just felt i needed to post this- and to keep things on the up and up, i am not ******* anyone's decision on car audio. but this is my opinion: most people on in here really care about their protege's and some treat it like their baby. so when it comes to car audio, i believe you shouldn't sell your car short. get something you'll be proud of. i'm not saying to go out and blow paycheck after paycheck on a kick@ss system, but don't settle for something that is "good enough until later". plan out your system, do your homework, save a little and get something worthy of your baby. if you can buy it up front, then great. but if you need to save, then do it. do it right the first time and you may end up saving more than if you got something "for now".

oh yeah, and don't underestimate the car audio bug! once it bites you in the @ss, it's all over!

just thought i'd share.

 

Hah I know what ya mean.
I think half of my old stereo systems is sitting under my bed.
I currently own 3 amplifiers (2 in use, getting rid of 2 and buying another one) 3 subwoofers, a zillion decks, crossovers, speakers blah blah.

I agree with hawaiian totally, plan it out and build your system up...you will thank yourself and save money in the end.

 

I am right in there with you onehawiian! Plan, and then do it right! But I would also recommend stages are OK, pick a part and replace it with better stuff- speakers, head unit, amp and sub can be done one step at a time. This is the mid point between buying just cheap stuff that you really don't want with the small amount of funds you can spend at once, and just waiting until you can afford ultimate stuff. Just pick one good component at a time. I did not just dive into Focal Utopias, Velodyne subwoofers, McIntosh Amps and Premier head units and processors, I got there one step at a time, and in the case of the three amps, one amp at a time.
I do installs as a hobby pretty much, but I also help out at a friends shop when he needs extra hands on high end installs.

That would have to be my message, good components are fine, but the install will make or break a setup. Middle of the road hardware can come out sounding excellent if installed right. If you want to save dough on the car audio system do the install yourself. But read up first, ask lots of questions, and plan what you are going to do. I think the satisfaction is much greater on installs you do yourself and you can save thousands of dollars over a state of the art upperend install. And most anyone can do one of these installs with a little research, tools and patience.

It is addictive! I have a car that is nothing but a Sound Quality competition car now, and only gets driven anymore to events. I am always scratchng my head as to how a family with two licensed drivers has ended up with four cars! As is, my wifes car has a nice setup I installed, the Nissan had the competition systerm, and the 94 RX-7 has the stock system, no need to add weight to it!
As for my Protege, Boston Acoustic Rally RC820 seperates in the front, and Boston Acoustic RM9 6x9 in the rear deck- driven by a JL 300/4, all attached to the stock head unit right now. On hand but not installed, a Infinity Basslink for a little better bass response without loosing the entire trunk. On order by not here yet, Blaupunkt San Francisco, and the IDC AO-9 in dash dish changer a drop in fit to the double din hole in the 01 Protege dash.
Not the most extreme system, but with a well planned install, people will be amazed by the sound more than they are now if possible.
Most of my friend anymore listen critically to music more in the car than at home. I have a wife and daughter, and the office is not the place to listen, so the car is my best audio hall anymore. If you are in the car as much as I am and need the chill of decent tune in bad traffic, then Make the car audio system a great one!

 

you have utopias? and mcintoch amps? cool!!! i will get the utopias soon, and plan to get brax amps and audiomobile or alumapro subs.
but my fusions have been extremely impressive so far and don't know if i wanna change them or just upgrade my sub. (maybe two 12's?). damn car audio bug!!!

**shameless plug for fusion car audio: for those of you who don't know (which would be about 95%) Fusion car audio is bad@ss. altho not very popular here in the US, it has amazing sq and spl properties. do not overlook them just because they are not jl, kicker or rockford. i would put my system up against any "popular/mainstream" brand. i'm not saying to buy Fusion. i'm just offering you a little insight to a relatively new/unknown company.

 

Actually there are three MCC602TC amps in the Sentra right now, the Utopia's are bi-amped and one amp is running a bridged signal into the sub.
The bug is a terrible thing. but I always figure I could be burning money in worse ways.
I love focals in general, and Utopias are the best car speakers I have heard. Some folks rate the dynaudio speakers above them, but speakers are really an issue of the ear of the beholder.
I figure you can by most audio hardware by the specifications and features, except for speakers- what you will like may be different from what I might like to listen to.
The Toyota Corolla is going away this summer to be replaced by a Sentra SER SpecV. I am gutting out the sound system in it, and replacing it. I will keep the rockford fosgate system to put back in it when we sell it.
My wife will then start driving the Protege as her main car and I will drive the new sentra. This may last until the new Mazdaspeed turbo comes out next year!!
I really like Brax amps and caps. Peter Lufrano is a internet friend of mine, and he is the importer for them now. Really nice upper end stuff. Ther will be the core of the next sound system. I will go with three way Focal Utopias, and another DEX-9 setup for the head unit and processor. It's processor is sweet! It is designed to tri amping, and I intend to push the limits with it. The last question is the sub- there are no more Velodynes out there to be had. Real bummer as it is the most accurate sub I have heard.
I did not get to this state of addiction and sound overnight, but instead in steps. Plan well and buy once!

 

Here is the Sentra prior to the amp and headunit upgrades-
http://members.sounddomain.com/dcameron

 

dave,
nice kick panels! man i want a mcintoch amp! that's a sweet install too!

 

i couldn't agree with you more guys. so far i have been the only one i seen to use his protege has a bass machine. the third day i got the car(only had 97 miles on it) i ripped out the back seat and threw in a wall. i have four 15's and amp to each one 2 head units one internal and one external 6 batteries, 5 screens, ps one, vcr, dvd, redid the whole interior, custom body work and paint that will make a honda go OOOOOHHHH!!, rims, tires, and with more to come. only a select few have seen my blue beast. some protege owners have seen it. but i only compete in bass. i am now going to do car shows now. so i hope i start doing good. a lot of honda owners say my car looks better than theirs, made me feel good.

 

in the end, it's he who has the most toyz, wins.
it's all status. feels good when you get props from owners of other "nice" cars!