Problems with '06 Civic.

[Misfitsilv 0]

I recently had my blazer broken into, had my FI Q's stolen along with the rest of my setup.

Found some RE SR's on craigslist for a good price, so I picked 'em up, and got an autotek ss1000.1d to push them.

My '06 civic has a really strange dash, and I was wondering what kind of power and sound quality losses I would suffer if I kept it stock instead of installing my Alpine CDA-9883.

Also, I was wondering if anyone had any help as to what LOC would give me the least unwanted noise, and how much it would cost to have one professionally installed by a local car audio shop directly to my rear speakers.

[todd.brust 29]

Depends, I have done numerous installs using LOCs and not hear unwanted noise. The only thing you lose with a factory HU is some of the functionality of an aftermarket, like subwoofer control and eq functionality. LOCs are easy as long as you know what wires to tap, on the other hand, aftermarket radios are easy too, just a little more costly than using LOCs. In the end, it just depends how much you want to spend.

As far as install prices, I couldn't tell ya. Go to a local shop and ask them their pricing on their hourly rates and cost of products.

[Gioia69 30]

if you do in fact decide to go to a shop, go to as many as you can within reasonable driving distance. some shops charge pretty outrageous prices and will try to bullshit talk you into buying things you dont need or never intended on buying. Lookout for that.

[slim2fattycake 85]

and try to find out each shop's reputation first before deciding on one. They may be cheap but there's a reason why, sometimes. lol.

[Misfitsilv 0]

Well, like I said, I have an alpine CDA-9883 sitting in my room, but if I were to install that, I would need a new dash piece, as well as losing the spaceship look my car has stock.

I just dont want to take the dash apart myself really.

I believe the dash piece is about 40 bucks, around the same as a decent LOC. What would you guys suggest?

[todd.brust 29]

I'd personally go with a dash kit from metra. Aftermarket is almost 95% of the time better than factory in my opinion. The only time where i would not go afterparket is in a car where aftermarket isn't an option, like higher end models with dashes not meant to be altered. Built in nav and all that good stuff.

That's just me though.

[Misfitsilv 0]

One more possible problem is that I have a set of tweeters way up on the dash, pretty sure my alpine HU just has fronts and rears.

[bigrank916 72]

If you dont know what you are doing or arent confident of your skills to remove the dash...dont. Have it professionally installed. Get the aftermarket piece and be done with it. If you ever plan on having a nice setup for the long run in that vehicle, then do it.