Sound System setup/upgrade (on a budget)

[jhnkvn]

hi guys,

this is going to be my first time to change my currently all stock sound system. crappy sounding kasi 2nd hand yun unit na nakuha ko. bear with me please, i'm a newbie and totally clueless when it comes to pricing and looking for reputable shops.

objective: to have at least a decent sound system (malinis lang gusto ko and not necessarily malakas)
budget: 10k max.
preferred brand: pioneer

im looking at around 5k for the HU with USB. 2 front speakers and 2 rear speakers. gusto ko sana same lang yun size para hindi na magbubutas or anything. kindly recommend me any brands in mind. may nagsabi kasi sa akin kapag pioneer, dapat pioneer din speakers and amp...matching daw etc. im totally clueless. hindi naman ako maarte saka limited lang budget ko. i dont want to go any higher than that was mentioned. hope to hear from you guys! thanks!

What's your car? Can you simply swap the head unit with a 1DIN head unit easily? If yes, then I would suggest you get your preferred head unit according to your needs (ex. if you play from an iPod regularly, get one with iPod integration). It wouldn't really matter if you purchase a 6,000php one or the 2,000php.. sound quality is the same. You're simply paying for the features.

As to what head unit brand, Pioneer and Alpine are behemoths in aftermarket head units. There are some less-marketed ones such as Kenwood but, again, just go with the one which features you want.

As for the speakers, if your preferred brand is Pioneer, then by all means go for Pioneer speakers. I would just suggest separate components (tweeters and midbass separated) on the front so you can mount the tweeter off your windshield. Reason for this is that our ears uses high frequencies for imaging, doing this helps heighten your soundstage to near ear-level. A great way on how to replicate the benefits of this is to find any speaker: place one near your feet and then placing them on a table near your sitting height.

If you're having trouble mounting it, then simply get pods and just double-tape them on your dash. If your manufacturer or installer can't provide you with pods, go buy some styrofoam balls, cut them up... then use those as pods. Ugly if you don't have it painted but it would work even better than most conventional pods manufacturers produce. This is because a round pod is great in diffusion.. the only thing better than them are tear-dropped shaped pods.

And no, there's no such thing as matching.

Personally, if I had 10k, I would wait around until somebody's selling a secondhand Alpine CDA-9887 for around 7,000php and use the rest of the 3,000php for speakers.