Q: I recently got into car audio by helping friends hook up new systems in their cars and building a custom sub box. I have some knowledge of car audio, however I'm short on cash and cannot decide whether to buy a sub or subs for my car. I have a '00 Eclipse GT and my budget is around $300. I don't know where to start and was wondering if you could possibly recommend a setup. I basically want to avoid the mistake of buying a junky system and wasting my money. The things that are most important to me are sound quality and weight. I want high-quality sound and light subs. I'm constantly given advice of what to buy from friends, but you guys are the only people I can trust. Please recommend subs, amps, head units and boxes. My car has an Infinity system -- all stock sound.
Thanks,
Colin
California
A: Colin, the only thing I can really recommend is that you plan on moving more of your available budget to the improvement of your system -- I'm really suggesting that you get rid of the entire Infinity system. Close your eyes, breathe deeply and repeat after me: "Cause stock sucks!"
You have two key paths to take for this journey. On one path, you can build your system over time as you save up measures of cash. However, doing it a bit at a time will cost you more in the long run. Products evolve, so by the time you get near the end of your project, you're ready to start replacing the odd component that has either failed or has become too incompatible with new features on the market. Also, you'll be a long way from total enjoyment even though you're making a new purchase every couple of months. This method can also be a bit more expensive in that you'd need to start by replacing and upgrading components downstream of the source unit, so you need to buy one of the many available "OEM integration" modules to adapt the Infinity's factory weirdness with standardized aftermarket compatibility, until you finally replace the last weak link in the system. At that point you are left with an adapter that you'll need to try sell off if you didn't plan on keeping the factory head unit.
The other path involves taking advantage of the infinite number of in-store financing programs available. This gets you into a system all at once with immediate enjoyment but delayed payments. This option can also cost you more in the form of interest payments that can add up to around one-fifth of the total cost over the years. However, that can be manipulated. For instance, if you made a really strong effort to pay a bit extra over the first year of the loan or finance agreement, your overall interest payments drop like a rock, saving you money. Finance companies and banks count on you paying only the agreed payment each month over time, so they collect all of the agreed interest. But if your loan provider allows "principle payments" or "early pay downs", you can pay a bit extra as you get it, and the overall loan ends sooner and cheaper. I have saved tons of cash that way. You probably heard people talking about making sure you pay your credit card off as fast as you can? Same idea.
The reason I am pointing you in the direction of financing is that building a system over time means you'll always have a slightly better system until you reach awesome, when you could just skip ahead to awesome right now. Just about every daily driver I've ever owned was built in the piece by piece method and every time I finished, I soon sold the car and never really enjoyed the results. I'd fully enjoy a car for a month that I had built over years. When we built the Escalade, it was all done in one shot when the vehicle was new and I have enjoyed the results for the past four years. It was worth every bit of the interest I'd have paid even if I hadn't done "early pay downs."
And here's the lesson: I think we have entered a phase where these underperforming OEM systems have driven us to make the full conversion in one shot and then perhaps toss in a simple upgrade every year or two. For example, change everything except the source unit now, and in a year, turf the Infinity source in favor of a killer aftermarket product. Our industry has all the solutions in place, so why not?