Hi Mike, My advice: Don't spend too much. IMHO, there's no such thing as high fidelity in a steel box (a car). Cars have horrible resonances that change from seat to seat. (Bose has addressed this in characteristic Bose fashion- throw an equalizer at it. NOT!) You may be able to listen to music in there but you'll never get high fidelity in there. Think of a car stereo as a ridiculously overpriced boombox for a moment, eh? I heard the fancy multi-speaker system built into a mid-line Lexus for a weekend. It wasn't bad for a boombox. I mean, it wasn't peaky or anything but it didn't image. It didn't have detail. I didn't believe that Margo Timmins was hovering in an imaginary church, in an illusionary space beyond the dashboard. When I got home, it sure didn't make me want to sit in the car and listen to music. I think, no, I *know* you could do so much better in your living room with the same $1000 or whatever your budget is. If you feel like being pummeled, you could go to the rec.audio.car newsgroup and ask for advice from the hobbyists but be forewarned: IMO, there is no consensus on anything over there. It's a bunch of shadetree mechanics who "like" their brands because it's what *they* bought. <Lama climbs on the bully pulpit> I read an article in a car audio magazine about a guy who took apart a beautiful, carefully designed, very, very expensive pair of British B&W 801s (may have been 805s). He removed the woofer from the cross-braced, heavy-as-all-sin inch-thick-at-least wood composite enclosure and slid it into a custom made box in a wheel well made of..... (wait for it.........) sheet metal. Mike, woofers aren't made to work in sheet metal boxes. It just doesn't work or we would all have sheet metal boxes in our living rooms. The physics of it is all wrong. They need heavy, stiff enclosures built out of medium density fiberboard (MDF) and sheet metal "ain't" that. <end of bully sermon> On top of all else, there's no way to *preview* what you'll hear from those speakers unless you know someone with the same car with the same speakers. (I know. I bought speakers based on their sound in an open air display in a store. Wrong!) Consider how many 10 year old home stereos you've seen- probably a lot. Now, how many 10 year old *car* stereos have you seen? The installation is not fun to do yourself and it becomes a major part of the cost. Will your car insurance agent cover the cost of the installation and new stereo as if it was part of the car in the event of a breakin? A collision? (Some do, some don't. Do you want to raise your insurance rates just to cover the investment that would have been better spent in your living room?) Most people don't move their car stereo into a newer car. If it sounds tempting, consider that you'll have costs not only to un-install from the old and re-install in the new car, but how are you gonna sell a car with gaping, raw holes in the dashboard and in the doors? So, I recommend that you *don't* do this Mike. But if you must, for God's sake don't borrow money to do it and don't spend more than you can be comfortable with throwing away. Once bitten, twice shy, Lama ps- please try to remember the njc label so the njc folks will let us share the bandwidth. :) Understand, I'm not scolding okay? I'm saying that we have a nice thing here and I don't want to mess it up. :) PPSS- If you still want to spend some money, consider leaving the head unit alone and just add lots of damping to the doors and upgrade the speakers with a pair of coax. Not separates as the price goes up and you'll never hear the improvement at 65mph, from a sheet metal enclosure, in a peaky, steel and glass box. Mike Hicks asked: > Is there anyone out there that can help > me decide about car sound > systems? I am in desperate need of help.
