Car Stereo's. Suggestions and how to.

Factual Questions
1

I have a 2004 Pontiac Vibe. I am interested in replaced the audio system that came with the car. But I have two questions.

  1. Any idea how I replace it? Any instructions you can think of? I looked online briefly but I didn’t find anything.

  2. Any suggestions on car radios? I am looking for something plain but classy. Something simple but nice. When I look in the stores, the radios are just too complicated. Essentially, simple but usable. I want an auxiliary port. That’s my main concern. I drove a 2008 Dodge Caliber for a bit last month and I LOVED that speaker system.

2

Crutchfield.com. They’re more expensive than most, but they’ll give you relatively detailed instructions on how to take the dash panel off, which is the hardest part (although usually you just have to find the right spot and tug, it depends). Also, their customer service is phenomenal, and they have a “Fit Your Car” feature on their website, so they only offer parts that will work for you. You can also search by price and only include decks that have 1/8" male or RCA axillary ports, an iPod connector, or even a USB port.

Basically you have to pop the trim off your car, unscrew the OEM deck, and unhook the harness. Then, depending on what type of harness you buy, you either snap the new one directly from the deck to the car, or solder all the wires from the harness Crutchfield gives you to the harness in the stereo box. It’s all color coded, and I just used heat activated shrink wrap instead of solder. Then attach the bracket (that Crutchfield recommends for you to the new deck, screw it on, and then use the bolts you removed earlier to secure it in place. I’ve done about half a dozen installs, and never had a problem with not securing the back strap they talk about but don’t include. One last thing, since it’s a GM car, you’ll have to use an adapter for the antenna, since GM uses a smaller coaxial than all the other auto manufacturers for some reason.

[del]It sounds like you’d rather not spend more than $100, so here are a few lower end models that seem like what you’re looking for:
Kenwood
Sony
Clarion[/del]

Turns out if you get one of those it’s going to be an extra $45 for install stuff, but you’ll get them all “free” if you spend at least $129 on the deck (basically $10 more for an upgrade, well worth it), so here are my new recommendations:
Kenwood
Blauplunkt London or Blaupunkt San Diego
Clarion
Better Kenwood
Pioneer
This Sony if you wantan iPod connection, this one if you want to use a flashdrive USB with it.

And if you’ll go up to $150, I would highly, highly recommend Alpine . To be honest, I bought my first one ten years ago when I was 16 because of Eazy E’s song “Boys N the Hood”, where he says, “My boy JD was a friend of mine, till I caught him in my car trying to steal my Alpine,” but I’ll tell you what, they’re a remarkable product, IMHO, and offer great features for the money. They run a bit high end, but that model would be the one I would recommend, for sure.

If you have any other questions or clarifications, feel free to PM me if somebody doesn’t drop by the thread to answer it for you and I don’t make it back.

3

Same thing for me , only mine is a sunfire but I have the documentation for taking the trim and stuff off. But a couple of questions on the stereo.

Do they need an amplifier and speakers as well, supposedly I had some top end speakers that came with the stock deck.

And for stereos that advertise for bluetooth, like a pioneer model I noticed is it limited service or should I expect a full range of services like playing music from my phone thru the stereo and using the sound system as a hands free.

Declan

4

The decks are pretty universal. It’s really easy to click on the features you want on the left side after you select “Outfit Your Car” in the car stereo section of the site (it’s the very first tab). I’m 99% sure without changing the search parameters that they’ll work for your Sunfire, too.

Car stereos are very modular, that is, can replace the speakers or deck of any factory system (that I know of) without having to replace the other.

If you have a factory amp (which upgraded systems generally do, but please check without taking my word for it on this part. Crutchfield’s site ought to be able to help you in “Outfit Your Car” if you know what type of system it is), instead of splicing the wires from your car specific harness to the deck’s harness, what you’ll do is use a -different- harness that connects the RCA out from your deck to a clip that you can just plug straight in. You’ll still have to use wirenuts or shrinkwrap for the power, ground, and possibly the power antenna and remote to an external amp. By external I mean one that’s pushing subwoofers. This is a lot easier, because you only have to join 3 or 4 wires instead of all 10 or so.

If you don’t have a factory amp, even the lowest end decks are rated at 17 Watts RMS (about 30 Watts peak) per channel, which is designated as 17Wx4, and is plenty to push most factory speakers. I’ve always spent about $1000 for my systems (deck, door speakers, amp, subs), and never used an amp for speakers that aren’t subs. If you’re going to put subs in, though, I advise getting it professionally installed.

I’m going to have to answer this one by saying I don’t know. I have a higher end Alpine deck, and it required a separate component for BlueTooth. I can use it to play music, and talk on my phone with it, but I don’t know how standard that is. Be wary, though, because for the Pioneer I linked to, it’ll come up under BlueTooth, but it’s BlueTooth ready, which means you’ll need a separate component like I did, which ran about $100 at the time, but they’ve probably gone down.

Hope that answers everything, sorry it’s so sloppy, I’m about ready to crash.

5

Thanks for the reply , if I have any more questions I will drop ya a pm.

Declan

6

Just FYI, if your factory system isn’t a DIN-type (ie. the standard size that looks about 6" wide and 2.5" tall) you’re going to have all kinds of problems installing an aftermarket stereo.

Not so much with the wiring harness, but with actually getting it to fit into the dash.

7

I disagree. The adapter kits they make are pretty awesome, and I’ve installed two stereos that weren’t DIN (I think one was in a Suzuki and the other in a Honda, but it’s been awhile) without any problems. They make a little metal sleeve that comes with the aftermarket deck, IIRC. But, Crutchfield will sell you the piece you need, so it shouldn’t be too bad. Regardless, both of these posters have GM vehicles, which use DIN decks.

Just to clarify what I was trying to say last night about the RCA cables, an amp wants a low voltage input, somewhere between 1.5 and 5 Volts. However, line out directly to the speakers is at least 17 Watts RMS ( I don’t know the amperage), so if you want to connect those lines directly to the amp, you have to put it in through a different connection. But, again, Crutchfield will tell you which one you need.

8

Not really. I had an SRT4 for awhile with a crushing system in it and the factory radio was gigantic, and the Alpine head unit I had installed was very slim by comparison. The kits simply include black plastic mounting plates that mask the empty space(s) that you factory radio left behind.

As for the OP, I’ll second Crutchfield for it’s ease of use if you are even remotely a DIYer. Otherwise you’ll need to go to an audio shop or even a Circuit City to have your stuff installed for you.

And I’ll also second the professional installation on subs/amps. Running power wire from your engine compartment into your car can be dicey, same with running RCA’s from amps to the head unit.

My car had two amps, one to power the 12’s I was using and another to power two 6x9’s, two 6 1/2’s and two 1# tweets. I miss that system and car, but I had kids, needed a more sensible car for stowage, and I needed to retain a shred of my ability to hear.

9

GM vehicles always use “double DIN” decks. What do you stick in the other half of the slot?

10

There are two options. One type puts the new deck right in the middle. That’s how it is on my Charger, and it looks a bit silly because it still has Mr. Potato Head looking “ears” on each side where the volume and tuner knobs were on the factory deck. The other is to put the deck on top, and have a little cubby hole on the bottom. They make fancy ones that have a push latch, and ones that are just open. I’m sure Crutchfield offers both types.

11

Another vote for Crutchfield. I expected them to laugh, but when I wanted to install a Becker Grand Prix (from a 560 SL) into my 1985 Ford van, they came up with a harness and mounting assistance.

12

Crutchfield rocks, plain and simple.

I bought a CD player from them as a scratch & dent because I wanted a particular model which was out of production and that’s all they had in stock. Well, it was more dented than scratched and had a problem, so I sent it back for replacement. A week or so after the replacement came, I got an envelope from Crutchfield with the CD I’d accidentally left inside the player I returned.

13

Thanks everyone. Lots of things to look at. It is double DIN so I will need to use some sort of cubby hole underneath it.

Big thanks Santo. I will check that site out in the morning.

14

No problem. Let us know what you guys decide to go with.

15

Speaking of aftermarket gear-- My car has something like a 1.75 DIN opening.
I’ve had two stereos stolen, and I wish the guy who owned the car before me had never ripped out the factory gear and replaced it with their easily-stolen-and-resold setup.
I end up paying more the replace the window than the shit they stole, damnit.
Is there anyone out there who makes this stuff, or am I stuck with hitting the salvage yards?

[sub]Yeah, I could dremel and putty a 2 DIN in there, but it would be a lot of work, and said equipment would be worth stealing even more, eh?[/sub]

16

You could get a decent alarm for around 2-300 bucks. Or just put a blinking LED on your dashboard.

17

Did that, got one, broken window, yank the gear, one minute, me in my underwear in bed, dipshit gone, open door, me outside, FUCK!

The bad guys must be more skittish up there, FoieGrasIsEvil.

18

That’s possible. I had a $3000 system in a car I mentioned upthread and I never had anything stolen due to the alarm I had.
Woke me up a lot at night during thunderstorms, though!

19

See, I had a $150 cheapass system. Twice. I just want one that’s not so easy to yank out and resell for $20 at the flea market as a factory/model/dash/fitted one would be.

For now, I deal with a gaping hole in the dash.

20

Paint it pink. People who steal stereos are looking for quick cash and it pink stereos simply can’t provide it.