I've noticed that several of you all have some nice stereo systems. I haven't kept up with brands and such for a few years. Currently I'm looking at the Kenwood KDC-X969 head unit since I already have a Kenwood CD changer. There's a good deal for on on ebay, but I'm leary of remanufactured products.

What other reputatable brands are there? I've heard Alpine and Clarion have slacked off the past few years. Is there any truth to this, personnel experiences?

I'm looking for CDRW/MP3 capabilities and I think I'll give Sirius a try. Had XM in a rental car and it was so so.

Also, what's the deal for upgrading the stock speakers?

Thanks for the seemingly endless knowledge.

 

The big brands are still the best. The quality between them now comes down to what features you want. Unless you are building a compition system, they are all pretty close. 1st tier brands would be Alpine, Kenwood, Pioneer, Clarion, Sony. Everyone will have their favorites. I have a Kenwood 9011 that has been kick *** for over 4 years now. I'm very happy with it. Pioneer has the best tuner in my opinion.

Speakers: again, the above applies. You can add Polk, Boston Acoustic, and Kicker to that list.

 

Yeah.. just stick to reputable brands. It's really all in the install.

 

If you want sirius radio.. stick with kenwood.. a lot of retailers IE crutchfield circuit city.. will give you the tuner for free when you buy a kenwood cd player and the sirius antenna... the tuner runs about 150 bucks....

 

If it makes you feel any better, I got my Panasonic indash dvd/cd player from ebay. It was a remanufactored product. I paid $300 for it. The first one they sent me wasn't working perfectly, so they told me to send it back to them and they sent me another one overnight. I have had it in my truck for over two years, and it hasn't given me a days trouble. Just buy from a seller with good feedback, and you usually don't have a thing to worry about. I bought my entire system off of the internet. Check out my sig. I have about $1000 in my system. All the speakers I purchased were brand new. Most Audiobahn Flame Q 12s are pretty expensive, but I found a guy on ebay selling them for a great price. I paid $291 for both of them shipped. They came to me factory sealed with the warrenty cards. We did all the installation ourselves, so I saved a bundle there too. I love my current system and it draws attention everywhere I go.

 

Yeah if you want Sirius, Kenwood is the way to go. I have a kenwood Excelon in my truck and I love it. There are so many adjustments on this thing. Its great, It really lets you fine tune everything.

As far as speakers. My favorites are Boston Accoustics door speakers and JL Audio Subs

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I guess common sense still applies in the stereo world. Crutchfield has some pretty good specials and freebees. Good setup on the site to for matching speaker size and such. Looks like I may have weekend project.

 

i'm going with an alpine head unit and infinity kappa speakers.

 

Depends on what you want. Good sound or great sound, I have components in my truck that sound incredible. They are equivalent or better than focal utopias, but it comes at a price. I got tired of the sounds good stuff and wanted to step up. It seems as if you are just getting into car audio you can look at some good coax speakers like the JL xr's. Jl subs are great also, I will only run alpine HU's they are the best and most reliable in my opinion. I have had all the high end brands in my personal vehicles and installed almost every brand imaginable in others vehicles and have had the least failure rates with the alpines. I also prefer the sound. You would be surprised at a comparison between one HU and another. They are definately not all the same. I would look at what you are trying to achieve with your system then go from there, decide a budget, how far you want to go on your install etc. I have invested countless man hours in my vehicle an could not imagine the price of the install if it was done by a stereo shop.

 

I'm not looking at getting too carried away, but I do want a high quality setup. So far, I've ordered the Kenwood Excelon X969 with the Sirius receiver and antenna. For the 4"X6" I went with the Execelon's. Probaly Excelon's 6 3/4" for the door too. I chose the Excelon's over other speakers in the price range for the lower frequency response.

I'm thinking of getting some kick panels for the Component Tweeter mounts. Where is a good place to mount the crossovers? Also, how are the additional 5 1/4" speakers wired in?

Off to do a search for the Sirius Antenna install....

Thanks again!