stereo help for my truck....

[0rion]

I want to upgrade the stereo in the truck. Just in the initial looking around stage and learning what I can. I'm not looking for top of the line stuff and will not be entering any stereo competitions. I just want something that sounds decent for the money. I was thinking about going with off the shelf pioneers, new head unit, and a small amp. The truck has ( or will fit rather) 6.5" in all 4 doors. I listen to mainly hard rock/heavy metal but do jam out some country from time to time. Could I get away with a small sub ( 8" ) behind the seats to give it a little more base or would that be too much base for the type of music? I don't want something that thumps but think rather a nice home stereo sound that has plenty of base to it. Can I also feed that plus the 4 door speakers from 1 amp or does the sub need it's own amp?

[My00Z28]

the pioneers are great speakers for the price thats without an amp depending on the amp you but you can run all your speakers and sub off of that but not the way i would go... the 8"sub is not too much for rock really any size sub sounds good aslong as you have the right tune in your highs mids and lows. the nice things about the 8" is that its VERY snapy/quick will sound great!

[98maro]

For speakers I like kicker they sound great. Also infinity
Pionner sound good too.
Head unit the best is alpine. But I would go for kenwood. Better designs and great quality.
Amps I had kenwood 4 channels it was good good.
But after a while they get hot n the stop workin till gets cold again.
Mtx makes good amps

[0rion]

stopped in at best buy today just to look around and get an idea of what I want. I like THESE SPEAKERS and THIS HEAD UNIT although I'd probably get a different head unit. I like the HU's that have the USB port on them for a thumb drive. If I got something like that I'd probably skip the sub and amp. I'd also need to address the rear doors. I've read a 6.5" will fit back there but just looking at them I don't see how. I'd like to stick with alpine's though in the rear doors. Those component alpines sounded great.

[KMdef9]

Pioneer makes great products. I've used alot fo their products and have been happy with all if them. You get what you pay for, with the big name/trusted brands.

If you want to power the 4 speakers with an amp, I'd suggest a 4 channel for those and a simple 2 channel for the sub. So 1 amp for the speakers, and 1 for the sub.

[KMdef9]

stopped in at best buy today just to look around and get an idea of what I want. I like THESE SPEAKERS and THIS HEAD UNIT although I'd probably get a different head unit. I like the HU's that have the USB port on them for a thumb drive. If I got something like that I'd probably skip the sub and amp. I'd also need to address the rear doors. I've read a 6.5" will fit back there but just looking at them I don't see how. I'd like to stick with alpine's though in the rear doors. Those component alpines sounded great.

With that setup, at 50W a channel, you don't need an amp unless you like your music sick loud.

With the speakers, you'll also need crossover, I didn't see one that comes with it. You can try some shit bass blockers, but crossovers are the way to go.

On the sub issue, for rock/country, you dont need subs over 10 inches.

[JaycenK]

You can find those a hell of a lot cheaper online. http://www.google.com/products/catal...d=0CDYQ8wIwAg#
The head unit is great looking but I got a jensen VM8013hd single din dvd that has usb and sd card slots. The usb and the sd are great. Mine only suports small capacity cards but there are others comming out that suport high capacity cards. I think one of the pioneer super tunners? I think it will suport up to 8gb and others are going to support 32gb cards. mine supports 2 gb in usb and sd right now but it is great. no disk to get scratched and no fumblimg around for disks. just sd cards and if they get stolen... you will see my sex tape all over tmz lol

[0rion]

You can find those a hell of a lot cheaper online. http://www.google.com/products/catal...d=0CDYQ8wIwAg#
The head unit is great looking but I got a jensen VM8013hd single din dvd that has usb and sd card slots. The usb and the sd are great. Mine only suports small capacity cards but there are others comming out that suport high capacity cards. I think one of the pioneer super tunners? I think it will suport up to 8gb and others are going to support 32gb cards. mine supports 2 gb in usb and sd right now but it is great. no disk to get scratched and no fumblimg around for disks. just sd cards and if they get stolen... you will see my sex tape all over tmz lol

is there lag when using a thumb drive between songs? Like I say, I just liked that HU but will probably get something a little different. I'm not looking for top shelf stuff but would like something that sounds good. There was a nice Jensen there and some other nice Kenwoods. If I go with a comparable HU I most likely won't get a sub or amp.....just don't think I'll need it. I do like those alpine speakers though and most likely that'll be what I put in the front doors. For that money I would hope a crossover is included. Now I just have to see what size to get for the rear doors. I *think* the stockers are 5.75" but I'll have to verfiy that. I know I've read where people cut out the basket and get 6.5's in there but not sure if maybe they're talking about with a factory bose system ( which mine isn't) and maybe the rears are bigger. I'm going to measure the stock grill but it doesn't look anywhere near 6.5" by me just eyeballing it.

[0rion]

I also have to look into the harness to get my steering wheel controls to work and I'd like to convert from xm to sirius instead of using my portable sirius radio. Another thing I want to try and do is get a constant 12v to the radio so I can run it without it being in acc. mode. I spend a lot of time listening to the radio when I'm camping.

[KMdef9]

I also have to look into the harness to get my steering wheel controls to work and I'd like to convert from xm to sirius instead of using my portable sirius radio. Another thing I want to try and do is get a constant 12v to the radio so I can run it without it being in acc. mode. I spend a lot of time listening to the radio when I'm camping.

I wonder if you could change the radio fuse line in the fuse box to be +12 instead of acc...

[pajeff02]

Not a bad idea to pick up an adapter harness that plugs into your stock stereo connections so you can re-install the factory h/u when you eventually sell the truck. You'll just need to bypass the power connection for a 12 volt constant, or splice it into the "yellow" battery wire if it will support the load. I have always had good luck with Kenwood, Sony and Alpine products in the past.

[0rion]

The wiring for both of those should be pretty straight forward I believe so no big deal there. I'm on the fence about the 12v constant. If I do that then I have to get in the habit of turning the radio off every single time I park the truck. Not sure that's the answer. Ideally I'd like to put a switch in it so it's 12v constant only when the switch is on and 12v key on all other times. I'll have to look and see what the draw is like in acc mode. If it's enough to withstand a couple hours at a time with just the radio playingi I may not mess with it at all. Sometimes I'll sit and drink beer and listen to the radio truck for a couple hours at a time when we're camping.

[KMdef9]

The wiring for both of those should be pretty straight forward I believe so no big deal there. I'm on the fence about the 12v constant. If I do that then I have to get in the habit of turning the radio off every single time I park the truck. Not sure that's the answer. Ideally I'd like to put a switch in it so it's 12v constant only when the switch is on and 12v key on all other times. I'll have to look and see what the draw is like in acc mode. If it's enough to withstand a couple hours at a time with just the radio playingi I may not mess with it at all. Sometimes I'll sit and drink beer and listen to the radio truck for a couple hours at a time when we're camping.

I would use a three prong switch, that way you don't back feed anything.

[JaycenK]

You can just add a relay and switch to keep the HU on. The switch would just control power sorces. In one possition the keyed switch would be active and in another the constant would be active. No there is no delay between songs on the usb or the sd card. takes a couple of seconds longer to load the sd or usb the first time but even if I take it out and pop it back in it starts up quick. The jensen I bought because it had so many features like sd and usb as well as tons of Ipod and Iphone suport and cables included for damn near everything including sat radio. only thing it is lacking is bluetooth. It has pre outs and inputs for everything, including a rear camera and will suport external monitors for say flip down screens, head rest monitors, ect. Here are the specs. http://www.crutchfield.com/p_110V801...ures_and_specs
Only problem is when you pack that much into a unit like this is the power output to the speakers drops. so it really only will do 20watts rms. I still run my factory amp in the maro to power the speakers untill I finish changing out front door speakers and then I have a 4ch kicker that I will use.
Those alpine speakers have filters and NO crossovers by the way. I looked good and hard at those for weeks tring to find out but they have filters on the speakers for the tweets and the driver.
If you listen to the radio when you are camping the best way to set it up is with out amps. Find a head unit that will power the speakers you buy, by it's self. Other wise you may only get 3hrs out of it if you run with amps for mains and subs. unless you do a power inverter and have A/C power where you go camping lol. Then you can buy a marine batt tender/charger and just plug 110v A/C in and run it all day and night.

[0rion]

You can just add a relay and switch to keep the HU on. The switch would just control power sorces. In one possition the keyed switch would be active and in another the constant would be active. No there is no delay between songs on the usb or the sd card. takes a couple of seconds longer to load the sd or usb the first time but even if I take it out and pop it back in it starts up quick. The jensen I bought because it had so many features like sd and usb as well as tons of Ipod and Iphone suport and cables included for damn near everything including sat radio. only thing it is lacking is bluetooth. It has pre outs and inputs for everything, including a rear camera and will suport external monitors for say flip down screens, head rest monitors, ect. Here are the specs. http://www.crutchfield.com/p_110V801...ures_and_specs
Only problem is when you pack that much into a unit like this is the power output to the speakers drops. so it really only will do 20watts rms. I still run my factory amp in the maro to power the speakers untill I finish changing out front door speakers and then I have a 4ch kicker that I will use.
Those alpine speakers have filters and NO crossovers by the way. I looked good and hard at those for weeks tring to find out but they have filters on the speakers for the tweets and the driver.
If you listen to the radio when you are camping the best way to set it up is with out amps. Find a head unit that will power the speakers you buy, by it's self. Other wise you may only get 3hrs out of it if you run with amps for mains and subs. unless you do a power inverter and have A/C power where you go camping lol. Then you can buy a marine batt tender/charger and just plug 110v A/C in and run it all day and night.

I ordered speakers last night. I went with those Alpine type s components in the front. I just liked the way they sounded and think they'll do fine for me. I also ordered alpine type s 5.25" coaxials for the rear doors. The doors have 4x6's in them now so I'll have to do some cutting to get these in there but I measured the grills and they're big enough to fit those behind without playing into the door panel. I'll just have to verify depth which I'm pretty sure I'll be good to do. It's an ext. cab truck so the windows don't roll down and these are only 2.5" deep. Should be fine I would think. Got all 4 for $131 shipped.
Now on to a head unit. I like that Jensen you posted but would like to look at other options too. I do like the fact crutchfield includes the install kit with their stuff so I will most likely order though those guys. Any other HU suggestions? My only real requirements is the usb port in the front and it has to be steering wheel control compatible.

[0rion]

looking at that jensen still and it has everything I want except a couple things. Crutchfield doesn't offer an alternate harness and force you to buy the $100 on star adapter which I want to get rid of. It also only has preset eq bands which I'm not a fan of. I like to be able to adjust mine.

[pajeff02]

looking at that jensen still and it has everything I want except a couple things. Crutchfield doesn't offer an alternate harness and force you to buy the $100 on star adapter which I want to get rid of. It also only has preset eq bands which I'm not a fan of. I like to be able to adjust mine.

How much adjustment do you want? I have an Audio Control EQQ sitting in my basement from my last install. I removed the system when the car was sold and have no plans for it.

[0rion]

How much adjustment do you want? I have an Audio Control EQQ sitting in my basement from my last install. I removed the system when the car was sold and have no plans for it.

how thick is it? I might be interested in it depending on what HU I get. PM me a price and once I pick my head unit I'll get back with you. I know the mount from crutchfield has a 1" spot in the bottom of it for an EQ.

[pajeff02]

how thick is it? I might be interested in it depending on what HU I get. PM me a price and once I pick my head unit I'll get back with you. I know the mount from crutchfield has a 1" spot in the bottom of it for an EQ.

Dimensions are approximately 8-1/2" x 6-1/2" x 2-1/2". It is still mounted in the amp rack I built for my Talon. Best recollection is that it includes line level matching, filtering, and the standard equalizer functions. New, the thing was around $299 (if I recall). I may still have the box it came in and the instruction manual.

[0rion]

that's nice but that's way more than what I'll need...thanks anyway. I just want a HU that has more than just preset sound profiles. Ideally I'd like to have at least a low-mid-high to adjust.