I'm thinking about buying a Sony f7710 cd radio 4x6 and 6x9 speakers plus the Sony amp all from the Xplode series. Any thoughts, views, or experiences with Sony car products??

I also saw a sunvisor with an 8" tft screen in it (million buy) riceroni?

 

sony headunits are alright.
you can do MUCH better in your selection of speakers and amp though

 

I have an older Sony Explod head unit (remote cd), Explod 6 x 9's in back, Explod amplifier, new 3 ways up front. The 6 x 9's were not delivering enough punch to drown out the dual exhaust, so I went to pep boys and bought a woofer box (2 woofers, 2 piezo tweeters and 2 bass ports) for under $50.00. THAT made the difference! Now I have the bass response I was craving and the volume levels I wanted without overdriving the speakers into distortion. (The woofer box came with neon tubes too - but I thought that was a bit too much, I don't plug them in) The woofer box is also removable in case I need the space. And best of all - no holes to drill! it just sits there. You can spend big $$$ if you want, but for me this is the way to go. And as I was purchasing the woofer box at pep boys methinks to myself - if I don't like the way it looks or sounds I can just take it back for a full refund! Well - I still have it. It was a great buy.

 

Sony? They're living off their reputation. Their products are so-so. If you want quality look at Alpine or Eclipse.

 

If you want to go the cheap route, Pioneer has some excellent speakers for about $50/pair. However, once I went to Alpine, I saw why everyone talks about how good they are.

As for head units... definately go for Clarion. Sure, the Sony ones are decent... but Clarion's have every single useful function ever made. I think mine was i the $300-400 range, and I've had cheaper $100-120 ones from different brands, but you definately get what you pay for (and more) with the Clarion stereos.

 

Pioneer makes the best head units, IMO. I like Infinity speakers, especially the Kappa line.

 

I like JL Audio the best, and then Alpine. I really wouldn't consider anything else for speakers. Head units I always go with Pioneer. My last amp was Sony though because big wattage is cheap.

 

If you talk to any real car audio installers they will tell you Sony is crap. Pioneer have really nice head units but so do alot of others. I like them because of what you get for the price but wouldnt buy Sony if I had a choice. Im mainly talking about higher end audio so they might be ok for cheaper stuff but they dont have a real good track record for reliability in car audio.

 

Well, this thread is destined to never be truly settled!

I've had a Sony head unit in for about 4 years now and have had no issues or problems with it. I actually bought itbecause of it's primarily black color and lack of shiny stuff. 54X4 watts and all the features I thought I would need. I wish it had MP3 capability.

Now, Kenwood has a great looking unit out. I can't remember the model number. It has all the bells and whistles you would probably want (MP3 is great, you don't have to worry about a changer), but best of all in my opinion is that it has a very retro look to it. I think it would look great in the car.

Anyway, to round out my system, I have Infinity 6X9 3 ways in boxes that I made and some Polk Audio in the dash (I initially bought Infinity plates but they just wouldn't fit). I rounded it all out with a Kenwood powered Subwoofer box for the bottom end. It sounds great, it's as loud as I want it to be, the sub is capable of giving me a back massage, and I can take out the woofer and rears when I want to.

 

I have the 6"x9"s in small enclosures and they do not provide bass response. High's are exceptable and mid-range is strong. icanfixitforyou has the right idea. Sub box will make a world of difference.

Eddie

 

I have friends in the car audio field, they swear against Sony anything

I'm running MA audio components with an alpine head unit

 

A couple of you stated that people in the audio business don't like Sony and I wonder why that is.

If you compare specs on the better models of any of the top manufacturers, any differences you find are going to be virtually unnoticeable by listening to it, especially in OUR cars.

I'm not busting on anyone over this, I just honestly don't hear a huge difference in sound quality between head units. Speakers can be a different story to some degree, but at the mid to upper price range of mainstream audio, the differences are minimal. Especially when they are so absolutely dependent on their environment.

Sony's warranty is as good as any other mfg, and most importantly, they are either the biggest, or very close to it, seller of this type of consumer electronics. I think they are big partly because of great marketing, but also because they do have a good reputation with consumers.



What I'm getting at is this....Sony does huge business selling to consumers through mainstream retail stores. Many of the other "high end" brands aggressively market through the installer and high end niche markets. They offer very good incentives to those who are willing to sell and/or install them.

Here is the bottom line......Ask your audio pro friends what their margin is on Sony compared to whatever brand it is that they aggressively push as "the best" in their store. I'd be interested to know that first, and then get their recomendations on what the best system is.

 

One big advantage Pioneer has over everyone else is the Supertuner III radio system. They've tried to update it several times, but they keep going back to the III model. It's the best tuner circuit on the market, IMO.

 

Here's what I've learned about mobile audio:

Every couple of years, some sort of new technology will come out that will change which brand is on top. When I bought my old CD player head unit that went into my old Saturn, JVC (for the price) was the best I could get for $300 price range. Now, I'd probably have to say Clarion would be one of the best.

10 years ago? Clarion's name was about the same level as the "Rampage" line that's carried at CSK/Pep Boys stores, from what I'd seen; cheap components, poor quality...

I think that it breaks down to 1) amount you're willing to spend, 2) what you're looking for out of your speakers/head unit (do you want something that's gonna thump out the "booty call" R&B, do you want a system that'll be perfect to blast "Ride of the Valkyries", or you want to pump out "Stairway to Heaven" and other classic rock tunes?) and 3) will you still be satisfied if 6 months from now something else comes out by another company that makes your brand/system "inferior" by someone else's standards?

The best sound system I ever heard was in a 1998 Saturn SW2 station wagon. He had a Pioneer head unit, JBL crossovers/amps, and a mix of Boston Acoustics & Polk speakers. He worked with what combos were going to give him the best all around sound for car audio. Guy won several mobile audio contests because the sound was just so far above anyone else at the same contests/car shows.

 

The audio installers I know are friends of mine. They arent trying to sell me anything but all said stay away from sony. I did have a Sony head unit once that did fail pretty quick but not really basing any thing on that. Im talking about a pro install here not just something you will listen to with a couple of 6x9s. You will never notice any real difference between brands with that type setup.

 

i spent many years in the car audio industry as both manager of very high-end custom car audio shops and as a manufacturers rep for the top audio lines in the industry.
While I can say that Sony was never my favorite brand for headunits, I've sold many, many of them and there is absolutely nothing wrong with their headunits. Some of them were actually quite good. Sony's do not have a higher service rate or failure rate than any other name brand out there.
There are people that just don't like or will bash a brand just because it's a large company and they have a thing against the products for that reason alone and in their opinion the smaller, more specialized audio companies are inherently better. This is not always the case. I have seen the "sony bashing" before and I can say it is completely without merit. although it was not my personal choice of headunits that doesn't mean there is anything inherently wrong with the products.
On the other hand, you couldn't give me one of their amps or their speakers to use in my personaly cars, they really aren't that good. It's not a matter of service reliability but rather a matter of they just don't sound good.

Now, the biggest issue for the original poster of this thread on speaker selection, particularly for the front speakers is overall limited selection of 4x6 speakers. Most of the much better, high-end speaker manufacturers don't bother making a 4x6 speakers because of it's limited demand on that size plus the fact that it's difficult to get a decent sounding speaker from that size. Your best bet on 4x6 speakers to to find a store with a choice of a few different models of them on display and listen to them and determine which one you like the sound of best and choose it that way. All speakers sound different and while some sound more accurate than others, the main criteria should be what sounds good to YOU.

The rear speakers will allow you a much larger selection to choose from, especially if you have the slightest fabrication skills and are willing to do a small amount of work to change the mounting to allow a 61/2" round speaker rather than the standard 6x9 stock size. You will find a 6 1/2" round speaker is available as a higher end ,better sounding speaker overall although a 6x9 will many times offer a small amount more bass response.

 

Sony does suck....every one ive had(3) has broke in some way...

 

True to a degree. No one (including Pioneer) has managed to build a better radio tuner circuit than the old SuperTuner III (which dates back to the mid 80s or earlier, IIRC). They've introduced a number of high-end headunits with supposed "improvements" ... but the IV, V and VI have all fallen by the wayside, and the III soldiers on.

 

I guess at some point radio stations will all be HD-radio and the old FM-radio will be going away.

 

Swapping the 6x9's for 61/2" round speakers makes a significant difference. We mounted 61/2" speakers in the bottom of the door panels and in the back of the cargo compartment. We put the tweeters on the front posts left and right (holes through the trim) and another pair on the overhead surrounds just behind the riders' ears. It's the best sounding C3 I've ever been in; of course, it has 40-50 pounds of insulation and sound proofing, too. It just happens to be a complete Sony system with 600 watt amp.

Spike