Can anyone in the Portland/Salem/Eugene area recommend a decent car Audio/Stereo store? I need to have a slight upgrade to the system in my camaro. I'm not exactly stereo savvy, nor do I have time to do any installation even if I wanted to. The few places that I know of I really don't care to give my business to at the moment.

 

Even though you are down there you may want to ask Howeird, he really has the stereo with wiring diagrams down! Most of it takes 5 minutes and isn't as time consuming as you may think - plus you will do a better job than they will. If anything he may be able to point you to a shop that does install on Fbodies - ones that do good work.

Hopefully he'll see this and post up

 

What are you looking for as far as upgrades? Car stereo is really simple. I used to install before I joined the Navy and could give you pointers on what to do. If you're just swapping out your speakers and head unit then I can tell you how to do it. It is extremely simple (leftie loosie, righty tighty). Adding an amp to the system is cake as well. Let me know if I can help.

Nate

 

Ebay for the purchase for your best prices. Installation is gonna cost you big, do it yourself. Example: Cartoys wanted over 800 for my install. Just for labor. Magnolia HI-Fi wanted not quite as much. Stereos in Fbodys are to easy to pay someone that kind of money.

What upgrade are you looking to do?

 

My monsoon speakers are pretty much all blown, so I'd like to upgrade to something that'll withstand more punch all around. I'd also like to install a sub in the CD-Changer compartment.. I've seen some kits for that. I'm looking for some nice bass and music power but I'd like to avoid putting un-needed stress on my alternator.

I was thinking a single 10 might fit in that compartment if I can fab or find a box that'll fit there. I'm not sure what I'll need to do when going about installing a new Amp to replace the stock one--does it plug and play again? And yeah, a head unit with a nifty screen to replace the boring stock one.

 

Sounds like you want a whole new setup. Next thing to consider is your budget. I'll help you do the install or you can pay me to do it. You can get a subbox from a few different people again it depends on you budget subthump.com is where I got mine but q-logic and mtx and JL make boxes as well but you have to buy their sub. Except for the qlogic which is just a box I think.

 

Ah subthump is a great site--I'm going to look around a bit at prices and speaker combos and let you know what I think might be feisable for me. If you have any suggestions let me know. Thanks!

 

Decide up front what your budget is. Thats the first step. Otherwise you start shopping and end up spending more than you want. Decide your total budget then we can go from there. Doesnt make sense to have a cheap *** HU with nice speakers or the other way around. Kenwood make nice HU's as well as Pioneer and others. The you have Eclipse wich is more expensive. I have an Eclipse.

Decide total budget then you build from there.

 

Would be nice to have a system for between $600-700, but 1k would be the absolute limit.

Definitely going with the Driver side 10" box, debating on passanger. They recommended some Elemental Digital subs: Here
Might as well go with the nifty amp wrack that leaves all the trunk space: here
Now to decide on the rest of the speakers, amp and hu?

 

I'd go with a Boston Acoustics G5 instead. Very nice sub. That rack is not all together that nice. I have it and dont recommend it to much. Its a major PIA. It screws to your tailights and if you have a big amp like mine its almost inadequate.

Do you want the amp to just power the sub and use the HU's amp for the speakers?

I spent $350 on my hu $330 on the sub $330 on the amp and $300 on the speakers or there abouts. All from ebay. From an audio store it would have been close to $3000.

You can get away cheaper. You dont need to spend as much on the HU. You can get a nice Kenwood off ebay for less than $200. Speakers you can spend less and get Infinity and they are nice. The amp and sub you dont want to spend to much less on.

 

I just saw this thread but it sounds like you are getting good advise so far.

 

Feel free to make some suggestions. I know what works for me and what my friend has but you might have some better thoughts.


OH ya forgot. You have to add in the cost of the materials for installation. Will be anywhere from 70-200. If you want to sound deaden then your looking beyond you current budget.

 

Not advice, but another question..
I am curious if anyone has a recommendation for a HU, I have an older drop face Pioneer. It's not horrible, MP3, XM ready yadda yadda.. but it lacks a sub pre out and I just detest the spliced RCA's to feed my sub amp.
Anyone have something that they feel is superior for 2-300 bucks ? I read Crutchfield online and a done a few walkthroughs at Best Buy and Magnolia.. but I have a hard time trusting salesmen.. I keep thinking that they are simply selling what ever has the best margin or promo at that time..
I absolutely agree with the side tucked sub thing, I have two 10's in a MDF box in my hatch and its over kill, and HEAVY... either it sits in the well for the Tee's or I strap it on the hump behind the seat.. inconvienent to say the least... my amps are mounted to a board bolted where my spare tire Used to be. Don't go this route, heh, as I am currently ripping all that out

 

Yeah, heh, I couldn't go with the bay-filling route--I use the car for daily driving, getting groceries and commuting to Salem every once and a while. If you think your two 10's were over kill maybe I'll stick with the one 10 for the driver side/cd changer space.

Likewise with the Salesmen.. I've been one. In fact anyone in Oregon or Washington in the forum that works for any company requiring steel toed boots/shoes has purchased them from me at one point in the last 3 years.

Anyway.. back to speaker shopping

 

If you want to keep the t-top welll as a serious a usage compartment then you'll have to mount the amp on the hump behind the back seat. You can mount it up there and then make a frame over it to protect it. Keeping it as slimline as possible.

 

I added a Kenwood x790 06 model mp3, cd, rds, 5volt outs, parametic eq and even has a g tech type meter built in and downloadable pictures etc.. Was under $200 on ebay new. If you have steering wheel controls you want to keep you need a pac swi-x or a plug in pac unit for select Alpines and Kenwoods, a harness adaptor, dash kit and antenna adaptor and your set, will work great with the stock monsoon amp. I added Infinity kappa 62.7i 6.5($90 on ebay new) speakers in the front doors(camaro) and they sound great running off the stock monsoon amp and connect just like stock and are 2 ohm like stock. I added Infinty Kappa 62.7is in the sailpanel too and they sound good with a sub in the back, I added sound deadening behind the speaker hole and ran the far hatch signal to the tweeter on the 62.7i(the 62.7i has 2 sets of inputs like the factory front door speakers on the Camaro), no need to use the crossover supplied since the 62.7i has a built in crossover for the tweeter and the monsoon amp is crossed over already for the woofer. I have a old(no longer made) subthump millhouse flip up box with 2 memphis audio 10's and a 450 watt RMS old school MTX amp. Overall I am very happy with the sound in the Camaro now and the monsoon amp really sound very good with the 62.7is. A different hu with adjustable cutoffs and freq really helps with sound. I added a set of 62.7i's in another guys car in the car club I am in and he is using the stock HU and he really likes the sound too. If you are going with a aftermarket amp to power the door and sailpanel speakers then I would go with something else, but the best choice out there if you are still going to run the Monsoon amp is the Infinty kappa 62.7's, they are the only 2ohm 6.5 made right now from any car audio manufacturer I have seen and the Camaro has 2ohm speakers in the door and sailpanel.