[aldo]

I should probably know this already, but I dont. I have the Eclipse 3100 stereo, what would I need to purchase to get Sirius radio. I know the HU is satellite radio ready, and the satellite radio service is Sirius, just dont know if I need to purchase one of those tuners, etc. and if so, which one is reccommended. Thanks.

 

[johnlam940]

http://www.eclipse-web.com/acce/sir-ecl1.html

 

[willgr1]

you need what john posted, a sat. radio tuner. i found it was cheaper to just buy a sat. radio receiver that gets hooked up to the antenna and has it's own controller.....excuse my lack of technical terms, for some reason i can't think straight this morning.

 

[aldo]

ok thanks guys. Couple more questions if I may, where could I purchase the unit for a reasonable price, reputable online dealer. And also how difficult is it to install, where would I mount the unit, and also how difficult and where could I position the antenna. Is it a job for Circuit City? Thanks!

 

[willgr1]

it's an easy job for yourself! if you don't have an offroad edition you can mount the tuner under a seat. since your HU is sat radio ready it should have a spot in the back to plug the cables from the tuner in. the antenna can be positioned on the roof, almost anywhere will work, mine is on the back of the roof, i ran the antenna wire under the headliner and down the pillar for the seat belt.

if you don't feel comfortable tearing the X part to install it, there may be someone local who could help, i don't believe in paying those circuit city/best buy/etc. people as i've found they don't know sh*t about car stereos.....i.e. one guy at circuit city attempted to tell me kicker makes the best speakers/subs....way better than the eclipse/alpine/boston equipment i've always run......if you must pay someone i would suggest finding a local car audio shop where the guy's financial income depends on the quality of his knowledge and work in car audio.

also, crutchfield is where i get all my audio equipment from online, their prices are reasonable, and their customer service is top notch.

 

[aldo]

willgr1,

Thanks for your help, I have a 2006 S. On your advice I think I'll go to crutchfield and get that Eclipse Sirius tuner, have it installed by someone. Also, I'm running the Eclipse 3100 HU, and I have the Polk DB650 and DB690 speakers. I also have a 10" JL sub getting pushed by an eclipse 3640 4 channel amp. The system doesnt sound that great. I'm thinking I pull the subwoofer and use the amp to push the 4 speakers, what you think? Also, do you think I should get rid of the polks up front and get some component speakers, as I said before have the amp push all 4 speakers. Please let me know really appreciate your help. I've got a few bucks into the system and I'm really not that satisfied so far.

 

[willgr1]

let me say first i am in no way an expert of car audio stuff, i just know what i know from experience. i have never powered speakers off an amp, so, while i do know it will help power the speakers better and give a better sound, i've found sometime it just takes a little tuning to get it all right. does your HU have built in crossovers? that may attribute to the bad sound. whenever i've powered a sub and amp the speaker sound has always been effected, just tweaking the crossovers has cleared up the distortion and made the speakers sound perfect. i have polks in the front doors, the mmc690 i think...anyways, they have built in tweeters and come with crossovers. i think these speakers are the best sounding speakers i've ever owned. i have alpines in the rear and they lacked the higher end sounds, so i added some tweeters and now everything sounds great! point is, i'm not running the speakers off an amp, i have heard my speakers powered by an amp (when i purchased them at tweeter i heard with and without), and the sound was better.

maybe start by singling out the speakers (using the balance and fader) and see if it's the fronts, or rears that don't sound good. and remember, you have stock tweeters in the dash too. i don't know much about your headunit, but read a little into it and see if there are some functions you didn't know about to tweak it better. I normally run 2 10" JL subs off a kenwood 600w mono-channel amp, but i haven't had it in for a few weeks because the system sounds great with and without them.

 

[aldo]

I think I may role the dice and replace my brand new front Polk DB690 speakers with some component speakers, sucks but I want better sound. Also, I will be using the local guy, not circuit city. The Eclipse Sirius tuner will be going in as well, thanks for the help.

 

[johnlam940]

so you have a 4 channel amp running a single sub and that's it? how is it wired?

if it were my truck, i'd run the front channels of your amp to the 6x9's....then use the rear channels of your amp and bridge them to your sub.

you're sub will be underpowered but it's the most efficient use of your available equipment.

the rear speakers will be fine being ran by just your HU....you want the best sound coming from the front.....ideally from an audiophiles standpoint, the rear speaker's job is to just fill in the rear ambience to create depth.

set the highpass filter for the 6x9's at somewhere around 50-60 hz and set your lowpass filter for the sub at somewhere around 80 hz. also, don't crank up the gain or bass boost to compensate for the lack of power available....you'll just get distortion as a result.

as far as the satelite radio....it's an install you can do yourself....pretty simple

btw, i'm a circuit city install supervisor :drunken:

 

[johnlam940]

one more thing, i've seen as many bad installs from privately owned custom stereo shops as from best buy/circuit city

the quality of the work done is dependent on the individual installer, not what store he/she works at.

for example, i've seen a custom stereo shop hack apart an OBD II data connector to provide power to a cd player. they blew a fuse and didn't know to replace it.....so they went desperately seeking for a new power source. this was on a 2006 saturn ion.....they also blew out the tail light fuse and let the owner drive around w/ no brake lights for a month.

another example, i've seen a custom stereo shop use duct tape, cardboard, and chicken wire to support a cd player inside the dash because they didn't have the correct dash kit.

 

[aldo]

Not knocking Circuit City, but I've had bad experiences and good experiences there, Paramus, New Jersey Circuit City was terrible, however the West Nyack Circuit City store was good.

Regarding the amp, not sure but I believe this older Eclipse 3640 is a 4 channel amp, would you be able to check and tell me if it can push these Polk DB690s up front as well as a 10" JL sub?

Thanks,

Alan

 

[johnlam940]

the amp will drive your 6x9's fine on the front channels....the rear channels bridged will give you in the neighborhood of 120 watts rms to play with....so that would match up ok to a JL W0 or W1 (the sub needs to be 4 ohms)