I need car audio help, from somone with REAL knowhow Options

[saleeka]

long story short ive come to the conclusion that the "professionals" ive talked to either A.) dont know sh!t, or B.) want a bigger sale... therefore, I need you guys to help me on this. I'll break down what ive planned out, so far, and i'd love to hear suggestions as to if its a good idea, bad idea, ect. So here goes. My 98 accord needs a deck asap. I've decided that I like the pioneer in my celi enough to stick with pioneer audio equippment in the accord. Im not looking for crazy bass, and therefore have ruled out getting any type of sub. Second, the Premier line of pioneer seems to cater to sub users, so im not going with that line of deck, either. In all honesty, my 50x4 mosfet $130 pioneer deck with stock 6 speaker setup in the celi sounds really good to my ears, so i'm not looking for anything much more powerful for my accord (less distortion with bass would be nice, but other that that, nothing crazy). Ive decided on this deck so far-
-DEH-P3800MP.
Now, keeping in mind that the accord comes with 2 6.5 speakers in the lower front door pannels, and 2 6x9 speakers in the rear shelf (no tweeters, its an LX), whats the likelyhood that this alone will produce respectable clarity? At this point, ive been told to not count on it (by salespeople), and go for an amp right away, or new speakers asap... whats that consensus (ive dug around enough to find out that from the factory, US accords come with pioneer speakers)? I figured speakers should come first, and amp second if the "just deck" is crap. Good call? My choice of speakers (keeping in mind i just want a clean sound, not insane attention seeking noise) for the front are TS-G1641R or TS-A631P. I'm assuming the latter are better- but is it worth the jump? For the rear- ive decided on TS-A6971R or TS-A931P. Again, wich would be smart? Also, does anybody think all 4 at once, or just a set? The amp is the last on my mind, and IF i go there (unless im just clueless so far), im thinking this amp- GM-3200T- would inhance everything to a nice sounding system. Am I crazy? Doing the right thing? I really could use some better advice at this point...

[Silver94CelicaOw...]

My recommendation is as follows. From what I read you're having a shop install these items, right?

Start with your headunit.....buy yourself a wiring harness, and just do it yourself. Its a pretty straightfoward job, and only requires that you match the leads from your headunit harness that clips in the back of the stereo to the harness that you'll clip into your factory plug. Most wiring harnesses will come with a color-coded booklet that explains all the leads on their harness....just match these wires on the headunit, which will be color coded and labeled or indicated in the owners manual what their purpose is. Once your done you'll walk away with a solid understanding of what you're doing, and be ready to take the next step.

Get comfortable with the way the headunit adjusts your EQ's.....you may just be able to dial in a nice clean and crisp high end in the speakers and give the low end some more punch with the factory speakers. Give it a try and see how you feel from there.

The speakers you lnked look like they are all good. Realisticly looking at the specs of both series speakers, the first ones you linked for both the front and the back will do just fine. They can handle all the power of the headunit easily, and the highs are rated to 33Khz. The human ear can only hear as high as about 22-23khz, so the high end reproduction should be up to task on any of those speakers. Also alot of midrange speakers are rated at reiculous power levels, of which you'll probably only be hitting maybe 15-25 watts on a moderately loud volume that you'll be using. Any of those speakers can handle those levels as well. I would suggest going to a place like Circuit City or Best Buy so that you can listen to a speaker before you buy it. Also if you decide you hate them or have trouble, you can just return them within 30 days and you're good to go....no problems.

If you're just using four speakers, the 4 channels of headunit power will be more than sufficient to power the front and rears clearly. With this configuration there shouldn't be a need for any amps or anything. The most difficult thing you'll have to do with any of this is taking out panels to wire your speaker leads, and installing a pocket for the stereo to mount into. Usually for Hondas, its really easy.....I've done a few and they were all pretty straightfoward.



Just one step at a time. Headunit...then see how it sounds. Not clear or full enough? Get yourself a set of front and rear component speakers. No need for ANY amps unless you push very high wattage speakers and don't use the headunit to power the speakers, or use extra speakers like woofers or tweeters.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any questions....I've been in your situation before and hopefully I can help you make the right choice the first time.