FTO AUSTRALIA

Hey guys, I dont know much about car audio, and am looking to upgrade mine. Just seeing which you guys think is the best brand for me to buy.

pioneer if you want value for money, I had a pioneer stacker and head unit in my last car for 9 years and never missed a beat. Even played burnt CD's when they came out (most players didn't) I bought it when CD stackers where just out on the market they didn't even have a combo deal. The head unit only just died last week.. survived 50C heat for years in summer as I had no aircon

alpine if you simply want the best you can buy(and cost it will)...... (has some down sides)
my fto came with a u bute huge alpine head unit with MD (not Hi-MD to my dismay) and 3cd mini indash stacker. 2 problems, there is no MD drive for a PC so recording music means buying a MD player/recorder and recording at 1x speed to md every time I want to make a MD. Also the CD player won't play burnt CD's only originals... a pain really considering I have over 30Gb of MP3s. Other than that they unit sounds great and will compliment the rest of the system when subby is in.

Alpine amps have always been of a very high standard so I would recommend them (well I am biased I only have and and only have used alpine amps)

my vote still goes to pioneer for head units for prices vs quality

OK I will have to look into the prices, also, what do you guys think bout mixin and matching?

Pioneer is winning at the moment, anyone gunna stick up for the others?

I had Pioneer, VDO, Clarion, Alpine head unit in my FTO before, & Alpine sounds the best out of all of them (they all ran through the same model of speakers), & I also found that the menu function are very easy to use as well, while VDO & Clarion are little bit complicated at the start, but your will get use to it.

I have no problem playing burn CD with Alpine what so ever, & I've got two different one at the moment too, one is a normal CD player which was top of the line in its days, & the other is a mid range Mp3 player. Both are great units, I also have Alpine stacker which plays burn CD as well. So I guess maybe the laser is worn out or play up if it’s not playing burn CD.

Well with MD, in Japan everyone would have a MD player at home, & they would use either the optical output from the computer or the DVD/CD player to load the music on to the MD, & if you got one of those NetMD its even easier. But in Oz, it was launch 10yrs after it was realize in Asian, & it didn't really take off so that’s why you would find MD would be very difficult to play with in Oz, as we never had the proper equipment at the first place.

If you working on a budget, then its either Kenwood or Pioneer, Sony are really crap for its price compare to any other brand.

These brands differ in terms on how much u are willing to spend. If u really want bang for buck with excellent sound quality go with Clarion. The contain 24bit DAC converters and sound supurb for a deck around the $500-$600 mark. Pioneer is also a very good deck with tons of functions for the amount u pay. Alpine on the other hand, even though it is a top end brand, some of their prices are just ridiculous.

My opinion is if u dont care about the look of the deck and want great sound for around $500, go with the Clarion. If u wanna get a great looking deck with heaps of functions and features and are willing to spend around $700 go with the Pioneer.

and yes Sony products are way over priced for what they are *cough* crap.

It really is all a matter of what you like. It's like me telling you the Honda Jazz is the best car ever, just because I think it is doesn't mean you will like it.

I run a top of the line Clarion Unit (few years back now) with no internal amp, a Stacker and they both play everything I throw at them. The head unit and stacker are the only Clarion component I run, from there the signal goes to a Coustic active crossover (bit old school) and then to a Coustic amp (before they were cheap and sold off to another company) that then feeds an MTX 12"woofer in vented box and a pair of Focal 165k splits.

I have no issues with mixing and matching, in fact I think it's the way to go, no one is the best at everything. But play around with what you like and it's most importantly take a cd in and have a listen to as much stuff as you can. If your ears and brain tell you that Sony stuff sounds the best who am I to tell you that your brain is wrong haha.

So as in speaker wise and sound quality etc. Which would u recommend? Who makes the best sounding sub?

Well that depends on how much money you willing to spend, but here's a post that might give you some idea.

http://www.ftoaustralia.com/modules.php ... ht=speaker

Mixing and matching is the best way to get the best out of any system.
Speaker wise and sub wise will always depend how much money u want to spend. If u have some money to spend on a top sounding sub , i would go for the Boston Acoustic Pro Subs. For splits its personal taste. I love the Boston splits but others find the sound to bright for them. Some like the MB Quartz but i find the sound too dull.

Again no one can tell you what you like, I love the sound of my woofer but you might hate it. It's all a personal choice.

Ok, I have figured out a budget for the whole thing...
<Drumroll Please>
$2500, I would love to get some Boston Acoustics gear but I dont think I can afford it
What brand would I be looking at for this price rangne? I could prob. extend myself to $3500 if I need to.

I can get u Boston products at good prices. Problem is that u live in Tamworth

Dude $2500 is plenty, for that money I would suggest something along the lines of:

Source: Pioneer DEH-5650mp / Alpine CDA 9827 / JVC touch screen.

Splits: Hertz HSK-165 / Boston FS-60 / Morel Pulse / Vibe ST-60 / PG Comp6.5

Rear: You dont really need them unless you have poeple in the back. If so then just the co axial verison of the splits above.

Amp: PG 8:0.4 / Audison SRx3

Sub: Hertz HX300 / Boston G2 / Vibe blackair / JL 12w0 / IDQ 12

Personally I would get the Pioneer 5650mp / B/A FS-60 / Audison SRx3 / B/A G2 combo. That plus sound deadening / cables should set you back around $2300-2500. What kind of music do you listen to? PM me if you wish to know more about these products. Location is not an issue.

im selling my boston FS60. If yr interested PM me.