Ever since my Clarion HU's CD player crapped out on me I've been wanting to beef up my audio a bit. As it stands I've got a ****ty battery, I've killed it numerous times and if I leave my lights on for 15 minutes with the car off it dies, its that bad. I have done zero of the Big 3 in the stickies, and just wanted to know what would give me the best bang for the buck with what I want to be able to do.

I like to chill near my car, or in my car and so do my friends but the problem is if I leave the Acc on it dies, is there a way to keep this from happening? Better battery?

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I have about $700 to spend on this little project, and I want to upgrade the HU too, since thats the whole reason I started this (b/c of the crappy clarion hu).

Before some of you may have seen my posts about wanting to go with double-din in-dash DVD but i've realized that when I look at this realisticaly I'm too poor lol. I currently have 2 10" Infinity Subs (rated at 250 watts RMS each, 1,000 watts peak) powered by an Inifinty Amp (rated @ 97watts x 2 @ 4 ohms).

I've been pondering whether I should go with something like an Eclipse CD7000, which would spend the full $700, and give me a nice HU.

Or if I should get a better Amp, I'm not very good at reading these ratings but from what I gather, My subs are both 4 ohms, meaning they are being pushed @ 97watts each? meaning I'm only using 38.8% of the subs potential? Also I wanted to amplify my front/rear speakers since they are only powered by my HU.

Or the third option, Soundproofing/Grounding/New battery

Any thoughts? I've got a lot to learn about the audio before I go about installing this, and I'll most likely have even more money in my pocket by the time I learn enough to get this rolling

 

Personally Id go with...Battery/Grounding/Soundproofing

But if you have a non functional HU now, it may be in your better interests to replace that first. Either way a new battery should be in your Very near future as well.

The CD7000 wouldnt eat up your whole budget, you just need to know who to buy it from.

 

Radio still works on HU and my ipod tape adapater thing heh, old-skool.

Battery-wise Red top or Yellow top?

CD7000 cheaper?

 

Yellow top if you use it regularly with the car running.

Indeed.

 

Alright, Yellow top it is, and if I remember right I need to do a little bit of modding because some wire isn't long enough?

How much of my $700 budget do you think will be decimated (love that word) by the Grounding/Battery/Sound Deadening, I think I"ll only Deaden the trunk for now, leave the door panels for another project.

 

Could always just buy this...

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=499138

 

Not enough... flashy lights, yeah thats it. I'm into flash and lights, and functionality, 'tis why I chose the CD7000 as a prime target.

o.O and your close, Edison's not too far of a drive for say... a pick up

 

17 years old, and not an ounce of sarcasm or negativity. I like this kid. We can teach him a few car audio things.

Neo, you've given Don a pretty good idea of what you want to accomplish, now give him your budget and get over there, he'll take care of all your car audio dreams!

 

Once a couple of things of mine sell I'm looking at about a solid grand now to drop into this project so I might be able to knock out the Battery/Grounding/Deadening and a half decent Head Unit this round I think.

Battery
Yellow Top - $170

Big 3
1/0 gauge Power wire (16ft) - $96
4x 1/0 gauge Ring Terminals - $100
Battery Terminal - $25
300 amp Fuse - $15
1/0 gauge Fuse holder - $50

Deadening (2 of the 3 step process)
Second Skin Trunk & Door Kit (Dampener Pro) - $140
Second Skin Noise Filter (Overkill Pro) - $75
Utility Knife - $9

Grand Total: $680

Leaving me with about $320 for a new HU... =/ Anyone know of any GD's on some of the above stuff or if I can find an Eclipse CD7000 for $300 =p?

 

Whoa get pricing from don on the wire and terminals, its not going to cost you anywhere near that for that stuff....give him a list of what you want...

 

Don's the local with the connections?

I just yanked those prices from Crutchfield

 

Don is pearl96max, and he is not the one with connections, he IS the connection.

 

Hey Don, if your still watching this thread, In the ways of the CD7000 plus the deadening & battery, think I could pull it all off with around $700?

 

No, not with any sort of legitimate purchase.

 

perhaps one should scale back and not do the CD 7000 there are other units that may be a bit less expensive. ie the CD 4000 it is flashy and it will have all the funtions you need plus ipod interface no more tape adaptors. The battery should be a priority. Plus power wire if you need it then do sound deading if you have money left if not do it later.

 

Why not go with the 880PRS? Nice unit right there, and costs less than the CD7000.


The 7000 is a very nice unit though .

 

Why run 1/0 when your amp only puts on 97 watts? that seems like overkill to me...

 

We discussed this on AIM, but its for the power wire under the hood, not the amp =p My weak little amp needs only 8-gauge, but I'm running 4 anyway.

As far as the Head Unit goes, pretty sure I'll be buying one from skierxx5556 sometime this or next week for a very reasonable price, and yes I am making the battery a priority. I put the sound deadening at the end of my list though. I might just end up completing only 1 if any of the big 3

 

880prs will probably be my next unit, all depends on time frame though.

 

He wants flashy lights and colors and what not. hte 880 is not flashy. Great unit but not flashy as he stated he wants. He is 17 he will grow out of it sooner or later.

 

Indeed, so for now FLASHY LIGHTS, BIG BODY KITS, RICER RIM's and BIG MUFFLERS


Tell the truth, I really just like a bright interior at night. People I ride with hate dome lights on inside the car when I'm trying to read something at night, but personally I like it to be light inside. I prefer a blue glow though, I've got a ricer shift **** that lights and I'm gonna do Blue LED's around the cabin eventually

 

Understood . Just for the record though, I have my CD7000 as un-flashy as possible . I now have all the buttons green and the black screen .

 

But your Avatar looks pretty flashy =p Blue buttons, and the uh, what's it called? I wanna call it an EQ, errr sound graph? heh to be honest that Avatar is kinda what sold me on the CD7000, I really like the look of it. +1 for the avatar

 

EQ is right, graphic equalizer technically, and actually that is an older pic of Juans setup, from what I gather, he prob changed the colors sometime after that pic.

 

.......



Well, aside from being able to make it flashy you will be getting a very nice head unit with a good amount of tuning options .



You are correct Parag . Less flashy setup now .

 

Exactly! That's what has finally sold me on it, now that I've learned more about so that when I decide to go active, I'll be able to nicely. I like buying things that are customizable so I can build up gradually, i.e. Maxima period.