n00b needs help on upgrading stereo

n00b needs help on upgrading stereo

Well I finally decided to do something about my stock 95 Corolla sound system. Since I've never been interested in this area, I am a complete n00b. What I want to is just upgrade the sound, not make it amazing. So what I was thinking is, upgrading the headunit, speakers, and putting in an amp, no sub though. As for speakers, I'll just upgrade the 2 fronts and 2 rears, and I am confused with what kind of amp I need. I know 2 channel is for 2 speakers, so with my setup, I just need one multi-channel amp correct? The reason for no sub is, keep trunk space, keep cost down, and one less amp . Any comments? suggestions? TIA

A 4-channel amp will do. If you need trunk space, and if you would like to add some bass, check out the Infinity Basslink. It's pretty small and gives decent bass.

i say if you're just looking for and upgrade and nothing spectacular then forget the amp...upgrading the head unit and all 4 speakers will give pretty clear cound and a bit of bass as long as you get quality speakers.

OK, for the speakers, what do I look for? Material? sentivity?...etc? And can I just swap out the old and plug in the new? Or do I need new wiring too? Thanks

Crutchfield advisors recommended these to me since I'm having a distorted bass from my rear spkrs. whenever I turn up my volume. I don't have an amp. too but plan on getting one in the future. I didn't use the wire harnesses from Crutchfield when I upgraded my front & rear spkrs. I just plugged the the factory wires to the new ones.

If you want higher volume levels and reduced distortion from your speakers, I would recommend adding bass blockers to your front speakers. They can help to improve their sound quality and prevent distortion. I recommend the 600 Hz bass blockers for 4" speakers. You will find them on our web site at:

http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/...sp?i=127BB600A2

Until your budget permits, a second set of 150 Hz bass blockers on your rear speakers will also help to improve their performance. You can find them on our web site at:

http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/...sp?i=127BB150A2

i'm no expert but i read alot about what to look for from crutchfield.com...check out this link and it should answer alot of your questions:
http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/S...r/speakers.html

oh, and you'll just have to cut the plug off the existing wires and connect those wires to the new speakers...not hard at all and nowhere near worth what they charge you at bestbuy or circuit city to install.

Yes, Crutchfield to see what fits and get the harness adaptor so you dont need to cut the wires up front (as mentioned, only at speakers) If you add an amp and such it gets more complex but can be done. Most Toyotas are an easy fit, CW

What's your budget?

Well, givne the prices of stuff on eBay is almost 1/2 of what their retial is, I would say $500ish. Approx. $250 for a new HU, $25 for front speakers, $25 for back...haha love eBay. Rest is for misc.....wires...etc. Also, as for the xisting facotry wires, given I don't use an amp, they're enough correct? Or *should* I upgrade those as well? Here is the speaker harness I found:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-Nx9Ljk...1&avf=Y&search=

How many are in a pack? Do I buy 4 of them?

Dude, $25 for speakers and $250 for a headunit? You've got $500 to spend. I'll budget for you.
First, forget the amp.
Second, spend roughly $200-250 on the headunit..
$150 for front speakers
$100 for rears
One day you can save up and get an amp. When you get an amp there's a lot more that goes into the cost of installation and such. You won't have enough to build a reliable system.

I said $25 because $50 speakers I see on crutchfield are only $25ish on eBay.

Those cables that you have a link to are for the speakers (they would be handy though) You also need the adaptor harness for where the H-U will be that supplies power and ground and connects to the speakers( it plugs direct to factory plugs). Check out metraonline.com for harnesses (Crutchfield also has them if you look further, the sales person will know) CW

just a quick question...the first time i got new speakers best buy told me i needed 5 1/4 for the front, but i had them install them (back when i first got the car and didn't know how to take off the door) and they had to use part of the speaker grill to actually get the speakers to fit in the hole...would 6 1/2's fit in the front just like the factory ones or do you need some modifications (blew my front speakers a while ago and tired of my factory speakers).

oh btw i've got a 98

So for a prelim list of parts to buy for me =

2x front speakers - 4"
2x rear speakers - 6 1/2"
4x speaker harness
1x HU harness
4x bass blocker
1x HU

Anything else? And thanks for all the help thus far

After looking a little I came up with these parts after using What Fits My Car on crutchfield

Kenwood KFC-1079ie for the front
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-LH6fxp...C1079&s=0&cc=01

Kenwood KFC-1669S for the rears
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-LH6fxp...C1669&s=0&cc=01

Yay or nay?

And Alpine CDA-9830

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-LH6fxp...A9830&s=0&cc=01

Or is there another around same price but better?

You don't want to cheap out on speakers. If you're going for a budget system I'd cheap out on the head unit before the speakers.
Buy a nice quality set of coaxials such as Infinity Kappas, Eclipse, Alpine, JL, MB Quart, etc.
Buying $50 Kenwoods and a $300+ head unit is a waste of money.

What you may want to think about doing is keeping your stock speakers in the rear and getting a set of components up front. Rather than spend the money on rear speakers go with a 2 channel amp such as:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-Eoozag...1&avf=N&search=
Clarion 50x2. There will be other costs involved in running an amp though.

But again, spending $500 on a system and running those speakers is a waste.

But for my setup, I can only fit 4" in the front, and there are only 4 available from Crutchfield. The rears I can go more expensive, but what will i do for the front? And the HU I can get with S&H for approx. $240 on eBay. Like suggested above, for now I'll won't run an amp, so what are some speakers you guys recommend? It doesn't matter where I get it, as I sm only using Crutchfield to see what fits my car but will probably use eBay for the purchase. Thanks

OK, for the rears, betrween these two which would you guys recommend?

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-zX0899...DB525&s=0&cc=01

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-zX0899...C1379&s=0&cc=01

OK, this coming from a guy who started out spending $500 on some stereo equipment and now has almost $10K in the car. I have tried just about everything. All kinds of speakers, all kinds of decks, all kinds of amps. I have tried several brands at several price points and here is what I have to offer:

Get the Alpine 9830. You will love it.

Forget the bass blockers. You will hate what they do to the sound if you don't have a sub. Plus if you get the 9830, you can adjust the high pass/low pass crossover to cut out the bass going to the speakers you have it it ends up being too much.

Don't buy a cheap deck and splurge on the speakers. All decks put out what is referred to as "dirty power" which sounds like crap compared to a stand alone amp anyways. The fact is, the cheaper the deck=the worse the amplifier in it will be=the worse it will sound. I gave my old Pioneer DEHP 940 ($829 retail when purchased) to my girl friend and she is running it with her stock speakers. Compared to old deck she had, the whole stereo plays louder, has more bass and sounds a lot better...and this is with stock speakers!!!

Second, for what you want, forget the amp for now. But yourself some Alpine Type S or Type R front and rear coaxial speakers. The Type S will set you back $90-100 a pair depending on the size you get, the Type R will be around $180 a pair but will sound much better than the Type S. Plus if you ever do decide to amp it, your stereo will be ready to deliver some serious sound.

So the price is (and this is retail, you can find all this for cheaper

9830-$330 +
Type S front and rears $200= $530

9830-$330 +
Type R front and rears $360= $690 (but much better sound)

You aren't doing enough stuff to warrant doing anything else as far and wires and stuff is concerned, so just forget about it for now. If you follow these recommendations, I guarantee you will love your new stereo and be happy with what you got for your hard earned $$$.

Oh great info....more reseraching for me. Thanks!

i have a budget system and im overall pretty happy with it
i spent about 390$ and i have a jvc deck, kenwood front 6.5s 3 way, 4 way pioneer 6x9 rears, 2 rockford fosgate punch 12"s, a 2 channel boss amp for hte subs, and a 4 channel PG amp for the speakers, used a schosche amp kit.

just fyi, if you're gonna upgrade your speakers, is won't have as much bass as your stock speakers, but it'll be more bright (or more crisp sounding). Your stock speakers probably have more bass but less clean sounding, so you might wanna get a sub(doesn't have to be a really good one) to make up for some of that bass you're losing.

i'd like 2 share on how much i spent for my set up...

1. any mp3 or cd player under $200 will do, ex pioneer, kenwood, alpine, sony...
2. a lightning audio mono amp for a single sub - $ 59.00 open box item at best buys
3. 2 fronts & rears pioneer (each set for $ 49.00) open box item at best buys
4. brand new 600 max pioneer 12 inch single sub - $ 69.00
5. 200 watt monster cable - $ 30.00
6. monster cable audio jack - $ 25.00
7. custom made sub cabinet style - $ 80.00 (you can get a band pass type for $ 49.00

right now, all my fronts and rear are still connected on the HU but it sounds find since pioneer gives good clarity sound without any amp...

i really don't need a capacitor for this type of set-up, which is good because they cost about $ 100 or more

if you're not bent on getting a sub, mb quarts sound really good...

an alpine V12 4-channel w/ crossover made in china cost about P 3,500.00 (philippine peso) or about $ 70.00

Just listen to mncrolln. DO NOT go cheap on the HU. That's pointless. You would get much better sound from an awesome HU and stock speakers than a shit HU with awesome speakers. My girlfriend had a crap Rampage HU in her Jetta and her speakers sounded like shit. She told me she wanted to upgrade her speakers and I told her she should upgrade her HU and do the speakers later. When I got my Pioneer DEH-P8500MP I gave her my DEH-P7500MP. After installing the HU and turning up the sound it almost sounded as if there was a TOTALLY different system in her car. The setup mncrolln put together is good.