New Double DIN Pioneer installed, nice but I'm not 'whelmed' with sound

Budget stereo upgrade... I put in a new Pioneer DMH-1770NEX. Easy install, wow. I've been putting stereos in cars since the late 70's, anyone remember the 'Supertuner' with the big dial? This was by far the simplest.

I previously put in some Kenwood KFC‑C6866S I got for a whopping $30 a pair. Again, times are tight and I know the limitations that brings.. They only sounded slightly better than the stock ones and, well, that crappy stock unit had to be the main culprit. I was hopeful (but not deluded) that four 6x8's and the now 50 watts of clean power would shake the roof. Well actually, nah I wasn't really expecting miracles.

That Pioneer weighs about 2 lbs, and for $300 is quite impressive overall. It needs an amp though, and thankfully I have a compact one I can put in. It's my kid's car and I'm not going to go component and high end.... yet. He had high hopes for the sound as well and is happy overall because he can use Apple Carplay, bluetooth, etc. But being an inveterate and veteran tinkerer, I gotta throw an amp in. Oh and a sub too. Ha!

 

A nice little 5 channel amp will help a lot.

 

There's much to be upgraded in the music realm for 1st gens. You might as well be starting with a sheet metal box with plastic loosely attached to it.

 

Thats pretty much every car I owned for first 25 years - first a '72 Toyota Corona 4 door, then a succession of Fiat 124 Sport Coupes, Sciroccos, GTIs. Etc.

My first stereo install went awry, I slipped with a scrwedriver when trying to figure out a ground location, and punctured my heater core. I was 18, broke, and stupid. I'm no longer 18 and broke.

I then moved up to Mammoth Lakes and spent a year skiing. No heater? No problem! Just scrape the inside and outside of the windshield.

That 18RC was indestructible except the cam chain tensioner gave up about a week after I bought it. I'd only ever worked on tractors and bicycles, but gave it a try. I fixed it but put the cam in 180 out of whack. I put the distributor on 180 out and all was good. Wonder if anyone ever worked on it after me. It ran fine but a box of rocks past 4K RPM or so. The 1.6L DOHC Fiat was a revelation, the more you caned it the nicer it felt. Still that Toyota was bomb proof and dang, it'd pull 40MPH up Sherwin grade.