Alright, I have a GXE with the upgraded stereo system. CD player cassette combo. I of course have been in the process of upgrading the system. I had my amps sub and doors install several months ago. At the time of their install there was no install kit. So I didn't get the headunit that I purchased installed a pioneer deh5200 not a bad unit. I stop by an install shop today and leave my car to get the unit installed. I get a call 20 minutes later the installer tells me that I don't realize the quality of the stock unit. He mentioned that by installing the pioneer I would be downgrading my head unit and the install wouldn't look as clean as factory because the kit would leave the map pocket on the bottom.That I completely understand. He also mentioned that they have more expensive units in the store that still wouldn't match the quality of the stock unit. What I have always known about factory vs. aftermarket is aftermarket is the way to go. I know that auto manufacturers have improved the quality of their sound systems but....... Anyway I have to say that I was floored by what I could only chalk up to honesty. I mean they could have sold me another unit or just installed the one I had and I would have been non the wiser. I just wanted to get the forums opinion on things others may have heard about nissan systems.

 

So which head unit did you get originally? I'm sorry but you lost me alittle...
You can always get an extra amp and connect it to some aftermarket speakers and that'll probably recover or surpass the wattage lost from the head unit...
It's fishy what the stereo shop told you about that b/c when I changed the headunit for my last car, I actually noticed a difference in sound quality...

 

I purchased the pioneer deh 5200. We didn't install this. I am still riding around with the stock unit. My setup is JL audio coaxials in the front doors. Alpine in the rear doors. JL audio sub. Planet audio 4 channel amp runs the doors and a kenwood 140 runs the sub.

 

how do you like your jl coaxials? i was thinking of getting a jl component set.

 

yeah, the quality of the stock bose is top notch, but ask them what they think of the mcintosh decks.. those are very high quality, simplistic, mainly about sq. but i really don't think that "any" aftermarket alterations is going to be a downgrade, in terms of car audio and the headunit to be specific. i also don't believe in comparing sticktly audio systems with multimedia systems, so the only deck i find comparable to the stock one in terms of performance is definately the mcintosh, but as far as looks, stock is the way to go.. but if you want looks and performance, then a risk must be taken, my friend with a gs300 (he's an audio installer). he used the mcintosh deck, removed the face plate, gutted out the stock unit, and rewired alll the buttons to the stock unit, cut a slit on the top of the stock face plate for a cd slot, relocated the LED status display to where the stock led display window goes, hella cool, i really wanted to do that, cept i needed a screen with navi.. but i definately do plan to do some major alterations to the head unit itself in the near future to make it resemble the stock system

 

I have to say that my GXE premium sound system which came with the C&C package has one of the best sounds for a stock audio system. This dude I know has a Mach 460 in his Mustang which sounds like crap to my GXe preimium sound system. I was playing this Trick Daddy song one day which had a lot of base. there were two cars besides me and the dude in the car fartherest away though I had sub in there. I told him I didn't, but he swore I did. Shows to prove, theirs nothing like the mighty maxima!!!!!!(GXE Rules)

 

I see what he saying as far as the aftermarket unit not fitting flush with the dash kit but overall my alpine sounds waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than the bose!

 

I don't have the BOSE unit, the regular one and I have heard that it's a good unit, I was surprised, one reason why I don't want to take it out and but the tv flip out thingy....

 

it has been said before and I didn't believe it until recently but sound is all in the installation. I can take a $700 pair of focals (one of the best component sets available) and make them sound like crap, or take a set of JBL components at $120 and make them sound great. It is all in how they are positioned in the car and how they are matched to the interior. If you are going to get a shop to install the components pay to have them custom mounted. Now as for the factory head unit being better than aftermarket headunit, I don't know. You can definately find an aftermarket that has more features and more sound countouring capabilities than our stock unit.

My honest opinion, he just didn't want to install that unit into your car. Why would he take money out of his pocket? Why would he loose a sell on something you picked out and wanted. There is a difference if he was trying to sell you something else, but to take money away from his shop doesn't make sense to me. Granted I like honesty and I like for a salesman to sell me what I need, but your incident would make me leary of that shop. Maybe I'm just a dirty salesman, but I would sale and install that unit in your car if you wanted it. I would not loose money and I believe that you would like the aftermarket unit better.

And as for the quality, why don't I see people at car audio competitions with factory head's winning??? Because the aftermarket units offer additional features and a better sound quality.

 

I can't dispute most of your argument. Especially the part about selling the customer what they want. Setup is most important, bad install equals bad sound. I completely understand aftermarket and the benifits of. Harmon Kardon puts systems into cars but is the quality of the HK components as good as what is sold aftermarket? I don't know. As far as competition, I have never seen a factory unit compete. Could this be because aftermarket as deemed better and the 1st thing we think of is "must replace the headunit". As long as a quality signal is being passed to the amps you could tweek the sound from the crossovers.

 

As far as the factory heads goes they are good units. Better than some after market ones. But the factory ones woun't compare to other high end a.m. ones. It depends what you want to get out of the head your gonna run and what your gonna run with it. The factory may cause some noise with low quality a.m. amps. Also some noise can be radiated on to a.m. speakers so noise suprestion in the head may make no diff what so ever. As far as making a jbl set sound as good as focals that may be wrong and right. Your right that tuning and install acount for alot. But the $1200 utopias have more tunabliity than the jbl's.

Back to the head thing. It comes down to what your gonna use the unit for and what features you want.

 

imo the more features u have on a deck, the more prone you'll mess alotta stuff up.. it's good/safer to alter the sound signals during the digital state because you get less noise. but then altering it too much gives you too much of a digitally modified sound type of thing. i personally like decks with just trebble, bass, and fader control. none of that eq. i prefer a 30band mono EQ for just the front. but for sq+ it's a whole different story

 

I will admit that I haven't had any experience with the Utopias, but say they were installed in our car with no modifacations (some would be required as they have a 7" sub if i recall correctly). They are made to sound good, but mismatched power and geometry would hinder their ultimate performance. With that in mind those JBL's in a set of custom kick panels with proper tuning and power would sound just as good if not better than those utopias. Let me throw this scenerio out ... say you have $1300 to spend on a stereo upgrade. You could get the the utopias and have a $100 for the install. On the other hand, you could get a different but good set of compenents at say $300 and leave $1k in the installation. Now with that kinda dough on the install you could have custom fiberglass kicks that are properly tuned to your car and require less equalization than those focals. Just a thought. As anyone who competes knows installation and presentation are weighed heavily. Max'n out can attest to this. I haven't seen his setup, but I can gaurantee he didn't do what he did at SBN with a half a$$ install. I would even bet my wallet that no speaker went into the car without some special installation technique or fabrication.

As for the head, it is harder to countour sound and remove noise from a system with a factory head. Using the factory leads rather than pre-out outputs raises the noise in the system. The pre-outs of 4v and above are very efficient at diminishing the noise in a system. Factory units lack this capability.

 

Have any of you found a head unit that can still use the steering wheel controls? I don't want to replace the unit and have a useless set of buttons on my steering wheel. I think I should either wait for someone to develop the unit of just upgrade the speakers and get an amp. What do you think?

 

Focal makes a 7" mid and a 5 and a quarter sub. I'm not arguing your seniro just saying that in the same set up the focals will sound better. The diff between the 2 spekers your talking is basically this: The focals are more responsive to tuning so you can almost tune out error(though don't count on it) The jbl vs focals are a little more boomy and not as acurate and also lacks top end due to the focal being titunuim and the jbl not. As far as the way my car is setup...well that would take a while to explain.
The best way to reduce and or eliminate noise from a head unit is not nessacaryly 4v out. The best head to reduce noise would be optical (not using rca's).
Don't take this post the wrong way what you say is right just not complete. Not to metion audio sq comp is very heated with many opinions mine is just one.

 

Any analog head unit can be intgrated into your factory controls. I think you should upgrade the speakers too and get an amp

 

I had most of my audio system redone with Pioneer stuff...check my Sig...and it sounds 10x better than the stock radio. I would suggest you go to Circuit City. They are kind of pricy, but they are honest. They'll tell you what system you should go with and whether or not its worth it. Most of all they do the best work on car audio. Stock radio is ok but it has very limited control in terms of levels ie: treble, bass, hi's and lows. So if you want quality sound either add an EQ or do the whole thing over.

Deac

 

Never go to circuit city...it's good to see you had a good expeirence and are happy but most people are not happy with them. And most if not damn near all of them don't know car audio...go to small local shops known for attention...where do you live i may be able to suggest some shops.

 

First I went to Best Buy and they were horrible!! Totally screwed up my system! I went to Circuit City and not only did they fix everything, they are all very informed. This is in LINY by the way. They all had expensive systems in their cars and are very intricate in explaining what they did and how it will affect your system! Then again...you may be right...I did have a very good experinece with them!

Deac

 

First I went to Best Buy and they were horrible!! Totally screwed up my system! I went to Circuit City and not only did they fix everything, they are all very informed. This is in LINY by the way. They all had expensive systems in their cars and are very intricate in explaining what they did and how it will affect your system! Then again...you may be right...I did have a very good experinece with them!

Deac