but am clueless in this area of my car. I do not have the bose system, I have the symphony 1 since I have a 00 right? The rear door speakers sound blown and the front ones make a scratching noise sometimes. I looked on Cructchfield.com and they said 6-3/4in are the closest match in size. What type of speaker do I get, some seem to have two speakers in one, a large and small one in the center, some just have one speaker. Bass reproduction is not at all important to me (clearly was for the previous owner since when I bought the car the bass settings were maxed out)

I want a good sounding stereo that I can turn up load, while keeping the factory head unit.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Jeff

 

Not totally sure on the non-Bose, but you want a two way speaker. It contains both the woofer and the tweeter, and will give the best sound for your system. If you go through crutchfield, they include all insructions to install the speakers. If you need help removing the door panels, I believe there are write-ups on audiworld.com.
Good Luck!

 

you can take my advice either way, but from experience, if you have to switch only one thing it should be the headunit. just swapping speakers wont improve it enough to justify the cost of buying them and the time to put them in, however brief that is. honestly if you want something simple and clean sounding, get a headunit and speakers. you dont have to do anything complex like line drivers or amplifiers, well not till u get the audio bug AHEM! now, pickin out a deck? well you can go a lot of ways around it. you can take a person's advice, you can go with an overhyped name *coughs* XPLOD *coughs* CRAP! *coughs* sorry, had something in my throat there. Here's how i was pickin out a deck. I wrote out a list of features i want, they dont have to be something i may need, but i figured what the hell, lets start with something at least, right? Once you have a list of features written out, see how much you can spend. just because a deck is expensive doesnt mean its right. you should definitely go with a reputable name, dont go to wallmart to buy it. also, when picking out a deck, you should read up on the terminology about them. its not really hard either. there are some key things that you should know. for example, when a company lists power output, watch out. it can be total power, per channel, rms or peak. total power is the combined output of all 4 channels( each channel being a speaker, obviously). Per channel is how many watts it will put out to each one of the speakers individually. RMS is really the one thats important, this is the true power that it will output. Peak power is literally peak power it puts out, but it doesnt hold that for long, and were not talking 10-15 min hold either, were talking a half second maybe. It's sort of like a spike you can get out of it, which is really useless. I compete and I've had great luck with my Eclipse headunit. Obviously its not the lowest on the totem pole, I had to pick out the cream of the crop or its pointless. You wont need something like that even if u can afford to, it'd be a waste of money for an average listener. Another great company is Alpine. I strongly recomend either one. Both companies have specs and features listed on their sites. I personally prefer Eclipse, but i wont go all technical and explain why, no need. Like i said, you can take my advice or not. You can always go into an audio store and say, youve got this much money and u want a deck. You dont have to compete or be an audiophile to appreciate nice clean sound in your car, but it helps. Ive already mentioned this in another thread, but if you guys need a writeup on how to put together a system for a car, you can just ask me and ill write it out. I will cover things from a simple upgrade like what youre looking to do, to a much more elaborate setup. just know, itll be a very long read. if you have questions, dont hesitate to ask.

 

thanks for advice guys. I'm not sure what I am going to do as of yet. our bmw has an esclipse head unit in it and it has been a great stereo. My old 9000 came with an Alpine stereo system and it was by far the best sounding car stereo I have ever heard. My Volvo 850 had a great system as well, but have no idea who made that one. I was very dissapointed after buying my A6 to hear the stereo, my co workers Pontiac Vibe (to me) sounds better.

Thanks again,
Jeff

 

I know what you mean about being dissappointed. I have the bose in my A4 and I think it sounds awesome. My friend went and bought an A4 but got the Audi Symphony and it was the worse thing I'd ever heard. I've had an Alpine headunit every single one of my cars, except the Audi, and they are awesome. One timeI had a Sony and it was crap. It was a few years ago that I read or heard this, but Alpine uses the same internalson all their decks from the cheapest to the most expensive, that's why they're so great. The difference in price is features and output power. I also suggest Alpine speakers.