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Here is a growing list of info everyone should know when buying and installing new speakers, subs, amps, stereos, etc.
If you have questions, Private Message me. If you have something to add. post it here.

• General
• When considering a replacement for your stock speakers please realize that they are designed to output bass, mid bass, AND highs. If you replace the speakers with something else and they take alot more power, you will most likely end up with much less bass and mid bass.
• If you replace the stock speakers with a component set you will get mostly mid bass and highs. If you use an external amplifier it will be a little better for bass, but component sets sound best when you accompany them with subwoofers.
• Make quality connections or nothing will work right or for very long. Solder wire to speakers if you can. Use Gold/Platinum ends if possible. Don't skimp on connections.
• Buy the expensive wires. They are shielded much better and not only look better but they deliver better sound, more protection from distortion, and they also will not break easily.
• Dynamat DOES NOT STOP RATTLES. It absorbs vibrations which will (long story short) clear up the sound and make your speakers/subwoofers louder.
• Subwoofers / Amplifiers
• Human hearing is 20Hz - 20,000Hz. Anything over 20,000Hz you will not hear. Anything under 20Hz you will feel but not hear.
• Bass is OMNIdirectional. You can put the subs almost anywhere and they will sound the same.
• Different subs, boxes, and amplifiers will change the sound of the bass, though.
• The reason subs will sound different facing different ways is because if your subs face out towards the back of the car the bass is reflected off the trunk lid. Facing the other way the bass is directed right into the passenger compartment and not reflected as much.
• When matching an amp with a sub or a speaker to an amplifier/Head Unit, make sure the RMS rating on the amp is less than or equal to that of the sub, for that impedence (ohm rating).
• As a general rule the best mix of SPL and SQ for subwoofers will be in a box built by the subwoofer company for that specific sub.
• Keep in mind the wattage ratings on amplifiers are usually at 14.4 volts or close. This means if it draws alot of power and the voltage drops to 12 then the amplifier will not be outputting as much power. The only amplifiers that combat this effect are ones featuring a "Regulated Power Supply" like the JL Audio Slash series
• When tuning an amplifier do not turn the gain way up or put large amounts of bass boost on; This causes the amplifier to 'clip' which in turn will quickly kill your speaker/subwoofer. Clipping is when the shape of the sound wave becomes less round and more square.
• You may safely give the subwoofer or speaker less power than it can take, but make sure you do not get distortiona and clip the signal, causing the speaker to blow.
• It is also possible to give a subwoofer much more power than is recommended but at this point it is much more sensitive to distortion and will blow much much easier. If you do not know about this already then do not overpower or underpower you speakers or subwoofers! (Or get professional help)
• Make sure your fuse is the right rating!!! Too much and it will let your amp kill itself. Too little and the fuse will blow all the time.
• When adding/moving a battery to the trunk make sure it is in a sealed enclosure. Your body does not act well to toxic gases.
• Make sure you use a large enough wire (smaller gauge) to carry power and to ground. If the wires are too small they will hold back your system and could possibly overheat and melt.
• Head Units
• For most cars, including our civic, you will need a mounting bracket to mount an aftermarket stereo because the stock stereo is not a regular size or shape.
• Most recievers are DIN or Double-DIN sized. Almost all mounting brackets accept DIN sized stereos, but there are a select few Double DIN kits for our cars.
• A regular CD will hold about 20-25 songs. An MP3 cd can hold 256 songs. Make sure you get a CD player with MP3 support even if you do not plan on using it. You will thank me later.
• Some recievers support WMA also, which is like an MP3 but compressed differently. If you rip music using Windows Media Player you NEED WMA support!
• A detachable face is a must, unless you like your car broken in to and your stereos stolen
• Many recievers are Satellite radio ready, so if you use Sirius or XM get a head unit that can control the reciever instead of having 2 things to worry about
• Don't use the loud, Magna Bass, or other stupid functions on your reciever. They just distort the sound and can cause harm to your speakers and subwoofers.
• The more band the EQ is the more control over sound quality and sound shaping you will have.
• Preamp outs are necessary for decent subwoofer performance unless you are going to use a quality line converter.
• Stay away from using bass boost if you have subs. Let them do the bass. You speakers can pick up from a higher frequency.
• Sony does not make quality products, they are cheap for car audio.
• Stick to the main, top of the line, brands as much as possible: Alpine, Infinity, JL Audio, MB Quart, Crossfire, Eclipse, Clarion, etc.
• Touch screen is nice but if its not a DVD player its probably not worth your effort.
• In Dash DVD
• It is only illegal to have a screen that the driver can see if it has motion. A screen of text is not illegal even when moving.
• It is illegal to have an in dash DVD player wired to be able to watch movies while driving if the screen is in view of the driver.
• Most units have a seperate brain box that is quite large and must be mounted outside of the area of the reciever with the screen. If you dont want to mount a seperate box look at the select few that do not have them (like I did with my Clarion VRX745VD now re-released by clarion as VRX755VD with a few new features)
• DO NOT BUY ANYTHING BUT BIG BRAND NAMES or you will get crap
• A 6.5" screen is not very big, but not very small.
• Don't waste your time with JVC's new in dash DVD player with the 3" screen. A 3" LCD is pretty much useless.
• Capacitors, Batteries, and Alternators
• The stock alternator outputs (at full output) ~70 amps at 14.4 volts in our civics. Roughly 50 amps will be drawn at most by the electronics in your car. Your average subwoofer amplifier will draw between 30 and 60 amps on top of this.
• When the current draw is greater than the output of the alternator, the battery will output any extra power, but the battery is at 12v. So when this happens the car's voltage drops to 12 volts which means lights dim, and amplifiers output decreases.
• One option is a high output alternator. They are usually priced from $250 to $400 and for our cars usually output ~150 amps. The dowsides to such an alternator are a reduced life span compared to the stock alternator and price.
• Most high output alternators output 70amps at idle and output their full ~150 amps at 2,000-3,000 rpms. So at idle these alternators output as much as the stock one at a higher rpm.
• A Capacitor is used to store energy. They are basically huge batteries. The difference being they are made to discharge very quickly.
• As a general rule for every 1000 watts your amplifier outputs, you will need a 1.0 fahrad capacitor. It is best to use the peak output rating because the caacitor will only be helping during these 'peaks'.
• Its better to have a cap bigger than you really need than one too small
• The digital displays on some capacitors are mostly useless because how many times do you get out and stare at your cap while music is playing? Almost never.
• A capacitor will help with dimming on short loud blasts of bass because it is usually able to give the power that the amplifier needs without drawing any extra power from the electrical system. If the bass is sustained the capacitor will drain and the voltage will drop back down to 12v and lights will dim.
• When installing a capacitor make sure you charge it correctly or you will damage it. Also make sure the polarity is correct.
• MOUNT THE CAPACITOR AS CLOSE TO THE AMPLIFIER AS POSSIBLE WITH AS LITTLE WIRE BETWEEN THEM AS POSSIBLE. This will ensure the capacitor can perform to its maximum potential
• When looking for a battery that will handle you playing your stereo while the car is off for an extended period of time (a few minutes with a large system) you should look into getting something like the Optima yellow top battery.
• You can add a second battery to your car to allow you to blast music with the car off longer. If you are not sure on how to do this I suggest consulting a local shop before attempting this. They should have experience with it and will be able to get you everything on top of being able to help you figure out exactly how to hook it up correctly.

• Installing a new Head Unit
• For reference I have included a helpful pic below this list!!!
• First remove the lower center trim piece with the 12v cigarette lighter. Unplug the wire going to the outlet.
• Look into the area behind the panel you just removed. Directly upward are 2 screws holding the Center Console piece with the A/C controls and stereo in. Remove these 2 screws.
• With a trim panel remover or flat head screwdriver covered in cloth to prevent scratching, slowly pry away at the bottom corners of the console piece that we are trying to remove. The first time this can be very hard to do but any times after that it will release easier.
• Remove the antenna wire, and all wire plugs going into the stereo and buttons.
• Remove the 4 screws on each side holding the stereo in place.
• Mount the new reciever as per the mounting kit's instructions into the mounting kit. Screw the kit into place using the 8 scrwes we removed earlier.
• Take the wire harness that came with the stereo and the honda wiring harness plug thingy that you should have bought, and wire them together. For the best connections solder the wires together after winding them together. Tape over with electrical tape, duct tap, or use heatshrink.
• Plug the new wire harness into the old plug that is IN the car, then plug the other end into the new stereo.
• Plug the antenna wire into your new stereo. Check all functions before continuing.
• If everything works normally, re-assemble the console in the revearse order that we took it apart.

• Wiring an Amplifier
• The first thing you should do is purchase a pre-assembled amplifier wiring kit if you are not very knowlegable and experienced in this.
• Start with the power wire; Connect the + power wire, with NO fuse in the fuse holder, to the + terminal on the battery. MAKE SURE THE FUSE IS WITHIN 12 INCHES OF THE BATTERY!!! I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH!
• Next run the power wire along the other wires going down toward the passenger side fire wall. Use Zip Ties to secure the wire along other wires, this way there is no chance of it ever getting cut or damaged. On the fire wall, directly below/behind the glove box there is a large rubber nipple. If you are using 4,8,or higher gauge then you will probably be able to fit the wire through this nipple. Be careful not to tear it.
• To get the wire to the trunk you may do one of 2 things. First you could take out the seat on that side, and run the wire completly under the carpet, which will end up coming out under the rear seats. You may also run the wire under the plastic trim that goes along the floor and then up through the sides of the rear seats (I have done this with 8 gauge wire with no problem)
• Once you get the power wire to the trunk, or wherever you are wiring the amplifier, move onto the signal wires.
• Remove the stereo from the center console using the instructions above. Connect the Amplifier Turn On wire you got in your wiring kit to the corresponding wire off the back of the stereo. This is usually blue.
• Next connect the RCA cables if you are using them to take the signal to the rear of the car.
• Route the RCA + Amp Turn On wire either through the plastic trim along the outside of the car or under the carpets like before, but DO NOT LET THEM TOUCH THE POWER WIRE!
• Pull all the wires through to the trunk.
• To ground, find a metal spot close the the Amplifier and scrape away all the paint in a small 1" diameter circle. Drill a hole in this circle and then take the ground wire and a metal screw, and screw the ground wire into place. The more bare metal and less paint on the metal panel, the better the amp will get power.
• Mount your amplifier. If you want to put it to the back of the rear seats take a piece of fiberboard and screw/zip tie it into place (as in my pics). TO PREVENT RATTLING KEEP A CLOTH OR SOMETHING BETWEEN THE WOOD AND METAL BARS. The seats just unzip on both sides to gain access to them like this.
• Screws are circled in red.
• 
• Zip the cloth back up, and screw your amplifier down to the wood through the fabric of the seat back.
• Connect the amplifier turn on, power wire, ground wire, then RCA wires (in that order if you would like to, doesnt matter too much)
• Connect your speaker wire you your amplifier, then connect it to your subs/speakers.
• Check all connections, put everything in its place, reassemble the console. Make sure nothing is pinched.
• Put the fuse in the fuse holder under the hood.
• Enjoy your new subs/speakers. Just go easy on them for a few weeks, no loud music, or they will not break in properly.
• Look good?

Links:
Removing the rear deck, and speaker install in sedan.
Removing the rear deck for coupe.
Removing door panels and speaker installation.
Amplifier wiring guide aimed for coupe owners.
Building custom sub box using spare tire well.
Help for removing basic trunk rattling (Absculptor is optional ).

Anyone who has stuff to add/correct to this list feel free to post. Maybe we will get enough here to get stickied.

 
Rep Power: 331

well done
clarion is not the only brand with brainless dvd players
make quality connections or nothing will work right or for very long (ie. always use a high grade electrical tape.) If youre not sure how to do something...DONT ask here or take it to a professional.

do they even make radios that dont have detachable face anymore? if they do, dont buy it, youre better off with your stock radio.

 
Rep Power: 360

fixed. What other things to add people????

 
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Maybe add how to run 2 batterys, what a capacitor does so no more questions about dimming lights, and stuff... I dunno

 
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i know a cap help maintain the amperage of battery, but would it help the voltage be up above 12 V?

 
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You said to make sure your RMS wattage of an amp is either less than or equal to a sub or speaker. That's not really true. Overpowering subs/speakers is perfectly acceptable as long as you are careful doing it. Sometimes getting an amp with a slightly higher rating will allow for you to turn your gains down a bit and keep distortion levels low. Plus, Some speakers can simply take much more power than they claim, for instance, My GF's car is running CDT CL-61As rated at 90w RMS and I'm giving those badboys a good 200 watts and they sound amazing and play all day long.

Also, I'd say it might be a tad bit misleading to say a headunit w/ preouts is "necessary" for "Descent" subwoofer performance. A lot of LIne converters are good quality and are definitely capable of decent bass performance. Especially with newer and better ones coming out like the Clean Sweep by JL Audio. This is a valid application for those who have, say, the 6 disc panosonic that comes with the 05 EX SE. OTher than that, your list is pretty good. Keep em' coming. Oh, and mention somewhere that you should keep the loud button off on your HU.

PS- please include for me the simple fact that factory speakers are designed to play with the factory system. That they are made to play the whole frequency range and create the illusion of a complete system. Therefore, it may not be the best idea to change just the speakers to a set of a/m components without amping them, because most of the time you'll end up with underpowered speakers that don't play low frequencies well enough.

 
Rep Power: 360

added tons more info in all sections except dvd.

voltage only will drop back down to 12v if the cap completly discharges.

 
Rep Power: 328

Bass is omnidirectional, but they won't always sound the same, regardless of position, direction of fire, etc.

Bpx built to specs of compant, not by the company.

Overpowering or underpowering does not kill speakers, distortion does.

 
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High output alternators are great only at higher RPMs, for low RPMs, the stock alternator will output more power than an aftermarket high-output one. (correct me if I'm wrong).

 
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well most for our car will output 70amps at idle and 150 around 2000-3000 rpm. so even at idle you are getting 70 amps.

 
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for quality installation I'd never speaker outs.....proper preamp outs connected with good RCA's will give a much better signal.

 
Rep Power: 310

I was scrolling down to say just about eveything you said there. SO, I second the motion. Bass will sound quite different at different woofer placements, due to things like wave length, reflection and cancellation. Also, the best way to determine how your subs should face is to do it and see. It's situation dependent and easy to try different ways.

 
Rep Power: 360

I changed/added popcornplaya's stuff already.
as for me i just installed my Eclipse SE8365s today in my car...sound good but i have had a cold for 7 days in a few hours so I can't hear well. everyone said they sound crisp though. Eclipse is a good brand so when im done being sick, hopefully before 2010, i will be able to fully enjoy these.
Even better I got them on sale for $120. but there were none left. So I took the floor models for $100 that were never used since the switch to them wasnt connected. They didnt even have a wire connected to them. So I got brand new speakers, that had a tiny bit of dust, never used, never abused, never played; for $50 off the normal price of $150.
No pics though: I was too busy kicking my door when the drivers side front lock siezed. After much cursing/kicking I closed everything and put it all back together and on the way to call the garage i bumped the lock button and it worked. God must love my violent style when my car has little temper-tantrums like that! So my car 2, me -2, and God way too many. I say -2 cause i got cut by the door and bled all over my nice white shirt and khaki shorts.
What a week.

 
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so a cap will help big time?

 
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A cap will do 2 MAJOR things in the long run.
1. It will reduce dimming so you benefit from it
2. It will reduce stress and strain on your charging system and amplifier. This means your amplifier, alternator, battery, and whole electrical system of your car will last a little longer (because it reduces the strain of such huge power draws)

Remember if the bass lasts a little longer than a thump the cap will deplete itself and you will once again get dimming unless you have a huge cap.

Overall you will like the less dimming. Your car, especially the auto tranny if you have one, will like the easier time it has getting clean power.

 
Rep Power: 360

Just added tons more...Stereo removal/installation and Amplifier Wiring.
we need to get this stickied. <- Yay its stickied. thanks derek!

 
Rep Power: 337

I suggest this thread get unstickied due to misleading and incomplete information.

 
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^^ true. I like the concept, but a newb reading this might make the wrong decision. No offence diskreet

 
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Instead of just saying its misleading, tell me exactly what information to change, and how to change it. I have no problem changing it that is why im asking for input. please tell me what to change, write exactly how it should read, and ill copy and paste over what i messed up on!

 
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I wish it were that easy. its kind of alot of information to go through, though! I will start at the top of the list, and stop at one dozen items or so, and hopefully htat will explain the way I feel about a bit of the information.

 
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you know, I was on #12 when I hit the wrong button. it was probbably a 10,000 character post. I have no more patience to retype, ive been sitting here for over an hour typing. I am not happy.

I made it half way down the subwoofer list. I skipped over maybe two bullets, and lumped three into one concept. the rest either doesnt apply to the average tuner, or simply isnt true.

Ive already sent a PM to derek last night asking him to unsticky the thread. I hope with some support it will go back into the general mix.

diskrete, I was hoping to tpe something out, but I think it would be unfair for both of us to ask me to retype the novel I was working on. If you would like to join megahurtz and I in caf chat tonight (www.caraudioforum.com/chat) I would be happy to go over the bullets one by one.

oh my god this is frustrating!

 
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next week is finals week so after next week i will go over everything and fix whatever needs to be fixed. sorry to hear about the post too!
anyway if he unstickies ill let it go for this week and next week and then get back on in as soon as i can! till then i have tons of school work to do!

 
Rep Power: 309

cool some basic nescessary info for beginners out there!
maybe you should write some about what eq's and crossovers and all those other things do and pros and cons

 
Rep Power: 337

ill retry jus tdoing one here and one there, going down the list. maybe that will work better for my idiot fingers.

the fact is, you dont get what you pay for. not always. Its a problematic statement, especially with the overuse of the term "90% install, 10% equipment." Its a poor statement as well, but it really does apply to this situation.

lets compare. You just purchased DLS 3" wide range speakers which youve installed into your a pillars. I just purchased JL VR coaxials which I just put into my doors. our cars are otherwise identical in every other way.

you bought high end 3's and paid twice as much as I did for my entry level coaxials. who got better sound?

well, if we start getting random 7th gen members to sit in our cars, the very VERY first thing they will notice is the lack of low frequency extension in your car. assuming we dont have subwoofers, or even if we do, bass guitar will simply be more impressive in my car than yours. That alone will get me more votes for my car than you.

next thing to notice will be the top end. You will probbaly have some problems with your top octave. my VR tweeters wont have too many problems at least getting parts of hte top octave. they might say I have brighter highs or something, or have ot be told, but I will probbaly still get more votes than your car, though it will be closer.

the final problem will be actual location. this will require 7th gen members who understand a thing or two about sound stage. when they sit in our cars, the first thing they will notice is my car has an image. center is within reasonable location, at a decent height. distribution will be kind of off, but again, we arent arguing perfection at this point, merely which "sounds better." When we sit in your car, we will notice that we hear whichever speaker is closer to us (drver OR passenger) and it will be so overpowering that it will sound louder than the other side, and phase will make some voices like center sound like there are two. I'm hearing double!

when it came down to money, You spent about twice as much on your soundstage than I did. yet my car outperforms yours in every way, shape, and form.

it becomes a tricky situation when we take into account that most members here arent going to be comparing installs, and that they will just be thinking about what door speaker will sound best. in the door. period. But, even here, its not quite so concrete as more money is better! those kodas at $80 each will yield much better off axis performance and higher low frequency extension than, say, digital designs midranges. practicality also enters into the setup, as those same DD speakers are over 3 inches deep!

and that even tang band speakers wont easily fit into the doors, despite having neodymium magnets.

Finally, theres always the ebay/forum phenomenon. say I stumble on a gentleman who happens to be selling his scanspeak revelator's for $200 the pair, he was just feeling REALLY nice. guess who's car is going to absolutley thrash any other in here who is also running $200 worth of midrange?

so, I dont really think that you do get what you pay for.

 
Rep Power: 309

oh maybe talk some about how to wire your speakers into lower ohms to get higher watts out of the amp... you could also show how to run wire from HU to amp to speakers.
suggestion:
take plastic off of c-pillar near rear deck then pull back the rear seat arm rest piece (whole thing its big!) it comes back easy so you can run wire from trunk through hole near strut through this panel then pull up door sill panel and run it under there then take off kick panel and run it from there through door or up to HU.

 
Rep Power: 337

the issue lacking midbass is something that should probbaly be out in the open, but the way its worded doesnt work very well. many speakers are available that output plenty of midbass even at a very reasonable price. JL VR coaxials are one of them. I dont see them often in cars. infinity reference, cdt classics, I see very, very often. why? they are in a group of a great many entry level speakers that dont have basically any midbass capabilities at all. so yes, I can definitely see why we could use a tip that lets people know to expect a drop in midbass performance at the cost of improved volume capability for cheap upgrades.

but this isnt to say that we cant choose speakers that can match the stock frequency response performance! we can reasonably easily find a great many speakers that have both enhanced volume and enhanced low frequency extension, as long as we arent shopping in the $30 speaker category! and even then there are a few models, if one looks hard enough!

I dont see the relationship though, with being able to take more power and having less low frequency extension. I'll cheat with this example, and say what about your subwoofers? increased power handling AND increased LFE!

but seriously, we can stick with 6 inch speakers. what about those JL VR's? what about the XR's? what about adire kodas? what about kicker cmb is it? and what about the speakers that can get pretty close to as low as the stocks, if not well exceeding them? like DD w6's, peerless csc's, image dynamics chameleons? we can even cheat, and look at tang band 6's or JL w0's. talk about low frequency extension!

I dunno, I think worded as it is, the next bullet is misleading at best, but simply not true at worst.

 
Rep Power: 337

the next bullet, I dont see an amplifier enhancing LFE. you are stuck with the low frequency performance of whatever driver you buy. if you buy a 6.5" that only plays to 100 Hz, itll play to 100 off deck power, itll do that off an amp.

in fact, theres some evidence to suggest amping your speakers might DECREASE bass performance! as the gain goes up you'll be more likely to have problems with your bottom end, and be forced to have bad sound at high volume, or up the highpass filter cutoff frequency.

now, component sets sound best when accompanied by subwoofers? to use the term "component set" in this way is to suggest a component set works with a subwoofer better than a coaxial works with a sub! we can make many, many, many potential equipment combinations with both component sets and coaxials that are good and bad both! So it cant be that.

or was the statement intended to say that the speakers in front in the car work best with a subwoofer? again, simply not true! will it be better? probbaly. my mother sure wouldnt agree! neither does my girlfriend!

This is probably the best time to introduce one issue I had written about in the mega post that got lost. the term "bass" is very difficult to discuss, especially when bridging a discussion between midrange drivers and sub-bass drivers. 100 and below? 50-150 Hz? is it a system we are trying to maximize low frequency extension up front, or do we not care, and use 8 inch subwoofers in he back playing up to 200 Hz, so long as we get all octaves covered? It makes things more difficult.

regardless, I try to use relative terms, so noone gets confused. thus, the bottom end of 6.5 inch speakers becomes low frequency extension. the very very bottom octave of subwoofers becomes low frequency extension, too. in terms of frequency values, the same frequencies for 6.5 lfe becomes subwoofer top end, etc. and that even changes based on size.

but the relative discussion makes for absolutely ZERO confusion when someone tells someone else "yeah, these speakers have alot of bass". then based on that tip, someone makes a purchase and is pissed his speakers dont play low at all!

 
Rep Power: 337

oh my god, I just lost the cables response. dont be surprised if this one sounds impatient and poorly written.

 
Rep Power: 786

ctrl+c before you post, I always do

 
Rep Power: 337

Theres no way I can advocate solder ot make connections. the name of the game in a car is "preserve the value of the vehicle", not "make the best connection thats humanly possible". theres a reason that the vast VAST majority of high end shops out there use t-taps rather than solder, and its not entirely speed! Its far more important to have a high resale value on the car five years from now than a connection that will last forty years rather than twenty years! if your taps are falling off after two weeks, its not a sign you need to solder, its a sign you should be working harder on making a solid tap!

cables themselves. there is no way I can advocate buying kimber cables over radioshack gold series every time. noise floor in a car is rediculous as it is, but even with the car off, in a quiet neighborhood, I get ZERO noise in my own car. I don thave kimber, I have el-cheapo!

now, I can definitely see instances when high end cabling would be needed. I was routing some RCA's in my car in a previous install right across the fuel pump. got some noise! throw in a higher shielded cable, and everything was fine. does that mean I needed to buy $70 rca cables to get from the radio to the rear seats? no way!

as for the connections, its all about long term reliability, and nothing else. are you gonna unplug your RCA's three times a day? will they be tweaked this way and that, will there be pressure on them by a trim piece, or when stuf gets thrown into your car? youd be a fool to buy radioshack cabling! My own amplifiers are in their own designated areas, foreign objects cant access them, and I dont tug on the cables. why should I buy cables with burly and bulky ends?

as to those cables themselves, I was doing a mustang a couple years ago. we had two cables in the car, monster and audiopipe. the monster turned out to be noisy as heck! they were routed in the SAME spot, and the monster cable induced more noise than the audiopipe! hows that for high end! so sometimes, a cheaper cable can really be the better one from a noise perspective!

as for the head durability problem, another friend and a ford ranger, with knu top end rca cabling. Every time we unplug the cables, the heads start to unscrew! talk about annoying! if he bought the uber UBER cheap cables from radioshack, he wouldnt have problems with the heads coming unscrewed! not that I am advocating the ultra cheaps in this case, I think he would have had a great deal of problems with noise and connection reliability with kids crawling around the back of the truck to have radioshack rca back there, but when you are paying tripledigit numbers JUST for rca cables, there is NO reason I should have to threadlock the heads on!

so what IS better? radioshack? monster? kimber? audiopipe? well, I think its gotta be application based wiht a heavy emphasis on budget. It definitely surpasses the help a one sentence tip could give on the matter, unless that tip said "when in doubt, let your budget do the talking"! I think it would be best to relegate the responsibility of RCA's to the general forum rather than go with an incomplete tip.