Stereo installs are a snap, I've done maybe 4 or 5 of my friends cars and 3 of my cars, all full setups and I'm self taught. So if I could do it no doubt you should be able to get it. But if you wanna take it somewhere just depends where you go, my friend went to get his head unit installed, asked me to go with him, the shop wanted to charge him $80 plus harness cost which is about 20 bucks. AND, he said it would take 2 hours. I said screw that, bought the harness, took it home, had it in in under 30 minutes. You just gotta find a place that isn't lookin to rip you off.

 

There are two controls on the side of the unit which can be turned with a flat head screw driver. One is the crossover level and the other is the volume level. They are a total PIA to adjust and are not clearly marked. I drove around for about 45 minutes one day with a flash light and screwdriver tweaking the adjustments. Mine came from the factory with the crossover and volume level at the highest point and, like I said above, it sounded terrible.

FWIW, I got the upgraded speakers/subwoofer along with the security system for ~$250. 5 bills is WAY too much and I wouldn't even consider spending that kind of money on a factory system.

 

Another tip if you're buying and/or having a system installed:

Pay cash and do not give them your address. There are some shops out there who will install your stuff, know it's good and then go to your address you gave them to steal it back.

 

THANKS EVERYONE! Anyone have a website or something that i could learn some stuff from? BlingBlingBlue: LOL really? have any stories bout stuff like that?

 

thanks!

 

Let's just say that I've known some scammers in my life time. These were friends of friends...

 

Best relativley cheap path is new deck, upgrade front speakers, small 2 channel amp, and 4 ohm sub. Reason to get a 2 channel amp and 4 ohm sub is to bridge for more power. Also, a 2 channel amp can always be used later to power the fronts.

 

Yeah - what he said...I'm actually quite impressed by the head unit itself - a 6 disk changer with no outside moving parts and a cassette player built into one unit? There aren't many aftermarket head units out there that offer that, and those that do are really expensive. It would be nice if it had preouts (even if just a L and R channel) so you could preserve it while adding some amps...

I don't have the factory sub. I'm sorry, 8 inch woofer is only good for low mid-range. That is not a bass speaker. 10 inch is better but you won't get to true bass (I'm talking frequency response, not "thump" power which is sometimes mistaken for bass - but can be cool nonetheless) until you're into 12 inch speakers. Bose home systems use 8 inch woofers and while their enclosure lets that puppy play somewhat low, the bass unit is really playing mostly mid-range...

Overall I think the sound of the system is decent...I listen to mostly rock with these settings:

Bass at 2-3 (so as not to run out of power at louder volumes)
Treble at 4
Faded to the rear usually at 1-2 (provides a little more bass from the rear door speakers so the tweeter doesn't take over the sound)

Yes it's nowhere near a competition system...no stock system ever is (even Bose uses paper cones...dry-rot at 4-5 years!)...but it's so much better than most of the crap stock systems out there that I'm happy not upgrading it...and I used to have a $7000 competition system in my last car...maybe I've just outgrown it or am sick of running 4G wire but I'm quite content with the stock system. The tweeters actually have a decent sound stage - if you replace them, I'd keep them where they are!

 

guys im kinda lost...im gonna check out the 3 sites that someone mentioned tonight if i get a chance...and thanks for all the responses!

 

I bought a turboback, uppipe, and removed my intake silencer. Now I never turn on the stereo at all.

 

That is a damn good reason not to! I'm jealous!

 

The STI has better stock sound than my '02 WRX. With the money I'm gonna have to spend just to make it sound decent, I could be halfway done with my performance mods.

Just for reference, my opinion of decent = Lexus Mark Levinson system in my mom's SC430.

 

bone324 I feel the same way, but for when I do want some sounds I just upgraded my speakers to Infiniti's and heard a major improvement, even with the stock head unit.

Rhk118, you're not totally right, I just couldn't let go of my 6 disc in-dash head unit so I bought this converter that you tap into the rear channel speakers and bam, now you get pre-outs for an amp. Also, frequency response is all based on quality of subs too. I'm running 10" JL Audio's and they have some damn good bass... I had a friend that ran 2 10" Cerwin Vega's and another that ran 1 10" Fosgate back in the day and both those systems we'd have to wear earplugs to cruise around (pretty ghetto, I know, but this was a long time ago)

Russell Simmons, nice subs, I wanted the W3's but they only had W0's in stock and I couldn't afford the 10" W7''s at 700 a piece, maybe someday.