After a gazillion threads about what guitar/pups/strings/tuners/amps/pedals(list goes on and on) people should buy, now we have people asking about car stereo!!!
What's next?
Houses, cars, boxers!

:lol:

 

Well, we did hear about guitar urinals today....

 

So you have nothing useful to add, eh?

Seems more than a little typical.

 

6fingers, please refrain from posting in threads that you have nothing to contribute to other than attitude. I know it is against your nature but I have faith you can over come this obstacle one day with hard work and patience.

Ekim, I have not bought a car stereo in a long time but I generally have gotten along pretty well with Pioneer brand equipment.

 

I generally have gotten along pretty well with Pioneer brand equipment.

A big +1 on that. I have one of the fancy Pioneer recievers that was around $650 that was discounted to 300 because they were being discontinued when I bought it. It has lots of internal power, built in fine tuning EQ, compressor presets, all sorts of awesome stuff, and an awesome moving display.

2 things though - 1) know the correct size for the mount of your car (single DIN or double DIN). Most cars you can replace the stock radio, but a rare few you can't (take the mazda rx-8 and Mazda 3's, it is shaped and made into the dash of the car with the climate controls built into it). More newer cars are starting to do this. 2) Have a budget. Just like buying guitars, be ready to buy new a new reciever and probably new speakers too, odds are your old speakers are super worn out and if you wanna enjoy your music in your car year after year again, spend a little extra cash and do some research investing in some good speakers to go along with the new reciever.

 

Also agree on Pioneer. Never had a problem with their car decks. Kenwood isn't bad, either.
Sony is another good choice, but they always seem to be a few bucks more than other brands.

 

pioneer, kenwood and alpine are the 3 main player IMO, and JVC arent too bad either. sony are good, but still a bit gimmicky when it comes to stereos.

depending on what it is you're trying to achieve, id suggest that a new headunit and a decent set of components or 5x7/6x9s being run by the headunit itself, and not an external amp, will still give you plenty of bass over the OEM setup, and saves fannying around with 0AWG cables and taking up your carpet etc!

a lot of the stuff on the market at the mo is double din with sat nav, dvd, bluetooth, aux in, ipod connectivity all built in - looks smart, lots of gadgets and gizmos to play with, and fit nicely into the slot thats left by the OEM unit!

rich

 

Just make sure to get a detachable face on the unit because of theft issues, and I would either go with Alpine or Pioneer IMO.

 

I just purchased one for my 2011 f150. To start with the stock speakers are beyond terrible. Just replacing those made a world of difference. My head unit is on it's way and I will be installing it this week.

I didn't want to spend a lot of cash. This is what I went with...

https://www.crutchfield.ca/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=113DPX308U

Does what I need it to do. No video or anything like that. It's double din and will look fairly stock. Reviews are good and I like that I can adjust the color to match my truck's dash lights. Also the Kenwoods have a little more power than pioneer and alpine which is nice since I wont be adding an amp. I don't think I need it. I'm not into booming bass either.

For speakers I installed these in the doors...
https://www.crutchfield.ca/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=777P57
I know thier cheap but they sound 1000% better than the stock ford speakers. (Read the customer reviews.)

I also bought these https://www.crutchfield.ca/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=777P57 and put them in boxes https://www.crutchfield.ca/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=777BB692W behind the seats. My truck is a regular cab and there were no rear factory speakers.

I got some of the items on sale and the total cost was $365 delivered tax in. Prety good deal if you ask me.

btw, those are from the crutchfield canada site. The usa site will have better prices for you.

 

Rotti made some great suggestions!!

If your shopping online........USE CRUTCHFIELD!! they do have a us website.

Start with you speakers first!!! This is the most important part of the system and the most overlooked. A great head unit with unmatched speakers will sound like crap.

What is the year and make of the truck? How many doors? What is the stock stereo config? Ford has used everything from stock crap to JBL, Bose, and Polk Audio. If you have a changer in there already there may be an amp as well. My '02 Expedition came with an amp. This makes installation of a new system a bit more complicated.

As far as head units: All of the above suggestions are good ones, although I would shy away from Sony........they have horrendous customer service. Blaupunkt is my favorite manufacturer. They have the quietest (signal to noise) heads, but they're typically less output than other comparable heads in their price range.

Remember that you get what you pay for.......Just don't pay for a bunch of options you don't want/need.

 

^^^^edited

 

It's a 2002 Ford Escape, just got it home. The CD changer definitely needs replacing, the seller said it won't give CDs back but it gave me an error even trying to load it (with my CDRs).

The radio works fine but an upgrade is sorely needed. I think multiband EQ is going to be a must on any unit I pick.

I'll be looking up the stats on the factory equipment and seeing what's there as well as looking over the owner's manual.

 

Get one that rattles the windows on the 6th story of a high rise hotel. The cops love em

 

for all it matters i always liked Alpine. Not even sure if they are sold in the US but i would think so

 

I'll agree, even though Alpine was bought out in the 90's, they still make a very high quality product (though not quite as elite as they used to be)

Equipping your escape should be pretty simple and straight forward........but you do need to know if your have the "Mach Audio System" from the factory. It will say "Mach" on the head and speaker covers.

 

^^ Oh man, those Mach systems can be a pain to take out sometimes if you're doing a full retrofit. The older (nice) Ford Mustangs had them and we did one of a buddy of mines. My old firebird had the 10 speaker "Monsoon" sound system and it was a pain to swap components out. Same for the old 300zx's with the Bose sound systems. They weren't designed to be messed with.

 

It is NOT the Mach system. It's the low-end version.

It started accepting CDs for now, I'm putting in CDs that I can stand listening to over and over if it comes to that.

I know I'm going to replace it soon, but I have tires & brakes to get done on my touring motorcycle first.

So for now I'm putting in PG's "United States", Vai's P&W and Fire Garden, Derek Sherinian's "Black Utopia" and I'm trying to figure a few good others to put in. Probably Kings X "Faith, Hope & Love" and Satch's "The Extremist" and then leave the last slot for rotating in other stuff.

 

maybe one of those cd's that clean the cd player would buy you some time.

 

Probably a good idea, though IT might be one of those that gets stuck! Oh well... easy come, easy go.

 

edited

 

Oh I see, they actually get stuck. I thought they just didn't want to play. btw I installed the Kenwood today and I am very impressed.