Hi guys,
I just bought my first car, a 97 eclipse RS, and it doest have a cd player in it. I want to get a stereo and a sound system in there as soon as possible, I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions for which system to buy. I am not looking for a performance car, so adding weight to my car is not a concern for me. I am going more towards looks.

THX

I'm not an expert on cars, so bear with me

 

it all depends on how much you are willing to and can spend. if you are on a budget, go to wal-mart, get a couple Lightning Audio 12' subs, like a 400 or 500 watt amp, that will run you close to 150, then you need and instalation kit another 30, get set of sony x-plode 6 1/2's and unles you want to either make custom fittings for some 6x9's you'll have to use 6 1/2's i the back to. then all you need is a decent head unit. all together this system will run you about 420 give or take a few dollars. if you a have a little more to spend go to best buy, alpine would probably be the next step up, if you can afford more... bump up to rockford fosgate speakers but the alpine type R subs will blow all RF subs out of the water (within the same price range). these systems will run you close to about 850 give or take. and if you are looking for all out, top of the line, no questions asked, and hear me a mile down the road.... look at MTX and JL Audio. if you aren't so great at hooking this stuff up try to find a friend and pay him to do it cheap if not, take it to somewhere like best buy or a local audio shop but hooking everythin up won't be cheap either. hope this helps.

 

Audio is a weird thing for this fact people think because it says pioner or alpine or sony "subs" that it is bad assed. First thing i would start with is getting a better head unit, here is how to do it go to a audio shop not bestbuy or walmart but an acctual audio store the reason for this is they have people there tat can answer all teh question you have not somone a store manager decided would be a good salesperson. after you find what you want and the features of the deck are shown to you if you are getting a sub make sure you can contol it from the headunit. you sould move on to making the mid/highs in the car sound crisp and clear. for this take a cd you like or sampl of music you listen to down to a store that will have the headunit you bought "reason for this is a speaker migh have a little differant preformace from a pioner to a kenwood and so on" once you have found those 6.5" sprakers you want or a good compunet system move on to the best part sub(s). Subs are alot differant than mids or high hrz speakers when shoping for them. First off with subs brand name is not alwase the best. For this i would go to a shop that dose just this subs we have a few where i live but not sure if you do. they will carry stuff from cheep stuff like American Pro midranged like Volfenhag clear up to the mean exspensive mtx jl and a few other brads comptiton subs lie the mtx 9800 but you are looking at alot of money and a biger altonatior and a second battery plus a cap if you go that route. now personaly i have 1 comp Volfenhag zx-4812 sub and i love it had it for about 1.5 years and it pounds like a beast but not so much that is sounds like all bass perfect mix of treble and bass. one websit you can look at subs they will not have comp subs but more like cheeper subs that will do a alright job is www.justwoofers.com. Now on to the amps here is the thing with amps find out what voltage they are tested at. if you see an amp that said for ex 1000W now that amp may be tested @ 18V system not a 12-16V system so it may run 700-900W. once more brand name in amps dose not alwase mean they are going to be a good amp make sure what you get is going to suit your needs. here is a good ex. i have a interfire amp my buddy has a sony amp both 1000W amps. mine is tested at the same 12V system your car runs his tested @ 18V from factory. my amp runs about 1010W his runs 881W and i did this test in same car with the same power wire no changes besides the amp. hope this helped if you want mroe detail on how and what feature you are looking into ask.

 

Thanks for the help. I think I will head down to Car Toys today, and look for a new head unit. Is that Justwoofers website reliable? Also did guys have any problems with rattling inside the car when you put in the subs?
Thx

 

i had a little rattle but i pulled the pannels off the inside replaced all the clips and it reduced it a a lot still got very little rattle but you cannot hear it unless you are like 5" from teh rear panels. I know people that have bought from just woofers and they are a reliable source. also like i said in the post they do not sell somthing that will blow your socks off the stuff on the site if for beginer to moderate sterio systems.