help!

[camaroGirl89]

:confused:

i recently inherited my camaro and i'm looking to put in a cd player & improve the sound system. the one in it is original to the car.

any suggestions on what to do or not to do? i don't know much about what's out there right now.

thanks!
-jenna

[SillyWabbit]

You're going to have fun with this, cause you'll basically take out everything that's in there now, and replace it all with good stuff, and even more. Depending on what you want to spend, start with a CD player head unit, or MP3 player head unit if you want to spend the money. Clarion and Blaupunkt make some good midrange decks as well as other manufacturers I can't think of right now. In order to install the new CD player in place of the original, you'll have to get a special mounting kit that includes all the hardware necessary to mount the slimmer CD deck in place of the big fat GM unit. Also you'll need a wiring harness that will allow you to connect the wiring of the new deck to the GM unit that plugged into the old stereo. As for speakers, there's tons out there ranging in quality and price. I will always recommend Polk Audio speakers as well as Blaupunkt speakers. Others swear by Boston Acoustiks, Cerwin Vega, or other brands. Pioneer gets the job done, but not very well. 6x9's go in the rear sail panels, and 4x6's go in the dash. A tip I've heard from some places is to get a 45Wx4channel deck, and make sure that the speakers you buy have a nominal, not maximum power of 45W. The nominal power of a speaker is what it is going to be running at a majority of the time, and you should be able to find out what it is by looking on the box, or asking a sales rep about it. If you want sound above and beyond this, a pair of 10" subs fit very well in the rear hatch well. I have some Pioneer's that aren't the best thing out there, but they work very well for what I want them to. And the amp running them again should put out a maximum power that is equal to the nominal power of the speaker. Lightning Audio, JVC, Sony, MTX, etc... will all make some decent amps. Just depends on how much you want to spend.

[camaroGirl89]

awesome! thank you so much for taking the time to type all that out. it's given me a lot to think about...

what do you have in your car?

[TMoNeE]

correction, the nominal is the lowest amount of RMS the speaker needs.... most speakers its pretty low but if you dont put out the nominal amount of power the speakers needs.. then over time it will burn up the voice coil. For instance, I have 2 pioneer 12" subs in my hatch.. the max they can handle is 400 W, the nominal is like 50W... my amp runs 125W RMS to each... and max's at 200W to each (until i get a bigger amp anyways)

for your front and mid range speakers, as long as you get a descent deck, it should put out plenty of power for them... then if you put some subs in the back... you will need an amp.

just my .02

[SillyWabbit]

Thanks for the correction Tim, I wasn't positive what the nominal power really meant.

My car's setup is relatively low budget, but for me, it's all that I really need or want, other than a 12 disc changer somewhere. I've got a Clarion Pro Audio DRX 5675 CD reciever running the front and sail panel speakers at 45 per channel. I have some 6.5" MB Quartz speakers up front in custom kick panels. This would have cost a lot, but the guy sold the car to me with them in it. If I were doing it, I wouldn't have bothered just cause I can't really hear those speakers that well. My feet can, but the sound tends to get lost under the seat. In the sail panels I have Polk Audio 6x9 3 way's. And in the rear hatch well, I have 2 10" Pioneer subs mounted in a 1/4" plywood plate that just sits on those ridges about half way down the well. They're powered by a Lighntning Audio amplifier that puts out 90W over 2 channels at 4 ohms.

So, I don't really have a high dollar system, at least in my opinion, nor do I have a very high powered system, but it works for me quite well.

[zimmstoy]

it's not a difficult job to do. What kind of setup are you looking for?

Nice and crisp, loud and noisy, enough to be better than whats in there now?

[TMoNeE]

Originally posted by SillyWabbit:
<STRONG>but it works for me quite well.</STRONG>

thats all that matters, who cares what other people think.

I have a JVC deck which is 40x4 powering front and sail's, 2 pioneers 12" subs in an enclosed box in my back powered by 400watts.. soon to be 800 heh

[camaroGirl89]

thanks guys for letting me know what all of y'all have... it's a good way to get a feel for things.

i believe i've (finally) decided on a 200 watt sony receiver.

i've been talking to this lady at performance audio here in town and she recommended rockford fosgate 4x6s and 6x9s, since i want to get it pretty loud. any comments on those?

also... what size amp should i go with?

[zimmstoy]

I don't know how good the rockford speakers sound. Did you check out custom sounds off burnet rd. to see what they recommend?

If you want very good sound quality for your highs and mids I would look at Eclipse, DynAudio and Diamond Audio.

For your bass just get the best subs you can. I am not terribly crazy about the new subs and amps on the market right now. I am currently using a 5 year old Precision Power Art Series Amp and 2 5 yr old Precision Power Flat Piston Subs in my Impala. The bass is crisp and responsive, no reverb at all.

Keep your eye on ebay, ya might be able to pick up some descent quality equipment for a not a lot of money.

[ip305z28]

all i have to say is pioneer cd player, clarion or infiniti plates for the dash and orion 6X9. sub either mtx 6000 10" or an orion hcca 10" thats all youll need and it wont cost an arm and a leg.

[jokeplayer]

Check out E-Bay but also check out... http://www.justwoofers.com http://www.justamps.com http://www.justcarspeakers.com
I just bought 2 "12 JBL from www.justwoofers.com (http://www.justwoofers.com) for $89 (for the pair) + $20ish for shipping... They normally list for $99 a piece!

[ 08-03-2001: Message edited by: jokeplayer ]

[se7en]

I've got a kenwood head unit and a 10 disc cd changer. the speakers are 2 400 watt 6x9s in the sail panels. powered by a 2ch 600 watt kenwood amp. a 12" 500 watt sony explode sub in a box that fits in the corner in the back of the hatch (leaves room for t tops, surprisingly). powered by a 800 watt PPI (ahh too much power!!). PPI amps are VERY VERY good. i recommend them.
also look at ubid.com for speakers/amps/head units, ect. good luck :)

[ 07-28-2001: Message edited by: eric ]

[86CamaroZ28]

I plan on completely rediong the system in my car also. Right now I have 3 MTX 10" Road thunder 6000's but dont have a deck ro amp so its not in the car. They can handle 500w a piece. I'd like to find a 1000w to 1500w amp but they cost alot of money. I plan on getting polk audio EX462a 4x6's and EX693a 6x9's and a Pioneer DEH-P47DH deck. I don't have to worry about blowing my subs because they got a 4 year warranty. :eek: Probablly after about a year Ill purposely blow them and go get new ones. Then after a little while having them, do the same thing. :p Any of yas have any recomendations on an amp? How does the set up I plan on going with sound? Anything better for the same price?

[IROCvert]

camaroGirl89, please email me about replacing the stereo in your car. I will tell you my strong and researched opinion on car audio equipment. There are some things I need to know first.

How much do you want to spend?
What year and style is your camaro? (t-tops, coupe, convertible)
What type of music do you listen to?
Do you want your sub to sound good or just play louder than you thought possible?

I myself listen to all types of music, country, rap, hip hop, metal, easy listening, orchestral, all types... I wanted an incredible sound out of my car stereo, but didn't want to spend the money a person would for a competition system. Assuming that you don't want to spend a lot of money, the only given that I can tell you right now is Boston Acoustics 746 4x6 plates for your dash. And you will want matching speakers for the back of your car, but depending on what size you need, i can't give specifics. The Bostons will work excellent no matter what your listening tastes.

Email me and I will be more than glad to help you all that I can.

Reguards,
Austin
;)

[a3rdgencamaro]

i have boston accoustics 4x6 plates in the dash and 6x9s in the sail panels next to the back seat.
they sound awesome. the deck i have is a 7200 pioneer cd player and i have 2 old kicker subs in the trunk area right now but when i can afford them i want to get 2-12" boston accoustic subs to replace the kickers.

i also listen to many different types of music and i would have to say that the boston accoustics are the versitle and they sound awesome!!!


:D :D

[XLR8TORZ28]

Checking out Ebay is a good idea. I got my entire system off of Ebay. The Pioneer DEH77DH made for the GM cars, Infinity Basslink powered subwoofer, Infinity reference series 4x6 plates and 6 1/2 ....It was all fairly cheap.... look for the "dutch" auctions.... I got the pioneer for about $239.00 and the sub for $225.00 I cant remember about the others