Does a new aftermarket head unit make a big different if you keep the factory speakers (in an '04) and don't use an amp?

 

my 07 did. it was pretty much night and day with my alpine head unit but then i added a small 10inch sub and it made it perfect

 

A new head unit is definitely worth the money. You'll have more potential options such as sat radio, ipod, etc. Most after market radios will also have a modest amp component which will increase your top down highway volume. That was my initial motivation. I hated truck noise drowning out my tunes.

Beware replacing the head unit starts a chain of events. You will continue to want to upgrade your system until you've done it all.

It is important to keep a sense of perspective with upgrading. You're driving a noisy [which is good in this case] open wheel car with fat tyres and a canvas roof. There's diminishing returns with putting in state of the art stereo stuff. There are great options for a relatively modest budget. Appreciate many of the posters here are on the sharp end of the curve. They've got amazing set-ups that sound awesome. Sounding very good, and saving some wedge is also a good option. Make decisions that make sense to you.

Me? I started to do a modest upgrade. I ended up with high end stuff, and couldn't be happier. Ok, well that's not totally true. My Eclipse CD player can be finicky, and I'm tempted to buy a sub. Something I thought I'd never do. There are times I wish I had the money back. The thoughts disappear when I hit the start button.

 

yes the oem speakers will actually sound pretty decent once you give them a good headunit.

 

Yes, yes, 1000 times yes.

 

Yep, stock speakers sound nice with my Alpine 9887. But like stated above, it started the chain of event. Before I knew it, I added an Alpine amp, swapped out the speakers and thinking about a sub!

I was really happy with the stock speakers and headunit alone. That had the highest marginal gain on my investment... the stuff I did after that, it was only a small bit better.

-David

 

Yes.

But the speakers are so easy to replace. If you select the right ones, it's plug and play.

And even $100 speakers will sound better than the OEM ones....