New Door Speakers and headunit

[jeepinbanditrider]

Looking for some decent door speakers and a new headunit. There's a cheapo headunit in there now and I assume cheapo door speakers and it just sounds like crap.

Maybe I'm spoiled by my Ion Redline's sound system or something but I would like something that produced some depth to it's music.

Nothing too pricey hopefully but I'm willing to budget probably 300 dollars for a decent headunit and door speakers.

[Version3]

I recently put a $130 Sony head unit in mine, and I'm pretty happy with it. MP3 compatibility, doesn't have a bunch of motorized garbage on it, has a USB port with full support for iPod/iPhone control (rather than 'ready') and has a Aux audio port for other devices as well. Sounds pretty decent, and should do a fine job of driving pretty much any 6 1/2" door speaker you can identify.

This is the model I have: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_158GT54...&tp=5684&avf=N

No HD Radio, but I listen to my phone 99.9% of the time anyway.

For speakers, I've got a couple I'm eying, and expect this is what I'm sticking under the tree for myself. For $100 Boston Acoustics has a great set http://www.crutchfield.com/p_065S65R...5RC.html?tp=95, and I'm trying to convince myself that my head unit along has enough power to drive either these JL Audio units:http://www.crutchfield.com/p_136TR60...CXi.html?tp=95 or these Infinity Kappas: http://signature.crutchfield.com/s_1...-9i.html?tp=95. I should add that you'd have to check the mount depth and such on the JLs and the Infinities, as Crutchfield didn't list them as compatible. Sometimes this is not 100% reliable but the numbers don't lie.

I really want to like the Infinity speakers, but I've always had trouble falling 100% in love with the higher range from these. Plenty of people love them. The nice thing is, with either the JL or the Infinity, you get really close to separate component speaker performance, in a co-axial form factor.

[motorollow]

I have a 3 year old Alpine HU with ipod connection and Infinity Reference component speakers in the doors. I also have a Kenwood self-powered subwoofer in the trunk which takes up very little room. The system is not perfect, but I really like the component speakers over the standard 6.5" coaxial speakers.

[Radio-Active]

There's a lot of stuff out there for under $300 that is pretty decent. I wouldn't fool around with the JVC's with the built in HD tuners, they all sound like carp. I have a Pioneer in my truck and have had some Kenwoods in the past. I prefer the sound quality of them over most of the other brands of equal price. I would say that they have both come down in quality as well as price in the past few years. Best bet is to go shopping at Car Toys or somewhere that has a good audio room for demo purposes and then price the ones you like online.

Crutchfield is not that cheap when compared to some of the places I have used in the past.

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com

[trickyrix]

I haven't had really good luck with cheap Sony head units, but my experience ends a few years ago. The ones I owned had skippy CD players and sketchy radio reception. In their defense, they looked clean and were devoid of goofiness like animated displays and motorized faceplates.

I'll second motorollow's setup. It sounds great, and it's very similar to mine (minus the subwoofer). I've got an Alpine 9885 with the iPod cable and Sirius radio running through a set of Boston Acoustic components. The Alpine looks great, is functional and intuitive, and has a nice iPod interface.

[Version3]

I'd second your Alpine choice all day long with components like those you are running, but you couldn't make a $300 setup out of that. I was just hoping to suggest something that came close to the OPs original number.

The Sony unit does okay in most areas, I find it a little underpowered when turned up very loud, but then I find the Pioneers in the door underperform at volume as well (came with the car). But, I'm not too worried about leaving my car sitting with the top down all day long in the garage at work with my setup, and that was worth a little something extra for me.

[jeepinbanditrider]

I've found a few used units between 120 and 180 dollars.

[Titus]

I have an old Nakamichi CD-45Z headunit and loved it until the CD player broke. One of these days I will pull it out and ship it off for repair.

For door speakers, I have some kick-ass Vifa coaxial 6.5s. They have the tweeter mounted on the woofer (coaxial), but still use a full external crossover like component sets. This allows for the tweeter to be as close as possible to the woofer (which improves sound), but having the full external crossover prevents the woofer from playing full range like most coaxial speakers. The Vifas are no longer available, but there are others out there that use this superior design.

I also picked up a pair of old school Soundstream amps a while back, but have not installed them yet. They are pretty small compared to most current amplifiers, which is better for fitting in a Miata, and also sound incredible. I picked them up off of Ebay for dirt cheap. The only reason I have not installed them is because I couldn't decide on a subwoofer design. I may go ahead and install the one for the door speakers this winter if I get the head unit repaired.

[CraiginTX]

I have a 2-yr old Sony that as others have mentioned is very simple-looking. No flashy diplay, no motorized anything. Illumination matches the factory stuff very well. It plays MP3 and WMA files on disk and has both a front aux-in and dedicated iPod control with an extra adapter (iPod can live in glove box or wherever.) Think I paid $125 or so for it.

Like Titus, I'm running an old-school Soundstream amp - a D60II I picked up on ebay for $50. It fits in the tunnel behind the spare tire, along with the crossovers for my speakers.

My car had door tweeters from the factory, so I went with component speakers in the factory locations - a cheap set of Phoenix Gold components that were recommended on DIYMA. $100 shipped to me, I figured it was worth a shot - I'm not looking for ultimate SQ in a Miata. Turns out, they aren't half bad - far better than I expected.

I spent a couple summers working at a car stereo shop in Houston, and have heard some pretty spectacular systems. I'm also fairly picky about home audio, though not as much so as some on this forum.

The system in the Miata isn't THAT good - just a cheap setup that sounds tons better than it did from the factory. I can hear it clearly at any speed, top up or down, and IMO, it sounds quite a bit better than it should, given the sub-$300 price.

[Titus]

Like Titus, I'm running an old-school Soundstream amp - a D60II I picked up on ebay for $50. It fits in the tunnel behind the spare tire, along with the crossovers for my speakers.

Cool... I also have the D60II for my door speakers. I was trying find another one for the sub I never built when I came across an SA120 (60x2 w/ built in crossover) for what I had budgeted for the second D60II, so I got it.

In high school, I worked solely for the purpose of buying car stereo components. I had an '88 Acura Integra that won 1st place in multiple events in the 250w class. When it was all stolen while the car was parked in my dormitory parking lot and the insurance refused to cover it, I swore I would never again do a high end system. Ebay prices encouraged me to try a budget system in the Miata.

[jeepinbanditrider]

Yeah I'm not looking for uber quality sound. This unit lacks range, clarity an any ability to produce bass. I'm not expecting it to be up to the same range as my Saturn just decent.

[Version3]

Titus, the integrated component design you are talking about is fantastic. I remember when they just started becoming popular. There are still instances where separate components will perform better due to the directional nature of high frequency, but if you can find a set of integrated components (co-axial style design) as you said, they will be far superior to any traditional co-axial design. I used to work at Earmark back when there was a store on Lovers and these were great for stock speaker upgrades, when people were afraid of cutting into the doors.

[Titus]

Titus, the integrated component design you are talking about is fantastic. I remember when they just started becoming popular. There are still instances where separate components will perform better due to the directional nature of high frequency, but if you can find a set of integrated components (co-axial style design) as you said, they will be far superior to any traditional co-axial design. I used to work at Earmark back when there was a store on Lovers and these were great for stock speaker upgrades, when people were afraid of cutting into the doors.

Yep... I was stoked when I found my Vifas on clearance at Madisound.

[sammm]

Yep... I was stoked when I found my Vifas on clearance at Madisound.

Are they these?
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/psho...number=299-275

(I think I blew-up one of the Kenwoods I currently have in the doors)

[Version3]

The hunt for older amps on Ebay makes me want to hunt down a pair of Orion 225 HCCAs. Those were the greatest amps for just beating the hell out of a lot of smaller woofers, while claiming very low power rating. Looks like they still do some HCCA amps, I had mine back in like '93 or so. I also enjoyed the Autotek HC66. Man, I need to hide some money from the Mrs.

[Titus]

Are they these?
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/psho...number=299-275

(I think I blew-up one of the Kenwoods I currently have in the doors)

No, mine were a higher end version (A16CG09-04).


The ones at parts express do have the same install ring as mine, which has so many holes I was able to mount using all the Miata factory screw holes without having to do any drilling. It also looks like those come with caps on the tweeters that can be bypassed. That would allow you to run them as is, or add a full external crossover for improved sound. I may pick up a set or 2 of these for that price.

[Titus]

The hunt for older amps on Ebay makes me want to hunt down a pair of Orion 225 HCCAs. Those were the greatest amps for just beating the hell out of a lot of smaller woofers, while claiming very low power rating. Looks like they still do some HCCA amps, I had mine back in like '93 or so. I also enjoyed the Autotek HC66. Man, I need to hide some money from the Mrs.

DEI bought up Orion, Precision Power, and a/d/s/ and screwed them all up. IIRC they ended up killing off the ads line completely and I wouldn't trust the Orion or PPI stuff from them. Stick to pre-2k stuff on Ebay and you should be fine.

[CraiginTX]

Stick to pre-2k stuff on Ebay and you should be fine.

There was pretty fun gear back in the day. I had a pair of the Soundstream Reference subs with the big cast aluminum basket. MMMMmmmm.... Thought about looking for a classic Nak head unit, but in the end went for cheap/disposable + iPod for the Miata.

[Version3]

Yeah, I was reading about all of the buy-ups and how the gear is crap now. Nobody seems to have a solid review of the new HCCA amps. I'd rather get the older ones anyway.

[Titus]

Yeah, I was reading about all of the buy-ups and how the gear is crap now. Nobody seems to have a solid review of the new HCCA amps. I'd rather get the older ones anyway.

I believe Rockford Fosgate, JL Audio, and Kicker have avoided the consolidations. They are the only quality companies from "the old days" that I know of that remain independent and are still selling speakers and amplifiers for cars.