Okay.. I am thinking of getting new speakers in my '84 GS.
I went to Best Buy, picked out some speakers, and they gave me a quote:

The CD Player(Not buying it there, have my own)- $45 labor, plus $24 more dollars since it's a 1st Gen RX-7 (?). Then $12 more to "Test" the CD player, to see if it works.

Front Speakers: $48 dollars for two. $33 labor

Rear Speakers: $38 for two. $33 labor, plus $12 more for "Difficulty" (Hard to reach i guess)

Then $16 more for a "Harness"
and $16 more for a "Kit"

So that's about $277, not including Tax. And that's with my own CD-player i would like installed.

Is this reasonable? The speakers are Pioneer. And the guy told me that 1st Gens have built in amps? Is this true?

Thanks

 

what the hell the rear speakers in a first gen are easy to get to its the fron ones that are a bitch

 

If you want some decent sound, remove the plastic cover at the very rear, the one covering the tail lights, knock up a wooden board to fit, and mount some 6x9'z, they sound heaps better......front speakers, put em in the doors, even if you have to extend out a bit, moulded extensions look ok, and you can design something nice into it, I have moulded extensions and I painted a nice rx-7 logo on them, they look choice.....there are many ways to spruce up the sound system....have a go urself, its easy....

 

I got a sony explod stero put in my 84 GSL...it cost 180 WITH a FREE INSTALL CUPON and it wa JUST the radio. This was best buy. They had to charge like 30 for speaker cable, they needed TWO harnesses, a RX7 power adapter thingy, a holder and something to fill in the gap..redo the antenna with some sort of relay switch..arrrggggghhhhhhh. THey got to remove the rear amps, which is a BITTTCH, and all this crap. I dropped it off at 9am, they didnt finish till 5pm. 7 hours of labor. THATS going to kill you. When they quote you, they dont take into account that it takes forever. Anyways, this is my experience, hope yours goes better.

 

Thats really high, at my shop the charges would be

Deck $35 + parts (kit and harness=$15)
Front speakers $25
Rear Speakers $25
Basic Shop Parts $3.50 (Charge per car)

Dunno about there but best buy here kinda suxs, I wouldnt let them install a deck in my car for free....

By the way all the Rx-7's I have ever done (84 / 85). Have a white plug way back behind the radio (if it has the 2 amp system that is). If you unplug that plug you can get the front speakers by using a standard metra harness. The rear ones are a little more, if I were doing it, I just run new wires to the rear since you are doing speakers anyways... By the way just did an 85 rx-7 last week. It took me 45 minutes to do a deck and 4. I put a pair of 6x9's in the rear, cut out the steel and mounted them. Sounds a lot better than a 6 1/2...

 

i have two 1st gens (85 GSL, 85 GSL-SE) and ive installed every part of the stereos myself...including the power antenna if any of you have read my previous posts ...the antenna was the most complicated part...anyway...you can buy a "kit" at schucks or even target to install a deck (thats what i did and it worked great), and i even bought my power antenna at schucks...and my step dad works fopr best buy and he says dont let them install s**t, theyre stupid. he told me this cause i was thinking of having them do it just to save myself from the work cause i could get it done free cause he works there. anyway...its not all that hard to do yourself, plus you learn alot more about your car, and the best part is that if you royaly screw it, a shop can always fix it

Have At It!

~T.J.

 

Glad someone else agrees with me about Best Buy, dont know if they like that all over the US but here it SUCKS.

Also I install car stereo professionally, and if you get in there and mess with cutting wires and stuff, etc. I usually will charge extra. Cuz not only do I have to wire it up and mount it correctly, I have to fix what you did... Just to let you know, if you havent a clue about what you are doing dont try it.

 

I have done tons of stereo dstuff and it is worth the time to learn. It is not too hard. Save the money and do it yourself. WIth the money you save, use it to buy better speakers! Also, the rx7 is a two seater, so get good speakers for the front. DO not worry about the back much. If you can afford it, get an amp and a subwoofer before woorying about back speakers. In college I had a 1st gen with an eclipse deck, soundstream amp, boston acoustic speakers and subwoofer. It rocked man! But, there was no room in the hatch to fit any chicks in anymore.......so the roommate had to get out of the dorm room! HAHA