Speaker Upgrade

W

wildmark

Member
Location
Tampa, Fl
I'm looking to replace the speakers in my wifes 09 FX50s, is there a list somewhere listing what sized speakers are in the vehicle, or can point me in the direction of a thread where someone has already done this?

Thanks

---------- Post added 08-23-2014 at 07:12 AM ---------- Previous post was 08-22-2014 at 09:06 PM ----------

Anyone?
 
I have that's why i'm asking, not so much info out there, kinda thought I could tap into the experience of people who have been there, one of the reasons I'm on the forum.
 
Yeah, not looking to go to those lenghs, Been to a local shop and he gave me some ideas, going to keep the bose sub to run the center dash, subs and rear pillars, a separate amp to run the new doors left and right dash speakers.
 
Wildmark, if you want to really improve the sound quality in the car I'd go with a 5 channel amp and new door/dash speakers (as you said) and a new sub. In your case a new sub installed into one of the side panels in the rear in a custom enclosure would be best imo. Do you have a budget for the project? If so I can make some recommendations.

I don't think you'll be happy with the factory sub and center dash speaker.
 
1k is pretty tight for a 5 channel upgrade, if you could go to 1.5k you'd be a the best shape. However that said 1k can work. Speakers are a tough call as there are so many decent choices at this price range. Here's what I'd recommend specification wise and maybe you can talk to your shop and ask them what brands they carry and would recommend.

Also does that 1k include installation or are you budgeting extra for that (which would be a good thing)?


  • Amp: 5 channel Alpine PDX V9. This is an awesome amp for a single amp install to run front stage (midbass and tweeters). The most expensive part here but the best investment imo. About $500. I bought all my amps off Amazon via Prime so I could return them if there's any issues and you'll save a bunch of a custom shops price.
  • Dash mid/tweets: You'll want to find a good full range 3 inch speaker that will do a good job at about 280hz to 18k. I'd suggest Hybrid Audio L3SE but they are overly pricey :) See what your shop has to offer.
  • Doors: 6.5 inch midbass.
  • Sub: If you don't want to pay to have a box built then you should consider going with a prebuilt box/sub kit. JL has some good products in this area. Won't be pretty (ie it won't be fully integrated into the interior) but it will perform MUCH better than the factory sub ever will. The factory sub is trash.

All in all what I am suggesting is a 5 channel amp running the front dash, doors and sub. You might even consider turning off the rears and center channel bose speakers altogether but that is up to you.

Later on budget permitting it would be very helpful to add a processor as this is the one piece that can have the most dramatic effect on sound quality in the car as tuning is definitely necessary but very difficult without a processor.

I'll do some research with my contacts and see if they have suggested brands/models in your price range.
 
santiagodraco said:
1k is pretty tight for a 5 channel upgrade, if you could go to 1.5k you'd be a the best shape. However that said 1k can work. Speakers are a tough call as there are so many decent choices at this price range. Here's what I'd recommend specification wise and maybe you can talk to your shop and ask them what brands they carry and would recommend.

Also does that 1k include installation or are you budgeting extra for that (which would be a good thing)?


  • Amp: 5 channel Alpine PDX V9. This is an awesome amp for a single amp install to run front stage (midbass and tweeters). The most expensive part here but the best investment imo. About $500. I bought all my amps off Amazon via Prime so I could return them if there's any issues and you'll save a bunch of a custom shops price.
  • Dash mid/tweets: You'll want to find a good full range 3 inch speaker that will do a good job at about 280hz to 18k. I'd suggest Hybrid Audio L3SE but they are overly pricey :) See what your shop has to offer.
  • Doors: 6.5 inch midbass.
  • Sub: If you don't want to pay to have a box built then you should consider going with a prebuilt box/sub kit. JL has some good products in this area. Won't be pretty (ie it won't be fully integrated into the interior) but it will perform MUCH better than the factory sub ever will. The factory sub is trash.

All in all what I am suggesting is a 5 channel amp running the front dash, doors and sub. You might even consider turning off the rears and center channel bose speakers altogether but that is up to you.

Later on budget permitting it would be very helpful to add a processor as this is the one piece that can have the most dramatic effect on sound quality in the car as tuning is definitely necessary but very difficult without a processor.

I'll do some research with my contacts and see if they have suggested brands/models in your price range.
Click to expand...



Thank for this information, I do have some questions if you don't mind?
1. AMP, I did a bit of reasearch and thats a great amp but at $500 I think I can get something almost as good for less money, what are the minimum specs you would reccomend?
2. Sub, are there any options that would sit where the current Bose sub is and what spec would it need to be?
3. Speakers, what ohm?
4. Why do you suggest turning off the center and the rear pillar speakers, could they not be changed?
5. What type of processor would you reccomend, if I can get some good deals on the rest of the stuff
 
wildmark said:
Thank for this information, I do have some questions if you don't mind?
1. AMP, I did a bit of reasearch and thats a great amp but at $500 I think I can get something almost as good for less money, what are the minimum specs you would reccomend?
2. Sub, are there any options that would sit where the current Bose sub is and what spec would it need to be?
3. Speakers, what ohm?
4. Why do you suggest turning off the center and the rear pillar speakers, could they not be changed?
5. What type of processor would you reccomend, if I can get some good deals on the rest of the stuff
Click to expand...

1. The amp is the most important part of the entire system. Cheap out on it, and it will underdeliver to your speakers, or worse it will spike and kill your speakers. Still even worse cheap amps crap out quickly. Spend the money do it correctly, otherwise long term you are going to spend more money replacing garbage components.

2. Do you means with a custom enclosure? If so then yes, if you mean a sub which will replace the tiny little OEM 6" unit, then a couple guys have tried, the consensus is don't waste your time. You need atleast a 8" sub, preferably a 10", especially given you are going to put in better speakers than OEM.

4. Yes everything can be changed, but seeing as how you are hesitant to even spend $1500 doing this, good luck buying all that stuff. An amp to power all the speakers in the car alone, would be 1k+. You do realize that often re-doing the entire system in the car as your are suggesting costs upwards of 10k right? The price I was given for my FX not too long ago, was just under 5000, and even then there were some components which I was not pleased I had to "cheap" out with. In the end, I decided I would rather put the money elsewhere for now, and come back to the sound system when I had the money saved up to do it right the first time. In an ideal world you wouldn't be ripping up the interior of your car every couple months to change out something or taking the car section by section. Much easier to just bite the bullet and do it all, and the outcome will also be much better.

5. Talk to whoever is doing the installation, the guys tuning the system are probably the best to tell you this, as they may prefer one system over another.
 
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For proper imaging, the rear speakers aren't really needed. They're fine for fill, but without proper processing, they're just going to get in the way. Same goes for the center. On a home theater setup, center channel and rear speakers are integral to the surround experience. On a car, they're not doing that, they basically just blend whatever sound your other speakers are putting out.

Better to spend a little more up front than to skimp and get something you're not going to be happy with. The factory Bose system isn't great, but it's better than a cobbled together system. FWIW, definitely get a processor. I've spent probably $1300 in components/amp/enclosure/accessories and ended up taking out the sub/amp because I wasn't happy with the way it sounded using the OEM head unit. Right now, I'm just running replacement speakers w/ OEM Bose sub and OEM amp. I took out the sub enclosure and 5 channel amp because it never sounded right and you can't adjust it without a processor of some kind so it was pointless.

In the past I was used to building a complete system from head unit to wiring so you could really do whatever you wanted. Never had to worry about using OEM head unit. One of my previous cars had a 5.1 surround along with a center channel (had to actually cut up the dash since there wasn't one before) and 4 amplifiers. But I could get that to work since an aftermarket head unit was running the show. Now the processor basically takes the place of that. So if you just drop in speakers and power them, it's not going to be effective without tuning.

And I was running a 5 channel JBL amp. They're not ultra high end, but I've used JBL stuff for years and was always happy. A long time ago, I was sponsored by their parent company Harman Kardon so I ran JBL amps and Infinity speakers. Still have a soft spot for the stuff and the price is reasonable. I think I paid like $300 for the JBL 5 channel.
 
wildmark said:
Thank for this information, I do have some questions if you don't mind?
Click to expand...
1. AMP, I did a bit of reasearch and thats a great amp but at $500 I think I can get something almost as good for less money, what are the minimum specs you would reccomend? I wouldn't focus on specs, they can be misleading. The quality of the amp is more important. What amp do you think you can get that's just as good for less money? There certainly are good options and I agree you could get a good amp for less but not "as" good. The PDX is a pretty great amp for the money.
2. Sub, are there any options that would sit where the current Bose sub is and what spec would it need to be? Not really where the Bose sub is now, unless you remove the spare and put a sub box there (which is what I did, see my build in the link above.) However going this route will mean doing a lot more install work (ie see my build). Having the sub under that floorboard would be a no-no without customizing the floor itself. You'd want it to be firing clear into the car, not through a plastic floor. Fyi I will be selling my sub enclosure and floor panels soon as I'm doing an upgrade build (similar but with more stuff ;D).
3. Speakers, what ohm? 2 or 4 ohm for use with most amps. With the PDX (or any other good amp) either is fine.
4. Why do you suggest turning off the center and the rear pillar speakers, could they not be changed? Because what you want is a good "stage" across the front of the car (if you are looking for the best sound quality). If you use a center channel it's going to be much harder to achieve that. Also unless you use a good speaker that is a good match for your left/right setup you'll have issues as well. However, that being said, you could leave the center and see how you feel about it. There are some navigation and voice stuff that focus on the center channel that are more attenuated in the other speakers. It wouldn't hurt to leave it connected AS IS and do your install with the new stuff and see how it performs. You could upgrade it to a better speaker, 4 inch or so) later as well if you decide you are ok with it. If you decide to invest in a processor (highly recommended) then the center will interfere with the tuning the processor will provide.
5. What type of processor would you recommend, if I can get some good deals on the rest of the stuff. My favorite is the Alpine H800 which I'm using but with the remote it's going to be over half your budget alone (hence saying consider for later).

If you want a great set of off the shelf speakers that are somewhat within your budget consider the Hybrid Audio Technologies Imagine 6.5 set. http://store.12velectronics.com/imagine-i61-2v2-6-5-component-coaxial-speaker-set/
Another excellent option: Image Dynamics Chamelon: http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_22325_Image-Dynamics-CXS64-v.2.html

They ship with tweeters however which I would personally replace with a good 3 way widband like the Hybrid L3V2 (3.5 inch wideband fits perfect in dash) or other alternative. If you can negotiate price down on these speakers you'll be in great shape. Run the Imagine up to about 250hz and the L3V2 down to about 280hz. You're install shop should know. You'll be up in the $1500 range with these though and all the other gear plus install. Like we were saying 1k is really tight budget wise.

So here's how I would start and then later change.

Phase 1: Hat Imagine 6.5 or ID Chamelon 6.5 (links above). JL 12 sub and enclosure. Alpine PDX-V9 (or comparable just beware of junk). + install you'll be a smidge over 1000.

Phase 2: Replace the dash speakers with a set of HAT L3V2 or L3SE or comparable 3.5 inch wideband midrange speaker (budget permitting) and install a processor for eq and time alignment.
 
Thanks guys, its not that I did not want to spend $1500 I just thought with a bit of clever buying I could get the same results, but based on the information you have given I would rather pay more upfront and it be right and not have to mess around afterwards. I'm looking at the info now , I'll let you know what I do.
Mark

---------- Post added at 12:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:32 PM ----------

Quick question, which JL sub would you reccomend, there seem to be dozens?
 
Lol yeah there are. I'm not a JL expert to be honest. I think the main question would first be do you want to just use a prebuilt box and put that in the back or do you want to do a custom install like I had in the back of my FX? Then we can recommend a sub more specifically.
 
I think for now I'll go with a pre-built sub, they seem to be very reasonable, 12" are on sale at a couple of places down from $350 to $250 which seems a good deal.


I think on reflection I’m going to take you advice and initially go with the following;

Front & Rear Doors: Hat Imagine 6.5
Sub: JL 12” sub with enclosure.
Amp: Alpine PDX-V9

I’ll take this list to the shop and tell them that I will source the equipment And have them fit it, I’ll see how it sounds and I think it will be such an improvement that I'll stick with this.

One last question, is it going to be better to leave the Bose Sub, center dash and side speakers hooked up and running or disconnect them?

Thanks.
 
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