Well, basicly I don't have too much stuff in my pro right now, not planing on making it the worlds fastest car or anything, just want to make it clean and sound nice. So for I got the clean exterior, nice wheels and paint in relatevly good condition, I'll work on tuch ups and all later, but so far I think I have what I was going for. I'm in the process of putting in a short shifter, so that should get me what I need as far as "performance", more comfort, but yeah.

As far as sound goes, I'm trying to go for "good" qiuality and nice low hits, I think I'm working towards that. So far I put in Rockford fosgates 6x9 in the back (FRC1369) and really nice RF components in the front (FNX2614U) thier 6" and fit perfectly. Had some trouble getting them in, mostly the wiring, and getting the tweeters and crossovers atached, but after messing up the location of the tweeter on the door, moved it slightly, nothing big, but holes left over. So my first q would be is there anyway to fix the holes in the vinyl, no big deal as you can't see them when the door is closed, only when it's open their a problem(I think that explaines the position part). But other then that little slip up, they sound amazing even with the stock none amplified radio, Much better then the stock, and anything my friends put in. I'm glad I went with the components, they don't puond like my rear 6x9, but they get the mids and highs accross smoothly, basicly the door isn't falling off. Nice combo, as the rear speakers provided enough bass for both sets. Both sound clean, and now I can finally get the volume up higher whithout major ear strain. I'm not yet considering a sub, but a mp3 head unit, that should bost up the power and signal clarity, which I belive should give me the desired sound q. I was going to go with alpine, but decided I'd reather get comonents and get something cheaper (glad I did, this sounds a lot cleaner then any of my frinds alpines with only full range speakers not as deep base, but much cleaner). So right now I'm mostly set on the pioneer DEH-P550MP, the premier deck, I like the steering wheel remote, to me it's worth the extra $20 or so. Unless anyone points out another unit of better quality then the pioneer, or I'd apreciate any opinions on this unit.

I'm going to get some pics up morrow to show you my errors, and holes, but mostly nice(not the most even, but pretty damn good in my opinion for a first and not too well planed out one).

Thanks for reading, I'll get pics morrow, hopefully with the ss installed.

 

what kind of alpine did they have? not clean? sounds not alpine to me... been through 2 pioneer and a kenwood and a good sony.. my alpine 9813 is the best one ever.... my pioneers werent the walmart ones either i payed around 320 i think it was for each one of them.... the alpine beat them hands down... just get a higher end alpine and it'll be the best thing you ever did for your stereo and your ears

 

It's not that the alpine wasn't the cleanest thing, but more of the speakers. In my humble opinion, no matter how clean the hu is, the speakers will be the weakest link here, at least I started thinking so ever since I got the RF Fanatic X components up front. You can ask even my friend, he has a slightly older alpine hu, something like 97__ (forgot exect number) and said this is much cleaner then his, less bass, but much cleaner, I have a stock hu now, but he has polk full range speakers. He said it might even be cleaner then another friend with a alpine 9811, but I have no clue what speakers he has, he got the thing fro circuit city, so probly some speakers from there. WIth that in mind, I can't imagine that the pioneer would be any worst then the stock, but should in fact be better and cleaner. The thing is I was planing on getting a higherend alpine, with full range speakers, I blew that buget on very nice components, so I have to drop the price on the hu slightly, and none of alpines cheaper MP3 untis apeal to me.

Thanks.

 

Or I might go with some RF head unit like the RFX9120 or RFX9210.

Only thing that is pushing me away from the later (RFX9210) is the 13W RMS amp, but 5V preamps, meaning I could get a nice amp later on. Anyway, any suggestions for the RF HU's

 

I heard the same thing, AC Delco makes RF head units. They are just overpriced do to the name and butt ugly.

 

Personally I like how RF's look, but I was kinda sceptical at how easy it is to get a $500 RF head unit for a 50% price drop to about 280, intresting.

I dropped the RF thing when I got a alpine CDA-9811 from an authorized dealer for a mear $197. So that will be put in tommorrow, should sound nice.

I also got a sub, Infinty BassLink with built in amp. I got it beacuse it was cheap and small, even though I have no clue how it will sound, no store I went to had it hooked up, so I blindly got it, but there is no really worry, if I like it, I'll keep it, else it goes back and I get a sub, box and amp, wiring will be fine as it is already ran and it's 8AWG, so it will suit a lot of subs just fine. I kinda want to infinity to sound good, because it's small and soppousedly 200W RMS class-d amp..

 

Get the Pioneer. I just put in a Pioneer Premier DEH-P650, and I love it. Got it off of ebay for $172 shipped to my door.

 

Unless you are all out for SPL, the Bass Link should do just fine. A lot of people who want a little more bottom end in their systems like what the Infinity BassLink does. As for the Alpine, Alpine has always made reliable, good sounding products. I like their head units by far of any other one out there. The sound quality is excellent. It may not have the fancy displays for the money, but as far as ease of use and the features that people should look for in a unit, it has hands down.

MisterT

 

Well, besides me not being able to post because hte outages, I have had the system in for like 3 days now, and am very satisfided with the results.

I'm happy I went with the alpine as it's an amazing deck, plays back mp3 amazingly fast and the navigation through it is really easy, plus the built in crossovers are really a god send, without them I wouldn't be able to listne to the music at half the level that I do. I turned off the crossovers and basslink for the car, and it sounded like ***, the speakers basicly pounded the **** out of the doors and back deck, basicly sounding like **** and not providing much of a powerfull base hit. Turning the crossovers at 80hz for low and high, the basslink at less then half gain, full boost, and the crossover full, as the hu will only output to 80hz anyway, I was amazed at what the little thing could do. The sound from the speakers is clean, no annoying rattling, or less of it. But the bass pounds pretty nice, you can fell it, and it's clean and tight, which amazed meI'm still playing around with settings, I'm sure it could sound better, but for the money I paid (read cc employee discount) I belive it's a very nice system. Hu and sub cost me under $400 with all the wiring, plus another $200 for the speakers, I think it's an nice system for what I need.

As for pioneers, I've seen them, I don't like them. Fancy display, but navigation wise they can suck my *****. The buttons for going forward and back in songs are so horid, I would be scared to use it while driving, I like how alpine brings everything towards the driver, and the buttons are solid, not some piece of **** litte round dial that you can push in three directions at one. Plus loading disks in the pioneer isn't at all great, as you have to push the face plate your self, it gets distracting, and mp3 navigation isn't up to par with anything. I'm sure I could get the pioneer for like $100-$150 new but it's not worth it in my opinion.

I'm happy with my system now, and would say it's a nice cheap alternative to a big box, only thing is I spent a **** load on the really nice fanaticX xomponents up front, but well worth it, well worth it.

 

Helped Astral install some 6.5's in his Protege last monday.

Here are some pics of the install and final pics.

 

What brand are those? Are they the CDTs? How do they sound?

 

Yeah, they are those CDT's. He got a great deal ino them becasue they were painted the wrong color. They sound good from the stock HU but astral is getting a 4 ch amp soon (this week). Will let you know after the install.

-R