First, the car is a 1997 Civic Ex Coupe and currently has the completely stock stereo and speakers in it. It has the lower seperate CD deck, not cassette, next to the cup holders. The speakers are shot and I want to upgrade and have decided upon two paths and need help deciding the better of them.

First, keep the stock stereo in and change the speakers and add on one of the aux input converters or make one myself with an 8-pin connecter. This is kind of the route I would prefer, but I have three concerns:
1. Does the signal coming from an mp3 player need to be pre-amplified before getting to the stock stereo?
2. What type of aftermarket speakers are available that would have a low enough RMS to be driven by the stock unit, without an amp?
3. When upgrading, I am not too particular on whether or not I have components up front, could i just run a regular 6.5" 3-way in the bottom door panel and just forget about the tweeter up top?

The second path is adding in a head unit, which I have. This would take care of the power issue but otherwise I have a couple of concerns:
1. The headunit needs to be flush, since the upper dash area doesn't have the CD deck I have my doubts as to whether the headunit will sit even with the rest of the dash.
2. I commute to Philly and having my headunit get jacked while in class is not my idea of fun.
3. I know that I would be unable to leave the stock cd deck in the lower slot and would want to swap it out for a blank bin style to possibly set-up a spot to keep any cords for the aux input and sit whatever device in the empty slot. This just means more work, which I am not afraid of, but just don't feel like doing unless its completely necessary.

I think thats it, your opinions and comments on the situation are welcome...TIA.

 

Aftermarket deck is your best bet. getting a loc for the stock deck just isn't worth it.

 

While I appreciate you being the only one to reply, I really don't want to go that route. I really don't feel like investing the time and effort into making the install work just to risk parking in Philly 3 times a week or more.

Can anyone recommend good after market speakers that can be powered by the stock deck? At least a set for the fronts, I may look into a cheap 2 channel amp to power the 6x9's in the rear but don't feel like mounting or wiring one for the front.

 

Front speakers are whats important, not the rears.

any pair of coaxils from pioneer or alpine will work with the stock deck and sound better than stock.

 

What is your budget?
If you really want to be cheap about it you can just go find another pair of stock speakers...
You can pretty much run most widely available speakers on a stock hu. As long as you don't turn it up loud you will be alright. You can amplify them which would be a better way to do it.
Know that the hu is the most important part of the sound system. Upgrading this will upgrade your sound significantly. Most aftermarket hus come with a removable face plate. You can put it in your bag and take it with you when you leave the car. An aftermarket hu will make your stock speakers sound much much much better.
The work load for either of these is about the same since you have to remove the hu to run an loc anyway...
What exactly are you trying to accomplish here? Just to have a working stereo or do you actually want good sound?

 

I essentially want to simply eliminate the crap stock speakers. Budget is minimal...I am just trying to make an hour and a half commute sound a bit clearer. If I had long term plans for this car I wouldn't think twice about doing the trim and fitting work to install my head unit, but I don't want to do that with this car. I am really looking at only spending 30-40 bucks per set of speakers and trying to make the aux input myself with some scrap wires.

I also just want to put it out there that this isn't my first stereo go-around. I have installed the head unit on many of mine and my dads past cars because they didn't already have a CD player and in one instance, even a tape deck. Basically I want to replace the stock speakers with something I will not think twice about leaving in the car when it's sold a few months from now.

 

You don't need an amp for $30 of $40 speakers. Just install the new speakers, or get another set of stock speakers from someone if you are going to sell the car.

 

That was the original plan, I just didn't want to buy a set of speakers and have them sound poor because they are under powered...especially since cheaper speakers tend to have pretty high RMS wattages from what I've seen.

 

I've seen some that range from like 25rms to 50rms.
They will not sound as good as stock speakers with an aftermarket hu though...

 

you can buy decent aftermarket decks like the eclipse cd4000 for $80 on ebay, a set of $50 closeouts for speakers and you're in this $130? do people actually jack cheap decks over there? around here i can leave my windows down and door open & not get anything stolen

 

If it's shiny or looks tempting in anyway it can be stolen. I've had friends who had anything from their entire car, to a bottle of laundry detergent stolen while parked on campus. So I'd rather just not risk it.

 

In OR people are too worried about what their emo haircut looks like and the environment to have time to steal stuff...

 

Pull the OEM CD player, install your aftermarket HU down there, [ISO mount], would look almost stock with faceplate removed, especially if the stock radio is still in place.

Also a good idea if you have stock key-less entry, [needs stock HU for RF section].

I agree with mrdeadman, find some stock mids for the doors if the tweeters are still good, and stock rear speakers, they will sound great with an aftermarket HU, your stock HU is the limiting factor for better sound, [gutless].

If you want you can replace the front speakers with a set of 2way coax and either use or not use the stock tweeters, a standard 6.5 speaker with a 2" or less mounting depth will almost be "plug and play" anything deeper will require custom work as would any over-sized 6.5" speaker, [a standard 6.5" uses a 5" diameter mounting hole]. 94

 

I think I am going to go with the lower install. Does anyone know where one could get a "cubby hole" (for lack of a better term) that would mount where my stock unit is? It'd be nice to have some storage and such up there.

Also has anyone ever cracked open their stock head unit to see if the keyless entry stuff could be gutted out of it and still used?

 

Integras have a single din cubby.
I think it would be a huge pain in the *** to pull the keyless entry unit out of the stock hu especially if you are not electrically inclined.
I'm not exactly sure how it it wired in there. Your best bet would just be to leave that part. If I understand you correctly you have a single din cd player separate from the radio and that is what you are replacing?

 

Yes i will be replacing the bottom CD deck for my HU install. Also, for the keyless entry system, the only major hurdle would be whether or not the wire harness has as separate power source for the keyless entry system or whether it runs off the power in the radio's main harness. Also, the programming of the key fobs might be an issue because, iirc, it uses buttons on the radio. As long as the keyless entry system operates on its own oc board or whatever than it should, logically, be pretty easy to isolate from the stock HU.

 

Do the buttons on the radio for the keyless entry control anything else? I'm not exactly sure how it is wired, but if the antenna for the fobs is the same as the radio antenna then you might have to do some serious work...

 

Well I just looked at the repair manual for resetting a key fob and the harness for the keyless entry has its own power in and such. The antenna I am not so sure about, but even if it is drawn off the radio antenna, which I am not sure it is, it should be easy enough to patch a wire into the existing antenna line before it gets to my new headunit.

Also, only one button off of the radio is used and shares no other functions that I know of which means it should be pretty easy to take apart and make a little separate box with the keyless electronics and one button.

 

[QUOTE=corrupt0r;40013888]First, the car is a 1997 Civic Ex Coupe QUOTE]
mrdeadman did you not get your Wheaties this morning, I am pretty sure we are talking about a Civic not an Integra.

You can not remove the key-less entry RF section out of the stock radio, you either keep the stock HU or install an aftermarket key-less entry or alarm system.

Metra makes a harness adapter to keep the stock HU in car and be able to wire an aftermarket HU into the stock wiring also.

If you go wit an aftermarket key-less entry or alarm you will need the jumper plug so you maintain dome light. 94

 

[quote=fcm;40057519]Haha, I should have clarified. He was asking where he could get a cubbie and I should have said he could source one from an Integra.

 

OIC. 94