Modernising a 12 yr old Bentley setup

[AndyGB]

Ok, so I am now the proud owner of my dream car, but being 12 years old state of the art when it was built equates to a CD changer in the luggage compartment.

The current components are Alpine 3501 power amplifier (surrounded by lots of wires, but which all seem to end up heading through to the inside of the car in one big lump), Alpine 6 disc CD changer with a tape/radio unit up front. The car has got 12 speakers built into it.

As I know nothing about this sort of thing my question is if I want to upgrade to one of these fancy new DVD units with retracting screens that also feed video (and TV) to screens mounted in the back, what sort of compinents do I need to look at and how would they connect ?

I've had a scan through Apline's site and have got bamboozled by all the amplifier stuff ( 4/3/2 channels, 1/2 channels, digital mono ??) so does anyone have any recomendations or point me in the direction of an idiots guide or have experiance of doing something similar ?

Thanks

[Ayub]

Hello and congrats on your dream car. Quesions to ask yourself.

How much money are you goin to spend on the ice.

In a nutshell.

The Av monitors are controlled by a "black/brain" box.

All of your connecions will plug into this unit. Your moniors,dab,cd changer,video input etc.
You really want to concentrate on your budget and them check reviews on what kind of speakers really take your fancy and sound good to YOU.

On a reccomendation note. You will have to find a good " coch trimmer" or if like me you can make your own then ok. I would as the cars a classic/ not really in your local scrappy paid a god price to have them fitted.
Dont be supprised to pay £100-150 for the labout of fitting the screen into the headrest.

Don't be tempted to ripp out the old cables. Leave them alone and disconnect them. Use the Alpine amp in your install.
Try looking at this website and read the info provided. It should if, not much give you an insight onto the world of electronics.

http://www.carstereo.com/help/

Ayub.

[AndyGB]

Thanks for the info Ayub.

I was looking at budgeting about £800 - £1000 for equipment plus £200 for fitting costs.

I wasn't planning on changing any of the speakers, as you said this isn't a cheap car (for me at least) and making extra holes in it is not an option. Besides whenever I hear someones car stereo from 200 yards away I tend to think 'what a ****' rather than 'what great subs and tweeters' Also, if I can use the amp already installed I am assuming they will already be wired up to that which would make the job a lot easier and reduce costs.