Free Car audio what should i get?

Well, I have finally stumbled across a question where I can truly consider myself to be an expert…. I’ve been selling and doing car audio installations for almost 10 years. I have competed in stereo competitions and have been invited to two World Finals (just couldn’t spend the $1500 to register and for room and board while we were there.)

So, after that. My suggestions are this….and I just got done doing this in a buddy’s ’67 Mustang (I know) last year. A pair of 6-1/2” components in the front and a pair in the rear. A deck built into the glove box to retain factory looks. A 4 channel amp mounted in the trunk. You can add a small sub amp and a 10” sub to fill in the lows – you don’t have to rattle the windows if you don’t want to- not all subs will do that.

Reasoning. Round speakers will produce better (clearer) sound than oval speakers like 6x9’s. Go with the component speakers to separate frequency responsibilities. Component speakers use a separate crossover mounted away from the speakers to send only the highest frequencies to the tweeter and the mid frequencies to the 6-1/2” round woofer. This will help keep everything nice and clean sounding. Adding the four channel amplifier to these four sets of component speakers will make them be much more efficient. Most head units only put out about 15-25 watts rms. Most of the speakers I’m going to recommend want about 50-75 watts rms to upwards of 100-125 watts.

Boss, Pyle, Dual – STAY AWAY!!

Pioneer – Great headunits – won’t use anything else for a good headunit. Look for one that has three sets of preamp outputs. This will largely let you critique the sound of the system when adding a four channel amp.

Pioneer or Kenwood – use either of these for your component speakers – go for the pioneer premier series. However, if you can stray from your manufacturers list – go for Kicker, Infinity Kappa, or Polk.

Amplifiers – From your list, Kenwood is OK. But, again, if you can stray from the list, look for Kicker, Alpine, or Infinity for a 4 channel amp. If you are looking for doing a small 10” sub in the back, go with a Kicker or Alpine 250 – 400 watt mono amp. You could do a 10” pioneer premier sub from your list with this wattage, or you could look for a Kicker CompVR dual 4 ohm sub.

You’ll want to get a four gauge amplifier kit that includes a capacitor or get a separate 1 Farad capacitor – this will do two things, help reduce any alternator whine in the audio signal, and also help protect your alternator and battery from any sudden drain.

If you have any questions, let me know! :cheers: