Looking to get something for my Lumina

[chrisishere]

Well I've had my Lumina since about August and pretty happy with it.

Decided that I might want to get some extras for it but not sure, I miss my old car stereo and the decent sound from it.
Also looked at maybe getting a body kit and spoiler and giving it a bit of a sporty look.

How much am i looking at getting the stock radio into something more decent?

 

[Boonz]

i dont think ive seen an aftermarket stereo fitted in a VE, what system does it have on it now?? maybe upgrading to the premium system in the V series and HSV's might make a difference

 

[joshtaylor87]

Depends on what you call decent? I have a Lumina and have spent over $16,000 on it so far. $6,000 of which went straight to the stereo upgrade. I have some pretty high quality gear in the Lumina and I was a bit hesitant to spend so much as I wasn't sure if the stock H/U (I upgraded to the 6 stacker) would be able to produce good enough sound quality. But my system sounds amazing! I am very happy with the way it turned out. So to answer your question on how much it would cost you to get the stock radio sounding decent you could just upgrade the front and rear speakers to some higher quality ones this will make a decent improvement in sound but obviously no where near as good as an amp or two to run them rather than the H/U and a sub as well. To run amps you will need a decent LOC (Line output converter) which converts the speaker line outputs to Rca outputs for the amps (high level to low level) a decent one of these will cost you around $150 (you can get them for $20-$50 but they aren't anywhere near as good as the ones that are a little more expensive). I have a Peripheral Sven 2 in my Lumina and its great cost me about $140. From there you will need and amp or two and new higher quality speakers for front (and rear if you like) and maybe a sub. It all depends on how decent you want it to sound? You could probably get it sounding pretty good with around $1000-$1500.

If you would like a bit more info on my stereo setup or anything else to do with my car I have written a fair few posts in this thread

I haven't got a my ride page yet but I will get one up in the next week or two. So the above thread will have to do for now.

If you have any other questions let me know and I will be happy to answer them for you.

Cheers

Josh

 

[chrisishere]

wow thanks for that reply, really appreciate it

so you're still using the stock head unit?
Im willing to drop at least 1k to 2k to upgrade the sound system in the car, not really looking at getting a sub, i like my boot space

where did you go to get it done?

 

[joshtaylor87]

Yeah I'm using the stock head unit. However it is not the stock one that comes standard in the Lumina I upgraded it with the Holden option of the 6 stacker so it is the same as the standard Lumina H/U but can hold/play 6 discs.

Yeah a sub can take up a fair amount of boot space but if you get a sub that works well in a smallish sealed enclosure it doesn't take too much room up and sounds sooo much better than without. Have a look at the photo's I've attached. You can see that there is still plenty of room in the boot with the sub and amp in there. I find it very practical. And it sounds AWESOME the sub I used is very highly regarded in the industry at having great sound quality while also having the ability to go fairly loud and maintain the quality of sound. That amp you see mounted to the back of the box is the core of the whole system it is hand built in california it cost me 2 grand just for the amp lol but it really does make everything sound great!

I had the front splits and the sub and amp installed by Northfield Car Sound at Moorooka who is very well respected audio dealer/installer in queensland they did a great job. And I fitted a small Audio system Amp under the drivers seat and speakers in the rear doors.

I reckon with 1-2 grand you could have a pretty nice sounding system, you don't have to go overboard like I did.

Not sure where abouts you live but if you live in queensland/brisbane I would be more than happy to meet you somewhere if you would like to have a look at what I've done and a bit of a listen. But out of all the states in Australia I guess it would be pretty rare you would live in queensland the same as me?

Anyway if you have any other questions just let me know, I'm happy to answer them. I will have a few more pictures up soon hopefully in a My Ride thread or something like so will let you know when its up if your interested to have a bit more of a look to maybe get a few ideas.

Not sure how familiar you are with car audio gear but I could probably point you towards some components that will fit your budget and sound great! Not the average run of the mill Sony/Kenwood/Pioneer stuff but some decent gear that will not cost you much extra but sound a hell of a lot better.

 

[chrisishere]

thanks so much for that reply, yeah I see where you have your sub, I plan on taking my car to the snow so I'd need the middle free to put skis etc

Unfortunately Im located in Melbourne but thanks again for the offer to check your car out. I hardly use CD's anyway so having a 6 cd stacker wasn't a big deal for me, mainly use my ipod.

I'll have to hunt around places around here and see if they can install something into my car, wonder if JB will do it.

Did you ever look at getting a body kit for yours?

 

[joshtaylor87]

Yeah no worries, a bit of advise...I wouldn't go to JB or any of the bigger places like autobarn or strathfield. They may be a bit cheaper but they don't really have the quality brands and do fast dodgy installs. Just my opinion though you can go to JB if you like but I wouldn't trust them with my new VE.

I never really considered a bodykit for mine. If I were to do that I may as well just bought an SV6 (considering the money I have already spent on the Lumina I could have easily got an SV6 I could have probably just been able to get a SS-V) but thats not what I was after just yet. I don't mind the look of my Lumina with the standard bumpers with 20" wheels and lowered about 3" if I were to put a bodykit on it would be a bit impractical as the front would be alot lower and would scrape on everything I went over. At the moment with the standard front bar it is just right it scrapes on some things but it clears most things.

I've almost finished spending money on the Lumina for now. All I want to do is get Cold Air Induction and a Tune and maybe a bigger throttle body (if they are available for V6 VE's yet, haven't looked to far into it yet). I've still got the 18" Lumina wheels and Bridgestone Tyres that I'm trying to sell. That will get me the CAI and Tune so just waiting for a buyer. If not the dealer said they will buy em off me for $1000 but I would like a little more considering the bridgestone tyres alone are worth over $500 each if you were to buy them from a tyre shop.