Good post. In my daily driver, Corolla, I am finding that at 14 years old, the stock system is getting noisy, etc. I am thinking of replacing it. Issue is the speakers. Even 14 years ago you had to take the entire car apart to replace the factory stuff...pain in the butt. The head unit comes out in about 2 minutes...nutty.
In my C-2, my daughter wanted to play her music through the sound system. I bought a VERY expensive head unit that fits the car and has built-in amps. I put some speakers in the back, but the ones that supposedly fit the front do not. SO, I contacted the company, who I did business with in the 1980's, and found that the owner's daughter is now running it. We had a nice exchange, but she is doing nothing to fix the problems with her gear. SO, I took it upon myself as a former dealer and sometimes car stereo installer to see what I could do.
Today, I have the only factory A/C C-2 with front speakers that are where they should be, fit fine, sound fine (my daughter likes it; I don't always listen as I enjoy the sound of the car), and everything looks factory. Also, everything can be removed easily (for a C-2, anyway) and put back to factory in a very short time.
Best of both worlds, and was not all that hard to do once I figured out how to get those front speakers to fit correctly. Now, I have it if I want it, and the off knob works just fine as well.
As for the Corolla, well, we shall see...
Cheers!
In my C-2, my daughter wanted to play her music through the sound system. I bought a VERY expensive head unit that fits the car and has built-in amps. I put some speakers in the back, but the ones that supposedly fit the front do not. SO, I contacted the company, who I did business with in the 1980's, and found that the owner's daughter is now running it. We had a nice exchange, but she is doing nothing to fix the problems with her gear. SO, I took it upon myself as a former dealer and sometimes car stereo installer to see what I could do.
Today, I have the only factory A/C C-2 with front speakers that are where they should be, fit fine, sound fine (my daughter likes it; I don't always listen as I enjoy the sound of the car), and everything looks factory. Also, everything can be removed easily (for a C-2, anyway) and put back to factory in a very short time.
Best of both worlds, and was not all that hard to do once I figured out how to get those front speakers to fit correctly. Now, I have it if I want it, and the off knob works just fine as well.
As for the Corolla, well, we shall see...
Cheers!