You can get a pioneer cd player and speaker combo at Wal-Mart for around 120 bucks. I've installed plenty of them and they sound as good as anything else. The key is not to buy into the hype with all the crap.

 

agree, why buy a stereo worth more than your truck

 

one of the ugly things about these trucks is the way after marker HU's
look. They protrude a good half inch from the dash. One fix is to remove the
plastic mount behind the HU another is to buy a mechless(No CD) HU
like this one JVC 3.5" BuiltIn Bluetooth Car Stereo Receiver Multi KDX310BT - Best Buy
and then get a face plate cover from a malibu? (I think), got mine from the auto
wrecker. Makes for a nice clean look.

As to speakers infinity,jbl,alpine (what ever's on sale) stay away from sony or
pioneer speakers.

 

I would imagine that the dimensions for the JVC unit are probably a misprint. There are typically three sizes to stereos that fall under the ISO 7736 standards for car radio sizes used today. Single DIN, which is what you have now which typically measures out at 180mm x 50mm (7-1/8" x 2") tall. 1.5 DIN or DIN and a half which typically measures out at the same width but 75mm (3") tall. Then there's Double DIN which is still the same width but measures 100mm (4") tall. Everything pretty wall falls into one of the three categories, one of the few real standards that exist for car audio. Don't worry about the dimensions you're seeing posted online, they'll fit the specifications they were built for.

Most of the dash kits from most all of the manufacturers that make them have the same kit cover several years, makes and models. So yes, that means that there are often parts left over that aren't used in one given application. So they probably did throw away whatever they didn't use, or put it in with other parts from other kits just to keep as spares.

As long as you purchase a Single DIN unit it will fit your current kit.




Do you guys not have hobbies? How much money do you spend on them? In the same regard I can say why spend so much money on the RC hobby, or vehicle performance/racing, or hunting, NASCAR, collecting antiques of any variety, and any other hobby a person can have. Sure some are more expensive than others but everyone has a hobby they throw money at. Why kick at people with an audio hobby just because you don't get/understand it. I don't get NASCAR either, I find it so boring I'd rather sit around and read a bible than watch the races. Yet there's people who buy tickets to every race they can and have thousands of dollars worth of memorabilia and the only flack they get for it is the occasional redneck joke.

I've not suggested anything to him that would be spending thousands, or even hundreds. He gave a budget and everything I've suggested for him to do should be within or very close to it. It's up to him what he buys and does with his truck and if it's important enough to him he'll spend more than he budgeted, if not then he'll just buy the cheapest he can and never look back. I've given him suggestions on what brands to not waste his money on and the lowest budget possible things he can do to maximize the performance of what he does purchase. I can't see how any of that is "hype" or worth more than his truck.


Nice advice on the look of the HU. I definitely agree with the Sony speakers. When it comes to Pioneer the A and G series aren't worth a damn but the D series are honestly a good line. The tweeters are a little forward which a lot of people prefer but the woofers are hard to beat for the money. Performance Auto & Sound magazine did a review on them HERE. I've installed them for several people with great results too.

 

Okay sweet, that makes things a *lot* simpler. The person that's helping me install stuff is good at the actual work itself but hasn't been in the "car audio game" for a while so doesn't necessarily know what he's talking about in other areas, and he got me really mixed up.


Yeah your comments have been extremely helpful. When I do something like this I try to research and make an at least semi informed decision, which you've helped a lot on. Not to sound rude to those other guys, but comments like "go to x and buy y" are useless to me as I learn nothing from it. I'd much rather know what brands are good/ bad an then choose based on my budget than just single specific suggestions.

I ended up getting and . I'd have preferred to get a reciever without a cd player as I'll never use it so it's just wasted space/etc, but the well rated ones in the price range I searched ended up having one. I ended up picking that reciever because it still was rated very well and according to crutchfield it has 20 rms vs 13 for the Pioneer, and I also am unhappy with Pioneer due to my current receiver going bad like it did.

I did end up in a huge rush where I had 22 minutes to order and have the stuff ship by the date I wanted and forgot that speakers come in pairs and I needed to order 2 (only ordered 1). With that in mind I probably would have ordered one of the cheaper of the 3 I listed before, but I spose I'll prolly just stick with the Polk and order the second pair today. Would it be a bad idea to have mismatched speakers? Like having the more expensive Polks ($60) in the front and the cheaper Infinity ($43) in the rear? I know the price difference (and prolly quality too) is marginal, but since I'm moving every little bit adds up.

 

That's alright, he probably just couldn't explain it the way he was thinking/remembering it.


That JVC unit should be alright. I've installed several for folks around here and none of them have had any issues. One of the guys I work with has gotten one like the one you ordered for his son's truck and got another JVC unit in a double DIN for his car and both are running fine. They've not had any issues out of either one.

The difference in the speakers is fine. You're not likely going to notice any difference in the sound between them with the rear's behind you and as low as they are on the door. They should play just a little quieter than the front ones anyway to help keep the sound stage to the front where it's supposed to be but your listening preferences may not like it that way.

 

Hey Alton, what size bolt/etc did you use for your custom speaker mounts? Did you have to drill into the door for them?

I just went through the fun of replacing a fuel pump only for it to fail 140 miles later, and have to re-replace it. My speakers/radio are in now and I've got the dash/door cards off, so tomorrow I'll be picking up the sheet metal/etc.

 

Those are 3/8" bolts. They line up with the rivets that hold the factory plastic baffles onto the door. Yes I had to drill into the door for them, but only to resize the hole the rivets went through. 1/4" bolts would work just fine too, I used the 3/8" bolts because I have a bad habit for overbuilding/overdoing everything.

Awesome, sounds like you're making great headway. I hate when parts fail right after installation, or aren't any good at all after you've gone through all the trouble of installing it.

 

1/4" should work without needing to drill into the door?

What do you recommend using to keep the carpet secure in the door card? Just glue or something?

For the peel n seal, would it be any good to double layer it? The roll I saw online at lowes is something lik 6"x25' long so I should have plenty.

 

You'll probably still need to drill the rivet holes out a little. The rivets just aren't that big. I primarily meant that you shouldn't need bolts anywhere near as big as the 3/8" ones I used, lol.


For the carpet padding you should be able to use any decent adhesive that's not going to cost you much. Liquid Nails, hot glue, anything like that should work fine for it. All it has to do is hold it to the door card well enough to get it back onto the door.


Double layering would be optional. If you want to then there's no reason not to.