OK Major Non-Budget buster...
(Should have mentioned what I did...)
Got the 95 Merc Mystique less than a month ago. Had stock stereo with dealer installed (or at least the install was crappy enough to warrant it being called a dealer install :)) 10 CD changer. Wasn't soooo bad, but the sound quality was limited (IMHO) by the stock speakers and the fact that the CDs were coming over the FM @ 88.3 MHz. Boooooooooo.
I'm on a VERY tight budget, so here is what I did over the course of about two weeks:
(Chronological order)
1. Built a sub box matching one for the smaller of my home theaters. Installed 6.5" JBL (sub)woofers I had from a prior life. The box is pretty cool, with each of the woofers having their own cubic footage within the enclosure and firing into a vented chamber.
2. Removed rear speakers completely and mounted/hooked up sub(s) to rear channels.
3. Replaced front speakers with two way drop-in pioneers that I bought at simplycheap.com for $54. (I thought that was a pretty good buy, considering our local Wal-mart charges $79.)
4. Ripped out factory head unit and dealer-installed CD changer and installed a pioneer hu I had in stowage that I used in the Audi I used to own. (DEH-something, has MOSFET-45 power and FIE)
5. Got it all together using the custom EQ curves and FIE of the HU and it sound quite good considering what I have invested. All connections are verified correct and soldered into place.
The Pioneer HU I installed (as I'm sure the new ones do, also) has a neat EQ feature in which you can set the frequency and slope of the three 'bands' you are allowed to custom equalize. I boosted the low band +2 db with a narrow slope at 40 Hz and the high band +2db at 12 KHz. In combination with the Front Image Enhancer (FIE) of this deck, my small subs really bring out the bottom octave without collapsing the image from the front to the center/back of the vehicle.
I am very pleased
Plays plenty loud and is very clear, at least to my ears.
Most of these mods were considered from suggestions from CEGers.
Thanks again,
Rob
