Speakers.

[balboasdelight]

Originally Posted by coolblink

it all depends what your budget is

Ah yes, that pesky little budget thing!

There is another consideration if you plan to swap the head unit -- you will lose the chimes (Thank God!) and likely OnStar, if you have it. That stuff is routed through the radio. You can buy an adapter to "capture" it and pump it into an aftermarket head unit, but that's just another expense, another box to wire up, and another failure point.

OTOH, you can pick and choose your features (multi-CDs, MP3, WMA, remote control (is the dashboard really *that* far to reach?), etc.). They also just plain make better sound (higher quality audio circuits, more oversampling, etc.). Also, most have preamp outputs, making it that much easier to wire up a power amplifier.

So, there are several price points:

Budget: Swap out the 4 speakers with good quality, non-component units (e.g., the 6002's, $50/pair on eBay), and add 2 power amps (possibly later). This will give you the cleanest sound (and plenty of volume) out of your factory head unit.

High end: See coolblink's post. You can do this in steps. I'd go head unit first, then amps and speakers later (you really don't want to do component speakers first; your factory head unit just can't drive them, and you won't be happy with the sound).

Mid-range: Find a head unit with good output power, high efficiency non-component speakers, and no amp. This will be the easiest to wire up.

Not to over-hype them (no connection or anything), but this is crutchfield's strong point. Call them up, give them a budget, and tell them what you listen to and what you want to achieve. They'll walk you through the trade-off's of spending more money here and less there, and can advise you on what you need to do now and what can wait (and what to buy now if you know what you're going to add later).

This can be confusing, particularly when you start looking at the dazzling array of options. Like all gadget purchases, if you're like me, watch out for what I call "feature creep" -- every bell and whistle you read about becomes a "must have" option, and before long you've blown your budget. The good news is that if you stick to good stuff (Kenwood, Pioneer, Infinity, Blaupunkt, etc.), once you hook it up it will almost certainly sound a lot better than the factory rig.

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