how many watts for new stereo sys?

[juggernaut]

I am thinking of replacing my system and was wondering what the minimum wattage for the speakers would be. I searched the forum about new stereos, but never saw anything about what wattage you should go with. I was probably going to go with 5 1/4's in the front and 6X9's in the back.

thanks, mark

 

[Kid_Again]

your car is one hell of a lot quieter than a midyear so i don't think you need that much power....here's the general advice i was given years ago about buying stereos and i think this works for any audio system...

first, buy the best speakers that you can afford, doing that by either reading reviews or by listening to them (preferably the latter)...once you pick your speakers, you know which size (wattage) head unit to get...in my opinion, and based solely on my own hearing, the biggest problem i have with speakers is a "muddy" low end (bass) which masks the other notes for me....good quality low cost multicomponent speakers are available now so that removes a LOT of the problems but if i have space in a vehicle, a really good investment is a subwoofer, mostly because you have the capability to bleed off the low frequencies which cause the maximum movement of the speaker cone to a speaker which is set up to handle it..

just my .02 and good luck

 

[Deusxmachine]

How much money are you looking to spend and what kind of music do you listen too

 

[juggernaut]

I listen to rock and alternative and some pop. I am not sure how much I am willing to spend since more wattage=more$$$. I just want something that will sound good, thats why I posed the question of minimum wattage to get good sound.

 

[C4Tom]

Kid is right... A set of good speakers can make a lesser head unit sound better. Some head units are putting out around 150-200 watts which is plenty adequate for a Vette. I installed a high-end 200 watt JVC($250 on sale) in my Ranger and there is plenty of quality volume level.

Just make sure you buy with sound quality in mind, not volume level.

I think most are capable of it but make sure it plays MP3 discs too. I burn CDs with about 150 songs on them and sort them into 'genre' folders.

 

[tyrel]

This is a surprisingly complicated question to answer, because everyone has stereo advice, and it's all different. My advice to you is to frequent online car stereo forums to find the best solution for your needs. Try this one:

http://www.caraudioforum.com/

Also, crutchfield.com is a pretty good source to get some ideas about what kind of stereo you want. If you want a decent system, at the very least you'll need an amplifier, four speakers, and a new head unit.