New P5 Owner

[montoyac]

Hello all,
I'm a new P5 owner! I purchased my Laser Blue Mica MP5 1/11. I've had some time now to get used to my new ride, and am VERY happy with my choice!
I was shopping at first for a SUV of some type, but after doing my research and lots of comparison shopping, I decided that the MP5 was perfect for me.
My MP5 offers the combination of sporty good looks and plenty of cargo room for my music gear! And it's a blast to drive!

I've lurked on the boards for the last week and can see from the posts that I can count on good advice from the group.

That being said, I've decided that the factory tunes provided my Mazda just don't cut it.

Like some folks I see here, I plan on keeping my ride fairly stock. I'm not into performance mods and all that stuff, so that just leaves the stereo to play with.
Being a musician, great tunes are a must!
I'm looking at the Kenwood KDC-MPV619 for the head unit. I like the fact that it not only sounds good, the display color can be changed to Red to closer match the interior lights. (I know, weird)
I'm also looking at Cerwin-Vega or Polk for the speakers I'd like to replace front and back.

I'll likely start with the new head unit next week and move on to the speakers sometime later. My budget is 500-700. If anyone has other suggestions I'll be glad to hear them.
I'll be getting a digital camera next week and will post pics then.
I'm looking forward to being a member of this group! Happy riding! Montoyac

 

[1sty]

Welcome montoyac.

Nuke will be later, i'm sure, with a better greating.

I don't really like either speaker set but many memebers have good things to say about the Polks. I perfer JL audio TR series for entry level and Eclipse. Your ears should be the final make the final decision for you. Turn you back to the board and have a buddy switch the speakers untill you can tell which you like the best.

Kenwoods aren't my pick for a head but like the polks many people have good things to say. I perfer Alpines erganomics, SQ, and easy of use. Kenwood will give you more features per cash though, they ust have to sacrifice some build quality and SQ to do it.

Is this the start of the system for you or is this the total package your interested in?

 

[bjdesire]

i highly recommend alpine for a head unit, not to say what you like is bad, or that anything else isnt good, because i havent heard many other brands. near me were all kids and we all are putting alpine head units in, and some are putting in eclipse. i would have to say that in my experiance, alpine and eclipse make the best stuff. and thats over the other stuff that i have heard, (some kenwood, sony, pioneer, panasonic)

 

[1sty]

over those brands i have to agree, However Nak has some great stuff and Denon coming shortly.

 

[Sir Nuke]

Montoyac, Welcome to our happy little corner of the net, and to our Club. There are TWO BIG fridge'S in the corner with anything you can think of in them...help yourself...of course only take what you can LEGALLY have. (stash)

make yourself at home on one of the big fluffy couches, kick your shoes off, put your feet up on one of the tables, yes we are allowed to do that, mom don't care....and take it easy.

oh...btw....every once in a while a food fight breaks out...so you may not want to wear nice clothes here.

Welcome!! (stash)

Okay guys...I know it sounds like I really push my set up...but for some reason people keep coming in here saying that they want better sound.....and all they have to spend is $500-$700 which is right were I ended up....

I kept my stock head unit.....which has the 6 disc changer, which is a big reason I wanted to keep it.....I added an Alpine V-Power amp with has speaker level inputs....I upgraded all the speakers in the doors with Rockford Fosgates, and added a JL Audio 10W0 sub for the back. To me....it really sounds great! it thumps when I want it to....and the quality of the music is very good.

Just my two cents. (stash)

 

[montoyac]

Great info folks! Keep it coming. I would like to replace the head unit because I would like to have MP3 functions. As for the speakers, I'm not sold on either the Polk or CV solutions. I will add JL audio to the brands I am looking at.
I don't have any experience with Alpine or NAK units. I'm partial to kenwood because it has the main functions I want, sounded good at best buy, and I think it will look good in the dash.........
I am looking a sony because I have lots of experience with sony gear both consumer and professional (I've worked in broadcasting for waaaaayyyyy to many years!) Sony has never failed me. Does anyone have any experience with the Sony CDX-MP70?
What other units (including Alpine) should I be looking at?

 

[1sty]

Sony car audio is absolute GARBAGE. Plain and simple. They have the worst sound, most overrated stats and the highest failure rate.

A few years back they were quite good but have since turned to crap. STAY AWAY. Unfortunitly there car audio quailty is horrible compared to there commercial audio products. Trust me I work for a systems integrator full time and at Tweeter in car audio part time.

How could you ever tell if it sounded good in Bestbuy. There is so much damn noise in there I can barely hear any music let alone test for audio quality.

Alpines first MP3 headunit is $400 but any of there Ai-net headunits, starting at $279 will work with the AI-net cd changer that is MP3 capadable. Eclipse makes no MP3 headunits. Panasonic has them for I believe $200 and up. Sony and Aiwa shouldn't even be considered, especialy since Aiwas use referbed Sony parts in car audio. I don't know about Nakamichi. Also check out Clarion. They have very good head units.

 

[montoyac]

1st MP3 - Thanks for your input. Looks like Sony is a no-go then for the reasons you described.
I'll look again at Alpine and Clarion. What are your thoughts on the units from Rockford Fosgate, JVC and Blaupunkt?

Thanks

 

[1sty]

I no longer trust anything Rockford except power series amps. As for features or insider dirt, I know very little. Both JVC and Blua are reputable makers that aren't Inductry leaders like alpine but offer good products. Blua is trying to make a comback but has faile to really take a market share. JVC doesn't really impress me. They are alot like a panasonic, alot of Gimmicy features I personaly don't give a rats ass about.