Car stereo advice needed... HELP!

[General Zod]

I just bought a 2004 Mustang Mach 1 and wanted to rip out the stock radio and replace it with something that sounds good. About six months back, I went to Best Buy, and for under $600 I got a nice Pioneer head unit and four Pioneer speakers for my wife's Camry (1996), which I thought sounded fairly strong. Since this is a new car, and I'm a bigger music fan than she, I assumed (logically, aat least so I thought) that if I was willing to spend twice as much, I could get a stereo that was twice as good. So, I wander into Tweeter. The salesman says, "Pricewise, are you looking for something middle of the road or something more high-end?"

Naively, I say, "What pricepoints do those those two groups comprise?"

He says, "Middle of the road, $3,500, high end, $15,000."

Although commonsense told me to walk out, I decided to stick around and see what he had in mind for that kind of cash. After subjecting the good folks at Tweeter to Nevermore's "Dead Heart in a Dead World" for 20 minutes, I say to the guy, "Look, if don't want to spend a penny over $1,200, including installation, taxes, etc., what sort of system can I get?"

Ten minutes later he comes back with a printout that includes:

Eclipse CD3414 High Powered MP3 Compatible CD Player
Boston Acoustics NX67 6'' 2-Way Component Speakers
Boston Acoustics NX97 6X9" 3 Way Speakers
JL Audio 12W3V2D6 12"; W3 Series Subwoofer with Dual 6 OHM Voice Coils
JL Audio JL2501 250 Watt Mono Amplifier

With labor ($300 for just the custom subwoofer and amp install), kits, wires and taxes it came to over $1,900 (I guess he thought I was joking about that whole "not a penny over $1,200" thing I said). He said he'd hook me up and knock $200 off.

So, here's my question, is this necessary? Is it overkill? Do I really need a sub and amp just to power the sub? Am I sacrificing that much by simply getting a nice head unit and good speakers? Help!

Thanks,

Zod

 

[Hell Mike]

If you pay $1900 your stereo will be more expensive than my car.

 

[Nate The Great]

If you really want to optimize your listening pleasure, you will need an amp for your speakers and an amp for you sub. You could do with a minimum of running your speakers off the head/reciever unit and the sub off an amp, but I would definitely make sure you have an amp for the sub. Otherwise you might as well not have the sub.

Go to the Crutchfield website and read all their nifty articles on this stuff.

 

[NAD]

Subs are pointless without amps, and I'll second the Crutchfield.com recommendation, I would price everything there and then factor in a reasonable labor amount.

A nice sound system is a great way to enjoy car music, but if I had a brand new V8 under my hood I'd probably rather listen to that instead.

 

[Evil C.]

Zod,

where are you located? I have a buddy here in houston that does this kind of stuff. He wins all kinds of awards for custom installations, and killer things he does to the systems.

he just installed a system in my truck, and my metal has never sounded better.

i can get you his contact info if you want...

Evil C.

 

[lurch70]

Crutchfield is ok for "research" .. but never buy anyhting there ... they sell everything very expensive.

I would say ... take that printout you got from Tweeter and price it on Ebay .. you'll see how much you'll save. Buy everyhting online and then take it to a local install shop.

Just swapped all the speakers in my MINI to Infinity speakers all around. Let's put it this way ... Crutchfield was selling the exact same models for $400 and I got all of them from Ebay shipped for $230. Ripped the car out myself and did my own install.

Just the speaker swap was a big differnce for me. Might spring for an amp later and a new head unit but this will suffice.

$1900 for a good system is not unreasonable, but then again to be honest with you, I never listen to music that loud, or do not need such clarity for the type of stuff i listen to that would justify it for me.

Also out of curiosity, why didn't you wait for the new Mustangs to come out later this year?

 

[General Zod]

where are you located?

New Jersey. Thanks anyway.

Zod

 

[General Zod]

I would say ... take that printout you got from Tweeter and price it on Ebay .. you'll see how much you'll save. Buy everyhting online and then take it to a local install shop.

I'm aware just how much can be saved on eBay. However, nothing sold on eBay carries a manufacturer's warranty with it, and that makes me nervous.

Also out of curiosity, why didn't you wait for the new Mustangs to come out later this year?

Several reasons:

1. I like the current body style better.
2. The end of model run is likely to have all the kinks worked out, whereas the the 2005 will most likely have a bunch of bugs.
3. The 2005's will most likely sell above sticker, and you still won't be able to buy them, due to the demand.
4. I was able to get the Mach 1 for $5,200 off due to rebates and using the Ford X-Plan.
5. The Mach 1 is a limited production car. In 2004, due to the fact that Ford closed the Mustang factory on March 3rd, to gear up for 2005s, that production was cut in half. So, the 2004 Mach 1 is a popular limited production car, whose production was cut in half in the last year it was made. Add into this equation, that 2004 is the 40th Anniversary edition car (with logos on the car to commemorate it). Then, add in that my car is the Azure Blue. At the end of model year 2003, all Mach 1s were selling for below sticker, accept for the Azure Blue, which continued to sell at sticker. I believe this car, given the Mustang's rich history, is destined to become a collector's item.
6. Most important; the car is badass.

Zod

 

[Reign in Acai]

The ribbon cable in my car stereo went to crap and half the buttons have become unresponsive. So here lies the conundrum of dropping another $80 on a new stereo, $40 for a replacement faceplate (used), or being arsed to buy a ribbon for $10 and fenagle the thing on in there while sweating like a Somali over a teaspoon of Uncle Ben's. Cant even lower the volume whilst listening to a cd without switching back to the fm/am tuner. This is quite the common occurence from what I've been reading, and it's total bullshit.

 

[dorian gray]

Greg's original post is hilarious.

The stereo in my Volvo doesn't work AT ALL. And the dash attachment point are all broken off so I get to listen to the dash rattle the whole time.

I've done lots of research on car stereos. Shit gets expensive. Not worth it in my opinion.

 

[einride]

all cars that don't have standard DIN stereos can fuck off

 

[einride]

also i love how rc has a thread already about literally everything

we should just lock the ability to create new threads, there's no need

 

[dorian gray]

all cars that don't have standard DIN stereos can fuck off

This.

 

[NAD]

all cars that don't have standard DIN stereos can fuck off

This is what my car stereo looks like. Just flat out stupid. LOL @ me if I ever wanted to replace this. Thankfully this works just fine, but I don't often listen to music whilst driving. I prefer the sound of me screaming at other idiots on the road.

 

[dorian gray]

I'm sure you'll recall how bad Subaru's system is

 

[NAD]

Oh yeah. I loved that anything above 4 (out of 80) on the volume dial distorted the speakers.

The Mazda is perfectly okay. Decent bass, loud enough, drowns out all the god damn rattles.

 

[dorian gray]

Hahahahahahaha PERFECT description of the Subaru "sound system"

 

[Reign in Acai]

Double din, Triple Din, and the ubiquitous showroom Quad Din car stereo can fuck right the hell off. Which year did having a front panel stereo larger than a crt become the norm? I want to base my next used car shopping experience before the cut off. I abhor new autos, half of the reason being that they feel more like a mac book air on wheels, than a transmission and engine chugging along.

 

[NAD]

Are used cars back in the realm of affordability yet? Last I was really shopping for one was right after Clunk for Cashers and the market was bereft of anything affordable.

Of course, our two "new" cars now have over 50k miles between them, and mine is still full of spiders, so whatever. Just doing some market research on RC as per usual.

 

[Reign in Acai]

What's affordable? I myself in the year 2013 would not spend a kopeck over 8k for a used car. I paid $4,300 for my current beater and have squeezed 121k miles from the lemon. Only thing not working on it is the fucking stereo!