I've read through the FAQ already, so I have an idea on brands that youre using, but i'm definitely not an audio expert. I dont know whats needed to get good sound for these cars.

My car came with the Bose system, but somebody put in a 3-CD Jensen head unit before I bought it. Up til now, i've been pretty much satisfied with the setup, but now I only burn CDs and this thing sucks at reading most of them, and skips at the slightest bump. I've also got enough exhaust work done that the Bose just isn't adequate for sound.

I just want a setup, that'll get me enough noise to overcome headers+exhaust (I know it wont ever be perfect though) and am looking for a decent plan to redesign the whole system, but not anything that would keep me from putting a backpack or small suitcase in the rear compartment or interfere with a Crossbar.

 

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...53&forum_id=20

This is what I did. I love it, and it is plenty loud to overcome my muffler and cat delete exhaust. A ton louder than the Bose, and quality is all around better. I have 2 Alpine 6.5's up front and 2 Pioneer 6x9's out back. Did I mention the sound was great?

 

So ive been looking at BestBuy.com to see whats available, and I was wondering a couple things.

Is there a better site that I should be looking at, better selection/better price?

At what point is it necessary to get an Amp?

What does mp3 playback mean?

What do I want, 2-way or 3-way? I dont understand the difference.

If somebody has a site that answers this stuff, plz give it. I dont know where to look.

 

I know the answers to two of these.

MP3 playback means that if you have a CD that you have burned downloaded or MP3 music onto, you can access that music with your car CD player. This is nice because a CD in MP3 format can hold 600 songs. I wish mine had this ability.

2 way just means that there are two speakers. I don't know the technical terms. If you look at the picture of a 2 way 6.5" speaker you will see that there is a big speaker to cover the deeper frequencies and then in the middle of that there is a tweeter to cover the high notes. If it were a 3 way then there would be a big speaker a medium size tweeter, and then a smaller tweeter all in one unit. The guys on here told me that if it is a good speaker, then anything greater than a 2 way is not needed. My 6.5 Alpines are 2 ways, but I had a hard time finding a decent 2 way 6x9 so I got a 3 way Pioneer 6x9. It sounds just fine. Some speakers are up to 4 way and it just seems stupid. One large speaker with 3 tweeters of various sizes. Why not just get a decent speaker that can cover all the frequencies with less channels?

I don't have mine amped and it sounds great. I would think if you add a subwoofer then you would need an amp. Just wait for scott fx to chime in.

 

I went the following route. I bought the Pioneer DEH-P77DH for my head unit. No need for a mounting kit or extra plastic to deal with to cover up the hole in your dash. The head unit has a MOSFET 45 watt built in amplifier and is perfect for pushing 4 speakers with the ability to add a subwoofer as well. Alot of options built in to tweak the sound to your liking and the digital display is pretty cool too. As far as speakers I used Pioneer 3-way 6x9 in the rear and bought the dash speakers as opposed to door speakers. Personal preference there as I want the sound in front and behind. I had this simple system for the past 4 years and was happy but I wanted that xtra umph. I purchased a powered bazooka bass tube(bta-6200 6" 200 watt) for the rear and this gave me the ability to remove it when not needed and I didn't have to do any kind of fabrication to make it look nice. The sound is amazing! Perfect amount of bass without that booming and trunk noise that some people are used to. Don't get me wrong there are alot of nice systems out there but to have nice clean bass that doesn't wake the neighbors dead dog is nice in its own right. All said and done this system I have was around $600 with the install done by myself and I couldn't be happier. Shop online for the best price. There are a boatload of vendors that are selling at some great prices. Find some products that you're happy with and study the reviews that are out there online and you'll make the right choice.