I'm looking at putting in a new sound system fairly soon here, and I had a few questions. I'm planning on replacing the HU, the four speakers, and possibly buying a stealth box from subthump.com and putting in a 10" sub. The HUs I'm looking at the most are the Eclipse CD3434 and the Alpine CDA-9827 or CDA-9831 (I think, lol). So, I guess the biggest question I have right now is will any of those HUs be able to power four speakers and a sub without an outboard amp? My main goal is just to replace the stock system with a good sounding one that doesn't look too out of place, and not too have something really showy or expensive or something that takes up a lot of space.

Also, as far as speakers, I'm looking at either the Kenwood KFC-C1739ie, or the Alpine SPS-170A. Crutchfield says the Kenwoods will fit, but does anyone know anything about the Alpines? Also, if someone has some opinions on speakers in about the same price range (<$100/pr.) that would be cool too.

Sorry for the long post and/or if any of this sounds really stupid, I'm still new to most of this car audio stuff...

Thanks for any help!

 

No HU made has enough onboard power to drive a subwoofer adequately. At the very least you need an outboard amp for the subwoofer. The HU can power the rest of the speakers. Not very well mind you, but it will get you by.

Kenwood makes some nice HUs and amps but their speakers aren't all that great. Alpine's component speakers are pretty good though.

 

OK, I'll look at an amp too. What about other speaker brands I haven't mentioned? Are there any that are a pretty good "bang-for-the-buck"?

 

Seriously, you MUST go out and listen to the speakers that are available. You will find that price doesn't necessarily corelate to quality of sound. Just listen with your ears and don't look at the brand names or price. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with what you find.

The Alpine CDA-9827 is a fabulous head unit. I know, I have one