Alright looking at getting a new stereo system that will include:

2 12' subs w/ box
amp(not sure what power yet)
flip screen dvd(dont care about the dvd but want the screen!)

I have about $550-600 give or take some. What system would you guys put in your truck? I'm still learning about amp's and subs, so talk to me like a kid . Also, those deals on ebay that give you 2 subs, 1000watt amp and box for $250.. is that too good to be true for a awsome system, or is that reasonable?? and do you think a friend and me could install all of this with it looking clean?
Thanks guys!

 

You can probably find all of that stuff for your ride, but at the price range you have I don't think it will sound too good. I don't know much about the dvd flip screens and as far as the subs it all depends on what you want. They will all sound different depending on what subs you choose & what box they go in.
As far as the amps are concerned you could probably find some cheap amps that sound good but typically for a good amp you will pay about a buck a watt. So if you plan on getting a good 1000 watt amp your looking at aout $1000.00 give or take.

 

my personal opinion yes they are too good to be true. Lots of those combos off of ebay are really low quality and that is how they suck you in. Also they use the amps peak rating instead of rms rating. peak watts might be 1000 but the amp can only sustain that for maybe a second or two at a time. rms is what the amp puts out all the time. RMS is what any quality manufacturer will give you. Also lotsof those boxes in all honesty are quite loud butthat's it. they don't sound musical at all and have very poor sound quality.(rephrase no sound quality) many times the boxes are cheap thin MDF without any interior bracing which is a must for asubwoofer to perform at its best. Any flex in the box as in when the sub hits the box isn't holding together well will result in a loss of performance. So if you want something that is justsemi loud but extremely cheap thenthe ebay packages are the way to go. But if youwant loud with great sq you are going to have to put a bit mroe money in it. Also your budget for what you want isn't quite right for what you want you are going to need more than that.many quality head units that use the flip up screensgo for more than 200 dollars. by quality I mean Alpine and kenwood and clarion.not sony xplod or el cheapo stuff.My suggestion is go to a audio dealer and look at two lowerwattage subwoofers maybe like 150 watts rms power handling.Put them with a 300 watt rms amp and you will get great sq and spl (sound pressure level or"loudness") don't be fooled by the lower power rating the fact that you have two 12's gives you moresurface area to push air which will make spl increase.Also get those bad boys in a ported box to give youextra spl. Sealed boxes are fine but ported generally gives a few more decibels than asealed and on a budget we are trying to get all we can for the money so go ported. For subs and amps my personal favorites are JBL Rockford Fosgate JL audio. Rockford fosgate and JBL mostly for amps while JL makes some great sounding subwoofers. For head units Alpine are some of my favorite but kenwood is also very good as well as clarion. For example I run a single din (nonflip out justregular) headunit from clarion with 4 Polk-MoMo championship seriescoaxial speakers for my mids and highs.While I run aJL Audio e1400D amp and a 12w3 subwoofer. The e1400dputs out around 450-500 watts rms and the sub can handle just around that. I love my setup my bass doesn't overpower my mids and highs but i would like to amplify my polk speakers instead of just head unit power but I too was on a budget. That with installation all ran meback about 1800 dollars. I would say expect to pay more closer to 800 dollars and get it installedproffesionally. I have been in car audio for over a year and a half and still some frequency controls on the amplifiers and exactly where to set them cna confuse me at times. Also if you do decide toinstall your own you may want to lookaway from ported box. Ported boxes are more complicated to make than a sealed box. You need to calculate the volume of box - displacementof thewoofers - the displacement of the port.and a port isn't just ahole cut into the box ithas to be acertain volume to have thebox tuned to the correct frequency.30-40 hz. i preferlow 30'sis where most of the low bass that youbought a subwoofer for is centered at. Therefore by tunign the box to that the subs peak performance is centered around that frequency. itcan geta tad bit complicated and for someonewho knows little it would be a very large undertaking.

 

well going with a good aftermarket stereo that can handle the subs well, say around $250 if that sounds good to you... What could we look at then? In a little bit I can have around $800 to spend on all of this. Can you give me some good links for subs, and amps? possibly a stereo just so see what kind of numbers we will be looking at. Thanks!

 

I really don't think there is a good aftermarket stereo out that will power the subs to give you the sound your looking for. I would just leave your stock in for now & splice into the wires on the back to hook the amp up. I have a cheap amp (supposed to be 2000 watt) but I am luckey if I even push a 1000. But with the arc audio's & the box I have it does enough for me. I liked the arc audio's, they sound real clean and they are affordable. I think I paid a couple hunderd for each. As far as amps I couldn't tell you there are so many out there. It really depends on you. I would just go to a stereo shop & take a look at what they have. Just don't let them steal you wallet. Follow the link below & you can see what I have. It's not the best pic but it has the basics.

https://dodgeforum.com/m_660033/tm.htm

 

Ok will do but honeslty 250 dollars for a head unit for what other money you are putting into the other parts of the stereo is a little unbalanced. My head unit was 150 dollars and the rest was about 1650 give or take


but if you do it that way here are links for subs and amps that I like.

Jl Audio subs for your budget are these they go for depending on the dealer 125-175 each
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_s...p?series_id=16
Jl amp for those a1400 400 watts perfect match for two w1's my guess 300 dollars since its comparable to my e1400d
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_amps.php?amp_id=399

Rockford fosgate subs for 110 dollars msrp p1's redesigned for 07 and they were great b4 and now better
http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/produ...S&p_status=
Rockford 300 watt amp
http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/produ...S&p_status=
JBL doesn't make a sub that has 150 watts power handling so you'd need bigger subs and amps so i'll leave them out they are rather pricy anyway same for their amps. perhaps consider JBL if you wanted to go to a single 12" sub and 300 watt amp.

Now to the head unit alpien doesn't make a double din head unit like you want for less then a grand so that is outta the question. Clarion doens't make one in your price range either.Kenwood doesn't post prcies but they too are proably way outta your range as well as mine for that matter lol. Stick with a regular head unit spend 100 dollars or a bit more and that's all you need.

Your box will cost about 150 dollars for a place to build. as well as probably 80 dollars in wire and required connections. and install fee is up to the dealer.


basically all routes add up to 880 so about 900 dollars for everything head unit subs amp box wiring and not installation yet. This not including if you want to upgrade you mids and highs (which you should).

 

first what do you mean by splicing the wires on the back into the amp. If your talking about just running regular speaker wires from the head unit into the signal input or rca jacks of the amp then i'm amazed that works.

also a aftermarket head unit does not "power" your subs it merely controls them in conjunction with the amp. Three wires go from you rhead unit to you amp. two are RCA Jacks they tell the amp what music is playing so the amp can make the sub play. ANd there is the remote turn on wire. this is a small wire that tells the amp to turn on when the head unit is on and off when the head unit is off. In your case your head unit will be powering your mids/highs speakers. which is the same in my case. Most head units can work just like an amp but at a much much much lower capacity like 16 watts rms if your lucky. which can do fine to power your mids and highs depending on your subwoofers and how much power they have. but a regualr head unit does nto have the controls to power a subwoofer nor the pure wattage to do so. by controls i mean frequency filters and bass boost and filter slopes that an amplifier has to blcok out high frequencys from the sub because high frequencys can damage a subwoofer.

 

Ben you know a hell of a lot more than mean in this subject.Just to let you know what I did. I went to the stereo shop and boughtrca jacks that had the jacks on one side & wires on the other. So I spliced those into my rearspeaker wires behind my head and ran it to the amp. ( I know I could have taken it form the rear speakers & saved the time & wire but I didn't) then I took the remote & spliced that in the head unit too. So far everything works fine. I know it's jimmy rigged, but heh it works. And the comment about the aftermarket stereo not being able to power the subs, I thought he was going to start with just a new head unit with the subs until he gets the amp.

 

Yea ok I see what your doing now. No that's not that big of a deal in fact i'm going to looke at prices for autin instead of a new headunit jl audio and rf fosgate sell "processors" that allow the stock headunit to stay but gives the same capabilities of a aftermarket head unit Ie. sub control, mulitple amp hookups through RCA cables. equalizers. Not sure how much they run since they have only been out for a short time so they might be too pricy for austin. That setup shoudl be fine but I would definately in the future look for a new headunit that has RCA jacks since RCA cables will make your system perform better and give better sq due to the head unit knowing what is hooked up and how to run it.

 

For a head unit with pop out screen, the cheapest i have seen is 400 including tax. I am looking towards a pioneer with nav. and dvd ect, around 1200. You will probably be better off saving your money and getting a higher quality system later on. You will be much happier if you just wait and get a better system.