Changing Head Unit In A 1999 - Have Tape Head & Cdp - Toyota Corolla, Chevy Prizm (1998-2008)

I started this thread in another forum:

http://www.caraudioforum.com/vbb3/showthre...797#post2082797

It's about how I replaced my fronts with Alpine Type-S speakers. They don't sound as good as I thought they would, and people are saying I should buy a head. They say the Toyota head might have equalization tailored to the stock speakers. Is this the case?

Anyway, Nakamichi seems to make heads that I'd like. They have a simple, stock sort of look. The ones I could afford (on Ebay at least) would be either the CD300 which is new, or the TD-35Z which is a discontinued. I don't think I could afford any Nak head at retail. The price on the tape one is very good but the CD300 looks better. I don't know if I want to lose the tape deck though; I sometimes listen to audiobooks on tape, which there are still a lot of in libraries. It's also nice to be able to play tapes from when I was a kid. On the other hand, if I bought a CD deck I could swap that out and take it if I ever sell the car, and put it in another car.

Now, my car has the tape head and then the CD player below the heater. It's a 2-unit thing with storage below the deck. I don't know that I want to have 2 CD players. Most heads these days have CDs. For those who have my setup, what have you done? Is there something else you can do with that 2-unit space for the CD player, without spending much?

I wouldn't say that the OEM headunit was "tailored" for the OEM speakers, more like it doesn't have enough power and flexibility to drive better aftermarket speakers. Big name comapnies like Fujitsu-10, Eclipse, Alpine, Panasonic, and Pioneer are contracted to make many OEM headunits for Toyota at some point. So the headunit isn't too bad - stock wise. But I'd be surprised if it even puts out 10W-15W RMS each channel at whatever the OEM speaker's impedance are. Most of the Alpine's I've used in that past seem to like a bit more power driving them and are usually have a lower impedance than the OEM speakers (S-series coaxials are around 4 ohms, I believe - the R-series and X-series are even lower). That can put a pretty good strain on the headunit's internal amp.

Most end up getting what fits their individual budgets - this is aftermarket, so install is not as clean as OEM, unless you do some modding yourself or spend a bit more for somethign that will take up the space. I'd say just try getting a decent headunit - Nakamichi is legendary for quality in the past, hopefully they haven't changed that much over the years.