Birthday Coming up Soon
Thread Starter
Mista High School Playa
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 618
Birthday Coming up Soon
I'm probably ending up with a 07 GT, just wanted to know some good sound systems that I could put in my car. I like a good clean sound if you understand what i'm saying. Any suggestions? I don't have a real price range, not looking for something that is the best around, just something to replace to stock system with the car. Also, my friend drives a Eclipse (lol) and he has like some kind of monitor in his car and I think it controls his music, anyone know what that is? I think I might want it..lol.
5th Gear Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 4,273
From: San Leandro, CA
RE: Birthday Coming up Soon
You should go with a nice 3-way component system in front (replace the 8" Shaker subs if your car comes with the Shaker 500) then 1 or 2 subs. Nice 2-channel amp for the front stage, mono sub-amp for the sub(s). How much are you willing to spend? The in-dash DVD/Navi unit will be about $1k depending on where you buy it from. You should definitely go with a double-din unit, rather than the flip-out ones.
Thread Starter
Mista High School Playa
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 618
RE: Birthday Coming up Soon
ORIGINAL: laserred38
You should go with a nice 3-way component system in front (replace the 8" Shaker subs if your car comes with the Shaker 500) then 1 or 2 subs. Nice 2-channel amp for the front stage, mono sub-amp for the sub(s). How much are you willing to spend? The in-dash DVD/Navi unit will be about $1k depending on where you buy it from. You should definitely go with a double-din unit, rather than the flip-out ones.
You should go with a nice 3-way component system in front (replace the 8" Shaker subs if your car comes with the Shaker 500) then 1 or 2 subs. Nice 2-channel amp for the front stage, mono sub-amp for the sub(s). How much are you willing to spend? The in-dash DVD/Navi unit will be about $1k depending on where you buy it from. You should definitely go with a double-din unit, rather than the flip-out ones.
5th Gear Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 4,273
From: San Leandro, CA
RE: Birthday Coming up Soon
Ohhhh boy. lol. 
. Don't worry about it man. Everyone starts somewhere. You're lucky you started here instead of diving in on your own...like I did.
Ok I will start with the head unit (or the deck/radio whatever YOU call it). The one your friend has is probably a "flip-up" in which the screen is motorized and flips out. These aren't as good as the "double-din" units (at least to most of the members here). The double din units will take up the entire space that your stock radio takes up, instead of only taking up half of it and having the screen flip out. This allows for a more OEM appearance and there are less moving parts to break. Also, a lot of the double-din (DD) units come with an internal hard-drive to store Navigation (Navi) information or even music. Eclipse and Pioneer make really good DD units. Alpine and Kenwood aren't as good, but still decent depending on how much you pay.
The 3-way front stage I mentioned are a component speaker system in which there are three separate components, each to put out a specific set of frequencies so that you don't just have ONE speaker trying to reproduce EVERYthing. There is a woofer, a mid-bass, and a tweeter. The tweeter will play the higher notes, the woofer will play the lower notes, and the mid will play what is in between. These systems come with a little box called a Cross-over that takes the signal from your amplifier, and breaks it down to send each of the respective components their individual group of frequencies. You can also adjust this on your amp using the "high-pass filter" and "low-pass filter".
I'm sure you know what subs do lol.
You would want a 2 channel amp for the front speakers. If you went with a 3-way component system, you would have a total of 6 front speakers, including the tweeters. The 2-channel amp would power all 6 (3 speakers: woofer, mid and tweeter for the left; and 3 speakers: woofer, mid, tweeter for the right).
That is a VERY basic intro, but hopefully it cleared some stuff up. If you want some really good quality stuff, you will probably be spending about $2k including the DVD/Navigation unit. You can get by for abotu $1500 with some lower-end stuff. And that is all YOU installing it. If you aren't comfortable, then you will need to factor in installation into your budget. How much do you think you are willing to spend?
. Don't worry about it man. Everyone starts somewhere. You're lucky you started here instead of diving in on your own...like I did.Ok I will start with the head unit (or the deck/radio whatever YOU call it). The one your friend has is probably a "flip-up" in which the screen is motorized and flips out. These aren't as good as the "double-din" units (at least to most of the members here). The double din units will take up the entire space that your stock radio takes up, instead of only taking up half of it and having the screen flip out. This allows for a more OEM appearance and there are less moving parts to break. Also, a lot of the double-din (DD) units come with an internal hard-drive to store Navigation (Navi) information or even music. Eclipse and Pioneer make really good DD units. Alpine and Kenwood aren't as good, but still decent depending on how much you pay.
The 3-way front stage I mentioned are a component speaker system in which there are three separate components, each to put out a specific set of frequencies so that you don't just have ONE speaker trying to reproduce EVERYthing. There is a woofer, a mid-bass, and a tweeter. The tweeter will play the higher notes, the woofer will play the lower notes, and the mid will play what is in between. These systems come with a little box called a Cross-over that takes the signal from your amplifier, and breaks it down to send each of the respective components their individual group of frequencies. You can also adjust this on your amp using the "high-pass filter" and "low-pass filter".
I'm sure you know what subs do lol.
You would want a 2 channel amp for the front speakers. If you went with a 3-way component system, you would have a total of 6 front speakers, including the tweeters. The 2-channel amp would power all 6 (3 speakers: woofer, mid and tweeter for the left; and 3 speakers: woofer, mid, tweeter for the right).
That is a VERY basic intro, but hopefully it cleared some stuff up. If you want some really good quality stuff, you will probably be spending about $2k including the DVD/Navigation unit. You can get by for abotu $1500 with some lower-end stuff. And that is all YOU installing it. If you aren't comfortable, then you will need to factor in installation into your budget. How much do you think you are willing to spend?
Thread Starter
Mista High School Playa
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 618
RE: Birthday Coming up Soon
ORIGINAL: laserred38
Ohhhh boy. lol.. Don't worry about it man. Everyone starts somewhere. You're lucky you started here instead of diving in on your own...like I did.
Ok I will start with the head unit (or the deck/radio whatever YOU call it). The one your friend has is probably a "flip-up" in which the screen is motorized and flips out. These aren't as good as the "double-din" units (at least to most of the members here). The double din units will take up the entire space that your stock radio takes up, instead of only taking up half of it and having the screen flip out. This allows for a more OEM appearance and there are less moving parts to break. Also, a lot of the double-din (DD) units come with an internal hard-drive to store Navigation (Navi) information or even music. Eclipse and Pioneer make really good DD units. Alpine and Kenwood aren't as good, but still decent depending on how much you pay.
The 3-way front stage I mentioned are a component speaker system in which there are three separate components, each to put out a specific set of frequencies so that you don't just have ONE speaker trying to reproduce EVERYthing. There is a woofer, a mid-bass, and a tweeter. The tweeter will play the higher notes, the woofer will play the lower notes, and the mid will play what is in between. These systems come with a little box called a Cross-over that takes the signal from your amplifier, and breaks it down to send each of the respective components their individual group of frequencies. You can also adjust this on your amp using the "high-pass filter" and "low-pass filter".
I'm sure you know what subs do lol.
You would want a 2 channel amp for the front speakers. If you went with a 3-way component system, you would have a total of 6 front speakers, including the tweeters. The 2-channel amp would power all 6 (3 speakers: woofer, mid and tweeter for the left; and 3 speakers: woofer, mid, tweeter for the right).
That is a VERY basic intro, but hopefully it cleared some stuff up. If you want some really good quality stuff, you will probably be spending about $2k including the DVD/Navigation unit. You can get by for abotu $1500 with some lower-end stuff. And that is all YOU installing it. If you aren't comfortable, then you will need to factor in installation into your budget. How much do you think you are willing to spend?
Ohhhh boy. lol.
. Don't worry about it man. Everyone starts somewhere. You're lucky you started here instead of diving in on your own...like I did.Ok I will start with the head unit (or the deck/radio whatever YOU call it). The one your friend has is probably a "flip-up" in which the screen is motorized and flips out. These aren't as good as the "double-din" units (at least to most of the members here). The double din units will take up the entire space that your stock radio takes up, instead of only taking up half of it and having the screen flip out. This allows for a more OEM appearance and there are less moving parts to break. Also, a lot of the double-din (DD) units come with an internal hard-drive to store Navigation (Navi) information or even music. Eclipse and Pioneer make really good DD units. Alpine and Kenwood aren't as good, but still decent depending on how much you pay.
The 3-way front stage I mentioned are a component speaker system in which there are three separate components, each to put out a specific set of frequencies so that you don't just have ONE speaker trying to reproduce EVERYthing. There is a woofer, a mid-bass, and a tweeter. The tweeter will play the higher notes, the woofer will play the lower notes, and the mid will play what is in between. These systems come with a little box called a Cross-over that takes the signal from your amplifier, and breaks it down to send each of the respective components their individual group of frequencies. You can also adjust this on your amp using the "high-pass filter" and "low-pass filter".
I'm sure you know what subs do lol.
You would want a 2 channel amp for the front speakers. If you went with a 3-way component system, you would have a total of 6 front speakers, including the tweeters. The 2-channel amp would power all 6 (3 speakers: woofer, mid and tweeter for the left; and 3 speakers: woofer, mid, tweeter for the right).
That is a VERY basic intro, but hopefully it cleared some stuff up. If you want some really good quality stuff, you will probably be spending about $2k including the DVD/Navigation unit. You can get by for abotu $1500 with some lower-end stuff. And that is all YOU installing it. If you aren't comfortable, then you will need to factor in installation into your budget. How much do you think you are willing to spend?
5th Gear Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 4,273
From: San Leandro, CA
RE: Birthday Coming up Soon
Well, installing car audio stuff is not that hard, just time consuming. And electronics usually turn people off, especially if they haven't worked on a car before. I pay for most of MY installing right now, but am fully capable of tearing my car apart...I just don't have time at this point in my life right now with work and school. But I do installs for my buddies/family when I have time and have a bit of amatuer experience under my belt. IDK if I would start on my brand-new 07 GT, but hey you gotta start somewhere. Whenever you are ready just come back on here and we can give you advice. Don't buy anything before you ask here first! There are sites that sell audio stuff for wholesale prices which are usually at least 30% off of retail. And NEVER go to Best Buy or Circuit City or any chain-electronic store to get your stuff installed. Actually, where are you from? You might be able to take your car directly to one of the manufacturers to have your stuff installed, like Elemental Designs is doing. I'm working on finishing my 4th system already, and I'm only 19. My first car was a beater...95 Contour GL. I had two systems in that. And my stang, I had an all Alpine system in it, but I'm working on upgrading all that now from those sites that I mentioned. Getting stuff that is WAY better, for not that much more. So definitely come back and ask us before you buy, because we can probably save you some money on BETTER equipment than you would get at a chain store. I would check out some of the Car Audio-only shops in your area and see which ones compete in sound competitions, and which ones have had cars featured in any of the Car Audio magazines. The shop I go to has had like 25 cars featured in Car Audio Magazine, so I pay a little more for labor, but they do AWESOME work. Just some food for thought for ya...
Thread Starter
Mista High School Playa
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 618
RE: Birthday Coming up Soon
ORIGINAL: laserred38
Well, installing car audio stuff is not that hard, just time consuming. And electronics usually turn people off, especially if they haven't worked on a car before. I pay for most of MY installing right now, but am fully capable of tearing my car apart...I just don't have time at this point in my life right now with work and school. But I do installs for my buddies/family when I have time and have a bit of amatuer experience under my belt. IDK if I would start on my brand-new 07 GT, but hey you gotta start somewhere. Whenever you are ready just come back on here and we can give you advice. Don't buy anything before you ask here first! There are sites that sell audio stuff for wholesale prices which are usually at least 30% off of retail. And NEVER go to Best Buy or Circuit City or any chain-electronic store to get your stuff installed. Actually, where are you from? You might be able to take your car directly to one of the manufacturers to have your stuff installed, like Elemental Designs is doing. I'm working on finishing my 4th system already, and I'm only 19. My first car was a beater...95 Contour GL. I had two systems in that. And my stang, I had an all Alpine system in it, but I'm working on upgrading all that now from those sites that I mentioned. Getting stuff that is WAY better, for not that much more. So definitely come back and ask us before you buy, because we can probably save you some money on BETTER equipment than you would get at a chain store. I would check out some of the Car Audio-only shops in your area and see which ones compete in sound competitions, and which ones have had cars featured in any of the Car Audio magazines. The shop I go to has had like 25 cars featured in Car Audio Magazine, so I pay a little more for labor, but they do AWESOME work. Just some food for thought for ya...
Well, installing car audio stuff is not that hard, just time consuming. And electronics usually turn people off, especially if they haven't worked on a car before. I pay for most of MY installing right now, but am fully capable of tearing my car apart...I just don't have time at this point in my life right now with work and school. But I do installs for my buddies/family when I have time and have a bit of amatuer experience under my belt. IDK if I would start on my brand-new 07 GT, but hey you gotta start somewhere. Whenever you are ready just come back on here and we can give you advice. Don't buy anything before you ask here first! There are sites that sell audio stuff for wholesale prices which are usually at least 30% off of retail. And NEVER go to Best Buy or Circuit City or any chain-electronic store to get your stuff installed. Actually, where are you from? You might be able to take your car directly to one of the manufacturers to have your stuff installed, like Elemental Designs is doing. I'm working on finishing my 4th system already, and I'm only 19. My first car was a beater...95 Contour GL. I had two systems in that. And my stang, I had an all Alpine system in it, but I'm working on upgrading all that now from those sites that I mentioned. Getting stuff that is WAY better, for not that much more. So definitely come back and ask us before you buy, because we can probably save you some money on BETTER equipment than you would get at a chain store. I would check out some of the Car Audio-only shops in your area and see which ones compete in sound competitions, and which ones have had cars featured in any of the Car Audio magazines. The shop I go to has had like 25 cars featured in Car Audio Magazine, so I pay a little more for labor, but they do AWESOME work. Just some food for thought for ya...