Vipers + Subwoofers = A Must?

[C.Hermsen]

Just a question I've been pondering for a while, it seems like a good majority of Vipers (mostly Gen II's) that I've seen have some sort of stereo upgrades (Woofers, CD Deck, Component speakers, etc)...Isn't a Viper supposed to be a minimalist, street legal race car so to speak? So what is it that attracts people to putting big ol' subs in?

Not hating or anything, just curious. It seems to me like people should be pulling speakers/radios out to save weight

 

[[email protected]]

Now I'm only an enthusiast as I have an 09 ACR in D-1 status and I can only speak for myself. I have, and do now own high performance cars, and I still like to enjoy good old fashion crisp, clear, loud rock & roll. The better the car the better the sound should be,IF you want to turn it on. Not all Vipers are driven on the track, not all Viper drivers only want to listen to the sound of their engine if they might be in traffic say or on the way home from work. Maybe they want to hear tunes while they are detailing it. I'm sure you must have suspected some of this.

 

[dodgefever]

I have not upgraded mine yet, but the factory system sounds good to me. I love a good sounding stereo, and the GTS cabin is perfect for cranking up the tunes. When cruising twisty back roads at an "enthusiastic" speed, the radio is off. When traveling down the highway for long distances, how could you NOT have tunes? It's all part of the Viper experience.
As far as weight savings, take out the radio, passenger seat, carpet, amp, and sound insulation and you'll save a little over a hundred pounds. On the track, what is that, maybe a few tenths, or hundredths? On the street, your life in that noisy, echoing cabin would ****.

 

[ViperGeorge]

I drive my 06 Supercharged coupe a lot (mostly to distant tracks) so I've upgraded the stereo with an in dash DVD player and sub. I can now watch movies including videos of the track I'm going to. My ipod can also be controlled directly from the new stereo. Maybe if I trailered the car to the track I wouldn't have bothered. I did install a supercharger to make up for the added weight though.

 

[Vman455]

I have not upgraded mine yet, but the factory system sounds good to me. I love a good sounding stereo, and the GTS cabin is perfect for cranking up the tunes. When cruising twisty back roads at an "enthusiastic" speed, the radio is off. When traveling down the highway for long distances, how could you NOT have tunes? It's all part of the Viper experience.
As far as weight savings, take out the radio, passenger seat, carpet, amp, and sound insulation and you'll save a little over a hundred pounds. On the track, what is that, maybe a few tenths, or hundredths? On the street, your life in that noisy, echoing cabin would ****.

Exactly. Even for those Viper owners who track their cars, I suspect most of them don't use the car exclusively for racing. Cruising around, I would feel like something was missing if I didn't have a decent stereo. Having good music in the car is worth more to me than the weight savings of doing without. For others, this may not be true.

 

[C.Hermsen]

Oh definitely, I was being sarcastic about removing all the stereo components I wouldn't take it to those extremes.

I guess theres just alot of exotics/sports cars that I don't ever see upgraded stereos in, usually stock is good enough, so I guess I just wasn't sure if the stock Viper systems were horrible, or if Viper owners typically like to rock it out

 

[ViperTony]

Oh definitely, I was being sarcastic about removing all the stereo components I wouldn't take it to those extremes.

I guess theres just alot of exotics/sports cars that I don't ever see upgraded stereos in, usually stock is good enough, so I guess I just wasn't sure if the stock Viper systems were horrible, or if Viper owners typically like to rock it out

If you've even driven/rode in and heard the stereo system in a GenII, especially an RT/10, you'd know why some folks upgrade the stereo. I never upgraded the stereo as I'd rather hear the music coming from the V10.

 

[C.Hermsen]

If you've even driven/rode in and heard the stereo system in a GenII, especially an RT/10, you'd know why some folks upgrade the stereo. I never upgraded the stereo as I'd rather hear the music coming from the V10.

I have not, I've been in them, and driven them, but the stereo was definitely off!

I guess I'm in the same boat you are, a stereo is obviously nice for when you're just cruising around or something, but I think the stock would do it for me, I'd rather hear the V10 as well


I know it's all just personal preference, but I guess I just never realised the Viper crowd was also music enthusiasts.

 

[Sweet Ride]

The first thing I did to my car when I bought it was to ditch the stock speakers. I'm desingning the rest of my system now and trying to figure out how far I want to take it. I'm kind of an audiophile so it only makes sense to me to dump the stock system.

 

[Leslie]

I have a Panasonic with XM, eclipse speakers, kicker sub and 5 channel amp.

Had to yank it all out for the track last wknd and probably keep it out for awhile since I have back-to-back events. Drove 3 hrs without tunes, first hr was fine but then after that I was missing my BTO and Journey CD's haha.

Gonna have to figure SOMETHING out since this is gonna be my track and street car, maybe a lighter-weight sub and amp haha.

Anyone JUST put an amp OR sub in with the stock system?

Anyone take out the spare tire and put a system there? I can't imagine an 8 yr old tire would be any good haha.

I would think the weight in the rear might be good...?

 

[paulsgts]

Theres nothing like flying down the highway windows down AC/DC screaming out of a nice system!

 

[CitySnake]

Just a question I've been pondering for a while, it seems like a good majority of Vipers (mostly Gen II's) that I've seen have some sort of stereo upgrades (Woofers, CD Deck, Component speakers, etc)...Isn't a Viper supposed to be a minimalist, street legal race car so to speak? So what is it that attracts people to putting big ol' subs in?

Not hating or anything, just curious. It seems to me like people should be pulling speakers/radios out to save weight

I have to agree with you. I think it may be different with a coupe (I don't own one) but I've been toying with thoughts of upgrades in my rag top. I changed out the door speakers in my Gen 2 which was reasonably helpful. But in the Gen 3/4, ultimately that's going to be the only way to go for me. Between the road, wind and exhaust noise any "audiophile" upgrade is simply a waste. Unless you can create so much sound pressure that you can overcome all the "Viper noise," you can never reap what you produce...not to mention the damage to your hearing when you combine the sound and road pressure at speed. The majority of these audio upgrades spend most of their time, like their Vipers, in the garage or driveway ...or at BBQ's to impress whomever. The better the stereo, the better the polish/wax, the fewer the miles. And with that said ....

 

[Red Shift]

If you want a race car build a race car. The Vipers have plenty of power to haul around the bit of weight and it's def worth rocking out.

 

[georgethedog]

I have not upgraded mine yet, but the factory system sounds good to me. I love a good sounding stereo, and the GTS cabin is perfect for cranking up the tunes. When cruising twisty back roads at an "enthusiastic" speed, the radio is off. When traveling down the highway for long distances, how could you NOT have tunes? It's all part of the Viper experience.
As far as weight savings, take out the radio, passenger seat, carpet, amp, and sound insulation and you'll save a little over a hundred pounds. On the track, what is that, maybe a few tenths, or hundredths? On the street, your life in that noisy, echoing cabin would ****.

Please, no offense intended, but there is no relationship between good sounding music and the crap sound the Gen 1 & 2 Vipers put out. You have not heard a good sounding system if you like the one in the Gen 2 Viper. Yuke... I will be modifying mine once I get the exhuast issue figured out.

 

[georgethedog]

The first thing I did to my car when I bought it was to ditch the stock speakers. I'm desingning the rest of my system now and trying to figure out how far I want to take it. I'm kind of an audiophile so it only makes sense to me to dump the stock system.

These are hard to find as you have to find a dealer that usually deals in high-end home speakers, but look for a shop that is an authorized "Canton" speaker store. They usually only stock home speakers, but can order the car audio Canton has to offer. I'm an audiophile and these speakers are the best bang for the buck as far as high-end audiophile speakers go. See if you can find somewhere near that sells them and take a listen. You won't believe it, really!!! The car audio two-way speakers sound better than the 3-way IMO (learned that the hard way). Put them with a top of the line Eclipse head unit, a couple Soundstream amps (one for the small speakers and one for the sub) and you will be amazed. You can turn it up until your ears bleed and there will be no distortion (if you have your amp tuned correctly which is one of the most important things). Good luck.
By the way, Canton has a website you can visit. It may even list dealers in your area.

 

[VENUM INJECTION]

Having a history of buying custom car audio for my cars in the past, I would say no stock system is sufficient. My gen 4 sounds ok and I will eventually put a custom job in her but I have not gotten past the wonderful sound of that V10 yet and that is truly the honest reason I have not done it yet.

 

[Dom426h]

I love music, the type of music that 500 horses make. Also i like to pay 100% of my attention/focus to driving. The viper to me is similar to riding a motorcycle. and anyone who is a bike rider knows that it requires 100% focus of the senses(including hearing)

My factory Headunit, Amp, Speakers and Subs were all removed this past winter. I dont miss em at all as they sounded like complete Crap, also i dont mind the wieght savings.

Still looking for a DIN/headunit blockOff plate if anyone knows where to get one.


haha, even when i was a kid, playing racing video games i would always go into the settings and turn down the music and turn up the car/road effects

 

[Dom426h]

it is possible someday i will redo the whole system when i get annoyed enough at my wife complaining about no music for road trips...

 

[Sweet Ride]

These are hard to find as you have to find a dealer that usually deals in high-end home speakers, but look for a shop that is an authorized "Canton" speaker store. They usually only stock home speakers, but can order the car audio Canton has to offer. I'm an audiophile and these speakers are the best bang for the buck as far as high-end audiophile speakers go. See if you can find somewhere near that sells them and take a listen. You won't believe it, really!!! The car audio two-way speakers sound better than the 3-way IMO (learned that the hard way). Put them with a top of the line Eclipse head unit, a couple Soundstream amps (one for the small speakers and one for the sub) and you will be amazed. You can turn it up until your ears bleed and there will be no distortion (if you have your amp tuned correctly which is one of the most important things). Good luck.
By the way, Canton has a website you can visit. It may even list dealers in your area.

Thanks for the tip! I'm in the beginning stages of the thought/planning process so this helps out. As with HP great sound costs $$$, so I'm just trying to figure out how extreme I want to take it.

Turn it up to 11!

 

[dodgefever]

Please, no offense intended, but there is no relationship between good sounding music and the crap sound the Gen 1 & 2 Vipers put out. You have not heard a good sounding system if you like the one in the Gen 2 Viper. Yuke... I will be modifying mine once I get the exhuast issue figured out.

No offense taken George...In fact, my stock radio now has taken a dump! No rear speakers at all, and no Amp. I checked the fuse on the Amp and it is good. I guess I will be upgrading after all. See, you cursed me!

 

[ViperGal]

I too am in favor of enjoying my 600hp sound. I prefer to get into the "Viper Zone"

ViperGal

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Just a question I've been pondering for a while, it seems like a good majority of Vipers (mostly Gen II's) that I've seen have some sort of stereo upgrades (Woofers, CD Deck, Component speakers, etc)...Isn't a Viper supposed to be a minimalist, street legal race car so to speak? So what is it that attracts people to putting big ol' subs in?

Not hating or anything, just curious. It seems to me like people should be pulling speakers/radios out to save weight

Welcome. I really appreciate the post.

For the record AC/DC blasted my stock system all to **** five or six years ago. Speakers bad, amp bad, deck bad. I think it was The Furor from their Ballbreaker CD that did it in. Anyways I suppose I gotta get around to fixing it someday.

 

[Viper ACR]

I debated on changing my stock stereo out in my 00 ACR for a long time . I thought the system was absolute crap. Could put a CD player from Walmart on the Seat beside me and would probably have sound better . But I didn't want to change anything wanted to keep everything original. Glad my 08 has a great system won't be changing anything unless I blow up the factory speakers

 

[kllymartin]

I added a lot of stereo stuff.......but I'm guessing my power to weight ratio is still OK.