Sound system for car

gary the great

I like my music and will be spendin about a couple of hours a day in my car (mazda 323F) so decided that i need a good sound system to replace the standard on in the car im about to buy.

It has a Panasonic CD player head unit, so i reckon this will be grand (although i dunno if it has an Aux in, id like to connect my iaudio mp3 player up it).

What I really need is decent speakers.I havent a clue what to get, someone mentioned getting an Amp but i dont plan on playing the music real loud, i just want it to sound good. And how many speakers do i need?

Can anyone recommend anything, ould prefer to buy it in halfords cos they will install it and everything for me, which would be dam handy.

Budget about 140euro. I dont care what i need but just want the best sounds for that price.

PS im dont need loads of bass and stuff, will be mostly playing rock, sigor ros, muse etc!

5500

Your budgets kinda small so its gonna be hard to find anything great even second hand at that price.Halfords sell cheap tacky stuff,and they'l also screw you blind for installing it.

Its not the hardest thing to do and you could be easily talked thru replacing a set of speakers,Just MAKE SURE that there the right size for your car to save you chopping stuff off!

If you want the best quality possible from them you need an amp,forget the loudness part.While the amp will allow them to play louder than the headunit,the quality would be 100 times better via the amp.

Ive reccomended here loads of times before www.caraudiosecurity.co.uk Ive found them cheaper than anywhere here.To see if you have an AUX just remove the headunit and look for the phono connections,it should have aux stamped in or on a little tag if theres one there

gary the great

I dunno if im missing something on that caaudio site but everything was extremly expensive. I dont want an amazing sound just an upgrade from the totally crap system thats in the mazda. Was thinking something like this:

http://www.argos.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=30001&langId=-1&catalogId=10151&productId=643984

And if an amp really makes a difference, is this any way decent?:

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Boss-Audio-Car-Amp-200-Watt-7-Band-Graphic-Equalizer-EQ_W0QQitemZ250053094921QQihZ015QQcategoryZ4950QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

And then maybe some speakers for the front?

I dunno maybe i wont even bother!!

JoeySully

Are you replacing the Head Unit or just the speakers?

I got my head unit in Maplin for 83€, rear speakers 20, front speakers 50€,
these speakers are good the rear(3 way) ones are cheap but have good bass while the front ones have a nice sound. if you are buying a new headunit and not spending loads on speakers i would recommend that you get a high output wattage from the headunit ie 40W ++, This will save you having to buy an amp as the ammount you want to spend wont allow you to buya speakers that require an amp. If a speaker has a max power rating of 180W its normal operating P/R might just be 40W so if your headunit already supplies this then there is no need for an amp, but yes it will give you beetter sound.

gary the great

The head unit i have is fairly good i think, has a aux in and is 50watt, so i dont think that needs to be replaced. SO id just be looking for some speakers for the back shelf and some for the front. Thats all il be needing i think.

5500

gary the great wrote:

I dunno if im missing something on that caaudio site but everything was extremly expensive. I dont want an amazing sound just an upgrade from the totally crap system thats in the mazda. Was thinking something like this:

http://www.argos.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=30001&langId=-1&catalogId=10151&productId=643984

And if an amp really makes a difference, is this any way decent?:

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Boss-Audio-Car-Amp-200-Watt-7-Band-Graphic-Equalizer-EQ_W0QQitemZ250053094921QQihZ015QQcategoryZ4950QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

And then maybe some speakers for the front?
I dunno maybe i wont even bother!!

There actually very cheap,but like everything else decent car audio comes at a price.

Personally i wouldnt reccomend either of the links,Boss audio is possibly the worst you can get,even below stock 15year old speakers!

If your not that fussy then just go into halfords and buy a cheap set of front speakers and 6x9's for the back,But expect to get distortion and crap sound above half the volume.

In saying that It'l sound better than stock but if you could stretch your budget a set of components and small 2 channel amp would give far far better sound quality

3ps

www.lowcostaudio.co.uk seems to have good prices. To ship a headunit is about £20.

lau1247

check out pioneer accelerate range - 3way..
They are not too expensive i think..
Personally I'd go for the emotion range..
They're better but pricier..

Captain Slow IRL

Amps DO make a BIG difference!
If you want a good amp cheap - http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=011&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=320054348185&rd=1&rd=1 - I had this in my civic, with a pioneer head unit and speakers and it sounded excellant; I listen to a lot of rock (Zeppelin, Floyd, etc.) and the sound quality was, for want of another word, sweet:D

gary the great

Il buy that amp off you if you wanna withdraw it from ebay! How much would you sell for incl postage?

How do i set this up in the car? Is it easy? Does the headunit need any special features, and the speakers can be just normal too?

Wertz

In the middle of replacing my head unit and 4 speakers at the moment; decided to go for a kenwood head unit http://www.pixmania.com/dev/gui_web/common_dsp/popup_fiche_article_xhtml.php?article=00007692&from=caddie&&articleLibelle=KENWOOD+CD+car+radio+KDC-W3534A
and 2 pair of these speakers http://www.pixmania.com/dev/gui_web/common_dsp/popup_fiche_article_xhtml.php?article=00019341&from=caddie&&articleLibelle=Sony++XS-F1335+Auto+Loudspeakers
€162 all in, inc del.

The speakers had to be a specific size (130mm) to fit in my door panels.
I found the correct size in the owners manual...a quick google found some helpful tips for my make/model of car and how to fit the speakers.
I also made sure that the headunit had a similar power rating to the speakers (overpowering or underpowering speakers is bad for them and sounds crap)

It's not audiophile stuff, but it's a big step up from the standard factory stuff...do my hatchback lovely.

makeitso1

3ps wrote: »

www.lowcostaudio.co.uk seems to have good prices. To ship a headunit is about £20.

My experience with 'lowcostaudio.co.uk' has been TERRIBLE! They are rude, and obnoxious! I placed an order for an audio lead and when it didn't arrive I wrote to them and consequently received three emails from them, all of them stating 'I will check with the warehouse about your order' after every email, I wrote a polite one back asking for more clarification but all got was the same reply over and over, then when I got fed up and asked why they were just sending this one line reply, they got rude! Anyway, unless you plan on ordering in bulk from them, I don't think they will take your order seriously and just fob you off like they did me. eventually I got my money back as soon as I asked for it, proving that they just couldn't be bothered with my piddly order and dirty money. They are by far the worst experience of my life so far in dealing with online companies, I highly recommend you avoid them at all cost, they may have once been good, but now it seems that they don't have have time to even be civil to a paying customer!
Ignore this warning at your own peril!

Alanstrainor

This thread is really old. Please don't drag up old threads.

Also, posting in bold doesn't actually add anything to your post.