Aftermarket Speakers???

Thanks for the info... I guess I start my car fund early this year.

dreww wrote:

either you bite the bullet and throwdown a chunk for a decent head unit, or go with an amp. I got a cheap amp, but not the stock head unit. The amps crossover features are really limited (unlike very expensive amps). I say go with the amp if you decide to do anything. Even the best headunit doesnt have enough power to adequately power most speakers. 70X4 is the best you will find in a headunit.. and that max. So maybe 35watts RMS....but even thats doubtful. A cheap amp is 50watts RMS or more usually.

Think it would be worth it for me to toss an amp onto my speakers?

I believe mine is 50x4 max.

SpaceBar wrote:

dreww wrote:

either you bite the bullet and throwdown a chunk for a decent head unit, or go with an amp. I got a cheap amp, but not the stock head unit. The amps crossover features are really limited (unlike very expensive amps). I say go with the amp if you decide to do anything. Even the best headunit doesnt have enough power to adequately power most speakers. 70X4 is the best you will find in a headunit.. and that max. So maybe 35watts RMS....but even thats doubtful. A cheap amp is 50watts RMS or more usually.

Think it would be worth it for me to toss an amp onto my speakers?

I believe mine is 50x4 max.

I got a cheap $100 50x4 rms amp that "maxes" at 600watts (300x2). So thats 150rms x2.

anyways, I run my replaced speakers with it, and they are cheap too...but not "stock" cheap. And they are loud as hell. I just need a sub now but it still sounds great. Will blow any headunit powered speakers out of the water...I dont care what brand they are. Speakers need power...even small ones. And there is different kinds of power. Amplifiers are clean power....headunit built in amps are certainly not.

my headunit volume maxes at 50. At 20, its now louder than it was at 50 using the headunit's amplifier. I got one channel running the 6x9's with the crossover kinda low for mids-highs, and the door speakers have the crossover setting a little higher since they cant take hardly in mids-lows. I know its set because you can hear every line a bass guitar plays....just need a sub for the boom of a kickdrum. My 6x9's dont reproduce sound that low (at least not very well).

tuning an audio system is like tuning a car....you dont need the best brands, you just need to know how to make everything work together. Im no stereo expert, but I seen guys that can tune a system to sound like its worth 3x as much.

quote: "tuning an audio system is like tuning a car....you dont need the best brands, you just need to know how to make everything work together."

Very true. I would agree that amplification is a big improvement to the sound quality of our stock sound systems, right behind replacing the front speakers with high-end drivers. If your goal is to get loud, an amp would be the #1 improvement.

I'll look into getting an amp when I get home for them then. I will need a 4 channel amp right?

I've got pretty new pioneer 6x9s and 5 1/4. They are 300 watts peak and 180 peak if I'm correct.

I might switch up the pioneers to infinity speakers though I think they sound much better.

What size amp should I be looking at getting for them?

Check your speaker's RMS (nominal) power rating and try to aim at or just above it. Some speaker systems are rated between a range (like 10-60 watts). Try to aim toward the top of the range. If your speakers have both RMS and a peak power specs, aim somewhere between them. Use the amp's RMS watts spec to figure, not peak.

50 Watts RMS per channel is what I'm running to my front components. I still power the rear 6x9"s off the stock head.

The 5 1/4 are 35 watt rms and the 6x9s are 75 rms.

I could power the front speakers with the headunit (its 50x4 could I do 100x2?) and grab an amp for the back correct?

Would a 150 rms x 2 amp be good for the 6x9s? 300peak 75 rms.

Can't bridge head units, and that 50x4 rating is stupid and not even realistic. Look for an amp rated 50w x 4 RMS. That'll sound good and not cost too much. If you want to be loud, go 75W x 4, but turn the gain down on the fronts.

And I'd rather buy used name brand equipment instead of new cheap crap (Pyramid, Rockwood, Targa, Urban, Brand X).

AA wrote:

Can't bridge head units, and that 50x4 rating is stupid and not even realistic. Look for an amp rated 50w x 4 RMS. That'll sound good and not cost too much. If you want to be loud, go 75W x 4, but turn the gain down on the fronts.

And I'd rather buy used name brand equipment instead of new cheap crap (Pyramid, Rockwood, Targa, Urban, Brand X).

I usually always go for the good stuff too. Not the lighting audio crap. I'll grab one of those amps when I get back.

SpaceBar wrote:

The 5 1/4 are 35 watt rms and the 6x9s are 75 rms.

I could power the front speakers with the headunit (its 50x4 could I do 100x2?) and grab an amp for the back correct?

Would a 150 rms x 2 amp be good for the 6x9s? 300peak 75 rms.

you probably dont want to only power one set of speakers....they will overpower the other pair running on only headunit power. At least if you listen to music very loud like I do.

SpaceBar wrote:

AA wrote:

Can't bridge head units, and that 50x4 rating is stupid and not even realistic. Look for an amp rated 50w x 4 RMS. That'll sound good and not cost too much. If you want to be loud, go 75W x 4, but turn the gain down on the fronts.

And I'd rather buy used name brand equipment instead of new cheap crap (Pyramid, Rockwood, Targa, Urban, Brand X).

I usually always go for the good stuff too. Not the lighting audio crap. I'll grab one of those amps when I get back.

thats what I got in back...lol. the super cheapos with foam. But with a good clean signal, even those crappers scream. The 6x9's shake my mirrors, rearview and side all by themselves.

are the only speakers in the riv in the door or are there any in the back and what sizes are all of them it looks like theres 2 in each door but i havent taken the grill off

rear deck is 6x9's and doors are setup like components (separate mid range and tweeter). You can use non component 5 and 1/4" speakers in the doors if you're on a budget.

ive never had components but will one day. they sound awesome.

i think 95-99 all had the same speakers size and locations.

k cool so the door has 5.25 and a tweeter? im jsut wonderin cuz im probably ganna buy some speakers preety soon hear im tired of all the crackling i get from the stock ones no money for subs tho its one or the other and i figrue speakers first subs later

Yes, both a 5.25" mid and a 1" tweeter. You can use components or coaxials as replacements. Speakers first is a great idea!

well if i get subs first all im ganna have is lots of bass if i get speakers first ill ahve better all around sound then when i add in the subs ill ahve that loud bass with the rest

is there any special size head unit i need or will any of them fit

be careful about the front speakers. The rounds are 4 ohm and the tweeters are also 4 ohm and they are wired in parallel (i think) causing a funky resistance (2 or 8 ohms I forget). If you still have the stock head unit like me - I put in nice 4 ohm small round speakers and didn't hook the tweeters up and they sounded like absolute crap. Wired the tweeters back in and everything sounded good again.

Crutchfield and $50 FTW!

yeah im ganna get a head unit with the speakers my stock one pisses me off alot somethins wrong with the lazer in it cuz it will only read certain cd's not necisarily clean and unscratched eaither and will not read any burned cd's at all

deekster_caddy wrote:

be careful about the front speakers. The rounds are 4 ohm and the tweeters are also 4 ohm and they are wired in parallel (i think) causing a funky resistance (2 or 8 ohms I forget). If you still have the stock head unit like me - I put in nice 4 ohm small round speakers and didn't hook the tweeters up and they sounded like absolute crap. Wired the tweeters back in and everything sounded good again.

Crutchfield and $50 FTW!

dont quote me on this but i think it could be cuz its a componet set, which is like a mini sub and a tweeter., which is why im doing a speaker pod in the stock location with a 6.5" component set

quote: "be careful about the front speakers. The rounds are 4 ohm and the tweeters are also 4 ohm and they are wired in parallel (i think) causing a funky resistance (2 or 8 ohms I forget). If you still have the stock head unit like me - I put in nice 4 ohm small round speakers and didn't hook the tweeters up and they sounded like absolute crap. Wired the tweeters back in and everything sounded good again."

The load is still 4 ohms with both the stock mid and tweet running together. Although they're paralleled, the mid and tweeter do no play in the same range because the mid naturally rolls off up high and the tweet is electronically crossed over down low. Most 4-ohm aftermarket coaxial speakers or component sets will work.

Derek... Corey's right. The reason your replacements didn't sound good is they were mid/woofers only, so when you hooked the tweets up, you could hear the highs again. Even the best mids sound like mud without tweeters.

I'm pretty sure that putting two 4 ohm resistors in parallel gives you a 2 ohm circuit. Changing the ohms on the circuit would throw the amp out of it's intended driving range... ? I'll get out my physics textbook again. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Anyhow, it wasn't just missing highs. It sounded nasty. Lows and bass most definitely sucked. Not that it's going to be thumping bass from a 4" speaker but it was all distorted and garbled until I hooked those tweeters back up.

Yes, two 4 ohm resistors make a 2 ohm load in parallel, but speakers are not resistors. They are also inductors. Their resistance changes depending on the frequency of the signal.

The tweeter has a little capacitor inline with its wiring. This works as a filter, blocking the lower frequencies that the woofer produces. So when you feed bass and midrange sounds to the pair, the mid is the only driver that responds. The tweet isn't doing anything, so it doesn't affect the load, which is still 4 ohms.

There is an area of overlap where both the mid and tweeter are playing the same frequencies, and this is often where you see an impedance drop, and a resulting increase in output. Well designed systems try to make this transition as smooth as possible.

I think another reason your mid sounded nasty was the lack of power output from the stock head. Too little power causes clipping distortion in speakers that need lots of power to play (most better components need power). If you power them with an amp, the sound will improve a bit. Sometimes a loud tweeter will cover up a nasty-sounding mid.

I dropped in a $40 set of Pioneer 5.25 coaxials this summer, and they sound a fair bit better than OEM. I'm not ready to spend a lot of money on a sound system, as much as I'd like to. Not for booming bass, just for sound quality. I should check out some options at a couple local auto sound shops next summer...

Front speaker replacement is one of the best improvements you can make to your OEM system. Coaxials are great because the mid and tweeter are matched, the crossover is set correctly, and the tweeter and mid are both on the same axis, at the same distance from the listener.

Ok the infinity speakers that your looking at i just bought from crutchfield for 50 or 60 bucks..so i would not buy those from best buy..... and yes they do fit. The 6x9s will fit,,,maybe some modification will be required.but nothing major... I also bough infinity 6x9s and those sound great but you kind of have to rig them in there.