Ok I wanted to get a sub for my car, so my plan is to get a head unit with a pre-amp out on it.

But, for the regular speakers I was going to leave it powered by the headunit without it being amped, it says here its a total of 160watt headunit on this Clarion, and the stock head unit we have in our fits is 160 watts as well right? will it sound the same? or should i have the speakers amped up?

with the clarion pre-amp out, it wouldn't matter how loud my speakers are, i can control the bass separately anyways right?

 

i left my speakers stock and just powered by my aftermarket deck. it sounds much, much cleaner than the stock stereo. i'd imagine that having them amp'd or getting aftermarket speakers will help that much more. i just didn't find it necessary for myself.

 

yeah same.. i keep seeing threads about the speakers sounding better with an aftermarket stereo, but the iam getting a stereo with the same wattage as stock.. so iam kinda concerned if i will get the same effect.

Yeah as long as i get the sub added, iam pretty much happy, I don't need to kill my speakers with the high's all amped up as well.

 

it will sound much better just because of the quality of the sound processor in an aftermarket radio. i'm not audiophile so i don't know much about the details but i can just speak of what my ears are hearing.

 

Well soon I'll be installing my Clarion CX501 so I'll find out. But from what I heard, all say stereo is what makes the sound so crappy on our Fits. I just got to wait till all my parts arrive for the install. What are you using for the radio bezel?

 

iam going to buy it from clutchfield, so all that stuff comes free i thought, including wiring hardness and antenna adapter.

ahhh and that clarion model is much better then the one iam getting.. i might just get that one instead and lose the dvd player ability.

 

If you buy from crunchfield it does come with all the stuff. I got the CX501 used from ebay so I had to buy all the stuff.

 

the more i look at JVC the more i think iam going to get one instead.. it seems MUCh better..

JVC KW-AVX640 DVD receiver at Crutchfield.com

 

Most people will be completely fine with an aftermarket deck and a amp and sub. With that set up you can reduce the bass from your factory speakers (allowing them to play louder) and let the sub handle it. Just make sure the deck you purchase has a seperate sub control.
Now this next statement is an opinion.. BUT, If you want to have a ddin screen in your car, get a pioneer. Everything else falls short. Every other screen I've come across (in 9 years of installing) doesn't match the quality of pioneers units. Second would be kenwood, except there menus are a pain to navigate through. If you are going to only spend $350 on a screen you will end up with something that has crappy menu controlls, choppy graphics, lousy bluetooth and weak specs.. Again, that's my opinion.

 

yeah i been researching all night! and talking to crutchfield staff they are so helpful and helped me understand almost anything i needed to know, they got me going from switching to perhaps a JVC, to perhaps a Kenwood.. but now i want a Pioneer!!!

The only problem is that the pioneer seems low RMS only 14 watts.. compared to Clarions 18 and Kenwood's 22 but pioneer has awsome pre-amp sub out like a kenwood.. at 4v

 

switching out your headunit will make your stock speakers sound soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much better.

 

ok i think iam going to order this one:
Pioneer AVH-P4300DVD DVD receiver at Crutchfield.com

the problem is... will it sound good without the regular speakers being amped? i was just going to amp up the subwoofer. What determines what makes it have good speaker sounds anyways? it the RMS right? it seems kinda low on that pioneer

 

Trust me, you won't be able to tell the difference in any of those numbers.

 

ahhh Pioneer it is!!!

is Ebay safe to get stuff like this? its soooo much cheaper on ebay:
NEW Pioneer AVH-P4300DVD 7" TOUCH SCREEN 2-DIN DVD USB IPHONE IPOD Car Player | eBay

 

Don't confuse what makes a speaker sound good to how loud a speaker is. Many factors go into good sound quality (signal to noise ratio, sensitivity, speaker enclosure..) the RMS is what it will put out consistently, while the peak (usually rediculiously over inflated) is what it can put out for a brief moment.

 

There's also amazon.com, but it's $359.01.

 

thanks for the recommendation its even cheaper from what i can tell! 300 on several sources in amazon, it might be amazon for me!

Amazon.com: New Double Din 7 Inch Touchscreen Tft Lcd Monitor Dvd Cd Mp3 Player Usb Ipod Avhp4300dvd: Car Electronics

thats the one i was thinking about buying, i wouldn't need an ipod adaptor or anything right? just use any ole USB cable to the glove compartment?

 

I would have no idea. I'm using my HTC inspiron for my unit. But I still don't know if i can control the music via the radio. I'll probably still be using my CD slot universal holder. In fact I will have to use it cause I always have google maps with traffic on.