Guys,

I have a Toyota 4Runner. The stock stero is not bad, CD/tape , 8
speakers but it cuts spakers out. When I go in turns they come back on
.... Must be some lose connections. I checked some of the speakers but
no luck .. might be in the electronics.

Since its a PITA to get to the speakers I am thinking to swap a new
system in.

I am wondering:

- Should I replace all 8 speakers with same size quality speakers? Or
does it only need 4 or 6 speakers? 2 are located front and 6 rear.

- Will the amplifiers from recent steroes do? They are like 25W or so?

- If I get amps do I need one amp for each 2 speakers = 4 amps? or can
one amp drive more of the same size speaker?

- what brands should I look at? It does not have to be the best of the
best .. just good sound, some base. Must play MP3, VRB is possible...


Havent worked on car stereos in decades and am lacking up to date
kowledge.

Advice appreciated

Matt

A lot of what you're asking for is going to be opinion, but I can share
a little bit of knowledge with you...

First, you're only going to find a few head units that will put out 25
watts constant (rms) power; I know that many of the newer Panasonic
decks put out that much. I would suggest that most decks are going to
be putting out around 18 - 20 watts rms without further amplification.

As far as amplifiers go, a lot of people seem to be running one
amplifier to power 4 inside speakers (or something equivelant; i.e. a
pair of 6" coaxials in the rear deck, a pair of 5" speakers in the
front doors, and a pair of 1" tweets somewhere up front). For that you
can get just about as big of an amp as you want, usually with 4
channels (in my opinion 4 is all anyone would need FL, FR, RL, RR), and
I've heard of some of the people around here running something like 80
watts rms per channel on this amp. Then the 'norm' seems to be to run
a seperate amp for you subwoofer(s), typically mounted in the trunk.

There's my little bit of information, for better or for worse; and
vague on purpose...

~Mister.Lull