Hola everyone i'm back in the good old usa and with a chunk of change and now i can start fixin up my fishin truck.

My truck is a 98 and it still has a tape player in it and i want to catch up with the times and put an aftermarket cd player in it. Randy at bestbuy told me that i couldn't get a cd player there because i needed a dual something i stopped listening when he stopped trying to sell me a cdplayer. So now that im at home and relaxed maybe someone can tell me what i need to get to put in a new headunit for my truck.

Thanks in advance.

 

Welcome back. All you should need is an aftermarket radio, a wiring harness to connect that radio to your stock harness, and a radio mounting kit. They can be alittle pricey, but Crutchfield does a good job of setting everything up for you, I'd give them a call to find out what would be best for your needs.

 

you just need to get a dash kit to mount one of the smaller aftermaket head units with, they have a slot for the head unit then another little compartment that takes up the unused space. If you order a head unit off Crutchfield they send you everything you would need to install it for free, which I would highly recommend. Thats where I got mine and it's great, free wiring harnesses, dash kit, instructions, the whole schabang!

 

PM sent

 

Thanks for the PM, now for my next question:
Since ive been gone for a year and technology changes alot, Last i heard Sony XPLOD made great decks, but when i went to bestbuy the Randy said that Eclipse is the best and he said pioneer sucks, clarion is alright, sony is alright. SO what is hot and what is not?

 

he is actually correct...my next deck will be an eclipse...alpine isnt just putting out any mid priced decks that excite me...

 

I most recently purchased the Pioneer DEHP-6800MP for 239.00 at circuit city and I love it. I also got the iPod adapter to go with for 119 which is very nice as well.

 

I personally have a Alpine 9856



It is a CD player that has MP3 capabilities. Which means, i can copy Mp3's onto a CD and play them directly from the CD. This translates into around 130 songs on one cd.

It has the "full speed" iPod interface . This means, with the purchase of an additional cable, you can play your ipod directly from the headunit. It is only $30.

It was an audio in interface (if you wanted RCA's, just get the $3 cable for the headunit) that would allow you to basically plug in any audio device and play it through the headunit. From Laptops, to mp3 players to XM, etc.

This headunit can also play satallite radio. it supports both XM and Sirius. So you do not need an external player, just the satellite unit and you're good to go.

It has 3 sets of audio out's. Two for if you wanted to amplify your spears, and one set for subwoofer. It has treble/bass controls AND subwoofer controls.

All in all, this headunit has basically what most people would need. It cost me $199 shipped.



Now, there are DEFINITELY better headunits out there, but for a price. If you have a brand perference, go with that. If you want it to look good, go with that. If you want it for power, go with that.

Basically, go with what suits your needs and wants.

I chose the Alpine because of its reputation of making very quality sounding headunits. It doesn't look as awesome as some dot-matrix headunits out there, but damn (even for someone who always go for the looks), i was sold on this headunit. Crutchfield link

 

pioner>sony

eclipse is going down hill with this years models ive heard
Alpine killed themselves with the stupid glide touch

i dont have a problem with clarion i have the dxz955 with touch screen and all, i love it, dont know about their cheaper ones

and did the guy at bestbuy say double din?

how much do you want to spend on a HU, what do you want it to do, pretty screen? you want subs? ipod or anything?

 

he is a sucky salesman, he is promoting stuff that circuitcity sells


sony is a ****** deck in my opinion, but thats just me

 

Glide touch is only in the very high end models. The mid-range/entry-leve ones aren't glide touch.

 

I was planning on changing out all interior speakers and as for a headunit i was willing to spend around 280.00 and down. Hopefully i can get a package deal or something. Later much later i plan on taking out the seats that are in now, and putting just two bucket seats. Then i will get a custom fiberglass center console and instead of cupholders i want to put either a 8' or 10' sub. But i want a headunit that can power the interior speakers so i won't have to buy two amps.

Now this brings up my third and finally question which speakers should i use to replace my old ones are fosgates still any good???

 

main company's for speakers still pioneer, infintiy, alpine, rockford, polk,kicker...

i dont reallyfavor infinity as the ones i had oh so long ago had the worst ever midbass, and the tweets would kill you

i heard some of the alpines and liked them, if your not going to amp them dont get ones with to high an rms, try getting high sensitivity


on cd player, do you want a flashy one or a plain clean one like the alpine
do you like ebay?

or want to shop on the internet?

www.cardomain.com is one of my fav's, they are authorized so you get warranties with what ever you buy, and you can price match so get stuff way cheaper than what they have, i got my clarion for 600 instead of the 900 they wanted for it

http://www.cardomain.com/item/PIODEHP8600MP (had this one, it had all kinds of features, and you can put any vid or pic on the screen you want)
http://www.cardomain.com/item/PIODEHP6800MP
http://www.cardomain.com/item/CLADXZ665MP
http://www.cardomain.com/item/CLADXZ655MP
http://www.cardomain.com/item/KENKDCMP732
http://www.cardomain.com/item/PANCQC8303U
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-FLo0d4S...00&I=099CD3000
^ there is an eclipse for 250, kinda basic no frills look
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-FLo0d4S...300&I=158RA700
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-FLo0d4S...0&I=500CDA9853
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-FLo0d4S...00&I=158MEX1GP
^has a 1gb mp3 player built in it. just connect the faceplate to a computer, ut i dont like sony :(

so many more :(

 

Although you may have your reasons, but personally, i'd rather power my speakers with an amp and power my sub with another amp. The seperate amp would provide way more power than a headunit can. (i'm sure there are headunits out there that can do that, but it'd be soo much more expensive). I mean, it's all physics. Just how small and packed a headunit is, compared to an amp right?

I've heard the alpine component series and they're awesome.

 

If i get another amp i don't know where i would put it? I plan to change out the interior (seats,carpet,foldout seats, ect....). But if you say it would sound better with a small amp i know it would depend on the speakers but about what size amp should i get as far as watts go?

 

it depends on what wattage the speakers can take. Since you said you were gonna change out the stock speakers, i'd probably would get something that would be in the range of the aftermarket ones.

Usually, they're around 45 watts - 65, 70 watts for each speaker. So a (45-65)watt X 4 (channels) amplifier would do the trick. Headunits usually put out around 17-20 watts RMS X 4. That's decent (way better than the stock radio). They usually max out at around 30-50 watts. However, that's max. Maybe it's jsut me, but i dont' like running things to it's max at all times. In a nutshell, RMS is what you're trying to match up. (holy shat... that sound so confusing, haha).

As for the placement, there's plenty of space where you can mount it. You can make a rack, or put it behind each front seat... or.. there's so much you can do. And since you're gonna change up yoru whole interior, you can definitely accommate the space for just one amp.

 

Thanks for the advice if you continue to see deals or get coupons or whatever let me know or continue this thread. Ill probably get my system around end of may june time period.

 

I am currently using this headunit and I love it. Looks really nice in the dash and all I do is listen to either cd's or xm radio. For $200 shipped from crutchfield, its a good buy. Where at in KS are you? I'm down in Wichita.

 

i kinda like this one from panasonic http://www.crutchfield.com/S-6bndv7r...display=XL#Tab
The alpine looks nice but alot of ya'll have it. But i might just jump on board with the rest of ya since you say it work great.

 

My friend actually has this in his SE-R and it was the original HU i wanted. It's great, with the dot-matrix and all the abilities to tune the subwoofer, etc.

I just went with sound quality over looks. But you don't have to

 

welcome back

 

this one has color screen http://www.cardomain.com/item/PANCQC8303U

 

first off welcome back.... as for panasonic they make a good headunit i have had two so far and love them..
for speakers i would go with rockford fostages (just bought my first set of components and love them).. if your really big into audio then i would get a 4channel amp for them but if not then the power off the unit will do..

basically its what you want the unit to do, what looks good to you.. and what ya want to spend... ( i have way to much in mine right know and still going)

we can tell ya what we like and what we dont but go check out the units at the stores, play with them, price them on the net..

as for crutchfield i do most of my business with them.. some of there prices are high but with free install gear and there tech support the are the one to go to....

 

I have been looking on crutchfield but has anyone tried etronics.com???
But once again thanks for all the ideas and if you got some more info to give me either PM or continue this thread.