Hi, I am too really fussy about sound reproduction. I have a home theater system that worth about $12000 (not the end of the world but really decent IMO).

In my car, I have:

Eclipse CD8053 (tuner, no internal amps):

With 24 bits D/A converter, High performance DSP (if you are a 2 channels freak, you will love what Time Alignment can do for a good soundstage reproduction), Incredibly good transport (never skip a beat in three months and that sir, if you can see the street conditions here in Montreal, really mean something!), balanced outputs up to 16 volts or unbalanced at 8 volts and alot of other features. But the most important thing, SUPER clean, detailed and musical sound. It was the best player of 2003 Eclipse line-up products and it was considered by Eclipse to be a competition gear. Apparently, his performance is really close to the Clarion 9255 but less expensive. But, it is a flip down face, no-detachable and it is a discontinued model. I saw a few for sale on ebay recently for really cheap. Hi highly recommand this deck if you can find one.

JL Audio 300/2:

Extremely clean sounding amp with a lot of power. The more I listened to it, the more I like it. I used a Zapco Competition serie before but it lack the power of the JL (50 watts RMS versus 150 watts RMS). My first thought was that I prefered the sound of the Zapco (who are by the way one of the best amps manufacturer in the world) but now, I really enjoy my JL amp. But one day, I maybe will want to buy another more powerfull Zapco. Just to stop my obsession with this brand. Even if some find the JL amps overpriced, I think you can't go wrong with these. Highly recommanded.

Focal Polyglass 165 v (6.5 inches):

Absolutely incredible speakers. Clear and detailed. You can feed them with a lot of power too. They only gonna sound better. They play really loud. With a set-up like that, I, you, will NEVER need rear speakers to messed up the sound. Trust me. Extremely high recommandations on these.

JL Audio 500/1 and an Infinity Kappa 12.1 for sub frequencies reproduction. That is my weakest link because I think I damaged the sub by giving it too much power. Soon to be replaced. In that regard, you will need a sub in your car. Even if it's a small 8 in a small sealed box (apparently, the JL 8W7 is an incredible little beast). By the specific nature of the listening room (your car), it is really difficult and expensive to put full frequency drivers in the fronts. The lowest frequency you would want to play up front is about 70 hertz. Lower than that, you will compromise sound quality by demanding to much excursion to drivers that are not suited for that and you will experiment distortion. Now, Can you live with a gap of frequency like that? I am certainly not. That's not what I called a balanced sound.

Hope this help

Steve

 

What is wrong with your stock deck ? There is no reason to go aftermatket if you already have a CD player that does everything you need. That goes double since you dont want the gawdy bling look most HUs give.

Instead I would spend that money on processing !

 

Stock head units suuucckkkkk!

 

^ most OEM head units are of better quality then aftermarket...

 

I can't imagine that the OEM head would have a quality DAC or amplifier, and even if it did, I wouldn't want to feed an amplified signal to the seperate amplifier.

 

In a perfect world I would audition as many speakers, amps, and CD players as possible, but I live in Ottawa, and I think the selection is really limited here. If I went to Toronto I'm sure I could find all the brands, but I can't do that here (or can I?)

Thanks for all the comments.

 

OEM heads typically spec out better then aftermarket when it comes to S/N ratio, channle seperation, ect, ect..

D.Navone on carsound has an interesting paper he wrote on the subject.. email him if you want to see it..


By the sounds of things you arnt going to be using the HUs internal amp anyway... so if it puts out 40watts less then an aftermarket it dosent really matter... (wouldnt be a bid deal anyway)


As far as the output level you can convert from high to low using a couple $2 resistors or go fancey and buy a linelevel converter... at this point you may opt for one that turns your amps on when it recieves signal.. (or just turn your amps on with the acc wire that turns on your stock deck)

I think this might be your best choice based on what you want... spend the money on a good install and a good EQ/processing...

Of course at this point you may find a HU with GOOD internal processing and decide to go that route.... but be prepared to spend most of your budget here unless you buy something totally cheesy...

I would also think about getting a sub... you dont need anything special, but IMO it can pretty hard to get flat response down to 30hz at reasonable levels using only 6.5s....

A relativly low power 10 or 12 in a properly alligned box is all you need....

 

Listen to speakers like the MB Quart, Focal and Macrom. A highly respectable easy to use no light show cd player can be found in the Eclipse line up. Consider the entry level model CD5405 priced around $230.00 (Eclipse pricing has dropped like a rock this year (about time)). If you want MP3 and sub out, one model up wiht the CD5415 will do this for you at a minimal upgrade to cost. www.eclipse-web.com
After that a good set of speakers (that sound good to your ears) mounted in the proper location and installed properly is going to be best and allow the vehicle to maintain it's stock look.
If $ allow, add a dedicated amplifier to run these speakers, the tiny little amplifiers built into cd players just can't do the same job. 50w rms x 2 is usually lots of power. Someone up there posted to look at a 5 channel amp, I agree. This would allow you the flexibility later on of adding rear fill (if you want) and a sub to round out the sound that is beyond the front speakers ability to reproduce faithfully. Doesn't mean that you need a trunk o junk, it means that if yuo enjoy your music and want a good sounding system, a sub is going to be part of it and used in the manner that is approprate for you. A trip to a specialty shop is in your best interest, take the time to do so.

[ March 23, 2005, 04:52 PM: Message edited by: MR2NR ]

 

so you like the fact that there is no crossover or sub control from the front
or is it the nondefeatable loudness control
or is it both features

 

Hey, if ya want those features go ahead an buy a aftermarket head... Im assuming hes going to buy an amp with a built in crossover... if X-overs and EQ are set up properly why would you want to monkey with them while youre driving down the road anyway ??

If he wanted to be able to independently adjust sub level from the front that wouldnt be hard to set up..