so my budget is $400. Ive searched a few threads here, and it seems like different people have different ideas on how to spend the money.

Some say buy a cheap deck, cheap amp, cheap amp kit, and cheap speakers.
Others are saying to just buy a good deck, and good speakers.

So i decided to go the route of good deck/good speakers, now my question is, would i need to change the speaker cables? If i dont, will I be losing some speaker potential?

Thanks.

Info:
my S is a MY01.
"cheap" - $100ish
"good" - $200ish

And also, anyone knows what the stock RMS specs are for my stock speakers in a MY01?

 

It isn't necessary to change the speaker wire. Truth is that the internal HU amp doesn't put down enough power to need bigger wire. Should you ever upgrade to an amplified system in the future, however, you would want to increase the wire gauge.

I like the route you're going. You'll have plenty of good sound and adding an amp down the line will increase that and is essentially plug-and-play (just need the wiring). Going with a complete, but cheap system means not being able to easily integrate upgrades further down the line.

 

I agree with above poster... Any headunit wont be able to put out enough power to justify upgrading the speaker wiring. If you were to put an amp that outputs a good amount of power then maybe, but with just the HU i wouldnt bother at all.

On another note, do you plan to do something other than just HU and speakers? ... If not i wouldnt expect a drastic improvement in sound quality. Most "good" headunits are priced a certain way because of features they have like built in crossovers/ sub control etc. Most speakers will be higher priced because of better quality materials, higher power handling, etc. ... On its own, a HU and nicer speakers may not be able to take advantage of their own capabillities without other things like external amps, a sub, etc. The point im trying to make is that if you are NOT going to do more than just HU and speakers then your money might be better spent going for a complete "cheap" setup... just something to keep in mind

 

I disagree with Frame_Runner_.

Any decent headunit and speakers will be a SIGNIFICANT improvement over stock ap1. Never listened to ap2 stereo.

And no you don't need to change your speaker wires.

 

Don't go cheap.

 

you can go cheap by finding good used deals here.

alot of people change their minds alot and you can get preowned decent/good units for a great price.

especially amps.

I never tried, but I wonder if sound would be noticeably better if you ran wires between aftermarket head unit with aftermarket speakers compared to stock speaker wires?..

I'd guess that it would since stock speakers are pretty light guage and will have more resistance than say a set of 14awg wires.

 

Yeah, but you're only running 15WRMS (maybe 22). The stock wire diameter should be fine for carrying that much power.

 

I just put in a Kenwood KDC-MP738U with Bluetooth. I LIKE IT!

$228 shipped ..... they also through in the wiring harness.