Got $500 to spend on ICE. Need your thoughts.

[death is my gift]

Alright guys, I need some input. The girl is giving me a $500 limit for my birthday present. I want to replace my stock system. I'm looking for a nice combo of an in dash cd/aux input and replacing all stock speakers. Nothing too fancy, I just want to hear my music more clearly. I was thinking some place like Best Buy or Circuit City because over 100 bucks they do the install for free. No matter how crappy it is.

Amp and sub will be coming later.

[Blenjar]

I go for alpine type R...
But an amp will cost u at least 300-400.

-- Blen

[nqd]

infinity basslink?

[d2dailly]

he said headunit and speakers no amp no sub...

[CompanyXPaladin]

I've had really good experiences with a Dual XDM7610 head unit and Blaupunkt speakers. You should be able to buy that setup for under $500. Get some good OEM replacement speakers and custom mount some tweeters. With that, you should be set. If you are opposed to Blaupunkt or Dual, I've had some luck with Kenwood, as well.

Here is the Dual unit.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-AviMbZaUHmH/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?I=070XDM7610&g=300&s=0&cc=01

Here are some speakers
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-AviMbZaUHmH/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=400&I=023GTC652

My .02.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

^she, right?

anyway, if you DIY, it'll be a lot cheaper. i got my system for less than 500 bucks. but you don't want an amp and sub yet.

if you're looking for bass, skip replacing the speakers and go straight to a sub. but i'm assuming you want clarity? in order to make aftermarket speakers sound good, you still need an amp to make them good, otherwise, you'll barely hear a change (except for higher volume, i'm assuming). anyway, go with a HU that has a sub output so you can control you're sub when you get one. as for speakers, go to Best Buy and play around with the speakers. there's these Kenwood (if i remember right) that sounded really good. try to match the HU and speaker to suit your musical taste. just be sure the HU has a sub output.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

heard Blaupunkt is horrible. personally, i would stay away from Dual and Blaupunkt.

[la panique]

heard Blaupunkt is horrible. personally, i would stay away from Dual and Blaupunkt.

Blaupunkt has a few cheap lines of stuff for retail sale in the US, but there are actual expensive high-quality Blaupunkt products as well. All of the top German car companies often use the good Blaupunkt products as OEM accessories. However, the "good" Blaupunkt stuff would be well out of the range for a 500 dollar budget.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Blaupunkt has a few cheap lines of stuff for retail sale in the US, but there are actual expensive high-quality Blaupunkt products as well. All of the top German car companies often use the good Blaupunkt products as OEM accessories. However, the "good" Blaupunkt stuff would be well out of the range for a 500 dollar budget.

for that kind of money, i'd opt for some other brand.

[CompanyXPaladin]

I put 4 Blaupunkt 6x9s, 2 Blaupunkt 6.5s, a Blaupunkt Amp, a Rockford Fosgate Amp, two Rockford Fosgate Punch Stage IIs and that Dual unit in my RX7. I can tell you from personal experience that Blaupunkt sounds far from horrible. The only problem I've ever had with that system (installed for about a year now), was that the Rockford Fosgate amp was DoA. Crutchfield exchanged it immediately. That system sounds very good. But hey, to each their own. IMO, gossip does not make a system good or bad.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

true, but i've also read that Blaupunkt uses paper material for their speakers? i was going to go with them until i read that.

[CompanyXPaladin]

Heres a link to the specs on the speakers I referenced earlier.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-cMpAlwVTRS5/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=52000&tab=features_and_specs&i=023GTX652#Tab

No paper here. =D I think thats the same material as on my speakers, in which case its a thin metal-like material. I guess Blaupunkt also has a new speaker line out using Carbon Fiber woofers.

[Black Yaris]

he said headunit and speakers no amp no sub...

he? death is a female:bellyroll:

[death is my gift]

he? death is a female:bellyroll:

Death does indeed have a vagina.

[death is my gift]

So I was thinking about either of these head units:
http://www.cardomain.com/item/PANCQC1335U?vq_id=none

http://www.cardomain.com/item/SONCDXGT410U?vq_id=none

Any objections?? (other than it's not a badass in dash touch screen)

[CompanyXPaladin]

No objections on the Panasonic. Avoid Sony car audio like the plague.

[death is my gift]

No objections on the Panasonic. Avoid Sony car audio like the plague.

Damnit! Really? That's the one I really wanted. Have you had a bad experience with Sony? Know anyone else who has?

[CompanyXPaladin]

I had a Sony XPlod on my first car. That head unit gave me nothing but problems. It drew a lot of power, but the output seemed really low. I had 2 Sony Xplod 6.5 inch speakers and 2 Inifinity 4x6 speakers and the sound quality was terrible. The audio would not get loud, and simply had no range. The head unit was not user friendly, and took better than a minute to load an MP3 CD.

My friend who has a show truck also has a Sony Xplod head unit - he liked it's flashy looks. He says he will never buy another one again.

If I were you, I would check out Crutchfield. I think you can do better than that for $100-$150.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-cMpAlwVTRS5/cgi-bin/ProdGroup.asp?g=300&avf=N

[contraband831]

I would step it up just a tad to this deck, you get more goodies and it looks better (my opinion) and its only a few bucks more. you should be able to get some decent speakers at a good price also. honestly you can probabbly get the whole set up spearkers sub amp, and deck for under $500 if you do the install.

http://www.cardomain.com/item/PANCQC3305U

[Kaotic Lazagna]

So I was thinking about either of these head units:
http://www.cardomain.com/item/PANCQC1335U?vq_id=none

http://www.cardomain.com/item/SONCDXGT410U?vq_id=none

Any objections?? (other than it's not a badass in dash touch screen)

first one is a little weak on power (only 18W of "continuous" power), low signal to noise, and a little high FM sensitivity (worse reception).

second one seems fine.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

hahaha, shoulda looked at the company. although Sony is big, a lot of friends/family members tell me they're crap.

[death is my gift]

Okay, so you've changed my mind on the Sony. Now I'm looking at these two:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-ENRN4UOITSA/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=300&I=105KDAR480

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-ENRN4UOITSA/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=300&tab=morephotos&pi=2&i=105KWGX500&display=XL#Tab

P.S. I'm trying to stay with the red and black theme.

[CompanyXPaladin]

The JVC KW-XG500 is a little pricey, but its definitely a badass deck. :thumbsup:

The KD-AR480 is cheaper, but no sub outs, doesn't look as good, and doesnt have the whistles and bells. I don't like it as well.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8226421&type=product&id=1166840602151

that one seems okay. i bought a Kenwood for my GTI before i sold it.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8226467&type=product&id=1166840602309

plays MP3's.

[Yaris Revenge]

Death does indeed have a vagina.

LOL, now that really cooks up a different image of the Grim Reaper..... :laugh:

~YR

[death is my gift]

:laughabove: