Just bought 99 Rodeo...speaker questions

[panda3333]

Hi all,

This might belong in car stereo, but I"m not sure so I'll ask here first.

I have little audio knowledge, I'm a 36 year old woman who just likes to listen to music ALL THE TIME. I have a huge CD collection and I spend a lot of time in my car. I know about home audio but when it comes to finding speakers and a head unit that will fit my new car...well...I'm lost.

From what I gather, I will need a new head unit, the one in my car is stock and it's a tape player. I need a CD player. Then I need four speakers and a subwoofer and an amplifier. That's all I'm interested in buying. I don't need a lot of bells and whistles.

I don't want to spend a fortune, $400 at the most. Maybe 500. I don't need to impress anyone, just myself. I like it loud, but not "teenager loud" if you know what I mean. I really want it to be clear more than loud.

Is there anyway to get Bose speakers for this car? And what if I find speakers I want but they aren't "a match" but those are the ones I want?

Any help is appreciated!

[Ramblin Fever]

You've come to the right place; there are many Isuzu owners who have upgraded.

I for one, FINALLY upgraded my 10yr old truck's stereo system, after, like you, liking to listen to music all the time, and having been stuck in the old tape-deck days.

I upgraded my head unit to a Panasonic mid-level quality CD/WMA/MP3/Sirius sytem, the front speakers are (crap! I forgot, paperwork is downstairs in the filing cabinet, too lazy right now to go look), but I think they're JP's or something like that, in the 5" size.

After I replaced the factory front speakers, I initially had Infinity's in the 4" size - they were way too tinny sounding for my preference.

My rear speakers are still original, I will not replace those til they actually die - as I haven't found/heard another set that sounded better.

I don't have a subwoofer, and probably will never have one - don't really have room for it; and with just the upgrading the stereo and the front speakers, there is a BIG difference. I'm happy now.

[panda3333]

I appreciate your help. When I added a sub to my computer's system, I became addicted to bass!

But with the car, I'm gonna start with a head unit and two new rear speakers. The ones in mine are blown. The front speakers sound pretty good but I still want new ones. So I think i'll build it piece by piece as I can afford it.

Speaker size...can I fit 6x9's in my front doors?

[pharm_rodeo]

I would personally invest in an MP3 player and use an aux. connection. I really don't see the point in carrying around CD's when you can have thousands of songs at your fingertips with, let's say an IPOD. If you have the OEM stereo you can buy a cheap aux connector from crutchfield. I installed a Pioneer and bought their IPOD connector. I can control the IPOD via the stereo and it recharges it. Now the only problem I have is that I have hundreds of blank CD's sitting around.

[marcre]

ipod is nice, I use one in my car, but it adds to the price(iPod's aren't cheap). Just get a CD player that plays MP3. That way you can make your own CD's and put close to 200 songs on the CD.

Do the rear speakers last. At 4" and being all the way in the back, they aren't the main source of sound. Replace the fronts with quality speakers. Spend on the front. If you want quality sound, you need an amp. You will not be disappointed.

The best for the rear if you want something more substantial would be to see if an installer can put something larger in there. That will cost more to customize the speaker openings, but would be worth it in quality of sound.

A sub will add the sound you're looking for and you don't need to go too big. I'd thing an 8" or 10" sub would do the job. The main thing is to have all speakers connected to an amp. Head units just don't have the power to provide the clear loud sound.

[AWILLIAMS64]

you can not buy bose speakers aftermarket for any car. They are only available as a a factory option and they also need an amplifier to run them with is also a factory only option. Anyways, bose are really overpriced and you can get much better sound from a lot cheaper systems. I worked in the car audio industry for 15 years as an installer and i would pull out $2000 bose factory systems and replace them w/ $1000 complete systems that would sound sooo much better. In your rodeo you could get 1 4 channel amplifier and run the interior speakers off of half the amp and get a single 10" subwoofer and run off the other half of the amp. Go to a good local stereo shop if you have one and they should be able to get you going. You may pay a little more than going to a best buy but hopefully the service and knowledge will be worth it.