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Car Stereos for Dummies

John Cougar Lunchbucket Nov 20 2007 11:27 AM

For whatever reason, car stereos are a complete mystery to me. Wanna replace the factory radio in my car with something that works, can be hooked up to an iPod, maybe even is satellite ready and HD. Is installation easy? I mean, I can set up a home stereo pretty easy but something about a car intimidates me. I figure buying from places that also install is xpensive, whereas the actual stuff can be bought cheap at costco or whatever. Any suggestions as to actual equipment? Brands models etc?

metsmarathon Nov 20 2007 12:03 PM

crutchfield will help you figure out what fits in your car, and what adapters, harnesses, etc, you need to do the work. also, instructions. mind you, i've never ordered from them, but if i were to get something for my car, i'd prolly go that route, as i don't really want to figure it out on my own. i've installed a handful of car radios in my day. i started in crappier cars that had minimal installation issues, and disassembly of the dashboard was straightforward. my last car was more complicated, and i reused the head unit from earlier. but still easy enough. i haven't bothered with my current car because i have no current need. that head unit was a denon, also with cd changer. not sure if they're in the car market anymore. i don't think you can go terribly wrong with the major brands - alpine, clarion, blaupunkt, pioneer, kenwood, or sony come to mind. i know virtually nothing about the satellite radio side. with the ipod, do you want to control the ipod with the head unit, or just to port the music thru to the speakers?

metsmarathon Nov 20 2007 12:07 PM

oh yeah. installing the radio itself is typically easy. you tie the head unit's wiring leads to the wire leads off of a wire harness that crutchfield would provide (match color to color and twist together/wire nut/crimp-on connector per your preference). that harness plugs directly into the factory wiring connection on your car.

A Boy Named Seo Nov 20 2007 12:45 PM

I looked around a bit earlier this year for a new stereo for my Vanagon and found that most are now iPod ready (with either a generic auxiliary-in port or a specific iPod connection) and most are also now satellite radio ready, some of which will receive either XM or Sirius, which shouldn't be an issue soon enough anyway. Not sure about the HD, though. The dashboard on my old 73 SuperBeetle was easy enough and my 86 Vanagon would be, too. Not sure about the newer vehicles, though. Seems like they make everything harder to get into and work on with them.

metirish Nov 20 2007 12:54 PM

Does the missus know that you're going to pimp the family ride and have the bass blasting up and down Atlantic Avenue? Here's a good place to compare. http://carstereo.pricegrabber.com/search_attrib.php/page_id=159/Car_Audio=Car%2520Audio%2520CD%2520players/

John Cougar Lunchbucket Nov 20 2007 01:13 PM

Crutchfield has a nice web page for dumbasses like me. Thanks.

Rockin' Doc Nov 20 2007 05:31 PM

JCL, I have ordered from Crutchfield several times over the years and have always found their products and service to be good. I have made purchases online at their site as well as in person in their store in Charlottesville, VA. Their sales staff are knowlegeable and helpful.

Kid Carsey Nov 20 2007 05:55 PM

Crutchfield is a good company to buy from for support for sure. I put some nice Sony speakers in the ol' Explorer years ago to make the stock radio listenable at loud volume and they sent instructions on how to remove the door panels and templates if you needed to drill a hole or two. They also sent a variety of coupling parts and stuff so that something would just work right away by eyeballing it. I used to be a geek at this stuff. I miss the days when you take an old radio out and stick one in and pop out a fuse halfway and stick the power wire be- tween the thingys and ground the sucker to the most metal looking thing you could find and viola. Doing anything to a dashboard nowadays isn't easy and best done by professionals.