I am going to buy a new Radio/CD Deck for my car. I want to get one with more features. I am looking at JVC/Kenwood/Blaupunkt. THe reason for these 3 brands is because I want one with a USB port and these are the only I have found. My question is should I use the AMP that comes with the new Radio or should I use the one that came with the car? And will I have to rewire the speaker to the new Radio if I want to use the new AMP? Or should I spend $200 and get a new AMP? I am thinking that I will replace the rear 6" subs with something but what? More Subs or a good 6.5". Any thoughts?

Also if anybody has any of these radios, I would like your advice. I want one that will match the cars dash. I have a Black Limited Roadster with the Grey Leather. I am leaning towards the new Blaupunkt MP56 St. Louis. It is just that it is not for sale yet but looks the coolest.

 

If you replace the head unit (deck) get a wiring harness (and an antenna adapter) and hook up to the factory harness the stock amp will work fine. The sound will be much better with a new head unit. I am in the middle of replacing my stock door speakers and installing a 10 inch sub in a box in the cargo area. I will be using an Alpine F345 amp to run both door speakers and the sub. I will not be using the factory subs behind the seats. They are 6 1/2 subs and sound ok but not great. I have pulled back the carpet to look and it would be very hard to fit in a bigger sub as the fuel tank is also located there so I don't think I'll be doing any metal cutting in that area. Do a search for "stereo" you will find a LOT of info on this forum.
BTW crutchfield.com is a good place to check out new stereo gear and get ideas, Lots of photos and info.

 

What about using the amp that comes with the head unit. I talked the Crutchfield and they said the amps that come with these high end head units are better then the one that comes in the car. Does anyone have an amp from a head unit powering the stock speakers?

 

When you hook up your new radio to the factory wires with a harness adaptor, you use the speaker outputs (amp) of the new radio...
So you'll actually be using both amps, which may sound weird but it works fine, its done all the time in many cars that have amps hidden away.

I'm a mobile electronics installer, so if you have any questions, I'll try to answer them when I can.

 

Can someone please describe what the wire looks like from the harness that hooks up to which wire to the amp?

 

Make sure the color of radio lights match your instrument panel lights.

 

I'm not trying to talk you out of it, but keep in mind that HD Radio (digital radio from "regular" broadcasters (as opposed to satellite)) continues to grow, as do MP3 (or IPod) connectors (including USB), and let's not forget the tumbling price of GPS. Also Bluetooth growth, helped substantially by California's new law going into effect next July that mandates hands-free cellphone use.

I expect that over the next year you will see many new front end head units (radios /w players, etc.) come out, and one would expect that they'll support many of these newer features. So if you're not quite ready today, can't find exactly what you want, or want a wider - and probably less expensive selection, give it a bit of time. There's probably nothing that's out there today that you'll miss out on by waiting - unless you just don't want to.