Audio-Retard needs help!

All:
Boy, have I waded into the DEEP END of the pool here. I am more confused now, after spending an hour searching and reading than I was when I began!

Here is what I want:
I want to upgrade my speakers and install an amp and sub in my 05 DC. I want to use the stock head unit.

I listen to:
Everything. Country and rock mainly, but me and Lil' Wayne are not strangers. I want the speakers to handle the full gammut and still sound good. I dont need what I call "ignorant bass" that will rattle the teeth out of my head, but a decent hitting sub is never bad.

I want to spend:
500-600 installed.

I am an audio retard, gents. Help me out. I am not the guy whos gonna be able to tell if its "Muddy in the left rear" or anythign like that...just give me a good starting point to go into Best-Buy/local stero shop so I have a general idea and dont get robbed blind. Also, if my expectation is unrealistic, please give me advice.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

 

Talk to Mr. Marv. He will answer all your questions well and can set it up for you.

 

Calling yourself "Retard" is a bit harsh. Are you OK?

 

Self depricating humor, brother

 

i hate to say it, but your budget is a little slim for the setup you want if your going to pay to have it installed. if you decide you want to take a swing at it yourself, we might be in business.

first thing i m going to ask is why you want to stay with the oem head unit? for around the same price you will pay for a decent in line converter (you need this to run your subwoofer amplifier) you could get yourself into a decent head unit.

this head unit has separate rca outputs for the sub, and has a usb input if you decide you want to have an external flash drive with all your music instead of cd's. 169.99

this box already has a subwoofer that would fit your described needs just fine 199.99

everyone has their favorite speaker. this is where you don't want to skimp.
since you arent going to amplify your speakers, you need to find a set that is designed to run off as low rms wattage as possible. i have heard great things about these speakers. 269.99

your also going to need an amp and some wiring, but i don't have anymore time to find one right now. ill look around tonight for ya.

 

Times 2 on the speakers. I already got flamed for this once, but IMO any cheapers speakers than those are just not worth paying a penny for. As long as it is installed with a good baffle

 

Actually jason, I was going to suggest to him to hold off on a sub, and DEADEN his car first to go with some new speakers and possibly head unit. What do you think

 

he said he wants a sub... so i would go ahead and do it, then deaden later if it needs it. that sub won't be rattling his truck apart or anything like that. if he has any spare change, it wouldnt hurt to deaden the doors a bit...

 

the first thing i got rid of when i bought my tacoma was the factory head unit. now i have bluetooth and hd radio!

your stock head unit doesn't have pre-outs for a subwoofer, so you'll have to hack your rear speaker wiring and split it off to a pair of crossovers. does your factory stereo have a remote wire to turn on the amp? another thing you should consider! my friend did this one time with a factory head unit, so it can be done, but it sounded horrible! i don't know why you'd want to spend $600 so your system can sound like garbage. just my $.02

spend the money and get a good head unit. you're going to pull the old one out anyways (and its so easy to remove!). do it right the first time!

 

But my advice to him is if the budget doesn't allow it, You will get the best sound from good speakers installed properly. Personally I consider deadening the doors way more important than a sub and essential in a proper install

 

well as far as we know, he isn't even interested in doing the install himself...

 

I think you are refering to a LOC (line output converter) when you mention an in line converter. You would be hard pressed to find a decent receiver for the price of a decent LOC. They can be had all day long for under $50, that cannot be said for decent HU's.

Now, if you are talking about signal processing to remove the factory HU's active bass blockers at higher volumes, then yes, you can get get a decent HU for the same price as those devices.


To the OP... I would suggest installing much of this yourself. It really isn't terribly difficult, and there are several of us here that can walk you through the process. I don't want to get in a back an forth debate with others here on what is the most important thing to install first, because this is more dependent on what functionality you are wanting.

So, we can get into that more on your next post.

 

Ok, never mind, I'll just reply to this post to discuss items. I will go with pretty simple terms and concepts when discribing things here. If you or anyone else wants more technical descriptions of what is going on, then just ask.

To use the stock HU you will need an LOC. This will change the signal that would normall power your stock speakers and change it to a signal that aftermarket amplifiers can use. Basically it takes the signal from speaker wires and change it to an RCA cable. Expect to spend around $40.

For an amplifier, nothing fancy is needed. But, you will likely want to watch the depth of the amp, because I am figuring you will likely want to put it under one of the front seats. If buying new, expect to spend $200

For speakers, I would recommend getting a set of 6.5" componet speakers. These have the tweeter seperate from the woofer. Go to audio shops or best buy or where ever you can, and listen to different types of speakers. Find something that you like. You might be surpised at what you will be able to hear from different brands and different lines with in brands. To start off, expect to spend $200.

For installation accessories, you will need power wire to power the amp. I'd recommend running new speaker wire as well. www.Knukonceptz.com has some really good quality wire and accessories for a pretty good price. Expect to spend about $70 for everything you need. For the speakers in the doors, you will need mounting baffles. If you are looking to do subs at some point, I'd suggest chatting with MrMarv about making you a set of baffles, as you can see a small sample of the nice work he does before you buy a box for a sub box. You can discuss that price with Marv.

If I've missed anything, just ask.

 

BTW, at your budget level, without doing the installation yourself, you are going to be very limited on what you can install subwoofer wise. Personally, I like a solid 10" sub (very partial to Image Dynamics IDQ's) and a sealed box. You will need an amp to power that sub, and the wiring accessories required to hook up that amp and work with the factory speaker level outputs. All in, you'd be looking around $500 for this equipment. Not sure if you can get it installed within your budget.

 

I have tons of thoughts about this having just installed my HU, rear speakers, and steering whee interface. And about to do the rest.

I'll address a couple things:
1. I hate ordering things. I like to go buy right now ALWAYS.
BUT with stereo equipment, I always by at least 1/2 my components online... At your budget of $500-$600, you need to save as much as you can. The deck I purchased was $100 more in local stores.. you may be able to save $40-$100 by ordering your highest cost components online.

2. the head unit is very important to me for its FEATURES.
I have to have ipod video&music ability, dvd player, easy e-brake bypass, friendly with amps etc..

If you have no idea what deck to buy, then I would focus on the features that you will use most ... But I would get as many features as possible in case you want to upgrade.. It would suck to have to buy a new HU just for 1 must have feature you may want later.

As far as the install, I think you should do it.
when you buy a dash kit, and wire harenesses, it really couldn't be easier. Once you've disassembled it a few times you'll be fast and confident. Just disconnect negative battery and you can't do "much" damage if you can follow instructions.

1 reason you might pay though is you have ZERO TOOLS...
However, i'm dead sure you have friends with the required tools, and maybe even a little experience ?? you could pay them with beer and food to help you. Next upgrade you won't need help.

 

Does anyone know for sure if the JBL or non-JBL head unit does this? It might when you have ASL enabled, but I don not think it does when it is disabled.

 

The non-JBL does for sure and I suspect that the JBL version does so as well. But I must admit, this is solely based on what my ears are hearing versus an actual spectrum analyzer.

 

I have the JBL unit and when ASL is disabled I do not believe it is cutting the level of the sub at higher volumes, but I could be wrong.

ASL not only adjusts the volume but also messes with the bass and treble levels as well.