In another thread, I replaced the center speaker with a Polk DXi350. Now I want to keep going and I would like to replace the rest of the factory speakers as well.
I am looking for suggestions on the best bang for the buck for speaker replacements still using the factory head unit/sub/amp.
I listen to mostly metal/hard rock/80's...some country once in a while, and very little rap.
Emailing back and forth with Crutchfield, they suggest the Rockford Fosgate Prime R169X2 and Rockford Fosgate Prime R1675X2. This is nice because they are WAY under my budget...but I don't mind paying more for a much better sound.
$300 for a set of speakers will be way too much for some, but would be considered low end/cheap for others.
Find the highest sensitivity speakers you can find within your budget and you'll have better sound. I wouldn't upgrade to any speaker below 90db's sensitivity. 93db or 94db would be ideal.
I went with the Focal ISS series. 6x9's up front and 6.5's in the rear. Big difference in sound for about $600ish for all 4 speakers
Find the highest sensitivity speakers you can find within your budget and you'll have better sound. I wouldn't upgrade to any speaker below 90db's sensitivity. 93db or 94db would be ideal.
Cool, I am on the right track in that department then. I have been reading here and there in this forum, and that I do know for sure. Thanks for the reinforcement.
I went with the Focal ISS series. 6x9's up front and 6.5's in the rear. Big difference in sound for about $600ish for all 4 speakers
haha, sorry, cruised right by the $500 in the title.
I believe stock is 2ohm, but the Focals are 4 ohm and sound fine. I wouldnt worry too much about impedance.
Well, you have a component set in there now if you have the alpine system, I dont see why you wouldn't. You could buy a mid-range woofer and a seperate tweeter, but trying to match separate woofers and tweeters is too complex for my taste.
Also, I would spend more $ to get nicer front speakers. I replaced my fronts one week and the rears the following week. The rears filled out the sound nicely, but the fronts made 75% of the difference.
Others have been very happy with HAT Imagines. They're in the $400 range for a set of 6x9's though.
If you have the Alpine system, there is no "significant" upgrade available in that price range. Any aftermarket speaker you use is going to suffer. There is no full-range signal present in the OE system. Sad to say, but the only drop-in solution is the Mopar Kicker upgrades.
In order to make a significant difference, you need to add your own amps, processing/DSP, or LOC with input summing at a minimum. I tried all the "cheap-n-easy" methods in my Ram (same system). None were worth the time, nor money until I provided a full-range signal to an aftermarket amp.
The center dash speaker is the only one easily upgraded, because you don't want a full-range signal going to a 3.5" speaker. You do want (near) full-range going to a 6x9, 6.5, or component speakers.
Not true. There was a significant improvement when I upgraded to my Focals. I took readings with a SPL Meter. I gained 4-5db's at equal volume to stock. That is significant.
It was worth every single penny of the ~$500 I spent.
I can go with what Crutchfield suggests and stay well below my budget...big time. But...I don't think I will do that.
Or, I can go with the Focal ISS 6x9 components in the front and 6.5" in the rear.
But...how about this idea...going with the Polk MM6501 components for the front and MM651 for the rear. High sensitivity, 2.7 ohm, and good reviews by other dudes here. Plus...still coming in under my budget.
Just making sure I am exploring all options. Thanks again for the thoughts and advice!
Since you started out with Polk's in the center, I would suggest staying with Polk's for the fronts. This way, the front stage is pretty much matched up in the sound characteristics (timbre). Latter on, if you decide to continue upgrading, you will be able to create the proper L/C/R channels.
Well the sensitivity tells us how loud it can play at 1 watt. A speaker might have a low sensitivity because it need s more power. That doesn't really tell us wether it's good or bad until we actually hear it.
Dynamat would be better in this case. Properly applied, you can also make a baffle. Dynamat cuts down the internal noise and vibrations within the door frame. It acts as decoupler for the vibration.
As I said in a previous post, you can always upgrade later to an external amp if you feel it would increase performance.
Spent some time installing the Polk MM6501 components for the front and MM651 for the rear over the weekend. I didn't use the Polk crossovers supplied for either set. I also laid some Dyanmat behind them against the inside of the outer door skin.
I have to say, they do not sound good at all. I played with the EQ and had a really hard time getting anything that sounds good. Do they have to "burn in"?
I am thinking I went a little too high-end and will now need an amp.
Dammit! Just like cars, guns, whatever...start with a little and you find you just need more!
They are not going to sound significantly better in a few days. Those speakers need an aftermarket amp, and a full-range signal feeding that amp. Otherwise, you might as well stick your stockers back in. The OE system is tuned horribly. Connecting decent speakers to that signal is not going to produce desirable results. I may sound like a broken record, but....
With hindsight being 20/20, I did indeed go too high with the specs. I thought for sure I was on the right track, but I guess you cannot learn from your mistakes if you don't make them.
Its just that there are two sides to this. People either say "They will sound great"...OR..."they will need an amp and possibly more". Naturally, I was optimistic about this and gave it a shot.
I will be looking at my options to have an amp installed. Either that or I will revert back to stock and cut a little bit of a loss.
I sat down and talked to a guy I know and trust who has been doing high-end custom stereo installs for many years.
Bottom line, his opinion is an "all or nothing" approach with this. I am not ready to spend that kind of money at this time, so it looks like I am going back to stock and selling the Polk's and hopefully I will get close to what I have into them back.
Either do a full upgrade or leave it stock because he knows me and knows the sound I like and I won't achieve that by only upgrading part of the system.
New head unit, new amp, new sub all rewired. Basically, pulling the factory stuff out and replacing it. We didn't get to specific hardware because we both knew it was out of my range but we did price it out for fun.
Did he say it was absolutely necessary to ditch the 8.4 screen or could everything else be made to work with it? What was his pricing for doing it all his way?