Hey guys,

Looking to upgrade my stock stereo system in my '96 4-door Integra and could use a little help as I have never purchased audio equipment before. I'm thinking of just getting new front door speakers for now (both the 6.5'' and component) as well as a new deck/cd player. So far ive only talked to a few semi-knowledgeable people at best buy and future shop, but would rather hear the opinions of consumers. My budget will probably be around $400-$500 but would still like to know what my options are if they're not too unreasonable. Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

Maybe someone can suggest a shop in your area?

 

What is the goal of replacing these parts to you? Is it better sound? Louder? Do you need the head unit to do something specific? With that budget you could pick up a relatively inexpensive ipod capable head and some entry level speakers for the front, but that's pretty much it. You could go used, but you're still limited in what you can do. Narrow down the goal for us a bit more and maybe we can point you in the right direction so your money goes in the right places

 

Go to a shop and listen to some 6.5's.

 

Here's a little more info:

- Mainly looking for clean, crisp sound, especially at high volume

- Not interested in overpowering bass, but I do listen to music with quite a lot of bass (dubstep, house etc) so would enjoy a decent amount.

- new deck/cd player with usb input would be preferable, but an aux input will suffice.

- Would like to do this upgrade in stages, starting with my front 6.5'' component door speakers (they're extremely crackly) and a new deck.

- Starting budget will be around $400-$500, but that's not set in stone. Cash isnt really an issue, just don't need an insane setup.

 

If you want "crisp sound, especially at high volume" then you WILL need an amplifier... as you turn the volume of your stock deck up, it will distort... getting a deck with no crossovers will also add to the distortion (having full range frequencies played through speakers that cannot reproduce the sound) It will in the end cost more that 4-500 to get what you are looking for.

Buy a decent deck, crossovers, good preout voltage and whatever other functions you are looking for

Next I would spend the money on a power wire kit and a decent sized 4 channel amp

At this point you could amp all your factory speakers, and hell who cares if you blow them, you wanted new speakers anyway.

Get rid of those stockers and put in a nice component set in the front... feed it the power that you already have.

Next, un amp those rear 6 x 9's and use channels 3 + 4 to power a sub

Now that you are fully powered, you'll want more... Switch up the 4 channel and bridge 1 + 2 to power left front door and bridge 3 + 4 to power the right front... now your front doors will rock... next insert mono sub amp to fully power your low end

By now you should start to have what you were looking for

Now just try doing this without any component you buy going to waste

 

Awesome reply, thanks man. Was shopping around today and will definitely be picking up an amp. My question right now is what constitutes a "decent" deck? Is it simply just preference for particular attributes (usb etc.) or is there more to it? I've been looking at pioneer's mostly. Any suggestions for a deck?

 

Most of it is preference... for me it's Kenwood, don't look at me to set up an Alpine deck... I would seriously look for "built in crossovers for all channels" and something with a decent preoout voltage (though not absolutely neccessary) so that you won't have to pin your amplifier gains... then I would look at the features I wanted... ie ipod control, sub controller, usb, etc...

You can find a deck loaded full of usuable features for 250+

 

Nice little 4ch to start:
http://www.canadiancaraudio.com/onli...00-4-amps.html

How bout some tweets and crossovers?
http://www.canadiancaraudio.com/onli...-tweeters.html

Pioneer you say?
http://www.canadiancaraudio.com/onli...ead-units.html

Wait, we need a decent sub:
http://www.canadiancaraudio.com/onli...ers-350-a.html

And a sexy box to put the sub in:
http://www.canadiancaraudio.com/onli...res-150-a.html

Can't forget to put in some midranges to keep pace:
http://www.canadiancaraudio.com/onli...omponents.html

All this stuff is an enviable first system, if I may say so. The enclosure is tuned a bit high for that particular sub, but I wanted to post it up anyways because those enclosures kick @$$ and it's a great deal if the box is still in good shape. You could purchase these things from existing users or take the brands/models I've listed as a starting point and hit the bricks to find something that suits. Really, you should listen to speakers before you buy them, I just picked these for the familiarity