I fail at searching because I couldn’t find a recent thread about this… I thought there was but I’m slow.
Are there any places locally with decent prices on car audio equip? Perhaps some place with people who can offer good advice? Or am I better off picking it up on ebay and waiting for it?
I’m looking to get a pair of 6.5s" (to replace the 4x6s in door), and a pair of 6x9s. 2 stock ones were trashed when I bought the car from an old asian lady @ 47k (first owner)… I’m at 121k now and think it’s time.
Last time I did it on my old car I had a pain in the rump time picking things out that were nice. I’m also looking for a new double DIN Headunit. I started out just wanting one with an Aux input for my phone… But then I saw they have Bluetooth android + pandora capable headunits and all this other fancy crap. Since I have an Android phone, that will work out nicely I think. Now I just need to know where to buy it -.-
I don’t like Custom Radio very much. Best buy is pretty expensive.
Go to the stores and play with the interface and such then find that unit on ebay.
Same with speakers, just make sure that the new speakers in the doors don’t have massive magnets if there isn’t alot of room.
I went to Cowboom.com and got replacemant Pioneer speakers CHEAP doing their car audio auction tab. I ended up outfitting my Subaru with 3 way 5 1/5 rear 2 way 4" and a Pioneer DH1300 MP3 player for under $70 shipped.
Keep in mind these items are returned unless specified and probably have scratches or missing stupid stuff. It is a Best Buy company.
Lol it’s what I did last time… I always feel like a douche whenever I do this. I was hoping that a local shop might be comparable to ebay.
I have a feeling I may stop over at best buy tomorrow
Also, how do you guys feel about a headunit + GPS? Or keep them separate?
I haven’t had a GPS since it was taken from my car a few years back… I use my phone now and it’s a PITA.
It really depends how they update and how much, If its not much to download new maps and such then go for it, but if its going to be a $100 every time there is and update, just use your phone.
Depends how much you love car audio is how much you will pay for products. I love my music and clarity. I’ve been a huge fan of Polk audio and know they build an awesome set of speakers that are both car and marine certified, so they can get wet and not cause problems.
My most recent purchase was a pair of 6.5" componnents. they are Memphis speakers. Absolutely love them and I’m extremely happy I paid the $170 for the pair. I got them from Custom Radio, but got a killer deal on it for being told to ask for someone. If you know people that know people, these shops will work with you and give you a below sticker price.
I used to be an Autotech at best buy, I’ll tell you what I told my friends who wanted work done in their cars.
Do NOT buy anywhere locally, I prefer Amazon since it’s easy to find everything but Sonic Electronix and Crutchfield can both have good deals if you shop for sales. As far as brands go personal preference goes into it a lot, as well as the type of music you play in the car. Want something heavy and bass-y? Go with kickers. Want something with good clarity? Go with Infinity. Want an overall well balanced sound? Go polk or alpine. For best sound quality you’d want to go with component speakers, but those are usually a bit more expensive and are difficult to install if you don’t know what you’re doing.
If you want a DDIN unit that has all the features, one option is to get the Pioneer Appradio 2. It’s a DDin screen that actually mimics your phones screen, and you can use any app on your phone straight through your radio. Pandora, GPS, you name it. It includes a bluetooth mic as well for hands free calling. That having been said, we just got the unit in stock as I was leaving so I never really heard about how good/bad they were, so I’d do some research about that unit online before buying.
All you named were things you sold at Bestbuy. Much nicer sounding speakers out there. Again, Memphis has a killer sound, quality and duribility. Local is great if you know someone. Otherwise, ebay/amazon, or what was said above.
Yeah, those are the only ones I had extensive experience with and knew what was what, I’m not gonna pass judgement on ones I know nothing about. The only times people brought product in of brands we didn’t carry they always seemed to be really shitty off brands like dual, boss, or pyle. I didn’t have too much experience with the nicer brands we didn’t carry, except for JBL. I’d forgotten about them but I know they make VERY nice speakers. Of the ones at best buy, avoid pioneer at all costs. I’ve never seen any of their speakers last longer than a year or two. I have kenwood components in my car personally, and they’re great, but a lot of the lower end speakers they make are trash.
Always had a lot of luck and clarity with Polks. Love the quality and duribility. Again these memphis speakers are amazing. If you cant get componnents, they make a coax 3-way. Just a thought. Its a pivital one as well.
Agreed on the polk’s, I’d have recommended the components to people more often if they weren’t way overpriced at best buy(200 bucks for the pair and 120 for installation? lol wut?).
Polk’s amps and subs are actually pretty decent too. Like the rest of their equipment it isn’t the absolute top tier, but it’s durable/reliable and above par sound for a good price.
I found my Concept amp to be very reliable and great quality. I’ve used an old school Kenwood for years and years from 3 different cars. Finally went with the last car I sold. Never had an issue.
If you can get your hands on a used but great amp, I’d say go with the old school Rockford that reads like…100.2 They produce more power than they are calculated for.
I was using a 4 channel kenwood amp to power my speakers for a while and I had no problems with it. Though when I got my new job I wanted to get as much out of the best buy discount as I could, so I upgraded to a 5 channel alpine amp with a dual voice coil 12" kicker CVR sub. Good stuff.
Rockford is definitely known for making the best amps by a long shot. They generally put out roughly 20% more power than listed on their specs, but it’s definitely reflected in the price tag.
I want to say about 8 years ago now or so, they lost a big gun (person) that does a lot of the engineering on these amps/subs/speakers…and went to either JL or JBL, which is why the one company took off out of no where. The quality of Rockford has gone down big time compared to what it used to be.
That would actually make a lot of sense, Best Buy stopped carrying Rockford a few years ago and I was never sure why. Of all the time’s people brought in JL equipment they always tended to blow pretty quick. Can’t tell you how many times some dude would come in with a JL amp/sub combo and have us install it, then be back in a month because he’d blown the sub/overworked the amp. Though that could just be from d-bags cranking the bass way too high and have nothing to do with the actual quality of the product. Point being if that guy wentto another company my money would be on JBL, JL Audio never really seemed like the highest quality equipment.
Anyway, back on topic. Polk speakers are solid and reasonably priced. As far as the DDin unit goes it can vary from person to person and brand to brand which interface they like best, I’ve personally always been a big fan of Kenwood DDins but that’s just me. The only thing I can tell you for certain about them is that if you live in Buffalo you DO NOT want to get a screen that pops out and flips up. The way the weather fluctuates here completely destroys all the moving parts on the inside of it. I’ve never seen one last more than two years on a car driven year round, and even that’s a generous time frame.
