Re: Premium radio question

[MVenture88@aol.com]

In a message dated 7/9/97 2:35:35 AM,
ANDREW_ATWELL@HP-PaloAlto-om20.om.hp.com wrote:

>   Those of you that have saved your stock speakers and dumped the stock 
>     head unit for one with more power, etc I need your experiences.
>     
>     I want to dump my head unit and replace it with a new head/changer 
>     unit.  I have heard of many people doing this and getting much better 
>     sound from their stock speakers, this sounds good to me.  I'm not out 
>     to win any "sound off" competitions, just better sound for a few 
>     bucks.  With out adding a power amp how much wattage built into a head 
>     unit is sufficient to get better sound out of the stock speakers?
>     I am looking at a Sony that advertises 35x4 watts with a 13watt RMS.  
>     Will this do the trick?

In general, most aftermarket head units will improve your stock speaker
sound.  However it is a matter of quality and power.  The 35WX4 is
misleading.  That is total peak power, the number you really need to look at
is the RMS.  This indicates your continuous power output, or your actual
practical power.  Look for 25Wx4 RMS or higher.  That won't win you any sound
competitions, you really need amps and new speakers for that, but it will add
the significant sound improvment that you crave.  I'd recommend an Alpine
head unit.  Alpines have a wonderful reputation for spending their cash on
R&D and not advertising.  This gives a better quality product with better
sound.  You can probably get one for about $300 bucks or so, and that's a
in-dash CD player.

Anyway, hope this helps.  I'm, by no means, an audio expert.  Just an amateur
audiophile.  My system won't win any contests, but sounds *DAMN* good,
IMHO;-)

Andrew
96 1/2 Black GTI VR6 *with* Alpine 7827 in-dash CD, Alpine V-12 amp, and
Boston Acoustic Pro 5.4 series separates