New EVERYTHING! (audio)

[Kitt99]

Hey all, In about a month I return home to my 99 Bonnie SE. But I really would like to update her sound system. All I am really interested is something that sounds crystal clear, and something with a clean simple headunit. All help will be greatly appreciated! (I am very new to aftermarket audio)

Joe

[Zeik75]

hi i have some good knowledge of car audio and would be willing to help you out on this. but to do this right for you i would need to know some things like price range and weather you want clarity or just really loud. and weather or not you are thinking of a sub or just replace the stock stuff.

[Bugsi]

Seeing as you have a 99 SE, I recommend replacing everything.
New head unit, new speakers all around, amplifier in the trunk, and a sub in the trunk will do you well. You can do more if you want, but that will get you a much improved audio system that you can build onto if you ever want to go crazy with it.

Generally you'll want to pick a DIN-sized head unit and you'll need an adapter kit to fit it into the 1.5-DIN sized opening. You'll need to decide if you're going to drive the door speakers directly from the head unit or from an amplifier, and factor that decision into what head unit you'll buy. I drive all my speakers from a 4-channel amplifier in the trunk, and drive a sub from a separate 2 channel bridged amplifier. Consider compatibility with iPods and portable audio players when you decide on a head unit. There are also head units with flip-out LCD displays for playing DVDs so decide if you want to go that route, as it has a number of other considerations to think about.

Ideally you can go with component speakers up front and a good pair of 2 or 3-way 6x9 speakers in back.
You'll pick an amplifier based on how you've decided to drive your door and rear deck speakers. A single 4-channel amp (or a 5-channel to also drive a sub) makes for a really easy installation. You could also drive one pair of speakers from the head unit and drive the other pair from an amplifier, in which case you can get a 2-channel amp or a 3-channel to also drive a sub, or you can use a 4 or 5-channel and bridge two channels to drive one pair of speakers.

We can help guide you with routing amplifier power wires through the firewall, and how to hook everything up, but you really need to make basic decisions about the design of your system first, before you start buying components.

If you want to do it piecemeal, which a lot of people do in order to pay for parts as they go, I recommend the following order:

1: Front door speakers.
2: Head unit.
3: Rear speakers.
4. Amplifier(s) and wiring.
5. Sub(s).