*This was written for sombody looking to put a system in a ford f-150 4 door. thought it might be of help to somebody*
You can easily put together an entire system for $700. With that price in mind, here are my recommendations:
1) Price out everthing you want online, look at
http://www.sounddomain.com http://www.etronics.com http://www.ikesound.com http://www.thezeb.com and anywhere else to find the best prices for what you want. Then, try to get thezeb or sounddomain to pricematch everthing into one big order so you can save on shipping (thezeb does free shipping over $99)
Headunit: $190
If you want to be able to control your sub level from your headunit, you are looking in the price range of $175-225 online prices. If a dedicated subwoofer preout isn't important to you you could find something for $135-$175. I would suggest the former. Read this thread
http://hometheaterforum.com/htforum/showth...threadid=152469 for the cheapest options.
I have the Pioneer Premier 550mp from
http://www.thezeb.com. I had them pricematch ikesound, final price with shipping was $182 ($3 cheaper thank ikesound). I probably would've ordered from thezeb anyways though, for the extra $10 I would rather have somewhere that will warranty it for me and is trustworthy. Here were my requirements
Easy mp3 navigation and good load time
-ability to read wma, mp3, and VBR mp3 files
-Preout for front and subwoofer
-subwoofer control on deck
-Rotary volume knob
-Decent FM tuner (so I can listen to NPR)
-I prefer a simple layout
The decks I compared in the price range were:
Pioneer 550mp
Panasonic MXE CQ-DFX683U
Eclipse 3403
Clarion DXZ635MP or DXZ735MP
Subwoofer: $55 Pioneer TW-S255c 10 inch
http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/PIOTSW255C
Best sub I have heard under $125. If you want to move up into that league there are alot of options, you might look at the e10k.14 at
http://www.edesignaudio.com for $125. Pioneer also has some new SPL (read: loud) subs that have been getting some good talk, the 10" version TS-W1500SPL is $120 at thezeb.com and $110 at etronics.
Components: CDT CL-61a at
http://www.thezeb.com $150
http://thezeb.com/caraudio/specials_speakers.html
These speakers are plain awesome, you won't find anything else in the price range that can even touch them
Rear speakers: CDT CL-4x,5x, or 6x depending on your stock speaker size in back (I recommend the 6x if at all humanly possible) $48
Amplifier: Tons of choices here, I suggest a four channel amp, use the front two channels for your components and the back two bridged to a sub. one is US Acoustics USB-4085 from crutchfield.
http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S-P7hoU...20&I=235USB4085
It is $180 but comes with a 3 year warranty if bought through them (and if you search on
http://www.fatwallet.com you can find a $20 off offer) You might also read this thread
http://hometheaterforum.com/htforum/showth...threadid=153365 for some other options. I did run across
some soundstream amps on
http://www.etronics.com that looked as if they could be promising as well, but I don't know anything about the new lines.
Wiring: order from
http://www.knukonceptz.com or from wherever your major order is from to save on shipping, whichever is cheaper. I use knukonceptz, you can't beat it for the price.
Sub Box: build it yourself or get a subzone box from thezeb if there is one that will work for you (depending on sub choice, interior constraints, etc). $50 My opinion, unless you have 3/4" mdf, glue, screws, binding posts, and carpet laying around, it will cost you almost as much or more to build it yourself. Look at what they have, and don't hesitate to look at the possibility of slot loading the sub. Let us know what the space available is.
With everthing considered, this should put you right under $700.
