New stereo suggestions

[Vito117]

93 SHO
Im looking to have installed a new sound system.
Anyone have good ideas as far as what speakers or components work best in the SHO.
Keep in mind im not one of those, BOOM-BOOM, hey look at me, idiot rap song playin guys.
Just want a high quality sounding system.
Cheers

 

[naval-avi8or]

Depends on what you want to spend. Fronts are 6.5" you can put any number of component sets in there. Infinity, Kicker, Xtant, and the list goes on. Rear's are 5X7 and you can get a 6X9 in there once again any of the speakers above as well as many others. If you want to upgrade your sub it is a 6.5" and Kicker or JL Audio make subs you can just pop in and increase your low end as well or with a little mod. you can replace it with an 8" like I did. BTW as far as I know only Kicker and JL Audio make subs to work in the small parameters of the stock enclosure. You will soon see the vast diffrences in opinions as the post begin to role in.

 

[LOUDSHO92]

Well a good head unit would be a good place to start. Kenwood, JVC, Alpine, and Pioneer are pretty good. For speakers some good ones are Kenwood, Alpine, Pioneer, and Polk. To get better sound you should put the speakers to a 4channel amp. I have an Alpine with 40wattsx4 RMS. It only cost $180, work really good. If you want some bass you should go with an MTX or JL 12" sub backed by a mono amp of brands like MTX, Kenwood or Rockford. Something I did and really like was to put some Kicker tweeters up at the top of the paneling. Very good sound and creates a more surround sound. I would recommend it only if you have your speakers on an amp.

 

[underdog1924]

The guys before me have all made very good suggestions. I'll just make a few other suggestions these guys haven't touched on. Look into JBL amps. They are very high quality amps that have a very small price tag. Image Dynamics makes an awesome sub called the IDQ. I know Image Dynamics isn't a well known name but trust me, they make high end equipment that won't disappoint. It has awesome sound quality and is also relatively cheap. The JL W0 is a good sub by JL. Finally if you want to learn more or want to get some more opinions, click on the link in my sig. The people on that car audio forum are very knowledgeable and helpful. Let us know if you have more questions.

 

[ericwick19]

For head units, Kenwood and Alpine make the best. Some units have as much as 65wx4, so an amp isnt really neccesary for great sound. As for speakers, the best bang for the buck is pioneer, these are cheap, yet AWSOME speakers. My system is: Alpine 55wx4 control head with remote, 12 disc apine changer, 6.5 pioneer 3 ways in doors, 6x8 pioneer 3 ways in rear, and two kicker 10" solo baric subs pushed by a hifonics 200x2 amp.

 

[Dave Ladely]

Since you prefer good sound to ego trippers,and might be keeping your SHO awhile into the future, you might consider the near future, which is 5.1 sound and DVD audio and also video, though I personally am not very interested in video in the car.
Pioneer is probably the best for 5.1, at least for the present. You should have a center channel, and modifying the cigarette lighter/cassette holder for a midrange/tweeter would probably work well. The "phantom" middle channel is a poor imitation, so its a good idea to plan for the near future now.
Infinity makes a 10"subwoofer/box/amp combination which takes up little space in the trunk, easily mounted. There is quite a choice of 6.5" speakers for the door panels and for the rear deck. I would use 6X9 if possible at the rear or modify for 8", with tweeters.
I think DVD sound will eclipse CDs in the next 5 years; really awesome sound!

 

[underdog1924]

ericwick19:
For head units, Kenwood and Alpine make the best. Some units have as much as 65wx4, so an amp isnt really neccesary for great sound. As for speakers, the best bang for the buck is pioneer, these are cheap, yet AWSOME speakers. My system is: Alpine 55wx4 control head with remote, 12 disc apine changer, 6.5 pioneer 3 ways in doors, 6x8 pioneer 3 ways in rear, and two kicker 10" solo baric subs pushed by a hifonics 200x2 amp.

That 4x65watts is a peak rating. The HU will only do that for short bursts. The more important rating is the RMS value, which is what the HU will put out continuously. Your HU probably does around 4x20 watts RMS. Peak power rating is just a marketing ploy to sell more amps. Peak power means nothing, RMS is what is important.

 

[naval-avi8or]

Also words for thought. If a Kenwood, jbl, or pick any amp you like. For a 45X4 RMS or even peak the amp will be about 3 times the size of your head unit and it doesn't have the tuner/cd drive/ or tape drive so you can guarantee that the out put the ploy you with can't physically be met but by some bean counter on a piece of paper.

 

[slapnpop]

I second the opinion for IDQ's. They are great subs, i've been using them for 3 years now.
If you are serious about the sound quality, run all your speakers from external amps. Head unit amps, as mentioned, only have a 5-~18 watt RMS output. Another suggestion I have is to replace the rear speakers (if you use rears at all, I don't) with circular speakers, not oval. 6.5" is a good suggestion. Oval shaped speakers (5x7 and 6x9) tend to flex unevenly during travel, coloring the sound. That being said 99.9% of music only has 2 channels, left and right. Unless you run a 5.1 surround setup, or have people in the back on a regular basis, rear speakers actually detract from the quality of the sound.

Lastly, upgrade to at least an 8" sub. The factory 6.5, or any other 6.5 for that matter, isn't able to move enough air to reproduce the lowest notes in music.

I compete in sound qualtiy shows, so I feel I know what I'm talking about. Feel free to check out my site for some ideas, email me if you have any questions.

 

[stevetatro]

Just for the **** of it I'll let you read what Jim Grubbs sent to the SHOtimes list a few years back.

"I searched and searched on the list for advice on stereo upgrades for a Gen ll Premium stereo. I read over 200 posts. There was a wide spectrum, from popping in $59 6.5" and 6 by 8's to filling my trunk with amps, a box and 600 watts and spending $2000. After MUCH research, I settled on Eclipse speakers by Fugitsu Ten. The stock amp only puts out 20 watts or less per channel, [I read many conflicting posts on actual output, does anyone on the List know?] so speaker sensitivity was my prime concern. Nothing came close to Eclipse's 96 dB sensitivity on their speakers. Most others were 89-92 dB from JBL, Polk, JL, Pioneer, Sony, Blaupunkt, etc. Sensitivity means that a low powered system will play at a higher volume on a higher sensitivity speaker. I've read that every 3 dB increase in sensitivity is, in theory, equivalent to doubling the amps output. The Eclipse's 96 dB was the highest I found.
What I bought:
Eclipse 8263- 6.5" coax front door speakers, 96 dB sens., frequency response 90-20000Hz, $110 pair
Eclipse 8393- 6 by 9 3 way rear deck speakers, 96 dB sens., frequency response 50-20000Hz, $150 pair
Installation:
Front doors: very easy, just pop door panel and r&r. 8263 has an angled tweeter, so aim 'em at your ears when you mount.
Rear deck: Pop out stock grills, unscrew factory speaker adapt pug for 8393 speaker terminals [keep in phase, side of plug with groove is positive], cut insulation around old speaker, drill holes for 6 by 9 using template provided, put foam tape around trunk side of opening to seal where speaker will mount, mount from underneath using self tapping screws just long enough to hold. Replace factory grills.
Total time: 3 hours, including dinner
Results:
Highs: Wow, I was able to turn the treble down to 2/3 and have even better highs. Imaging in now much improved, providing a frontal soundstage
Mids: Clean and crisp with a noticeable improvement in clarity
Bass: A modest increase in bass, but I can defintely feel it more. Believe me, it's no pounding subwoofer, but tighter and better then stcok. If you're looking for a BIG increase in bass, this isn't it, get a sub. There is more, cleaner, tighter bass. I was able to turn the bass down to 2/3 and get better output then stock.
Volume level: I was able to reduce the amount I have to turn up the stereo to get the same output. 3/4 before, 1/2 now."

Add a good head unit to this, and it should sound pretty damn good, although it won't "boom" down the street!

 

[SHOMA]

hey underdog, I put 5X7's into my 95... I did need to drill one of the holes, but no modification.. I mounted the mid woofers in the doors, and the tweeters on the dash (a component set).... Best of luck, if you can get the kicker ones, or anything else that will still clear the doors, you will be all set! GOOD LUCK, you will be happy you did the 5X7's, as it does increase the sound quality greatly!
KEvin