The best thing about having your own site is that you can define what you think is "mobile". Well, I travel alot. I compute in my car, communicate in it, and sort of live out of it, so I want to be comfortable in it. That means I must have great tuneage. But I'm not going to spend $1000 on a sound system when I'm getting rid of the car in 1 or 2 years, plus I don't want to give up any of my car's functionality, like the steering wheel radio controls.
So, here's my thoughts. I want to get the most bang for the buck, have the ability to play my mp3 player by plugging it directly into the stereo (using the FM band sucks), and I don't want to change the head unit b/c I will lose functionality. No problem.
An easy way to do this, if you like to hook up your own equipment, is to go to http://www.crutchfield.com/. They have great online service, including online chats, to help you pick the equipment you need. When you pick the equipment, they give you instructions specific to your make and model. That's pretty cool.
I'm sort of adventureous, but I've never in my life installed a car stereo. So I'm not sure what possessed me to go out and buy 2 sets of speakers, but I did. I spent $100 on front and rear Sony Xplod speakers. I figured they couldn't be that hard to install, and they had to sound better than the stock speakers.
There was virtually no information online on how to do this for my particular car, so I was on my own. It took me 1.5 hours to figure out that I had to remove my entire front door panel. It came away quite easily with 2 screws after I figured out what I was doing. The second door came off in 8 minutes. The rear speakers took another hour. It was really easy. The sound improvement was magical. You won't mistake it for a live symphony, but it beats the heck out of the factory speakers.
As I said, I have steering wheel radio controls. I can control the band, volume, mute, change stations, control the cd and a few other things with the controls. I don't want to give that up. I consulted with a few companies about how I could hook up my mp3 player directly to my stereo, but I received several different answers. Circuit City, for example, told me I would lose the steering wheel radio controls. Crutchfield told me, correctly, that I could keep them functional, and that I could purchase $250 worth of parts including a head unit. Not a bad deal, really. But there is no way I want to mess with all the wiring involved. I'm no installer.
The dealership where I bought my car offered the best solution. A direct connect to the existing head unit for $180. I'm in. The truth is I don't listen much to FM radio anyway. And any head unit will play cds and mp3s just fine.
So for a grand total of $280 I done PIMPED MY RIDE! Giddyup. Remember, the Sansa View is coming soon. Now my ride is ready...
2 comments:
agree on the advantage of added speakers, and not mucking around much with the original wiring. I have to face it I always love a bargain and I think you got a goodie. "A mans home is his castle" is it not!
You said it Pedah! And this castle is rockin'.
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