factory vs aftermarket

[jk_arabians]

i have a factory am fm cd in a 2002 ford focus want to know if i upgrade to a aftermarket alpine or eclipse if i will notice a noticable gain in sound quality with the factory speakers

[joe.ker]

I would say yes. you will notice a better sound. and it will be even better
adding a sub later

--
The Clown Prince of Car Stereo


"jk_arabians" > wrote in message
...
>
> i have a factory am fm cd in a 2002 ford focus want to know if i upgrade
> to a aftermarket alpine or eclipse if i will notice a noticable gain in
> sound quality with the factory speakers
>
>
> --
> jk_arabians

[joe.ker]

I should have qualified my answer a little more..
as long as the factory speakers are not blown now, it will make the sound
better

My recommended order to upgrade a system is..
1st) head unit
2nd) sub with amp
3rd) upgrade factory speakers
4th) amp for upgraded speakers

If you goto retailers like circuit city, they will tell you that upgrading
speakers 1st will give you better sound. they tell you this because they
make more profit of speaker sales than head unit sales. but in my experience
this is false.
Upgrading your speakers 1st before the head unit can actually make the sound
not as good. Why you ask?? because the sound the the speaker can repoduce is
limited to what the head unit puts out and upgraded speaker requirer more
power so the sound will be lower.


--
The Clown Prince of Car Stereo


"jk_arabians" > wrote in message
...
>
> i have a factory am fm cd in a 2002 ford focus want to know if i upgrade
> to a aftermarket alpine or eclipse if i will notice a noticable gain in
> sound quality with the factory speakers
>
>
> --
> jk_arabians

[MOSFET]

"jk_arabians" > wrote in message
...
>
> i have a factory am fm cd in a 2002 ford focus want to know if i upgrade
> to a aftermarket alpine or eclipse if i will notice a noticable gain in
> sound quality with the factory speakers

Actually, without knowing the quality of your stock CD player it is hard to
answer this question. However, chances are that an aftermarket HU will have
more power than a stock deck and will therefore sound better.

But I disagree with joe.ker on the upgrade order. Yes, upgrading the HU
first is a good idea, but IMHO, I would then next upgrade the factory
speakers. In fact, in terms of what will improve your sound the most, in
some cases the VERY FIRST thing you should upgrade is the factory speakers.
Speakers in any system have the biggest impact on sound quality, and the
greatest attention (and budget?) should be devoted to choosing speakers.

So after putting in a new HU and choosing new speakers, then I would worry
about a subwoofer and sub amp.

MOSFET

[MZ]

> Actually, without knowing the quality of your stock CD player it is hard
to
> answer this question. However, chances are that an aftermarket HU will
have
> more power than a stock deck and will therefore sound better.
>
> But I disagree with joe.ker on the upgrade order. Yes, upgrading the HU
> first is a good idea, but IMHO, I would then next upgrade the factory
> speakers. In fact, in terms of what will improve your sound the most, in
> some cases the VERY FIRST thing you should upgrade is the factory
speakers.
> Speakers in any system have the biggest impact on sound quality, and the
> greatest attention (and budget?) should be devoted to choosing speakers.
>
> So after putting in a new HU and choosing new speakers, then I would worry
> about a subwoofer and sub amp.

The problem is that it's difficult to predict how well the new speakers will
mesh with the existing stock head unit. In some cases, a speaker upgrade
will actually sound worse!

Ultimately, it's best to upgrade both the speakers and head unit at the same
time. (how's that for fence-sitting?)

[joe.ker]

"MZ" > wrote in message
...

>
> The problem is that it's difficult to predict how well the new speakers
will
> mesh with the existing stock head unit. In some cases, a speaker upgrade
> will actually sound worse!


I was going to say worse, but I thought that was a little to strong, so I
changed it to not as good.


> --
The Clown Prince of Car Stereo

[[email protected]]

jk_arabians wrote:
> i have a factory am fm cd in a 2002 ford focus want to know if i
upgrade
> to a aftermarket alpine or eclipse if i will notice a noticable gain
in
> sound quality with the factory speakers
>
>
> --
> jk_arabians


You don't know until you try the demo yourself. If I were you, I would
buy from the store has the good return and refund policy and I
install myself just for the test of it. Oh I have better idea. I would
buy
both alpine and elclipe and install myself to test which one is better
one and keep that and return and get refund other.

[Dark1]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> jk_arabians wrote:
>> i have a factory am fm cd in a 2002 ford focus want to know if i
> upgrade
>> to a aftermarket alpine or eclipse if i will notice a noticable gain
> in
>> sound quality with the factory speakers
>>
>>
>> --
>> jk_arabians
>
>
> You don't know until you try the demo yourself. If I were you, I would
> buy from the store has the good return and refund policy and I
> install myself just for the test of it. Oh I have better idea. I would
> buy
> both alpine and elclipe and install myself to test which one is better
> one and keep that and return and get refund other.
>
should all be the same right?
all made in china after all.. ;-P