OT: Car audio

[makoti]

I have no clue about after market stuff, so I might be talking about something not available, but the system in my Golf, a Fender, is, to my ears, really nice. Good sound, excellent call quality. Very happy with it.

[AngryScientist]

wow.

i have to put in a plug for crutchfield customer service!

best i have ever had. rep was able to see my cart immediately, recommended some good speakers and a few other things. was super helpful and confirmed the head unit i wanted was a good choice for what i'm looking for.

very good!

thanks for the idea to just pick up the phone and call them!

[woolly]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

wow.

i have to put in a plug for crutchfield customer service!

best i have ever had. rep was able to see my cart immediately, recommended some good speakers and a few other things. was super helpful and confirmed the head unit i wanted was a good choice for what i'm looking for.

very good!

thanks for the idea to just pick up the phone and call them!

That's awesome - glad to see they are still living up to their well-earned reputation!

[Peter P.]

I wouldn't bother with 4 speakers, but instead 2, and a subwoofer.

I bought my head unit from Crutchfield; a Sony that plays mp4 files from a USB drive or an iPod, either of which store inside the unit. I paid a paltry 100 bucks for it.

Get a powered subwoofer; either a manufactured unit such as an SAS Bazooka, or have one assembled with a pre-fab box and mount the sub amp to the back of the box.

[glepore]

Crutchfield has some focal speakers on sale at half price and they are flat out amazing. The little Sound Ordinance powered sub is nice too...

[Rpoole8537]

I've had four or five Alpines, and liked each one. When upgrading my stereo in my 97 4Runner, I bought a different brand. That was three years ago, and I do not like it at all. Big mistake. I later added an Alpine Amp so at least it sounds more like an Alpine. I'll change it out to Alpine if I decide to keep the 4Runner. It's kind of like an old pair of jeans now. I use it for my dog car, my camping car and my mountain bike car.

[OtayBW]

Alpines been berry berry good to me.

[Pinned]

Pioneer is better than Alpine these days, IMO. That's been the case for a few years - sound quality, ease of use, tuning ability, price are all better on the comparable Pioneer units. The Alpine stuff feels clunky by comparison. The Pioneer units tend to have a simpler faceplate, which I really prefer. I've had a DEH-80PRS and it's phenomenal, although a bit more than you're likely looking to spend.

All this said, if you're going to be using the amplification in the headunit rather than a separate amp you may want to try leaving the stock speakers in place and see how they sound after a headunit upgrade. You might be pleasantly surprised. The cleaner signal + additional power can make stock speakers sound so much better.

If you're going to do speakers, especially in a Jeep, you'll really want to do some sort of vibration damping / sound deadening on the doors. Audio sounds bad in cars by default because of how much road noise there is. The stereo is constantly fighting the outside noises. If you're going to pull the door panels off to do speakers I'd say it's worth spending the time and money to apply some vibration damping tiles (and other layers if you're up for it) to the door skins. That will make a bigger difference to the listening and driving experience than most people anticipate.

[acorn_user]

Crutchfield is 5 minutes from our house, and they support our local cycling community. Nice to see some Crutchfield love

I recall going to their outlet (when it was still open to the public) and drooling over a Sony ES cassette deck!