matty dread Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 I have a 2008 Ford Fusion with the factory installed stereo. I'm looking for a moderate upgrade to my system, I'm thinking of a budget around $500. What can I get for that kind of money in regard to a new head unit and some good speakers? My only conditions are I need satellite radio and ipod connectivity. thanks guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.Guy. Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 get a good headunit that accepts CDs as well as line in and ipod support. you want to get a four channel amp to really power the new speakers you get. the head unit really wont push them as well as any decent amp could. dont cheap out on wire either. get better insulated wire so you can avoid that nasty "whine" that comes out with cheap wires. Also don't buy this stuff from any brick and morter store. overpriced and super limited selection. buy online. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matty dread Posted December 30, 2008 Author Share Posted December 30, 2008 get a good headunit that accepts CDs as well as line in and ipod support. you want to get a four channel amp to really power the new speakers you get. the head unit really wont push them as well as any decent amp could. dont cheap out on wire either. get better insulated wire so you can avoid that nasty "whine" that comes out with cheap wires. Also don't buy this stuff from any brick and morter store. overpriced and super limited selection. buy online. Is $500 a reasonable budget you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.Guy. Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 Is $500 a reasonable budget you think? Yeah you could do it pretty easily. Might even have enough left over to get it installed. Lets see $100 for head unit $100 for amp $150 4 speakers $50 wires If you look around you get can get good stuff for that much maybe even cheaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matty dread Posted December 30, 2008 Author Share Posted December 30, 2008 thanks I'm going to check out Crutchfield right now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsOrlando Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 Crutchfield is the bomb and there customer service cannot be beat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mufumonk Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 Alpine. That is all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpoch Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 Alpine. That is all. I'll second this one!! I love Alpine head units and Polk speakers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DButz65 Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 get a good headunit that accepts CDs as well as line in and ipod support. you want to get a four channel amp to really power the new speakers you get. the head unit really wont push them as well as any decent amp could. dont cheap out on wire either. get better insulated wire so you can avoid that nasty "whine" that comes out with cheap wires. Also don't buy this stuff from any brick and morter store. overpriced and super limited selection. buy online. Dude that advise wont fit into his budget LOL If he has never installed a car audio system before, PLEASE take it a shop, i used to install car audio and compete in competitions and have seen some some really F'ed up stuff shade tree installers have done lol A properly installed system wont have any "whine" in the speakers what so ever, especially if you dont have a separate amplifier. With his budget a deck and 4 (installer code for a head unit and 4 speakers) would suffice, wont get much more for $500. Whine can come from alot of things but a good installer knows how to keep that at a minimum. Most whine comes from improperly grounded equipment and the alternator. He might be able to buy a descent sub, heat unit, amp and speakers online for $500 if he plans to try and install it himself. my :2cents: But you have to factor in wires, what gauge, fuses.. etc etc and add that to the cost as well. And if you want a good head unit i have to agree with what a cpl others said, ALPINE is the way to go, they have been blowing the doors off the competition for as long as i can remember (i got into all that stuff in 1987/88) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chipwhich Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 Dude that advise wont fit into his budget LOL Thank you, anyone selling a decent car stereo for $500 is not understanding of a decent car stereo. Might as well stay with the factory unit. :2cents: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.Guy. Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 DButz have you been drinking tonight $500 for me went a long way but I took my sweet ass time getting all my stuff ordered just waiting for great deals. The whine for me I think was caused by my use of terrible quality stereo cables. I got sick of spending so much on wires so I cheaped out on that last bit. I mean it wasn't crazy but you could hear a bit when accelerating. It was weird and annoying. Just trying to let him know that spending a bit more on better insulated wires is better then buying like 32 gauge or something tiny. And yes Alpine is supposed one of the best higher end consumer car audio companies. Would def recommend them. Had good experiences with kenwood (don't know how they are now) and Pioneer. Old school rockford fosgate amps are fantastic. I have one that is 10+ years old and still running beautifully. Thank you, anyone selling a decent car stereo for $500 is not understanding of a decent car stereo. Might as well stay with the factory unit. He has a Ford Fusion. My cell phone probably has better speakers. You don't need to spend thousands of dollars to have something that sounds miles better then what he has. Car Audio Elitists Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nycskinsfan Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 $500 won't get you much. A good deck even at grey market prices will cost you that much. What kind of sound are you looking for? What kind of music are you mainly playing? If your building a system, you mine as well take the time to realize what kind of sound your looking for. If your playing rock/metal you dont need the same amount of base... etc. What kind of wattage? The amp and cabling are very important. As Guy mentioned you don't want to hear any whine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoony Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 If he has never installed a car audio system before, PLEASE take it a shop, i used to install car audio and compete in competitions and have seen some some really F'ed up stuff shade tree installers have done lol I disagree- Crutchfield makes it extremely easy. I've done 3 or 4 over the years and quite frankly I'd say anyone who pays someone to do it is crazy. I would recommend definitely soldering the connections though. You can buy a gun for $3, so it's not much of an investment. Solder conections to harness (comes free with crutchfield), plug harness in to factory wiring- done. Crutchfield also supplies the dash mounting kit and step-by-step instructions. Seriously- anyone can do it. Just take your time and call Crutchfield with any questions. I would even say that doing it yourself will be better than professional- simply because it is your car and you will actually care. Matty- I bought a new stereo about a year ago for my truck. I got a Kenwood deck and 4 Polk audio speakers. The speakers were on closeout, IIRC I got all 4 for $100, which was half-off. They sound awesome. IIRC the deck was around $350 and has an iPod dock/Sat Radio, etc. It's 25W RMS x 4... and fairly clean power. Sure, if you buy an amp, it will sound better. But the power coming from decks nowadays is sufficient- at least much better than your factory deck. You can get carried away with this stuff really quickly- always wanting to tweak it to sound better. But 4 quality speakers and a quality head-unit is very attainable for less than $500. Maybe down the road you could add an amplifier. And I wouldn't waste my time re-wiring everything either. Again, will it be "better"? Yes. Will it be "better" enough to justify the investment of time and money it takes to re-wire your car? Not for the average person. Trust me, a nice deck and 4 nice speakers > Factory stereo. You'll love it. One tip I would recommend doing when installing speakers is to buy some hi-quality silicone caulk (be sure it is pure silicone) and put a bead around the mounting plate of the speaker so that it forms a seal with your car. This will eliminate any vibration from metal-on-metal that can occur when you start pumping more watts with your new deck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinz4Life12 Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 you need to throw an audiobahn woofer in the back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squatch66 Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 zoony is right. crutchfield is amazing. you can get some good deals in their outlet and scratch and dent stores too. that and they always seem to have stuff on special. right now they have a special on polk speakers. buy one set get the second half off which is awesome because i think that polk makes the best speakers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC_Skins Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 crutchfield is the bomb and there customer service cannot be beat. + 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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