Steeltown Pursuit

Hi all,

do you think it would be worth it to change just the speakers, but keep the stock deck?

I know the deck controls the power to the speakers and it makes the largest improvement but it's just not in the budget.

if I do want to improve the sound by just changing the speakers, what brand speakers would you suggest?

What I'm looking for is clarity from the front 6.5's but some half decent bass from the rear 6x9's.

any suggestions on speakers that will improve over the base sound system, but also be able to run off the stock deck power?

so far I've checked out a few clarion speakers, as well as pioneers and blaupankt? speakers....

so my the clarion sound the best off deck power, but anyone else have any suggestions??

mike25

no offense but delete one of your threads..you accidentally made 2

Steeltown Pursuit

sorry! I deleted the second one...

still open to suggestions though!

qcpursuit

If you are on a small budget upgrade you can get a nice little set of 6'5 component like kicker RS(I have it and they sound great)or the polk db series.If you want only coaxial speakers up front you cant get infinity for incredible high but with a lack of bass.For the rear deck I think you should get a set of 6'5 midbass like MA audio(cheap price but grat performance).If you dont have a sub this is the setup that I think will work the best for you.If you can afford a new deck(Eclipse,Alpine,Pioneer)it would be awesome.

I know that component speakers and midbass work better when wired to an amp but the stock radio can make them sound great and for sure better than stock.

Hope it can help you

Asphalt Assault

I would just replace teh rear speakers and maybe go to a larger sube but leave the front alone. Those are a good set. I had boston rallys in my previous vehicle and these sound very similar.

Sempher55

what he said. replace the rear speakers. i beleave they are 6x9's hard to take out though, send me a pm and ill tell ya how to do it. also, im a pioneer fan...always have been. so they make some great speakers for the rear of ur car.. if ur into a lil more bass action that is. but kicker speakers are great to. also if u wanna check them out, alpine has some new stuff, i havent had experience with it, but im sure its good. good luck!!!!

Steeltown Pursuit

thanks for the ideas everyone!

before this car I had a sunfire and I changed out the rear 6x9's myself and it did make a big difference in the sound.

I'm a little concerned about keeping the front speakers stock tho. When I changed out the rear speakers on the sunfire, the sound stage ended up coming from the rear due to the difference in ohms on the speakers. I had to adjust the fade to bring the sound back up to the front.

Also, I don't have the 7 speaker set up - I have the base 4 speaker setup, and the fronts are a little lacking in the highs. I believe the stock speakers are all one-way speakers - paper cones at that too. I'd like a little more sound quality(highs) in the fronts and then a little punchier bass from the rears.

I appreaciate the response though. hopefully I can make a decision and change out the speakers myself.

Sempher55

oh i dodnt realise u had only 4 then yeah change them all. good luck with this and dont forget to post pics.

crazydemon

Don't waste money on rear speakers. Ditch the all together. Invest money in a good amp and set of components for the front if you're serious. But don't bother unless you're spending at least $200-300 on each because it will only make it sound worse.

After that you can do the sub to add more low end.


Also, don't bother keeping the stock deck unless you really know what you are doing. You MUST find the low level outputs and convert them to RCA to feed into the amps, otherwise it will again.. sound like sh*t.

I will be doing a massive write-up this summer on the whole system, so I will help out where I can, but that's just my bit of advice for now.

funcritter

What do I gather from everyones opinions here? Just do what you feel like doing. Everyone has a differant opinion regardless. Me, I'm not changing a thing in my stereo, I'm happy with it.

Steeltown Pursuit

update:

i just changed out my rear speakers with Panasonic 6x9's. they were on sale at Future Shop for $40 for the pair.

I must say, HUGE difference to the stock paper 6x9's. There is a lot more bass (almost too much).

With the stock speakers, my settings are +7 on the Treble and +1/2 on the Bass. Now, with the changed out 6x9's, I have the settings at Treble +7 and Bass at 0 and it's way more bass now.

To my surprise the sound stage hasn't shifted too much. Yes I can hear highs from the rear, but I think with my car being a sedan, music just sounds like its coming from all around me. with the front speakers being closer than that rears, I think the sound still favours the front, but it's pretty equal now.

For those of you with the base stereo and 4 speakers, if you were thinking of changing speakers for bass, I would suggest changing out your rear 6x9's first. you'll notice a huge difference in bass output.

Now with the heavier bass, I'm considering clearing up the sound in the front with adding tweeters. The stock 6.5's aren't too bad, but I don't think they are that clear.

In case anyone was wondering, the stock 6x9's are rated at 8 ohms, and have a tiny little magnet on them. the replacement set I got had bigger magnets and are rated at 4 ohms.


Another question though : Is it possible just to add tweeters to the front speakers? I was thinking of adding a pair of tweeters and mounting them on the dash close to the front windshield.

has anyone done that yet? Any thoughts?

qcpursuit

You can add only tweeters up front with a set of passive crossover but the stock 6.5 are poor to play the mid frequencies,add a couple of $$ and buy a component set with a good 6.5 woofer you wont regreat it.Also buy an little 2 channel amp(you dont need 100 watts per channel, a good 50 watts can make a difference without breaking the bank)