Nick
I have a 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse and I really want to upgrade the sound as well as put a touchscreen navigation system in it. I am very indecisive with the navigation systems so I need a little help finding the best one for the best price, I have an iPhone 5 which I will use to listen to music so the navigation system must be iPhone friendly, but I also want the regular fm tuner. Like I said before, I want it to have built in navigation as well. Aside from that, I want really good sound as well, this is the part where I am absolutely clueless... I am by no means an expert on car audio so I want to know, what should I install in my car to make the audio sound crisp while having good bass at the same time.... So basically, what speakers are the best, front and back, as well as an amp. Help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Answer
That's a lot of questions packed into one but I'll do my best to answer them all. Keep in mind though that all brands sound slightly different (amps, speakers, subs, head units) from each other and it varies by person in what they like. Sound tests are the ideal way to tell which can be done at places like Best Buy without making a purchase.
First some basic info on your car that may help you decide should you not go with my recommendations:
- Your dash has the option of either 2" or 4" head units (DIN or double DIN styles). To fit the 4 you may have to remove a non-essential item like a storage area from above/below the original.
Your car has apparently only 4 speakers (i expected 6, 2 being in the front dash). Two 6x9's that sit in the rear deck above the trunk in the back seat, as well as two 6 3/4" that go in your doors. Since you don't have the dash speakers it's even more important to cover the high notes well and I would recommend 3-way speakers for every slot. 2-way would sound okay, but you may miss out on certain frequencies that the cones weren't designed for.
As for the FM tuner I can't think of a single head unit that doesn't support that or better, so you shouldn't worry about that feature.
It sounds like the main expense of your system will definitely be the head unit since you want a GPS in there. Most every gps made in the last few years are plenty good and accurate for daily commutes, the only features you'd have to explore for yourself are whether you want voice-assist, streets listed by voice, an overly big screen size (flip out screen which allows you to fit a screen bigger than the slot), and traffic alerts for avoidances, which you'll probably need a paid subscription for.
About the cheapest you're going to get a good name-brand unit like that is 500 dollars:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_110VM9726B/Jensen-VM9726BT.html?tp=20212
This unit is all around good and states that it's friendly with iphones and androids alike.
If you're unable to clear out the second dash location for the full 4" unit then you might consider something like this:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_020NZ503/Clarion-NZ503.html?tp=20212
This one also supports Iphone controls and internet radio in addition to a full sized touch screen despite being only a 2" dash slot. Obviously you'll need a little bit of extra clearance above the head-unit to use this effectively. Of the two brands I would go with Clarion, but there are many other brands if you shop around. The site I linked to has many good models and none of them are likely to let you down. You'll only need to look out once you go to sites like Amazon or Ebay, as cheapies start to emerge, but you can use those two to compare features and reviews.
As for speakers and an amplifier I personally think that in nearly all systems you'll get far better increased sound quality by getting a subwoofer with a dedicated amp BEFORE getting custom speakers and a custom amplifier for those speakers. Since there are so many options for these set ups I'll simply say: Ignore max wattage, it doesn't mean squat. RMS is the only wattage that matters and is rarely the wattage that's advertised. Try to match your amplifier RMS to your Subwoofer RMS and keep in mind that different wiring to the voice coils on the subwoofers affect the overall power going into them. Basic rule of thumb: Series connections double the ohms while parallel connections half the ohms. An example: two subwoofers with 2 voice coils each can be connected in 1, 2, 4, or 8 ohm configurations. 1 ohm would be every voice coil connected to the same terminal, while 8 would be every voice coil running to another voice coil in series and only 2 wires would lead back to the terminal inputs on the box (compared to 8 wires on the 1 ohm setup). Amplifiers give different power ratings at different ohm amounts and the better amplifiers allow for operation at lower ohms (2 minimum is entry level, 1 is high quality, and 1/2 is very high quality) You'll notice that the lower the ohms the higher the wattage it's rated for, so make sure you're not on a low ohm setting on speakers that can't handle the higher wattage that the amp is throwing out. They should be matched or as close to matched as you can get. Amplifiers come in different classes, the important one for subwoofers is class D. It has somewhat low sound quality but very high efficiency (less draw on the battery for the same boom), the low sound quality makes no difference on subwoofers because it's passed through a low pass filter which strips the interference before it reaches the subwoofers, however don't use a class D on non-subwoofers. As for enclosures you're goin to have to do your own research on that as there's too much info on different types. Crutchfield has good tutorials on that which you may find enlightening as well as other topics.
If you're completely sure that you want new speakers and an amplifier before you add a subwoofer (no trunk space etc) then you're going to need a 4-way amplifier. This is where you really need to go to best buy or something to witness the sound of each brand and then make your purchase (probably not at best buy since their prices are kinda crappy). Speakers and amplifiers sound as good as their brand mixed with the price you put in. Just because a set of pioneer speakers that costs 500 dollars sounds amazing doesn't mean their budget 60 dollar pair will sound good.
There are dozens of both good and bad brands out there, but as a rule of thumb... if they sell them at walmart they're probably not good. Alpine and pioneer being the exception, but even those companies have their bad products (always on the lowest end).
Here's a full list of good and bad brands made by someone smarter than I:
http://www.caraudioforum.com/showthread.php?p=2789088
There are exceptions of course, but stick to the list and don't buy products under 60 dollars and you'll be fine.
Wiring is very important, but all I'm going to say about that is fuse low, the fuses are there to protect, if you blow one and move up you're just going to blow your gear instead next time. Check out this gauge guide, always buy cable rated for CAR audio, and always run the signal cables on the opposite side of the car as you run power cables.
Anything else you want to know I'd recommend using youtube, there's thousands of audio nuts on there and it's where I learned 50% of what I know about car audio, the rest was trial and error.
That's a lot of questions packed into one but I'll do my best to answer them all. Keep in mind though that all brands sound slightly different (amps, speakers, subs, head units) from each other and it varies by person in what they like. Sound tests are the ideal way to tell which can be done at places like Best Buy without making a purchase.
First some basic info on your car that may help you decide should you not go with my recommendations:
- Your dash has the option of either 2" or 4" head units (DIN or double DIN styles). To fit the 4 you may have to remove a non-essential item like a storage area from above/below the original.
Your car has apparently only 4 speakers (i expected 6, 2 being in the front dash). Two 6x9's that sit in the rear deck above the trunk in the back seat, as well as two 6 3/4" that go in your doors. Since you don't have the dash speakers it's even more important to cover the high notes well and I would recommend 3-way speakers for every slot. 2-way would sound okay, but you may miss out on certain frequencies that the cones weren't designed for.
As for the FM tuner I can't think of a single head unit that doesn't support that or better, so you shouldn't worry about that feature.
It sounds like the main expense of your system will definitely be the head unit since you want a GPS in there. Most every gps made in the last few years are plenty good and accurate for daily commutes, the only features you'd have to explore for yourself are whether you want voice-assist, streets listed by voice, an overly big screen size (flip out screen which allows you to fit a screen bigger than the slot), and traffic alerts for avoidances, which you'll probably need a paid subscription for.
About the cheapest you're going to get a good name-brand unit like that is 500 dollars:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_110VM9726B/Jensen-VM9726BT.html?tp=20212
This unit is all around good and states that it's friendly with iphones and androids alike.
If you're unable to clear out the second dash location for the full 4" unit then you might consider something like this:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_020NZ503/Clarion-NZ503.html?tp=20212
This one also supports Iphone controls and internet radio in addition to a full sized touch screen despite being only a 2" dash slot. Obviously you'll need a little bit of extra clearance above the head-unit to use this effectively. Of the two brands I would go with Clarion, but there are many other brands if you shop around. The site I linked to has many good models and none of them are likely to let you down. You'll only need to look out once you go to sites like Amazon or Ebay, as cheapies start to emerge, but you can use those two to compare features and reviews.
As for speakers and an amplifier I personally think that in nearly all systems you'll get far better increased sound quality by getting a subwoofer with a dedicated amp BEFORE getting custom speakers and a custom amplifier for those speakers. Since there are so many options for these set ups I'll simply say: Ignore max wattage, it doesn't mean squat. RMS is the only wattage that matters and is rarely the wattage that's advertised. Try to match your amplifier RMS to your Subwoofer RMS and keep in mind that different wiring to the voice coils on the subwoofers affect the overall power going into them. Basic rule of thumb: Series connections double the ohms while parallel connections half the ohms. An example: two subwoofers with 2 voice coils each can be connected in 1, 2, 4, or 8 ohm configurations. 1 ohm would be every voice coil connected to the same terminal, while 8 would be every voice coil running to another voice coil in series and only 2 wires would lead back to the terminal inputs on the box (compared to 8 wires on the 1 ohm setup). Amplifiers give different power ratings at different ohm amounts and the better amplifiers allow for operation at lower ohms (2 minimum is entry level, 1 is high quality, and 1/2 is very high quality) You'll notice that the lower the ohms the higher the wattage it's rated for, so make sure you're not on a low ohm setting on speakers that can't handle the higher wattage that the amp is throwing out. They should be matched or as close to matched as you can get. Amplifiers come in different classes, the important one for subwoofers is class D. It has somewhat low sound quality but very high efficiency (less draw on the battery for the same boom), the low sound quality makes no difference on subwoofers because it's passed through a low pass filter which strips the interference before it reaches the subwoofers, however don't use a class D on non-subwoofers. As for enclosures you're goin to have to do your own research on that as there's too much info on different types. Crutchfield has good tutorials on that which you may find enlightening as well as other topics.
If you're completely sure that you want new speakers and an amplifier before you add a subwoofer (no trunk space etc) then you're going to need a 4-way amplifier. This is where you really need to go to best buy or something to witness the sound of each brand and then make your purchase (probably not at best buy since their prices are kinda crappy). Speakers and amplifiers sound as good as their brand mixed with the price you put in. Just because a set of pioneer speakers that costs 500 dollars sounds amazing doesn't mean their budget 60 dollar pair will sound good.
There are dozens of both good and bad brands out there, but as a rule of thumb... if they sell them at walmart they're probably not good. Alpine and pioneer being the exception, but even those companies have their bad products (always on the lowest end).
Here's a full list of good and bad brands made by someone smarter than I:
http://www.caraudioforum.com/showthread.php?p=2789088
There are exceptions of course, but stick to the list and don't buy products under 60 dollars and you'll be fine.
Wiring is very important, but all I'm going to say about that is fuse low, the fuses are there to protect, if you blow one and move up you're just going to blow your gear instead next time. Check out this gauge guide, always buy cable rated for CAR audio, and always run the signal cables on the opposite side of the car as you run power cables.
Anything else you want to know I'd recommend using youtube, there's thousands of audio nuts on there and it's where I learned 50% of what I know about car audio, the rest was trial and error.
Is there an android app that would allow me to track (preferably in real-time) my phone?
Mike
I want to see if i could put the phone in my parents car to see how long I could have an open house for ( I would track the phone and therefore their car from the computer). Is this possible? The phone doesn't have service and 3g anymore because its my old phone but it was GPS and Wifi. Is it possible?
Answer
There are phone tracking gps tracking apps for android like phonesheriff and mobilespy.
Check monitoring-softwares.com for more info about those tracker tools.
There are phone tracking gps tracking apps for android like phonesheriff and mobilespy.
Check monitoring-softwares.com for more info about those tracker tools.
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