Overhauling my dad's Civic's audio system cheaply

[MD1032]

So basically my dad has a Honda Civic '97 with its stock radio system which is currently crap. The radio dial doesn't work right anymore, it randomly skips volume levels when we turn it. It doesn't have a CD player, rather, it has a cassette player, neccessitating me recording mix tapes in order to listen to decent music when we're in the car, and it sounds like total crap. The speakers are just so bloated and have zero detail. It totally sucks.

So basically we're looking to at least upgrade the radio part to a CD player/radio combo. And I'm guessing if it's cheap enough, my dad would be inclined to also upgrade the undoubtedly horrible stock speaker system to something decent. No subwoofers or any crap like that. Just something to replace the four stock speakers and sound decent for a cheap price. Something two-way would probably sound a lot better.

Thanks for any help!

 

[saturnine]

How much are you looking to spend? I know you like Grado, so I would recommend the Infinity line. The reference series is awesome for the price. I have a total Infinity kappa system in my car, and it has nearly the exact same sound signature as Grados, but with slightly bloated bass.

My system:
255a Kappa amp, Kappa 6.5 comps up front, 6.5 kappa in rear, kappa perfect 10" sub, Monster cable for everything. With a Pioneer something cd/mp3 player with cool screensavers and stuff.

 

[so_cal_forever]

For decent sound on the cheap, you can't go wrong with Blaupunkt. Assuming he has the sedan without the keyless entry system...:

Front Door:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-YW7auII...0&I=023PCXB652

Rear Deck:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-YW7auII...0&I=023PCXB542

CD deck:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-YW7auII...0&I=023MONTREA

There will be other costs in things to situate the speakers and the CD deck correctly. You're looking at $224.95 overall. However, that's just a guidline. I'd suggest going to crutchfield, selecting your vehicle through the "What fits my car?" link on the front page and seeing what suits your/his needs best.

 

[MD1032]

$200 is getting excessive, under $150 is a lot to ask, but seriously, if he saw that he could get a nice system for $150 he would definitely spring on it.

edit: Been nosing around in that Crutchfield site. This site doesn't keep it cheap, but it's doable. I can get one of these Aiwa things instead of that whatever brand and it'll save us 30 bucks:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-2CO4vTS...o&i=055CDCX204

 

[Yaboosh]

Just as a general question, to those who know, when replacing speakers, is it just a simple change out as easy as disconnecting wires from the old speakers and connecting them to the new speakers? I am thinking of upgrading the factory speakers to some new Kenwoods, thinking there might be an improvement in sound but if it is too difficult I will probably just forget about it.

 

[nysulli]

depends on the car, both my front speaker installs have been a bit more involved because i went from 4" stock to 6.5" speakers, however if you already have 5 1/4 or 6.5" to start with it should be much more direct, you'll probably simply have to wire leads off the new speakers to hook into the factory plug in the door and maybe use a spacer included with the speakers in that case depending on rear clearence

 

[mr_baseball_08]

A lot of people are gonna disagree with me here, but here's what I did. First off, finding a cd/tape player and 2 sets of speakers with reasonable sound for under 150 bucks is gonna be a near impossible task. The *ONLY* way I could see it happening (and there's still a slim chance if you want decent sound) would be to do what I did.. E-bay.. Do all you research on crutchfield, then buy your components on E-bay. You can usually get stuff around 50-80% cheaper off of E-bay. I ordered my CD-player, component system, and subwoofer all off of Ebay and paid around $350 after shipping costs. Compare this to the $600 plus shipping Crutchfield was gonna charge. With Crutchfield, you're basically paying for the customer service which anyone can attest is the best there is. If you order something from them, they will give you all adapters, books, and information on how to install it. But installing speakers isn't really that hard. To answer your question Haboosh, installing new speakers is that easy. *UNLESS* you're installing a component system (includes speakers, tweeters, and crossovers). With a component system it's usually best to run new wires unless you can trace back the ones you already have and make sure they're all separate. Which this isn't that hard to do either, just takes a little time. I actually installed a Kenwood component system in my car last week and all-in-all it took about 3 or 4 hours and that includes running all new wires into doors, through the dash, etc.. To finish it all up, just make sure when installing a new cd player you get a wiring harness and any other necessities (those can be had at Walmart for ~$10 for almost every car). And try to make sure you get the right sized speakers as making adapters to fit your door can be a pain. Any more questions, feel free to ask..

JD

 

[soundboy]

I am not an automoblie audiophile, but this is my experience with the stock sound system that we got on a 1997 Toyota Tacoma pickup that was purchased new (replaced by a 2005 Toyota Highlander last week, which presented a whole new sound system challenge).

The Tacoma came with a AM/FM stereo radio only. No tape. No CD. We could've upgraded the deck, but for what Toyota was asking, we went aftermarket instead. The sound with the Toyota radio was horrible....bloated beyond believe. In fact, we took the truck back to the dealer and asked if there was anything he can do. Nope. Since we were going to replace the deck anyway, let's see what happens after the deck was replaced. We went for the bottom of the line Sony CD radio....nothing special, just AM/FM stereo with a single-disc CD player (and clock, which the truck didn't have). Let me tell you, even with the stock factory speakers, the system sound lightyears ahead of the Toyota deck (which must've had some kind of non-defeatable build-in equalization). So much so that the 2 factory speakers were never replaced since they did a satisfactory job. The Sony deck gave us control over separate bass/treble, whereas the Toyota deck just gave us tone control. Back then, the bottom of the line Sony CD deck was $150.00 including installation. Nowadays, you can probably pick up an inexpensive Alpine CD deck for the same price. The Sony was extremely reliable, never having an problem with any of our CD's or CD-R's.

Sounds like the deck inside your dad's Civic is the main issue here. So go check out some decks first, and if the speakers sounds acceptable after the change of deck, see if your dad wants to upgrade the speakers (and maybe add a couple of pounding subs).

 

[mr_baseball_08]

He does have a good point. Upgrading the factory deck will give you a more cleaner, better sound than doing anything else.. It's a known fact that car manufacturers could give a rip less what the music sounds like inside the car. And I'm sure they figure the people that DO care what it sounds like, will probably install their own stuff. I too recommend finding a semi-cheap cd player on Ebay and then going from there. You'll be surprised how much that will change the sound after you get done installing it.

JD

 

[taymat]

I think you need to upgrade both the speakers and head unit. Don't just upgrade the head unit as typically car speakers are worse than bad. A cheap head unit and aftermarket speakers will sound better than a good head unit and bad speakers. A mate once replaced the head unit in his vauxhall corsa for a sony one. The stock speakers were so tiny and weedy the d-bass had to be off or it made them distort and boom like crazy, and you couldn't turn the volume past halfway.

 

[soundboy]

Definitely avoid the car record player though....damn vibrations!!

 

[mr_baseball_08]

Try to keep in mind his $150 budget. You can't get a decent Head Unit and speakers for that kind of money. Unless you find some used... Which reminds me, I've got some Pioneer 6x9's from a component system I'm trying to get rid of.. PM me if interested.