This is just my opinion and im sure im either wrong or someone else will disagree with me If I were upgrading the system in the car with some subs and amp, I would upgrade the stock HU only bc with most aftermarket radios you have better tuning capabilities... there is far more you can tweek with an aftermarket than with the stock unit. And i may be wrong, but i dont know if the stock unit had the outputs needed ( i think it might though... )
Hope that helps..
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It's not about what you have under the hood, it's about who you have behind the wheel...
you can make the stock head unit work with whatever you need. Either you get an amp that can use the head unit signal, or you can get a line-out converter to use with any RCA Pre-out type amp connections. My system runs off the stock HU. That's a 5-channel amp in the rear and it powers all 4 speakers and the sub. I prefer tuning with the amp rather than the HU, so that's what I've got done in mine. All the filters/frequencys/gains are tuned with the amp, that way I don't have to worry about some dickhead passenger screwing the goods when they fuck with the stereo ( my little brother did that in my old car). All I gotta do is turn up the tunes and enjoy. That being said there are limitations. The stock HU's will distort a bit, and on MP3 files you can sometimes hear crackling because the unpure signal from the HU is then amplified. Most aftermarket HU's give much clearer signals so you can get better sound reproduction. If you are looking to upgrade from a stock HU to another stock HU, I would recommend just going with an aftermarket HU, in the end you'll be happier.
RPIJG wrote: you can make the stock head unit work with whatever you need. Either you get an amp that can use the head unit signal, or you can get a line-out converter to use with any RCA Pre-out type amp connections. My system runs off the stock HU. That's a 5-channel amp in the rear and it powers all 4 speakers and the sub. I prefer tuning with the amp rather than the HU, so that's what I've got done in mine. All the filters/frequencys/gains are tuned with the amp, that way I don't have to worry about some dickhead passenger screwing the goods when they fuck with the stereo ( my little brother did that in my old car). All I gotta do is turn up the tunes and enjoy. That being said there are limitations. The stock HU's will distort a bit, and on MP3 files you can sometimes hear crackling because the unpure signal from the HU is then amplified. Most aftermarket HU's give much clearer signals so you can get better sound reproduction. If you are looking to upgrade from a stock HU to another stock HU, I would recommend just going with an aftermarket HU, in the end you'll be happier.
What Jose said....I still use my stock HU with aftermarket amps, subwoofer, speakers...and it works fine...it's what us cheap skates call "The Stealth Look"....
Last edited on Fri Apr 22nd, 2005 01:32 pm by Blurry
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well, beeing an audio engineer i'm pretty particular about my stereo. so i built my own system. i'm using the stock deck. there's a four channel amp in the trunk poweing two 10" sub boxes (that i built). the four full range speakers still run off the deck but i installed these things called "bass blockers" that i got from http://www.crutchfield.com . they're really just a capacitor that you put on the positive lead of the speaker, but they do the trick.
it probly won't make your ears bleed, but then again i was going for tone and full, even frequency responce. (although the two tens move quite a bit of air)
____________________ 04 ZY ZX3/2.3L PZEV/K&N Typhoon CAI/FS race exaust/SVT suspension/black 18" L8 rims/FS front stress bar/steeda STS/black projector LED headlights (HID)/black alteza taillights/smoked side markers/euro upper front grille/euro LED 3rd brake lights/
uuuuummmmm.........you can get better frequency response with a crossover and control the frequencies that go to the speakers even better. even look at eq's (equalizers) as well.
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audiojunkie wrote: uuuuummmmm.........you can get better frequency response with a crossover and control the frequencies that go to the speakers even better. even look at eq's (equalizers) as well.
very very true, (i made sure i matched my parts so the crossover frequencies lined up) actually i've got two subs, each running a different frequency range. (one is about 75-0 and the other is about 120-0) this gives me a really nice curve with no loss of power but be careful cause the phazing can be tricky.
also i want to clarify that i don't contradict what 03chromechica was saying about aftermarket units. the stock ones aren't very fancy as far as tweaking goes. (i just happend to get what i wanted from the stock unit, and they are totaly compatable with any amp setup) an aftermarket unit would give you alot more freedom to shape sound.
____________________ 04 ZY ZX3/2.3L PZEV/K&N Typhoon CAI/FS race exaust/SVT suspension/black 18" L8 rims/FS front stress bar/steeda STS/black projector LED headlights (HID)/black alteza taillights/smoked side markers/euro upper front grille/euro LED 3rd brake lights/
If I were upgrading the system in the car with some subs and amp, I would upgrade the stock HU only bc with most aftermarket radios you have better tuning capabilities... there is far more you can tweek with an aftermarket than with the stock unit. And i may be wrong, but i dont know if the stock unit had the outputs needed ( i think it might though... )
