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My 1988 Volvo 240 sedan's mostly stock sound system sounds like crap. The head unit is a Pioneer DEH-405 from the early 90s, which was apparently quite expensive when now, but lacks currently-accepted features such as auxiliary input and a clock that you can set without knowing the Clock Secret. The car has 4" speakers in the front doors, and (I think) 5.5" speakers in the rear deck (Volvo model HT-172, which may or may not have been a premium thing). I've seen complaints from people on various forums that there isn't much mounting depth available for the door speakers. What do I upgrade first? Are there any radios that don't have fake brushed aluminum and blue LEDs all over them? What do I need to look for in speakers? I don't need incredibly loud bass, but I would like to be able to hear any bass at all, as well as being able to crank it up far enough to hear over road noise without the elderly speakers making horrible resonaty vibraty noises. Are there any radios that don't have fake brushed aluminum and blue LEDs all over them? Also, when I upgrade the speakers, is it possible to keep the stock speaker grilles, or do I have to change them out?
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Dec 30, 2012 12:42
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 09:24 |
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I've done too much looking through Crutchfield for head units and am pretty sure I'm gonna choose either the Sony CDX-GT700HD or the Kenwood Excelon KDC-X596. Are there any caveats of either of those I should know about? My 1988 Volvo 240 already has an (old) aftermarket head unit. Can I reuse the mounting kit and wiring harness from it?
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Jan 3, 2013 04:53
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Oh god help. How did I get here I am not good with wires.   I thought I could re-use the wiring harness that came with the ca. 1994 radio. I look at all these wires spliced to differently-colored wires, and these cut wires, and the wires emanating from other parts of the car, and the wires coming out of what I think is the wiring harness that have been cut, and my brain starts turning inside out. Is there any hope for re-using this jumble (like plugging the stereo wires into the old connector), or should I just buy a new wiring harness?
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Jan 9, 2013 04:08
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Puddin posted:Hey, at least their all crimped up and not just twisted and taped. Is a patch loom the same thing as this? That site doesn't seem to have anything other than mounting plates for a 1988 Volvo 240.
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Jan 9, 2013 04:53
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Thanks for all the help, guys. I've cut off the original one, isolated and labeled the speaker wires, and now it's much easier. Question: the constant 12v wire for the previous stereo has what appears to be a choke (the box on the orange wire) in it. Will its absence degrade my sound quality any, or is a modern stereo immune to anything that'd come through there?
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Jan 10, 2013 06:39
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  Thank you, everyone, for the help. Also, a curse on the person who decided to mess with me by installing a fuse holder in the power antenna wire.
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Jan 11, 2013 10:46
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Puddin posted:Looks good man! How's it sound? Sounds better than it used to, even though I haven't done anything to the speakers; the equalizer settings in this thing let me set it just right to take full advantage of the front (4", stock) and rear (5.5"?, stock) speakers without noticeable distortion. It's a JVC-HDR71BT, so I get HD Radio and Bluetooth and whatnot. Of course, to take advantage of the HD radio, I have to fix my power antenna mast first. 
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Jan 11, 2013 11:13
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Is there a place with lots of information on amplifiers? I've got another car, with no radio and eight speaker positions, and I'm planning to upgrade from 1.5" tweeters in the dashboard to bigger actual speakers. I have a feeling that a normal 20W 4-channel head unit isn't quite gonna cut it once I've got everything installed and upgraded. Also is it ever worth it using component speakers, or is that just a big pain in the rear end?
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May 11, 2013 02:34
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Lowclock posted:1.5" is plenty big for tweeters. Not really any reason to go bigger. As for if it will be loud enough, well that's up to you, and a decent amp would be the way to go if you decide it's not. LloydDobler posted:Seconding this. I've gone component in every car I've owned since 2004 and I'll never go back. They really sound that much better. Thanks! I was originally planning to put small coaxial speakers in the dash holes to replace the tweeters, but after doing more research (and finding out that component stuff comes in sets, so I don't have to buy separate woofers and stuff  ) I think I'm gonna go with a front component system.Two more questions:
Thanks a ton, y'all! atomicthumbs fucked around with this message at 07:36 on May 11, 2013 |
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May 11, 2013 07:02
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Anyone have a recommendation for a head unit that's not a total pain to browse an iPod or flash drive with? Preferably, it'd have a non-segmented, readable display that I can set to green to match the rest of the lights in my car. I'd like one with fancy DSP functions to make sure I'm not gonna want to upgrade later; HD radio would be cool, and CD functionality isn't necessary.
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May 23, 2013 21:04
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I've narrowed my head unit choices down to three. I'd appreciate some advice. I could get the Alpine CDE-HD148BT, which has all the features I want, and a low-res display:  Or, for $50 more, I could get the CDE-HD149BT, which is identical except for having a fold-down faceplate, a higher-resolution, easier to use and better looking display, and an aux port in the back instead of the front:  But if I'm gonna spring for that, I could get a Pioneer DEH-80PRS for the same price. It's a fancy audiophile receiver and has more DSP and sound setup options than the Alpines, but it doesn't have HD Radio. I'm not sure how much I'll use HD Radio, but it'd be nice to have the option.  Anyone here owned any of these three?
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May 26, 2013 09:58
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Are these MBQuart component speakers likely to be any good?
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Jun 1, 2013 00:32
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I ended up buying a factory refurbished Pioner DEH-80PRS for my Volvo. It arrived today and I installed it; it kicks rear end, despite the fact that my front passenger door speaker is apparently completely busted. Looks like I will be getting a nice set of component speakers after all!
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Jun 11, 2013 04:45
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 09:24 |
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Is a used pair of these likely to give me better sound than my Volvo 940's stock rear deck 6x9s, and is $35 a good price? My head unit's a Pioneer DEH-80PRS and I'm using its internal amp.
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Sep 4, 2013 21:29
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