Ok right now I have a 2003.5 stock premium sound system but I think the speaking are blown due to years of loud music.

I'm looking to keep my stock HU but change the speaksers. The problem is I know nothing about car audio.

I want a loud system for as cheap as possible. meaning high quality items but changing as little parts as possible. I'm willing to spend up to $500.

The only thing I know for sure is I'm going to install a PAC AAI-NIS2 for mp3's.

So my question in the end is would I need to change amps/subs and such or can I just change out the speakers?

If it does turn out that I need to change everything but the HU can you guys recommend some good products?

 

Loud, Cheap and High-Quality... You can have two of those three for $500, but high-quality isn't one of them.
A loud system is going to require replacing the AMP and speakers. You can do that for under $500, but it's not going to be high quality.
You can put all $500 into speakers and get pretty good quality, but it's not going to be loud, and will probably take down what's left of the Bose amp pretty quick.

Might I suggest donating blood, getting another paper route, or eating ramen for a couple months and doing things right the first time?

 

Oh, one other thing if you're really scraping the wallet for money for this, go without the PAC AAI-NIS2. Your 2003's head unit will die soon anyway, it's just the way these head units are, and you won't recoup much of that money when you resell the PAC adapter and put an aftermarket head unit in. Burn your MP3s to CDs and listen to them that way until your head unit dies.

 

x2^ what he said

 

Are your really telling me for $500 I can get a decent system in my car? I mean I know its low if I wanted to replace the HU, But I dont so I assume the only thing I need is speakers / amp?

can you give me a part list of what I would need. I'm guessing it would only be 4 speakers and a 4 way amp right?

PS - the reason I want to keep the HU is my first HU went bad about a year ago and I already spent $1000 to get a replacement from the dealer so I'm guessing this new one should last for the rest of time I have the car. Also its not a matter of I cant spend more than $500. Its I just dont want to. I bought my car for $30k and spent quite a bit on it over the years I had it. I'm planning to sell it in a year or two so no reason to put in another 2-3k on a system.

 

The stock system, frankly, sucks. To try to help a bit though, here's what I've done and could suggest given your stated goals to:
retain stock HU
improve sound and spend less than $500

I'm by no means an audio pro, but I feel like I've done something similar to what you're looking for. My additions:

1. PA15-NIS for IPOD integration (obviously no impact on the sound quality)
2. Used a walkthrough that is stickied in this forum to add a sub/amp via LOC (bypasses the stock sub/amp from the Bose system in the rear deck).

Everything else is stock. It's a marked improvement to the stock system sound w/ the added thump, but I wouldn't say it really sounds "good".

I know you said your stock speakers are cashed (hopefully it's not actually HU related), so you'd likely have to replace those. Someone else can make suggestions there, but those will be limited by the HU. Seems to me that stock pull outs wouldn't be a bad route.
The IPOD/MP3 integration, replacement speakers, a good amp and sub, and wiring kit and most of your budget is gone.

The only reason I added anything to the existing system was because I had an old amp/sub laying around from a car I sold. My "new" cost was limited to the PA15, the LOC, a fresh amp kit, and some time on a Saturday afternoon.

Hope that helps a bit. Good luck!

 

You can't IMPROVE the HU for less than $500. Since metra kit is $160+ (JDM $300+) and that only gives you $340 (or $200) for the head unit... few head units in that range can be considered an improvement over the stock system.

The rest of the system is another story.

If you have the Bose system, the easiest way to improve sound is to replace the amp. That'll give you decent sound, and let you bide your time until you replace the rest of the system. You can do a similar upgrade path as I mention for the Base system, but remember that the speakers powered by the Bose amp will always be at a disadvantage.

For the Base system, you've got a couple ways that I see as feasible.
Get a 4-channel bridgeable amp with speaker-level and line inputs for about $200, like this Alpine F300. This will let you bridge the two channels to the fronts, and later, to un-bridge it and run to all four when/if you upgrade the rear speakers. If you can find a place to mount this in the dash area, your wiring just got a whole lot easier, since the speaker-level inputs let you basically put the amp inline with the wires going to the speakers.
Spend the remaining $300 on a decent set of components for the front. Like these Polk Audio MM6501. When you get another $200 to spend, get a decent set of coaxials for the rear and upgrade them. You can choose to power them from the head unit, or take that amp back to 4-channels and power all 4 speakers.

That totals up to $530 + amp installation kit + other wires = $600. This will sound good.

If you really must do it for less than $500, you can go with the Kenwood KAC 6404amp and save $70, and go with Polk Audio db6501's and save another $120. You'll come in under $500, and will probably be better than stock, but for extra $200 the improvement will be much more noticable.

 

Well, if you really want to save a buck, i have a full set of Infiniti Component Speakers (6.5" Components with Tweeters / Crossover for front), and (6.5" Coaxials for the rear) i'm willing to sell for $50.00 for everything + shipping. These are the 2 ohm speakers that are compatible with the BOSE amp,but will also work with most amplifiers as well.

These were installed for about 1 year but are all working fine. I recently upgraded to much higher power components.

PM me if interested.

 

Ok ty for the input. I'm going to get that set of front speakers for sure. I would like to upgrade everything at once. so could u suggest some good back speakers aswell? also is that amp u posted good enough to power it all? if not please post an amp that you think is.

also what about my stock bose sub? does anything get done with that..will it still be working?

 

That amp puts out RMS power in the rather wide recommended range of the speakers. It doesn't have any head room over it, which is what you want if you're looking for the best sound quality you can get, but this request was for a budget, not SQ. I recommended that amp based on my personal experience with Alpine amps (had one for ten years that still worked very well), bridging options (can do 2, 3 or 4-channel mode) and, of course, the about $500 price range.

Does it have enough power to sound good? Yes.
To sound great? If running in 2-channel mode, yes, in 4-channel, no.
To get great sound, you'll need a 500-600 watt 4-channel amp.
JL's is a bit better than the Infinity, which may induce noise that can be heard on good speakers, but the price reflects that. With $300 speakers, you may not hear it, with $600, probably could.

As for rear speakers, in the sub-$200 range, these Boston Acoustics would do the job well. They have a more narrow range, which should help keep the focus on the components up front, while still providing good fill.
They're a lot lower RMS than the fronts but that'll give your amp some headroom, so it's not constantly being asked to give all it can.
Somebody with a little more experience with component+coax jobs may be able to chime in and help out here, since I normally do a matching quartet in my car. I am unsure if the difference in the sensitivity ratings of the different speakers will be an issue that a little bit of fader control would take care of it, but I can't say I'm highly experienced matching them for best SQ.