Car audio help

impseth

So I've recently purchased a 2002 sunfire gt and the stock stereo is monsoon branded. Nice enough but I want something with a little more oomph and more functionality than just a cd player and radio.

But I'm running into a few issues and not even google has been able to save me.

Here are the issues:
Stock deck has an obd-II connector and uses data link(which may or my not be the same thing), if I can't find a deck that also uses this my antitheft, remote locks, panic button and remote trunk release won't work.

Any new deck is going to be smaller than the original so I want to turn the space either below or above the new deck into a compartment area where I can throw shit like my cell and/or mp3 player.

So far, the only thing I've found that gives me any real info on this obd-II/data link stuff is a wiki article that goes into way to much depth.

Everything I've seen so far for decks show 52/50w x 4 channels. Well, my car has 6 speakers, 2-rear/2-front/2-tweeters. Is a 4 channel deck going to power that? Do I need to find a 6-channel deck?

What should I be looking for in a deck if I want to install an amp+sub in the future and/or upgrade the speakers?

And finally: How can I tell if the new deck is going to be compatible with this data link?

And if anyone knows of places I cann look to learn this myself that's good too.

MoSiAc

Have you run your car through the www.crutchfield.com radio selector. It should let you what kind of choices you want on a deck and what sort of bracket options there are for your car and what not. I can't get there because of work but it's a good place to start looking at what kind of options you have stereo wise.

When you want to add an amp and subs you want to look at making sure it has AUX Out I believe they are really called. I call it a crossover cable but I'm pretty sure that's wrong. It'll basically be some red and white plugs like on the back of a tv for audio left and right. Those cables run to where your amp is and convert the signal and you run speaker wire from the amp to the subs.

Tavataar

MoSiAc wrote: »

Have you run your car through the www.crutchfield.com

Can't lime this enough. That site is amazing.

Six

They're service and support is also top notch. I bought a new head unit for my car last year and while their prices might be a little higher than I could have gotten somewhere else, they threw in all the little things you need (antenna, wiring harness, faceplate, etc) for free. Everything arrives in a single box with printed instructions, and they have live people waiting to help you during your install if needed. I have a minor wiring issue and called them up and it was solved in 5 minutes.

Plus they now have a ridiculous warranty on everything they sell, which was retroactively applied to my purchase.

Can't recommend Crutchfield enough if you're buying a car stereo.

impseth

huh, looked at crutchfield before but didn't see too much that was relevant. Thanks to the magic of PA I found their vehicle selector, they have pretty close to exactly what I'm looking for. Woot! Thanks dudes

So the only two things left then are my remote/alarm functions and fitting the bottom(or top) gap for a compartment area.

Can any confirm what the people in this thread are saying: Not going to lose antitheft/remote functions ?

It looks like crutchfield can take care of my compartment question as well but I gotta call them after work.