I've gotten tired of the poor sound quality on the stock stereo. I want to upgrade the head unit and door speakers to something that will give me crisper, louder sound and stronger bass.

I'm not looking to spend too much - maybe $300-400, or a little more if the sound quality justifies it. I'm hoping to order from Crutchfield so I can take advantage of the free installation accessories and instructions. I'm a car stereo novice but I'm hoping that I can handle swapping the door speakers and head unit - i.e. I'm hoping to keep installation as simple as possible.

I mainly want iPod compatibility and decent power in the head unit - I'm not particular about extra features, a slick display or retaining the dash controls. I'd like to get a speaker/head unit combo that can deliver decently powerful bass for a system without an amplifier.

Lastly, would I benefit from a speaker adapter or wiring harness? I assume I'll need the former to open up the options for speakers that will fit, and the latter seems handy for installation. Do I need to worry about shallow/low-profile speakers, or will that adapter take care of window clearance inside the door?

If you have any recommendations, advice, warnings, etc., please let me know! I really appreciate any help.

Thanks!

 

I recently upgraded my head unit to the Alpine 9887. It's about $220 shipped from 6ave.com. I'm on stock speakers still but the aftermarket head unit made a huge difference in sound quality.

A lot of people recommend the Polk db6501 component speakers because it doesn't require much modification (if any) of the stock speaker baskets. They're inexpensive and don't require an amp.

For the wiring harness, I would purchase the Modifry plug-and-play harness (if you decide on an Alpine head unit). You literally just plug the cables together; no splicing is required. If you want to keep the dash controls, you can purchase the Modifry DCI.

http://www.modifry.com/products/dci/buy.htm

 

Thanks very much, ayau!

I looked into the Polk db6501s and they seem to be just what I was looking for. I may go with a different head unit than yours, but I'll take your recommendation on Alpine and the Modifry harness. The DCI is a little pricey for retaining the dash controls (I don't use them much anyway) but it's good to know that the car's next owner can always choose to do that so long as I get a compatible Alpine HU.

Thanks again!

 

Crutchfield tends to be on the expensive side, what i would do is just buy the same item from amazon. Replacing the radio and door speakers are really fairly easy. I think the s2000 radio is by far the easiest to replace out of most cars.

 

in regards to speakers, i bought a 6.5 2way Kenwood KFC-1662S and they fit perfectly. No need to even cut even the baskets on the car.

 

I have the JVC KD-NX5000 and the Polks. I added the Infinity Basslink to the trunk and I am all set. I did however use all new wiring because I was not happy with the Honda gauge, but for most drivers its fine. The only suggestion I have is if you get the Polks, there will be crossovers to install. On the crossover, there is a gain of -3 or +3. Originally I had put it in +3 thinking I would get more power out of it, but it ended up being screatchy...I suggest leaving it at 0.