darkknight1999

Just start with a new HU. The stock one as you've pointed out a few times is the weakest link. So way would you consider starting with some else if you already know the biggest problem.

Everyone I know on this board that replaces their HU never regrets it. Just changing the HU will make a world of difference trust me. As mentioned earlier in this thread you can do this for less than $350 bucks

darkknight1999

I would have to agree with flitcroft,... unless you've tried this you really have no idea what your talking about.

Look at it this way you keep your POS stock HU you play a great CD but the signal coming out of that HU is crappy so you add $600 bucks worth of nice speakers and an amp...what do you get...

... louder crappy sound

crap in = crap out

Live it, learn it

JawKnee

In short, one of the reasons I don't want to replace the stock HU is I don't want to lose the factory changer. If I can make the factory changer work with an aftermarket HU, I'll get an aftermarket HU tomorrow

Thanks for everyone's input so far -- grealy appreciated.

darkknight1999

Have you considered selling the stock equipment and upgrading to all aftermarket product? Maybe get rid of the changer and get some type of MP3 storage like and Ipod or something similar?

JawKnee

Not yet. I wanted to explore this route first. Believe it or not, I don't have an Ipod or any MP3 player for that matter. For some reason, I stopped listening to MP3s heavily about 5 years ago.

Willie Gee

Have you tried logjam electronics yet? If anyone would have an adapter for your Cd changer, it would be them.

I looked briefly, but did not locate one. I'd give them a call. The link is in my second post. i'm curious about this.

BlueDevil34

JawKnee and I both have MY04+ headunits, which are upgraded over the pre-MY04s. They're not "magic", but they're not bad (or crap, or POS's). If you have better ears than me, more power to you, which is why I told JawKnee to listen and figure out whether the HU sound was bad across the board, or whether it was only bad when the amp is maxed out. If he's happy with the HU quality at regular volume, an amp and speakers (I never recommended getting an amp without new speakers) will get him more power than a HU upgrade, but obviously not the power and quality increase that comes from upgrading both. If he's not happy with the quality overall, I agree, an amp and speakers won't help.

I have my own reasons for wanting to keep my HU - I'm not recommending JawKnee be as set on keeping his, since it will cost more and he may dislike the overall quality, but he shouldn't rule it out, especially since it seems to be his preference to keep if if he can.

darkknight1999

But my question to you is what are you judging it against?? Have you heard the difference it can make yourself? From your comments I'm doubting it, only because adding a new HU is like night /day, the two just don't compare.

Again amping the sound from the stock HU is just going to give you louder crap. The +04 HU is not that much better trust me. And yes the stock HU is bad.

If you like the 'plain' or 'basic' look of the stock HU there are other options on the market that are very basic looking but have nice sound. Did you consider those?

What is the reason you want to keep the stocker? Way are your so set on keeping that thing?
Educate me...

Willie Gee

The Headunits have been upgraded in the MY04 year, that much is true. But those Headuntis still stink. They have no power, and most importantly thier DA converter is awful.

You cannot get good wine from bad grapes. you just can't.

Before I installed new amps, speakers, and a sub, i switched out my 04 headunit. Drastic improvements were made in both Sound Quality and Volume. For about 1 month i had only the Headunit, and i was almost satisfied. I believe few others would have felt the need for more, but i did. The MY04 front speakers aren't too bad, it's amazing how they come to life with a new HU.

But i upgraded the whole set-up, which was expensive, time consuming, and quite rewarding.

flitcroft

My advice from above still sounds like the best solution to me. That is, sell both the OEM CD changer and headunit and replace them both at the same time. It's likely that you will spend nothing or very little out of pocket and get a huge increase in sound quality.

Stock headunit TMV: ~$120
Stock OEM 8 disc CD changer TMV: ~$275

Total: $395 from the sale.

Spend $300 on a new Alpine (or other) headunit and $170 on a 12 disc CD changer (50% more capacity ). That comes to $470, or $80 out of pocket for sound that is an order of magnitude better and 50% more disc capacity. You can't lose here. The aftermarket stuff performs better in every way and is much, much less expensive. That's what I was trying to get across the whole time...

How does that sound to you?