Newbie here need to find out about good stereo

artinsharollli,

Do you have the BOSE system in your car or is that the basic stereo. It looks like the basic to me. The quick answer is, do you have a sub-woofer box under the driver seat or not. If not then it's the basic stereo.

Others are right that suggestions really depends on what type of sound you want. Do you want to do the upgrade in stages or is this it. Do you want the neighbors window to rattle when you drive by or what.

If your going to go in stages I'd suggest thinking in this order.

First upgrade the speakers in the Front, then back.

Then consider adding a subwoofer system, either self powered and enclosed like the INfinity Basslink or something similar to save cost and installation. Or you could go more "pimpin" with much more involved amps, custom enclosed subs and the like but you will be blowing the budget.

Last I'd consider the headunit as the output of the original system isn't bad it's just limited and I hate the interface but more than clean and has decent enough bass/treble adjustment which is all a well designed system should need. Basically, it's important but the least bang for the buck.

Based on the fact that you have a limited budget I'd doubt that you can hear a difference between the OEM head unit and anything else BUT it will Look different and for many, that's also important.

Have fun

The original ML deck (even the basic stereo) is already a decent deck. Afterall, it's not a Hyundai or car rental Ford.

As the car comes, it's not the weakest link in the system, the speakers are. Do the search, pretty much the overwhelming opinion as far as sound goes. Of course you can't see the other stuff just the deck so maybe sound isn't his top priority, then maybe a deck is what works for him.

Anyway, changing only the deck presents some problems for him as very few decks can drive the 2 ohm load required by the original speakers. furthermore, the drivers, cone (pretty much every part) of the OEM speakers is about as cheap as it gets. In reality, the front drivers are 4 inch speakers mounted to fit a 6 inch hole. Just by switching the front door speakers will gain in loudness, Mid-Bass and clarity while the best deck in the world will sound exactly the same using the original speakers. In fact others have tried and found exactly this result. (use the search). People who complained about exactly this heard no difference till they swapped out the speakers. Logically if your speakers cannot produce high quality accurate sound then what does it matter what's hooked up to it, you'll still get the shitty sound because that's all it can do. Ah but I digress...

But hey, it's his system, his budget and it's up to his priorities.