i plan on replacing my bose pretty soon... do you guys reccomend that i have my new speakers and head unit professionally installed or should i save the money and do it myself? id like to spend the least amount of money as possible... and it doesnt seem like it is that hard.
thanks

 

Dude, seriously...you can do it yourself, it IS that easy. All you need is a little patience and some time. Everyone here will be more than happy to help you. Just make sure you DON'T buy your electronics from Best Buy or Circut City...they sell total siht. Research what you want to achieve and the sub(s), headunit, and speakers you will need to do it.

 

thanks man, i appreciate it, i have researched a lot of what i want and will hopefully be buying within the next 2 months or so... ready for the summer

 

I agree that you should do it yourself and we will help, actually, it is better to do it yourself because the pro shops don't really care about your car and sometimes some shops do a $@%Y job on installs. Just make sure you unplug your battery so you don't short something out.

I don't agree that you shouldn't buy your electronics from Circuit City or Best Buy. I bought an Alpine, which I think is one of the most popular head units and have had no problems, it is prolly the best head unit I have owned with all the tweaks I could ever want. Now speakers, you might go somewhere else, but I don't see any problem with buying a good head unit there. just my opinion. Give us a holler when you need help, there are alot of good guys on here that are always willing to help.

 

I would advocate somewhere like crutchfield over BB or CC. I just picked up a 9833 from crutchfield with the power kit for #315 shipped, plus their service is unparalleled when compared to BB or CC.

 

Ah, I have also used Crutchfield. But when I recently was in the market for a head unit, I looked everywhere, and found a good deal on an Alpine 9825, cost me $135 at Circuit City, has everything I need. Yes, I got it on sale, and yes, I know it is last years model, but like I said, it has everything I need. I save a buck when I can. If it was me, I'd shop around and get what I needed for the best price. Service? all I need is a smile and a good deal. lol Anyway, to each his own.

 

Just thought I'd chime in on this-
Definitely do the install yourself - The money you save can be put into better gear.
I've installed a new pioneer head unit & 6x9 rear deck speakers in a 1st gen max & they turned out looking (and sounding!) quite good! I definitely would have had a hard time justifying the expense if I had paid for a professional intall.
You may also want to check out online retailers - I've had very good luck with cardomain.com & beachaudio.com. Good prices & good customer service.

 

thanks for all your input guys, i will be buying off an online dealer such as crutchfield, only i am going to find a website that is a bit cheaper than them. i will let u guys know when i install them... o yea and i also plan on buying a jl w7 as well for my trunk

 

Good luck on that. If you read the sticky about the Online Products... not all companies honor online sales. And crutchfield is one on the few online authorized dealers. One of the reasons why they charge so much that and too line their pockets.

Don't be too scared off by local dealers. Not saying you should let them install... I do my own installs also... but I do have one stereo place in town that I go to. The easiest thing to do is find a place that does really good work... and get to know everyone.

It's easier for me to talk to the guys down at the shop if a piece of equipment went bad. They understand how it could have happened, and plus they won't screw around because I bring them business. Try getting that relationship with someone over the phone on the otherside of the country. All they know is you have one of their products that broke or malfunctioned and you want it fixed.

 

what i plan on doing is putting a microvision 7" lcd monitor where the bose headunit is right now, and adding a panasonic head unit below that where that small drawer-type thing pops out... do any of you guys have write-ups or can tell me how to do that? i havent taken it apart yet so im not sure whats back there, do i just bring the wires down?
thanks

 

Yep, just bring the wires down. Fortunatley, the engineers @ Nissan had enough insight to add the extra $0.10 of wire so we can actually move the wiring harnesses around a bit. As far as the LCD is concerned, it a pretty easy install and can flush mount in place. You will need an auxilary line from the hu/dvd player to HU, though...so you will have to consider either purchasing an HU that is DVD compatible or an HU with an AUX input and a separate DVD player.

 

I found this interesting site http://www.installdr.com/InstallDocs/Nissan/Maxima.html
In there they tell you how to get your HU out. It says that the document is only for cars without Bose, but the first part on how to actually get to it is the same "remove the ashtray, locate 2 small phillips screws" and then on.

I follow those steps and it worked for me.

Good luck!

 

::me looks at mutilated center console and passes out::

Speakers are easy though.

 

yea i plan on getting that gd microvision 7" lcd screen that comes with the dvd player