Alright so i've saved myself a decent 500$....what all exactly do I need to replace in my Honda Civic Si 2009...

I was mostly wondering if I needed to buy a new cd player or if the stock player would work fine, as its already wired to the steering column and all. although I am assuming I would need to buy a new amp/wires/speakers/and subs...

Is there anything else I'm missing, or do I really need to buy a new cD player/face plate to replace my current stock one? im sorry if this threads been answered so many times, I tried looking

 

Starting off with a head unit is a great choice, but you have to remember that your factory speakers can only go so far. The main question would be, what do you want from your sound system? If your looking to add navi and have other fancy features like USB and bluetooth, I'd say to replace your factory head unit. If you are looking for better sound quality, I'd say to start off by replacing the speakers.
But you have to remember that the two of them go hand in hand, a great head unit with factory speakers would mean that you have more features, sounds a little louder and cleaner over factory, but your speakers will be hitting their max. If you replace your speakers, you will get better and cleaner sound, since almost any aftermarket speaker is better than factory. However, the speakers could only play what the radio tells them to do.
With that budget, I would personally start off by replacing the head unit to something better, and take small steps. It's better to pick up good quality sound components step by step, rather than dishing out your whole budget to buy a crappy whole sound system.

 

Another way to go is used. There's some great car audio websites. Figure 200 on a decent deck 50 on coax's for front speakers and you have 250 for sub stage. PM me for a link to a good site.

 

When you replace the head unit in the Civics, do you need to rewire them to the steering wheel and/or buy a new face plate, I mean...the Civic radio looks pretty wierdor looks like it would take a lot of work to remove/replace

 

Amazon usually has BA deals on stuff. I got my $500 for $370...yeah eat it crutchfield, ha ha. As for the controls on the steering wheel...I have no clue...you might have to ditch them.

 

Well thats good and all, but I guess like i was talking to people asking if its possible to get a decent system for like 500, but anytime I check anywhere...all the decent systems I see go for about 600 on Crutchfield

 

Do you all think it would sound "good" if I replaced the stock 10" sub with a Kicker 10" Sub? of course replacing everything else as well, this just being done to save a bit of money and no need for a box in my trunk?

 

Yeah dude, just replacing the stock speakers will definitely improve things. Personally, I'm not a kicker guy but I have heard they sound decent. You can't go horrible wrong with speakers these days. As for your price put it this way, $500 for a head unit and speakers is very do-able you just have to shop around is what I was getting at and really it depends on what brand you like or how much you think you want to invest. If you were to save up another $500 I can assure you that $1000 will give you more than you know what to do with.

But, since you stated $500 I would look towards spending about $250 on a head unit and the other $250 on replacing all the speakers and leave the sub alone for now.

 

What size is the stock amp, because as im seeing most subs in the 70$ range have a max out put of about 300 Watts, so if the stock amp is 350 Watts...is there a need to buy a new one, or will that only help make a difference later...like could I buy speakers/subs first and worry about amp/head unit later?

 

You can keep the steering wheel controls you just need the right interface for the new deck. I've never had them so I don't have much first hand knowledge. If you want to keep the stock radio you can do that and still add amps and new speakers and a custom sub you just connect the speaker wires to a unit that changes them to RCA's. You could definately start with speakers but I don't know what kind of difference you will see though. As far as replacing the stock sub I personally would redo the enclosure. Is it infinate baffle, does it sit in the rear deck? If it does you need to make sure you get the right sub.