I would need to purchase as far as Kickers, Sub woofers, Amplifiers if any of them are worth getting in the first place. I don't need to blow the windows off the car next to me, win any contests, or buy the most expensive stuff availible. All I am looking for is what type of system should I put together to make the cars audio be better than factory. Keep in mind I have no clue what anything really is so the more detail on what it is, what it does, speaker/Subs/Kickers/whatever sizes to look at, the best companies to look at for the price their producrs are would be more than helpful. This doesn't have to be the greatest car audio system in the world I just want to kick it up a little bit. Thanks for any help. Matt |
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Silver Member Username: ScubasteveAnnapolis, MD Post Number: 336 Registered: May-05 | well Matt, it depends a lot on what in particular interests you in upgrading the sound. If you want more bass, you'll need to buy a Class D mono amplifier and a subwoofer. If you just want to listen to your music at higher levels with clarity, replacing your stock speakers with a component set up front and a 2 or 4 channel amp to power it would be enough. Component sets consist of a woofer, tweeter, and the electronics necessary to use them. The other option if all of this seems like too much of a hassle is to simply replace the stock speakers with some coaxial speakers. This would be the biggest improvement you could make by yourself without having to do a lot of work on your car, or having to learn a lot about the process. If you give us a price range, we can give you some advice on what the best use of your money will be. Anyway, you mentioned using iTunes with your car? Would that be with a FM transmitter? Anyway, "Kicker" is a brand, just FYI. There's no such thing as a kicker unless its made by the company Kicker. |
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New member Username: MadmardigainPost Number: 2 Registered: Aug-05 | Thanks for the reply. I appriciate the help. Sorry I acctually ment to say tweeters earlier not Kickers. Yeah I'm using an FM transmitter for ITunes. I really don't know what my budget is since I'm not to up on the cost of decent equiptment. I would like to keep it somewhat inexpensive. I wasn't planning on dropping a few thousand or anything. I was planning on having someone else istall it beside me (since I don't know much about it. As for the door speakers if it will help the over all cost without hurting the over all sound to much I would probably consider keep them in and just adding around them. Again I'm not to up on what all would need to be done (what can stay and what needs to go) to get the best over all picture in place. |
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Silver Member Username: ScubasteveAnnapolis, MD Post Number: 343 Registered: May-05 | Hmmm, I'm not too sure what you mean by keeping the stock speakers and just "adding around them." The key to getting the good sound you want is replacing them, unless you just want more bass, in which case you should just add an amplifier and subwoofer. Adding a subwoofer is basically the only adding you'd want to do. My recommendation would be to take your car to a nearby shop and talk to them for a little while about it. My guess is that your best bet will be getting a component set up front with an amp to run it and a sub for the back. This will probably cost you somehwere near a grand you'll have great sound. Forget about the sub, and the price could be down to $500, depending on what stuff you pick out. Whatever you do, don't let them sell you anything without hearing it first, along with some other alternatives they have available. |
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New member Username: MadmardigainPost Number: 3 Registered: Aug-05 | From the research and heard from here it looks like my best bet would be some type of component speakers to replace the four door factory speakers I currently have in the car. Then get some type of amp and sub added to that to complete the system. I will probably go talk to some of the local car audio dealers tommorrow, but could use some information to bring up to them. Does anyone have any suggestions on what would be good to buy for my buck this if I wanted to stay with a budget of around or under 1000 dollars. |
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Silver Member Username: ScubasteveAnnapolis, MD Post Number: 351 Registered: May-05 | There's really too many good subs to start naming and the installer will only have a small fraction of the possible subs out there in your price range. When you talk to him, see what he wants to sell you for the sub and we can tell you if he's trying to sell you a bad or overpriced sub. Ask to listen to as many subs as you can while you're there. Let your ears be the ultimate decision makers. |
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Unregistered guest | Actually, the first thing you want to do to improve your sound quality without spending a lot of money is to fix what you're doing with your iPod and the stereo. Your system only sounds as good as the lowest quality component that it relies on, and when you're broadcasting via FM from a non-grounded source, you're loosing a great deal of fidelity, quality that you will never recapture with spending money on speakers. Instead of replacing everything at once, replace incrementally. Incremental is better because after a certain point the amount you pay and the improvement of quality you'll notice will start to taper off. What I usually recommend in a situation like yours is to buy a new head unit and the Belkin adapter for iPods with the 1/8" audio out, and strip the cable. Inside you'll find that 1/8" audio jack, which can be further stripped into matching RCA jacks with a bit of ingenuity and wiring, or buy a 1/8" to RCA adapter and use that in the case. Install the head unit yourself (or pay someone else to do it for you because it can be ridiculously tricky) and make sure all of your wires work. Once the head unit is in, run the RCA cables from your Belkin adapter into the aux-in on your head unit. For power to the iPod, run red to red and black to black from the adapter to the leads on the back of your new head unit. The Belkin has a built-in surge protector <strong>I think</strong>, but YMMV (your milage may vary), NRFYBS (not responsible for you breaking s**t), DTTAHK (don't try this at home, kids). That'll give you much better sound (because stock radios blow) (and because FM is a really lame medium) than replacing your speakers straight off the bat. I mentioned incremental improvement: if you still have money to spend on the car, get new speakers for your front doors. I have Pioneer 1623s, but other people suggest other things. If you still want to spend money, get a set of 2 subwoofers in the back (get them at least 10", probably want 12" at this point) and at least a 400 watt amplifier (when it splits, you'll be pared down to 200 watts per sub) and <em>then</em> replace the 6x9s. Of course, I built my system myself, and other people who do this for a living probably have a much better idea of what you should do in what order than I. Still, you can drop me a line at benkay@gmail.com |