i'm looking at buying my husband a new head unit and sub for his car for xmas and dont really know what i'm looking for ne advice! its for a corolla station wagon!
loudnproud,
Oct 16, 7:02am
depends how much u want to spend, alpine is a great brand. what year corolla!
made_4_u,
Oct 16, 7:02am
how much am i looking at! its a 2000
loudnproud,
Oct 16, 7:06am
tbh subs are far over rated. Get a set of SST (soundstream turantula) 6x9s, alpine type R components and a alpine or soundstream picasso amp. that will be about 1100 plus wiring and install (unless he can do himself)
made_4_u,
Oct 16, 7:21am
cool in english tho please lol!
fordcrzy,
Oct 16, 7:33am
worst advice everthere. . a pair of nice front speakers and a 10" sub will sound FAAAAR better that 6x9's.
trdbzr,
Oct 16, 7:37am
Tell us your budget for the gift. And is your husband/any friends able to install audio gear or will you be taking it to a shop to get it installed!
made_4_u,
Oct 16, 7:42am
i dont know my budget yet because i dont know much about this stuff. yes my hubbys mate can install them
andrea_w,
Oct 16, 7:45am
Infinity Reference front components, Alpine/Pioneer head unit, 4 channel amp, 10" Infinity/Alpine/Pioneer sub in a sealed box. The amp will power the fronts and sub. This simple set up will give a very crisp, clear sound with very high quality. As for the rears speakers, does the car have any! If so, where are they located! Rear doors I would suspect. Not overly important, especially if they are in the rear doors. Personally, I wouldn't have soundstream in my car even if someone paid me to have it there.
trdbzr,
Oct 16, 7:47am
Ok for a absolute basic and cheap setup you are looking at around $500, and thats for a headunit, amp, sub, box, wiring.
trdbzr,
Oct 16, 7:48am
But yeah its recommended to replace the factory speakers aswell as you will get more clarity in sound. The type of amp you get depends if you want to power the front speakers and the sub or just the sub.
andrea_w,
Oct 16, 7:50am
+1
but be warned. it will sound like absolute crap. I honestly hate fitting this sorta gear cos the end result is almost depressing.
made_4_u,
Oct 16, 8:02am
ok so would you recommend going to a car audio place n let them c the car or what! i'm clueless when it comes to this stuff and dont want to get ripped off
trdbzr,
Oct 16, 8:04am
Well its actually not some cheap no brand setup for $500. The gear I saw for $500 all up was: Sony/Panasonic/JVC/Pioneer Headunit with 3.5mm input Pioneer/JVC DRVN amp JVC/Fusion/Sony sub 12" Box Fusion 8 guage wiring kit
Sure you can do alot better and have better quality/audiophile gear but what I gave her was a starting point - basically telling her the absolute minimum she will have to spend.
andrea_w,
Oct 16, 8:11am
Absolutely! While I (and a few others one here) can give good accurate advice. there are a lot of people who will recommend silly things. which will only confuse you further. Talking to someone in person is probably your best bet. There are many, many options, variables etc etc to factor in which also makes giving online advice quite hard (in a message board scenario). The brands I'd recommend for quality and clarity are Pioneer, Alpine, Infinity (Infinity only do speakers and amps). There are some bits n pieces from other brands I'd use, but for the sake of keeping it simple, those are the 3 brands you should look at. Just note - brands with flashy lights, lots of colours, big numbers etc are usually worse than the simple, plainer looking gear (comparing reputable brands with reputable brands here).
andrea_w,
Oct 16, 8:13am
It's not a 'no name' set up. but I would definitely not recommend it. If you've fitted enough audio systems, you will know why.
trdbzr,
Oct 16, 8:30am
Every brand makes their 'good' and 'bad' gear ie I wouldn't touch the Fusion encounter range but their JL series and 10 year anniversary series was really great gear and it was more than capable of competing with much more better 'branded' gear which cost alot more. And as for speakers, I find them to be quite a personal thing. I know some people that like Infinity's but I also know some people that hate them. But yeah like I said, I was giving a starting point. What she ends up with depends on her budget.
made_4_u,
Oct 16, 8:33am
well this is a man who lets me have what i want and never asks for anything. i dont want basic
sw20,
Oct 16, 8:36am
I quite like my system in my Corolla. I've got a Sony cd headunit, that goes to a Sony Mono amp @ 2ohms running my JBL 12" sub in the hatch, then I have the throughput going to another Sony amp which gives 60w RMS into the 6.5" coaxials into the front door pods I had made up years ago. Sounds good enough for me. All up cost me around $900 for two amps, wiring kit, distribution block, sub, sub box, head unit and speakers.
trdbzr,
Oct 16, 8:38am
$1k! $1.5k! $2k! You really NEED to have a budget to actually get recommendations. In some audio shops, the only gear that gets recommended to you is the ones with highest markups. If you want, get an idea of what you want and then check out Repco, JB Hifi, Hyper, Hotwire and Rapid Radio's Trademe store.
made_4_u,
Oct 16, 8:41am
i'd go about 1.5 k
trdbzr,
Oct 16, 8:55am
Id say have a setup like this
Headunit - around $250-$300 Front speakers - around $250-$300 Rear speakers - around $50 or keep it factory Amp - get a 4 channel one to run your front speakers and sub - around $500-$600 (you can pick up a $500 kicker amp for $300 right now from JB Hifi because its on back order) Sub - around $150-$200 Box - for sub, around $70 Amp wiring kit - 4 guage kit around $80 - $100 Mongoose Qmat - $200 for a 9 sheet pack
made_4_u,
Oct 16, 9:03am
do i shop round or!
trdbzr,
Oct 16, 9:14am
Yes shop around in places like Repco, JB Hifi, Hyper.co.nz (based in auckland but can courier to you, and they are having a big audio sale aswell), Hotwire is also good if you know what you are after, Mad Soundz, Rapid radio (trademe store alot cheaper than instore), Street Soundz, Redwood Auto electrical (trades as boomsoundz on trademe). Best option would be to go instore to some audio shop, find out what you need ie what size speakers you need, slim or normal size sub etc and then shop around everywhere.
fordcrzy,
Oct 16, 9:16am
i couldnt have put it better myself. that advice is perfect. i spent 3 years competing in car audio at a high level so i know what i am talking about. get GOOD front speakers and a sub forget the rear speakers all together.(Thats what the fade button is for)
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