Searched: OEM CD player vs. $150 Sony, etc.

Just bought my neighbor's 98 XJ and of course the sound system sucks. So my first mod will be to upgrade the four speakers. But I am questioning whether there is any real gain from replacing the factory CD/AM/FM unit with a Sony, Kenwood, etc. unit in the $99 to $150 price range. Thoughts, opinions, recommendations? (BTW I searched and didn't find this exact question.) And if there are really good 6.5 inch speakers for a reasonable price, let me know make and model number...and where ya got 'em. I was at Circuit City uesterday and found that there is a pretty big difference in the quality of speakers. The Polks for $150 / pair had good bass response but seemed muddy on the high end.

Hey Sand-Dog,

Yeah, there is a big difference in aftermarket. In the head units, the electronics are kinda cheep in the oem units. In aftermarkets you get a lot more features. It is basicly up to you what you want in a head unit. ( ipod interface, display color anti-theft, etc)

On speakers, if you wanta good high end, look for matalic tweeters.

Ithink sombody will give you a link to cruchfield, witch is a cataloge,online sellere of all things audio.

Get the best you can afford, is my suggestion.

Lee

I have an '89 Laredo and one of the best upgrades was replacing the factory head unit with an Alpine and stock speakers with a brand called CDT.

I'm not familiar with the 1998's sound system but you might want to start with a better head unit. Could be the stock speakers are just under powered.

For a forum dedicated to car audio systems go to: http://forum.sounddomain.com/forum/ultimatebb.cgi

After market head units put out more power to the spekers, so if you don't replace them it will prob sound crappy if you turn the volume up.

For reference I remember reading somewhere that the stock radio in a ford Explorer puts out something like 18 watts rms , even a lower end aftermarket unit will put out between 40-50 watts rms

I got 5.25 inch Infiniti reference speakers on ebay for $49.99, they are normally $100 and sound great.

replacing your head unit, even with a lower end sony/pioneer/kenwood/alpine and speakers will make a big difference.

ebay is great but if you don't have an account check out

www.onlinecarstereo.com

www.crutchfield.com

crutchfield is a bit more expensive but they send you everything you need to install what you purchased and have good tech support so it can be worth it

On my 98, I replace the OEM head unit with a sweet Kenwood head unit. I left the speakers alone, but the drivers side door speaker fritzes occasionally. Still puts out great audio quality.

I replaced the OEM one with equalizer after it went out twice and had to be repaired by dealer exchange. Not a good unit.

EBXJBOB said:

After market head units put out more power to the spekers, so if you don't replace them it will prob sound crappy if you turn the volume up.

Click to expand...

True...but also the opposite happens with an underpowered head unit. Quality speakers distort when the volume is turned up because they don't have enough power to drive them.

I'd recommend getting a head unit first and see how it sounds...then add speaks later.

Reading briefly today some posts on the sounddomain.com forum it seems Infinity and Polk are "power whores". Meaning they need a lot of power to drive them. So might want to avoid those brands if money is tight as you'll need a fairly powerful head unit.

I've had good luck with Pioneer head units and Polk audio speakers in the past. I need to replace my head unit one of these days. The damn thing literally eats CD's (renders them unreadable in other players).

sand-dog, if you're replacing the factory CD player, sell it to me! i just got my XJ, it has an alpine deck in it. it's nice, but i just want a factory CD deck. i have an 01 XJ, im pretty sure it'll fit. maybe we can even work something out if you want the alpine, it works fine, just not my style.

email me- thedean316 @ gmail.com (no spaces).

yeah with the newer rear sound bar replacing all 4 with good 2-ways makes a big difference... a new headunit will have better sound quality output and also opens up more options for amps etc... i worked in a car audio shop for a few years and got a good deal on some alpine 2 way 6.5 - all 4 - and run them through an mtx 200x4 amp on a panasonic dvd headunit... it really sounds vibrant and clean - i had some type r component sets but i really did not like having to mount all the stuff and the tweeters were in vulnerable positions... i flushed them but ended up just using 4 speakers instead of components... much easier and cheaper... all you need is a subwoofer like a 10 or 12 to really get the lows in --- the inside of the cherokee responds really well... i have two jl 12's and dont bump that much at all but really helps the overall sound through a planet audio 800x2 at 4 ohms and a rockford 1.5 capacitor with 4 gauge wire... an amp and sub set up --- a 200 watt amp and 1 10 inch sub/ box can be had installed for under 200, 4 speakers 6.5 100 and a 130-150 for decent headunit - wiring and acc- 50 --- all under 500 dollars or even 400 installed depeding on what yah get and well worth it

I did all 4 on my 98 with Pioneer speakers and an AM/FM/CD/Bluetooth head unit. Big improvement over stock... but I use my motorola E815 cell phone alot which uses bluetooth, that way my phone calls come over the stereo system and mute/pause whatevers on...

www.cardomain.com
Get the harness adapter and speaker adapters too, then it's just plug and play once you line up the harness adapter..

hey, sand-dog, it was you who sent me that email right ? just wanna make sure it wasnt some scammer just viewing the site.

RichP said:

I did all 4 on my 98 with Pioneer speakers and an AM/FM/CD/Bluetooth head unit. Big improvement over stock... but I use my motorola E815 cell phone alot which uses bluetooth, that way my phone calls come over the stereo system and mute/pause whatevers on...

www.cardomain.com
Get the harness adapter and speaker adapters too, then it's just plug and play once you line up the harness adapter..

Click to expand...

Rich, did you put in the same headunit I did? The bluetooth Jensen? I dig the calls coming over the stereo! Using a RAZR it works rather well. I just get in the car.
Do you have the in band ringtone feature on your cellphone?
Pm me so we can talk more about your radio setup-
I dig the bluetooth, but am not too happy with audio quality-
I'd like to know how you have your eq setup-

Brak,
Yes, that email was from me.

Rich.
The Bluetooth is a great idea. Got to look up the price of that unit in Crutchfield,

All,
As a result of your input, Sunday afternoon I went to Best Buy and found some Infinity speakers I liked. Best Buy wanted $170 to install them! So I went home and had them in by sunset. Even soldered the connections. They sound sweet...much better than the paper speakers that came out of the truck...and louder, too

Sand-Dog said:

Brak,
Yes, that email was from me.

Rich.
The Bluetooth is a great idea. Got to look up the price of that unit in Crutchfield,

All,
As a result of your input, Sunday afternoon I went to Best Buy and found some Infinity speakers I liked. Best Buy wanted $170 to install them! So I went home and had them in by sunset. Even soldered the connections. They sound sweet...much better than the paper speakers that came out of the truck...and louder, too

Click to expand...

Crutchfield is pushing the industry 'make money' stuff IOW sat radio, they carry NO bluetooth head units, ignore the adatpers, they bite. There are only two headunits you can get right now, the jensen which I have and the Pioneer that I plan on getting next.

soarhead25 said:

Rich, did you put in the same headunit I did? The bluetooth Jensen? I dig the calls coming over the stereo! Using a RAZR it works rather well. I just get in the car.
Do you have the in band ringtone feature on your cellphone?
Pm me so we can talk more about your radio setup-
I dig the bluetooth, but am not too happy with audio quality-
I'd like to know how you have your eq setup-

Click to expand...

Yea, I put the jensen in last year sometime. I have the E815, Moto in car hardwired kit with speaker and mic, pro-fit vehicle specific mount for the XJ and moto hangup cup with external antenna. It's a sweet setup, charges the phone, uses the external antenna when it's in the cup and goes thru the moto speaker and mic when the key is off and the radio is not on. As soon as the radio comes on it pairs up. The functionality of the bluetooth is hampered in my case by verizon and their crippling of the moto software, OPP and OBEX so I have not managed to get my phonebook to download to the phone yet even though I have done the seem edits, your razr has OPP or so I have read about on howard forums. It is coming up on time to upgrade the phone but I'm not hearing good things about the razr or kzr as far as range, specially in fringe areas, they also have no hang up cup for it to use an external antenna like the E815 so I'm going to hold off for a while and see what comes out next. I'd give my eyeteeth for plain ascii screen updated startac with bluetooth, best phone I ever owned.

RichP said:

I have the E815, Moto in car hardwired kit with speaker and mic, pro-fit vehicle specific mount for the XJ and moto hangup cup with external antenna. It's a sweet setup, charges the phone, uses the external antenna when it's in the cup and goes thru the moto speaker and mic when the key is off and the radio is not on.

Click to expand...

Whats the reason behind having the jensen, AND a moto in car hardwired kit with speaker and mic? Just so you can have a hands free with the key off? I read/and utilized the fact that the headunit is smart enough to stay on during a call even though you have shutoff the engine-
There seems to be an external antenna connector on the back of my razr.
The phonebook feature is overrated. it takes about 5 seconds to register on the head unit, and you have to scroll down one by one. Trying to dial a phone number using the phonebook feature is an accident waiting to happen. I usually just flip the phone open and dial, then close it up and let the radio take over.
I'll have to look into the pioneer unit. I though it was just Jensen and some parrot brand in the UK.

Sorry to hijack-
Look into the pioneer bluetooth if you like handsfree talking/driving but don't want some damn blinking star trek gizmo hanging off of your ear-

Man, just looked up the pio unit and msrp is $550! I did the jensen for under $200 thru cardomain. The pio has ABC search though. THAT would be handier than a phonebook download-

soarhead25 said:

Whats the reason behind having the jensen, AND a moto in car hardwired kit with speaker and mic? Just so you can have a hands free with the key off? I read/and utilized the fact that the headunit is smart enough to stay on during a call even though you have shutoff the engine-
There seems to be an external antenna connector on the back of my razr.
The phonebook feature is overrated. it takes about 5 seconds to register on the head unit, and you have to scroll down one by one. Trying to dial a phone number using the phonebook feature is an accident waiting to happen. I usually just flip the phone open and dial, then close it up and let the radio take over.
I'll have to look into the pioneer unit. I though it was just Jensen and some parrot brand in the UK.

Sorry to hijack-
Look into the pioneer bluetooth if you like handsfree talking/driving but don't want some damn blinking star trek gizmo hanging off of your ear-

Man, just looked up the pio unit and msrp is $550! I did the jensen for under $200 thru cardomain. The pio has ABC search though. THAT would be handier than a phonebook download-

Click to expand...

Whats wrong with the star trek gizmo, I like my HS850 though it did scare the bejesus out of me the first nite I had it, on a dark road in the middle of nowhere and did not realize it blinked, thought I was having a heart attack or stroke or something with the flashing out of the corner of my eye I could not quite see As for the hardwired kit I got that first a week after I got the phone and installed it as soon as the flo-fit mount came in. If it has an external ant connector then there must be a hang up cup for it, I just have not found it yet, but then I have not been in any rush to look either. I almost bought the pioneer from england, they just never got back to me about whether the tuner was changeable from US to europe like the jensen is, then I found the jensen on cardomain.
But now that I'm working again the pioneer is now in the running, planning on swapping the jensen into the TJ and the poineer into the XJ.
The two things the jensen lacks is an external mic and a 'search time limit' when the phone is not turned on, that red/blue blinking gets on my nerves..

If I remember right, the search time limit times out after 2 or 4 minutes I thought...

soarhead25 said:

If I remember right, the search time limit times out after 2 or 4 minutes I thought...

Click to expand...

Yea, but it's that 4 minutes of blinking that bugs me, however it is a reminder that I forgot to turn the phone on....