vatolocomike

I just bought a 98.5 and am wondering if I should upgrade speakers and add amp and retain the head unit or just get rid of it and buy a non-fitting look.

Žob

Get rid of that junk. I have done some stereo stuff. Check out my site

vatolocomike

I want a definite improvement. There are some high distorion levels that I am wondering if a quality amp and speakers would help.
Can the dash be adapted and still look good with a non-fitting head-unit and plastic adaptors..... any recomendations ? $ 300 dollar range

plug1

I am not that big on aftermarket stereo products. I think the bose sounds fine, sometimes it can't handle the music i push through it...but as often as it sounds fantastic, i dont see myself spending upwards of $500 to make it sound better.

BTW i listen to mostly hiphop in my car.

goku

If you're planning on changing speakers or adding amps, do yourself a favor and buy a new HU. The stock output is poor and will not send a strong enough signal to amps or new speakers to reproduce a sound that fully takes advantage of your new components. Heck, even a cheap deck will do wonders.

vatolocomike

My current system is nowhere near ready for playing hip-hop.
Too bad the HU will have to go I kinda liked the look of it.
Thanks for all the advice
How much are all the adaptors gonna cost?

Ray Khan

he has aftermarket stuff while retaining his stock headunit. His system sounds great.

Larry Sr.

I did a system, keeping the OE head unit, which not only sounds good to my somewhat discriminating ear, but has won an award in cometition. Yes, I spent ~4-5K for 6.5" MB Quart Q series in custom kick panels, JL Stealthbox, Phoenix Gold ZX 450 amp (soon to be upgraded), MBQ crossovers. Cap, & later added 3.5" ambient drivers in rear. The point being that the weak link in the original syatem is not necessarily the head unit. Ultimately I do plan to replace it, but not for sound quality. I will eventually put in something like the new Alpine which gives me an in-dash CD & Nav system. If the 98.5 head unit was different & inferior to mine, you can disregard my specific disagreement, & simply take the point that the head units are not always the weak link in a system.

Larry Sr.

Wow Ray, you got your post in while I was composing mine!!

RKA

I've kept my factory head unit to retain the look of the dash. I'm not keen on aftermarket fit kits, custom integration jobs, or the look/ergonomics of aftermarket radios. Their supremacy in audio quality over the factory radio is unquestionable!

You can work with the factory radio, but when you start to spend over a certain amount on the rest of the equipment, you'll find money going down the drain, because your headunit becomes the weak link in the chain.

Here is a ROUGH guide on what you should spend on the rest of the system, before you will need to upgrade the head unit.
Front speakers up to $250/pr
Amp up to $300 (2 channel) or $500 (4 channel)

If you plan to do subs, you'll probably find the bass a bit tighter with an aftermarket head unit, as opposed to the factory head unit. I'm encountering some boominess that I partially attribute to the head unit.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my system as compared to the stock system. It's MILES better. In the realm of true audiophiles, it's got a ways to go...and the headunit is the limiting factor.

Hope that helps...it all depends on how far you want to go, what kind of sound quality you're looking for, and whether or not you appreciate the look of aftermarket equipment in your dash.