Maxima9750

I am looking into replacing the non-Bose stereo in my 93 GXE. I was wondering if anybody had any suggestions on some good head units and speakers. I would like to keep the price under $400 total. I plan on installing everything myself so I won't have to worry about installation costs. I do not want to put subs in my car or anything like that (I like my trunk the way it is). Just wanted to know everyones opinion.

Dirt Rich

If you aren't trying to put subs in, might wanna try getting the actual Bose system like the one in my GXE.

Alex_V

So your blose still works? Amazing some one must have fixed it. Both of my blose maxima's have been crap.

At any rate its definitely not worth getting bose from most 3rd gens. I like Pioneer and JVC.

I do think the bose speaker pods/brackets are setup for bigger speakers, try searching and see what other people have been using.

~Alex

Dirt Rich

It does work, but it is possesed. Sounds great when it plays a song. The problem is that if it has trouble reading a song it skips to a whole other track. It'll be on like track 13 and just jump to the middle of track 2 at random. I keep meaning to get a laser lens cleaner for it, but I always forget.

Hollywood!

i have some 6x9 Blaupunkt's in the rear and they are deff a great set. the treble is good and they put out more then enough bass to get me by in the winter when i take my subs out.

for HU, clarion would be my number one choice, but anything other then sony and kenwood is fine. just make sure to amp your speakers and it should sound fine.

Gunther

With speakers personal taste is a huge factor in choosing something. Price range is also pretty important when you're looking to pick something out. Outside of that if you don't want a subwoofer I'd say you should probably go with 6x9's in the back [I'm pretty sure that you can still bolt 6x9's back there even though that isn't whats there now] and I would also highly recommend putting something bigger up front, its pretty simple to do, just cut a piece of wood to the shape of the panel that's in there now, and cut a hole for the speaker.

I'd recommend an amp, but if you don't want to use one make sure you get a headunit with an adequate RMS rating for whatever speakers you're trying to power. Always better to overpower than underpower.

Cliff Clavin

iTrader: (11)

I recommend you buy a HU that has at least three sets of preouts, front, rear and sub. That way, if you wanted to add a sub or amp your speakers later, it is set up for that. I have always been partial to Alpine because I have never had a single problem with one since the late 1980s, when I had an Alpine pullout tape deck (*showing my old school-ness).

Otherwise, I would recommend you buy some speaker pods from james92SE and put in some 6.5s in the doors and some kind of 6x9s in the back deck.

I found some Infinity Reference 6x9s on ebay for $20 and I got some used Diamond Audio 6.5s from the .org in the audio for sale section. Not counting my expensive wiring (all phoenix gold), sub and amp, I got my HU and four cabin speakers for <$400.

MrGone

iTrader: (30)

You could find a decent Eclipse HU for $150ish, $200 is plenty for decent speakers (I like Infinity References for low end stuff) and you should be able to install it yourself for less than $50 (radio harness, antenna adapter, connectors for hooking up the speakers, speaker adapters -if you don't make or modify your own, etc).

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

I recommend pioneer components,they are not too expensive,long lasting,and so far,[4years]are compatible with the 1 ohm bose amps...

Kountz430

I have to agree with cliff alpine is a good way to go,along with pioneer for tweak and tunebility you can go to wal mart and get pioneer and sony 6x9's for cheap. but if you like a lil extra umph do a single woofer or a stealth woofer.i have a stealth woofer and does'nt take that much space at all

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

on the small sub..

I like to actually use my trunk...

marquisdee

Well, I have a jvc mp3 player. My car came with speaker adapters in the doors, so I have Sony 6.5's in the doors and Sony 6x9's in the rear. I plan on getting an Alpine model mp3 player, an amp, and maybe a single 10" sub in the near future.

MrGone

iTrader: (30)

looks pretty empty to me

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

No pushrods,and i don't care...

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

I got the 4 Infiniti reference speakers and a JVC HU that was in my last max for $0
my first VE had an Alpine HU and Boss audio rears (nothing up front)
I've got full bose in the current car.

Tom

I installed a Sony head unit and a trunk mounted CD-changer, Infiniti reference tweeters, kicker 6.5" 2-ways in the front and Kenwood 6.75" 3-ways in the rear.

Looking back, what would I do different?

I would get matched (component speakers) up front and stick with all same brand speakers. The set-up I have sounds now much much better than stock, but it just doesn't sound great.

Maxima9750

I was planning on getting a Sony head unit (CDX-GT710) with Infinity Reference 4" X 6" (REF-6422CFP) in front and 6 3/4" (REF-6022I) in the rear. Anybody know if this is a good setup?

Gunther

It will probably sound decent, but I think an amplifier would help a lot.

And since you don't want to go with a subwoofer I'd recommend going with 6x9's in the back - but that's definetly your call.

Cliff Clavin

iTrader: (11)

I am assuming you have the non-Bose Clarion factory set up.

I think I would still recommend against 4x6s. They don't produce that great of sound (little to no mid bass) and you would be much better served getting pods fitting in some 6.5s. Also, if you buy pods and want to upgrade to components later, it's already set to do so.

Since you don't have stock 6x9s in the rear, I would just go with whatever rear speakers would fit without much trouble. If you hit a junkyard, you could probably get some Bose mounting brackets, so that 6x9s will mount from the trunk with no problems.

ColombianMax

iTrader: (7)

I'm gonna have to say, if you buy car audio, for head units I would only recommend Alpine, Pioneer, Kenwood. Nothing else unless you're intocar shows and plan on using a whole different category, Sony is great for home electronics but for car audio if its not Xplod then I'd say Sony is garbage

I still have my first Pioneer head unit from 2001 working perfectly in my friends Honda, thats 6 (going on 7) years of abuse and no problems and sounds excellent.

For speakers I got high end Pioneer speakers which sound great when tuned properly. but I'd also recommend infinity and Alpine.

Tom

It will sound OK, but your bass will be limited up front. That's why I installed 6.5" in the front. If you take your front door panels off, you will see this huge plastic speaker mount with the 4X6 speaker attached to it. You can't put anything but a 4X6 speaker on it. What a lot of people, including myself did was to remove this and built a custom enclosure to house 6.5" speakers. You get much better bass this way.

Couple of people on the forum JAMES92SE and another member I can't remember...made them for sale. You can buy from them or make yourself.

Looking back, if I were to build the enclosure again, I probably would have tilted the speakers slighty up, like on the factory enclosure.

BTW, I installed my Sony CDX-480 CD player and a CD-changer in 1999. Both still work fine.

I've owned many Sony products over the years, and I found it's hit or miss. I had a Sony stereo in my Celica that didn't last long. Sony boomboxes worked very well. Sony Walkmans worked fine, but their headphones failed quickly. My Sony Trinitron TV I bought back in 1997 is great.

ColombianMax

iTrader: (7)

So what head unit and speakers did you decide to go with and have you decided whether getting a small amp and woofers or not?

Tquick

Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to stereo stuff. Many years ago, before Sony became the Wal Mart brand, you could only buy their stuff in electronics stores, and they made some decent stuff. My first rule is if you can buy it in Wal Mart, you might not want it. I've had crappy luck with Sony, and Clarion. I'd also avoid Dual, and Kenwood. JVC and Pioneer are both quality manufacturers. You should be able to get a decent MP3 capable CD head unit from around $150, or a bit less. For speakers, you didn't say if you were getting front, rear, or both, and with a $400 limit, that is important. I like Pioneer speakers for a nice sounding speaker at a decent price. There are plenty of speakers out there that sound better, but are probably not in your price range, at least not if you are replacing all 4 speakers. When you are buying the speakers, don't be cheap, spend as much money as you can afford to. Good quality costs money, and you will hear the difference between the cheapest speakers, and the more expensive models.

gfnk357

I put in a clarion HU last summer, and memphis audio 6.5" speakers all the way around. They've worked great for me so far, it was about $500 total to put it all in but it was worth having a working stereo and speakers. No matter what else you do I would upgrade the fronts to 6.5", it balances the sound alot better than the stock 3.5" speakers that mine had. And if you're doing it yourself you might have to pull out the back seat to install everything, I didn't realize my speakers were mounted from the top until I went to put in the new ones, I had to pull out the back seat and the rear speaker tray. If you're looking to spend only 400, I would get the best HU and speakers you can, amps can always be installed later.

92Maxin

Kenwood KDCmp628 head unit or the like and Infinity all around. Got my 6x9 Infinitys brand new off ebay for $60 shipped, and the doors for $30 shipped. Can get the headunit for around $250. Love the sound!

Maxima9750

I finally installed my new system. Its got a Sony X-Plod CDA-GT710 head unit and I replaced all four speakers. The front speakers are Pioneer 4" X 6" and the rear are Infinity Reference 6.75" I had Infinity 4X6 front speakers at first but i had to do some cutting to fit them into the stock brackets and the Infinitys couldn't be cut because of the tweeter's location. The Pioneers just needed the corners to be cut off of their brackets and they fit perfectly. The system sounds great but it could use a subwoofer. I am not going to bother with that since I will hopefully getting rid of this car in the summer. I am looking into getting a 2003 Mitsubishi Evolution but I don't know if I'll be able to afford it or not. No matter what I get, I would rather spend the time hooking up a sub and amp in that car instead of this one, and then having to remove it again once I sell it.

dadsmax

got a jvc head unit at circumcision city 55 w pc an walmart 6/9's in the rear sony explodes up front but there is a factory amp in back an the system thumps

ninjasword71

My equipment was used. 180 watt Clarion MP3, factory door speakers, 2-6" 120 watt speakers in boxes on rear shelf, 15" 600 watt subwoofer in trunk with a 1200 watt amp powering it all. Costs $300 and there is no limit to sound quality and thump when needed.

ColombianMax

iTrader: (7)

lmao...circumcision city. I must admit your name fits the place better than the actual name

Spacend

For the fronts, there are some speaker adapter plates off ebay for like 15 bucks. They turn em from 4" to 6.5"

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

I made the same things for $6.99 with parts from home depot

bvtran

iTrader: (3)

................................

Gunther

He's replacing his NON-BOSE head unit

ogah_yellow

With $400, I would get a decent head unit in the $125-$175 range. I'd probably go with a pioneer, jvc, or kenwood. And use the other money to get some decent 6.5" to go in the doors up front and an amp to power them. I removed my bose pods and cut a pair of active speaker brackets with a dremel to get my 6.5's to fit. Any decent pair of aftermarket speakers will work much better off an amp than head unit power.

Honestly, I would run no rears if you decide to go with an exterior amp, but if you want better bass, there are Tang Band 6x9 subwoofers that you could use on your back deck to get more bass without losing trunk space, but that would probably put you over your budget. Also, if you wanted to go with a 6x9 option (subwoofer or full range) you might want to look at a 4 channel amp, and then add rears after your fronts.

I'd look at the Car Audio and Sound Domain classifieds for used speakers and the amp. You'll be able to get better prices than retail but you will sacrifice a warranty.

Personally, I have a Kenwood kdc x590 that I've been happy with. I run Infinity kappa 62.7i coax's up front, no rears, and a 15" eD 16ov.2 sub in a large sealed box. I use an alpine mrv-f345 for the kappas, and a kicker kx600.1 for my sub. I had 6x9's in the back, and took them out because one of them would buzz on drum kicks. I never believed people when they said to run no rears...I was stubborn. But I heard no difference, so now I am a believer.

Good luck

Golden Ice

Like a few have said, brands are a matter of preference..personally, you couldn't pay me to take anything alpine, clarion, or JVC, or any sony car products, but I'd pay double the current retail value for an eclipse or kenwood. Pioneer has a lot to offer for a tight budget, although I've always had cleaner sound from both Kenwood and Eclipse.

To sum it all up: buy a nice Eclipse deck, get some 6.5" pods for your front doors and get the best 6.5" speakers you can afford up there, and cheap out on your rears, especially if you eventually plan to get a sub.