Bought My First Car

[Nitroboy91]

So just crusin' through my local CL a couple days ago I came across an ad for a 1987 Chevy S10 Blazer. She only wanted $200.00 for it because it had a "bad" tranny. Being that i have access to another one I bought it. Got to looking at it, and it was a bad throw out barring. Thats all! It has the 2.8 Liter V6 in it with 202,XXX miles on it and has a very hearty sound with it. It has some minor dents in it and a bad rear bumper and other then that a straight body.

Now then, I want to put a stereo system into it but have no idea on what brands are good and what are bad. I want it to be a good sound without being super expensive. Want to have a good bass sound too so subs are a must. So whats a good system for it?

Also, I would like to do a lift on it, not much, maybe 4 inches, should i do just a body lift or do a suspension lift and whats the benefit over either one?

Sorry for no pictures, it's at a a friends house because i had his step dad buy it for as for me being a minor.

Thanks
Garrett

 

[slowngreen]

Body lift will be really cheap, prolly under or right around $100. Thats a quick 2-3" depending on what you want. Suspension would be alot more. Beings its pretty old and theres a good chance that its just gonna be a beater and you will move on to a newer nicer rig soon enough, Id just do the body lift....Plus their pretty simple to install your self.

 

[ajames942]

+1 on the body lift. As far as sound goes. Alpine used to be big into car audio. Or look at pioneer. good cheap.

 

[slowngreen]

Panasonic make very nice head units for the price.

 

[RC Addict]

Pioneer has always been my brand of choice for head units. Rockford Fosgate or Infinity for speakers. Subs are a dime a dozen, but don't skimp here. And the better the sub the more power-hungry it will be. Look at RMS when buying amps. Don't buy the "1000 Watt" cheapo amp hype 'cause it is more-than-likely really a 200 watter at best.

 

[slowngreen]

Theres a KILLER FI bl 18 sub in the for sale, not to tute my own horn lol...

 

[Lessen]

spend as much money that you can afford on top of the line component wiring. I did a system in my first car with entry level RF speakers, a good 5 channel Infinity amp and a JVC head unit. I spend a lot of money on compenent hookups and speaker wires (I bought the braided stuff). Well anyways, that system sounded FN great! That was like 10 years ago and I still miss it. It wasn't loud or boomy but it jus sounded great.

 

[RC Addict]

+1 Lessen! Small gauge wire can not handle high current. Monster Cable rocks! Don't want to spend that kind of dough? Go with lamp cord.

 

[slowngreen]

Main thing is STAY AWAY FROM WALMART!!!!

 

[RC Addict]

Crutchfield can be your best friend! Been buying from them for years and years. They include wiring harnesses and mounting brackets with their receivers and speakers. Yes, make specific stuff! Tell 'em what you own and they do the rest. Even supply installation sheets for your car's make and model. Check 'em out at www.crutchfield.com.

 

[Lessen]

+1 RCA!

When I did my system I bought all of my stuff from Crutchfield. I even called them once because there was a clearance measurement that wasn't showing up for my car online. They hooked me up with the info and I was able to purchase speakers that fit. I wish I still had pics of the install. I built a custom speaker box/amp rack and everything. I even made it removeable so I could still use my trunk when I needed to. Gold plated 4 prong banana plugs for my speaker wires etc.. like I said, I didn't skimp on the hookups. Those banana hookups were EXPENSIVE from what I remember. If it weren't for my wife buying me the T-maxx so long ago I'd probably be into the import scene bigtime and doing custom audio installs cuz that was a lot of fun.

 

[alpinehyperlite]

In that vehicle, you are going to have abad problem with air leaks. So if you are planning on really fixing this thing up, and making it nice, i would first start off with sealing the doors/hatches with some weather guard stuff, so when you close the doors, it is nice and sealed. That said, it all depends on what you want to do and what you are willing to spend on your audio. I could sit here and tell you the best sounding system, such as focal components and amps, but if you are willing to spend $2,000 on each set of components, then we really wouldnt be having this conversation, now would we? lol.

Start: Brain. Everything starts from your head unit. It processes all sound, and distributes it throughout the speakers and amplifiers. What do you want to do? DVD, Ipod control, Navigation....... IMO The BEST head-units out there are alpine. By Far. Just a basic such as the Alpine CDA-105, will suffice with ipod playback, as well as MP3/Radio/CD. I am currently running the Pioneer AVH-P4000DVD, which is a double-din touchscreen DVD.

If I remember correctly, (its been a few years, i might be rusty) the Blazer's are running 3 different sized speakers.

Dash: 4in. It is kinda difficult to find a good set of 4inch speakers. I know infinity makes some nice ones but I'm not too sure. The infinity's sound really good.

Front doors: I believe the front doors come with 6.5in speakers. If this is so, I would go with a nice set of Either the Polk Audio MM-651 (Around $125-$150 a set) or some Infinity Kappa's for around the same price.
Or if you wanted to do a component set, something like the Polk Audio db5251, for around $150, or the Infinity Kappa Components for a lil more, but sound much better.

Rear: I believe the Blazer also houses a set of 6x9's. I have heard Many sets of these speakers, and one of my favorites are the Alpine SPR series. They are based off of the Proven alpine Type R subwoofers, and make nice deep tones to compliment crisp highs. They would go with the Polk component set very very nicely.

Woofers: I will always stand behind Alpine and JL in the woofer section. The Alpine Type X are great woofers up to the 10's. You start going into the 12's it takes alot of tweaking and tuning to get them to sound just right. But in the end, it is worth it. But my favorite speaker of all time, the JL W7 13.5. You wana talk about making your teeth rattle..... I had 6 of these in the back of my old explorer..... lets just say, during one competition, i broke my windshield, back glass, and both front door glasses. The only 2 problems with them.... 1: You have to absolutly DUMP power into them. Like i was running 1200rms to each. 2: Price. Sitting around $700 each, (yay sponsors) they are pretty expensive. But to go to something like the W3v2 from jl, put a couple of them into a ported box, and drop about 650w rms to the pair at 2ohms, and you will have a nice little system. Also, if you arent trying to deffen yourself, my first system was three Alpine type R 12's. I LOVED THAT SYSTEM!!! Sitting around $150 each, these things SLAM and take lots of abuse at about 350w each.

 

[godale03]

Cool! My first truck was an 86 S-10 Blazer. Great truck. I got a few years out of it. I also put a stereo in mine... very easy truck to work on as far as the stereo goes. Congrats man!

I can vouch for the Polk MM 651's I am running a set of those in my Tacoma in the rear doors and it is a great sounding speaker. I am running a set of Polk 6 1/2" MM 6501 components in my front doors as well. Great sound. The door speakers are running off of an Alpine F600 amp, and the single 10" JL sub is running off of an Alpine M500 mono sub amp. The whole setup is controled by a Kenwoodv DNX7120.

 

[Nitroboy91]

So what would you really recommend as far as sub woofers? I don't want anything that is going to rattle my screws loose but rather a whole system that will sound good throughout all ranges and will get load and not distorted? I was thinking only a single 12 or maybe 10? Or would that not be good enough? And you were saying that the 100-watt subs were really only like 200, then what brands would i get a real 1000 watt sub?

 

[slowngreen]

Reall 1000 subs are gonna be brands like Memphis, FI, High end Fosgates should be, some Kickers are, the list goes on and on but they are subs that you get what you pay for. Things are cheaper now, I remember first starting off into car audio when quality stuff was kinda like $2 a watt lol, so $1000 got you a nice 500 watt amp but now its easier to find stuff cheaper.

For real cheap, Kenwood amps do great for the price. You can get a "1800" watt mono class d amp for just over $150 and it will push any sub you put in front of it.....

Whats your price range total for deck, mids, highs, sub, amp, box, wiring and extras??? Dont think you have to spend alot to get good sound and ALOT of bass either though, I've installed stereo's for over 14 years now and have done very expensive setups for guys that just wanted to spend alot and then done setups for guys who didnt have much money and they came out great. Remember on the bass, its 50% sub and 50% structure, make the right box and you can get any sub to POUND!

 

[Nitroboy91]

Well I have about $500 but could spend more if need be. I really don't want to spend more then $1000, But really trying to keep it relatively cheap.

 

[slowngreen]

Ima pm you something to look at. $1000 can get you a great start.

 

[RC Addict]

If I were building a new system for your Blazer this is where I would start:

Head Unit: Pioneer DEH-P5100UB $209.99

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_130P5100UB/Pioneer-DEH-P5100UB.html?tp=5684

Dash Speakers: Kenwood KFC-1062S $49.99

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113KFC1062/Kenwood-KFC-1062S.html?c=3&tp=102&avf=N

Rear Speakers: Boston Acoustics SX95 $149.99

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_065SX95/Boston-Acoustics-SX95.html?tp=105

12" Sub with Enclosure: Rockford Fosgate P2L-112 $169.99

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_575P2L112/Rockford-Fosgate-P2L-112.html?tp=112

Amp for 4 Speakers @ 50 watts per channel: Rockford Fosgate Prime R300-4 $169.99

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_575R3004/Rockford-Fosgate-Prime-R300-4.html?tp=115

Amp for Sub 150 watts bridged: Rockford Fosgate Prime R150-2 $99.99

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_575R15...ch=Rockford+Fosgate+Prime+R150-2&ssi=0&tp=115

Amp Wiring Kits (need two): StreetWires Power Station PSK08Bi $69.99 each = $139.98

http://www.crutchfield.com/app/prod...gory|[rank710]Amplifier+Cables+&+Installation

Speaker Wire: StreetWires 14-gauge Ultra Cable™ Speaker Wire $00.50 a foot @ 50 foot $25.00

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_211UCT...e-Speaker-Wire.html?search=speaker+wire&ssi=0

Grand total: $1014.92 including shipping, installation guides, wiring adapters, and mounting brackets.

Not everyone will agree with my selections, but I have installed many a system in my time and this is a very well matched setup that can be easily installed without a lot of hassles and headaches. Yes, this is a minimal install--you could go with components and custom mounting for them, but it will cost you about $750 more. If you need some more suggestions go to http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/autoinfo/autoinfo.asp?lp=/app/Car/MyCar.aspx and enter your vehicle to get all the components that will fit. Good luck!

 

[hamz9561]

I use an Infinity Basslink in my truck under the rear jump-seat. It will work with any head-unit on the market. It runs about $300 and includes the amp and doesn't take up much space at all. Alpine is right on the head-unit. It is the heart of the system. I'm running an Alpine CDA-9886. It's a really great deck with an OLED display that WILL NOT fade in sun light. It includes the required iPod control as well as a USB stick reader and lots more. Here's a link to it at Best Buy:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8699296&type=product&id=1199494645981

It's currently selling for $269.99.