Need Advice: Audio upgrade for NB8A

[BadBong]

Hi guys, new to this forum and just got my hands on a NB8A in gold, stock with hard top.

Can only spend a maximum of $1000 inclusive of installation and I'm wondering whether anyone can give me some advice on what to get.

The car's only got the original tape player + radio combo and I'm looking for an indash player with screen - DVD would be a nice addition.

Not sure whether the original speakers will perform better with a better player and perhaps an amp.

Big on sound quality (when the roof's on obviously) and i don't mind what brand it is as long as it delivers on the quality.

If someone can provide some recommendations on player + speakers + installer + amp? (optional) all for under $1000, that'll be much appreciated.


Cheers,

[sliq]

ooh.. i was going to suggest a JVC double din head unit, but that's $500, and doesn't leave you much for speakers, an amp, wiring, and dynamat

i'm not a major fan of in-car dvd players.. too distracting, and you will probably never use it to its utmost potential

[Jeo]

You'll be doing very well to get all of that unless your buying second hand or really cheap and nasty stuff (and even then it will be tough). If you we're willing to install it yourself there may be a little wiggle room but overall I think you've got some unrealistic expectations there.

Jaycar is the cheapest decent quality stuff you will find and just looking at their DVD options, you're hitting $385 for a DVD player with a 3" screen or $200 for a 7" screen and another $270 for the player.

Again with Jaycar but you won't find better speakers for a lower price than their 6.5" components for $120. Spending more here would be better though if you're genuinely concerned with sound.

An amp would be useful but no essential at this point. A simple 2 channel, minimum 50wrms to each channel would be enough, plenty of options around for under $200. I certainly wouldn't be bothering amplifying your stock speakers.

Getting the cheapest decent gear about and you've already looking at $800. You'll be lucky to get it all installed for $200 and you haven't bought wiring yet.

If you're really set on the DVD thing, a slimline PS2 can often be a cheap option. You can pick them up for $50, throw in an inverter for $20, a screen for $200 and you're away. Pair that with a second hand CD headunit and viola, cheap cool DVD. Although would get very expensive very quickly if you aren't installing it yourself.

My normal advice that I tell everyone is...
Buy the cheapest head unit you can that has the minimum features that you actually want. Don't get sucked in to paying for features you'll never use.
Spending the biggest portion of your budget on the front speakers. They are what you'll actually be listening to, they are the most important component.
Having an amp is better than no amp, a good amp is better than a bad one. However, they will only start to make a real difference after you have the other pieces sorted first. The greatest amp in the world will still sound like crap when its paired with $20 speakers, a $50 amp with $3000 speakers will still sound good.
Listen to speakers before you buy them. Marketing lies, your ears don't (or at least they lie consistently).

[NMX516]

Unfortunately "big on sound quality" and "budget of $1,000" don't go hand in hand.

If you can live without the DVD, I'd get one of the basic Alpine head units for around $300 or less at a good sale, then completely Dynamat the doors. DIY the Dynamat at least, and that will save you some $'s. This will make a surprising difference to the current setup. That will leave you with at least $500 for speakers and installation. You won't need an amp for the std speakers, and if you get a decent headunit, you probably won't need one for some reasonable aftermarket speakers either.

See how you like it with just Dynamat and good quality headunit, then start looking at speakers.

If you're big on sound quality, budget $2,500 for a pair of splits, an amp to power them, and installation. Look at Dynaudio and Focal speakers.

[BadBong]

Fair call guys.

How about i drop the DVD player, go back to basics & just focus on the speakers?

I assume from everyone's feedback that there's not much you can do with the stock speakers (i.e. POS).

Put it another way - if i only had $1000 to spend and the stock system - what would you recommend that i do to maximise the sounds quality.

Alternatively, if i should invest in only speakers and a budget headunit so that i can upgrade the other parts (wiring, amps etc) at a later stage, that might be a good as well.

[Jeo]

If you're going to do it in stages make sure you only do each stage once. As in if you do genuinely want a DVD player, don't get a budget headunit now and then have to upgrade it later. Also figure out how much you'd like to spend overall, because it isn't much good us suggesting speakers at $1000 a set if you only plan on spending $2k all up.

As a general rule though, building off what I said before, buy the best front speakers you can afford and work from there. Once you've got them sorted everything else will work around that.


Only a grand all up? I'd be looking at roughly $300 on the headunit, $400 on speakers, $200 on an amp and $100 on wiring and all the other little things you'll need. If theres some change out of any of those parts, a dynamat door kit can often be found for <$100.

[NMX516]

As factory speakers go, the NB8A ones aren't too bad - at least they use seperate tweeter and woofer.

First step is Dynamat the doors ~$130 max, and DIY.

With $1k to spend, I would then budget ~$350 for splits, and look at something like the Focal 165A1. Whichever ones you buy, make sure you listen to various ones before deciding, and try not to do so where there is a lot of other noise around, and make sure they don't have a sub switched on. Jaycar kevlar response speakers have got plenty of good reviews behind them, and are a low price so worth checking out. I haven't listened to any of the Jaycar ones myself though. If you got those, the money saved could go towards an amp...

That leaves $500 for head unit and install. I'm not convinced that you need an amp If you buy a powerful, quality h/u and sensitive speakers. I'd look at Alpine and Eclipse. The Alpine CDE-102Ei is pretty good and has an rrp of $350. Also has 2 pre-outs for connecting an amp if you decide to do that down the track.

A good forum to read is http://www.mobileelectronics.com.au/for ... hp?act=idx

[sliq]

Keep in mind if you want speakers that are clear enough to hear when driving top down and to cater wind disturbance, you'll be spending top dollar. Ask benny. The mx5 cabin is not the best cabin so you'll be spending money already to get it up to scratch.

[Ando]

I replaced my OEM cassette/radio unit with a Sony BT2600. 50w p/ch.

The first thing I noticed was that the NB8B speakers still sounded ok, but when the Sony pushed them too hard and they sound like poop when really loud.

The second thing I noticed was that I didn't care if anyone stole the cass/radio, and now I have to carry around the detached face all the time. When I forget to take it it's a PITA.

The built in bluetooth & mic are brilliant and eq options are versatile, not to mention the bluuuue lights!

I work in the audio industry and can confirm that great speakers are the first place to start. Any head unit will respond and perform better with the right ohms and quality drivers. (my head unit died, so I replaced it first. New speakers on the way... )

[mxfive]

Hi,

I had the same requirements as you do but found a head unit that gave me that and a whole lot more.

I am currently installing a double DIN DVD, GPS, Blutooth, iPod/iPhone, TV, Radio capable unit in my 1993 LE. Its made by the same company that does most of the DVD players in most big brand name cars. It is a Chinese unit that gets rebadged by Pioneer, etc.

I already have 6" Coaxial Boston Accoustic speakers installed in the doors and standard headrest speakers. I did a test of my unit on the weekend and the sound quality is excellent.
Also if you have reversing camera or sensors you can hook these to it also, it even hooks up to tyre pressure sensors if you have them fitted.

It would fit your $1000 budget including install, I think you could get away with about $900.

CASKA CA1615 - Car DVD with GPS Navigator Specification * 167.4mm unit length, perfect slimmer figure * Patent dsign, panel flip-down by my way * 64 LED illumination for your favorite * Steering control smart match, Intelligent Steering control learning * Build-in 24 FM/AM preset, with RDS (Optional) * TPMS, Tire Pressure Monitoring System (Optional) * OBD, On-Board Diagnostic System, to show your car ' actual situation (Optional) * Original factory wiring harness and connector * iPod interface ready * Bluetooth with A2DP * Graphical User Interface * Innovative Flash Interface * EQ Mode display * RGB input (Optional) * Screen save * Dual zone, USB port, Media SD port, NAVI SD port (Optional) * Play Music and video while NAVI * PAL/NTSC/SECAM, perfect compatibility * DVD/VCD/CD/MP3/MPEG4/CD-R/WMA/JPEG

http://www.efrontier.com.au/estore/product_info.php?cPath=11&products_id=248

Do a search on youtube for CASKA and you can see it in action.

Head Unit $735 (Pioneer have the same rebadged unit retailing for $2500.)
Adaptor cable $22 (I got a Ford cable as the pinouts are the same)
New tombstone $80 (you probably dont need this but I do to get the one with the recess in it to get the unit to sit flush)
Mazda Universal Install kit $55

Install cost = do it yourself

The unit uses an ISO cable and it is just a matter of matching the colors on the adaptor cable.

Just finished teh install here is the photo:

[BadBong]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Gonig to concentrate more on the front speakers for the time being and build from there.

My only hesitation of getting good speakers without an amp is that i heard from somewhere that underpowering your speakers can still do damage to them (just not as fast as overpowering the speakers).

Is 50W enough to power a good set of speakers?

[miaturd]

Main thing you have to realise is that if you go for 6.5" splits that you will need spacers. I had to have mine custom done which if you're getting a shop to do it..... prepare to pay more $$. 8" fit perfectly in the doors but they are very uncommon. hope that helps you a bit

And 50watts will not be enough to run a good set of splits. Look at around 70-100 wrms.

splits = 200-->250
Amp = 200
Sub = 200
Headunit = 300
Cabling = 60

What you can do is run the back two channels and bridge them to run a smallish sub and then run the front two channels and power the splits. This would probably be your best bet in regards to getting decent sound. This doesnt take into regards spacers that you need and also installation which costs quite a far bit probably around the 200 mark for everything if you get it cheap??

[mx52nv]

Phwoar!!! (at double din unit posted by mxfive).

mxfive, you have PM!

Les

[Benny]

If you want to have good sound on a budget, but are willing to pay some money now, and then more money later the best way to go about things is to get an amp and speakers first.
Good speakers, like the Focals or many others, do require some power to work well and the standard head unit does not put out enough power to make good speakers sound good.
I am always very wary of second hand speakers, but used amps are usually very good, and you'll save yourself a lot of money if you buy right.
If you can, look for an amp that is long and thin, rather than big and square, as the long thin varietys can be mounted in the tunnels on either side of the fuel tank.
There they will remain cool too, which is important because if an amp gets too hot, it will switch itself off, which can be very annoying.
You only need an amp that does 2 channels + the sub.

Speakers are where the real dollars SHOULD be spent.
While the standard head unit is nothing special, it isn't too bad and will sound really good with an amp and some good speakers. As you move along and get a better head unit, then the good speakers will sound even better, so they are not something you throw away.

To give the system a good rich sound, you will need to mount a small sub in the boot.
While many people think a sub is a wank, they are very important to give the sound richness, as you probably won't be mounting any rear speakers as there really isn't the room for them anyway, so you'll need the sub to make the sound sound like it is coming from everywhere.
You don't need to go overboard on the sub, an 8" one will do the job just fine.
If you click on my Cardomain site, you'll see how ai mounted the sub in the boot without taking up much precious space.
I have a pair of Focal splits and I can highly recommend them if you are looking for good sound, but you should go to a number of car hi-fi specialists and listen to lots of speakers.
Take your own music along with you so you can compare appples with apples and you will know how this music should sound, and so be able to make a better decision.
If you listen to a different song with every pair of speakers, you won't have a clue as to which is better.

God luck with your hunting.
If you'd like to hear my system, drop me a PM and we can arrange a meet up somewhere.

[BadBong]

I think i'll take you up on that offer mate - appreciate it (PM sent).

Adding to what you've mentioned, i really missed the rear speakers i had in the old car and I am actually quite keen to somehow get a pair of rear speakers fitted (not sure about the costs involved).

To be honest, other than the amp, head unit and speakers - i don't know much about tweeter and spilter... not to mention how and where to mount these hardware and laying the cables...

*wish there's a site that i can just read and understand all these stuff.