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Hey guys, I have one blown rear left speaker (absolutely no sound from it) and the front ones sound like they're static-y and crackling on some songs with the volume turned decently up. I'm looking to replace most, if not all the speakers in my truck with better ones, I also want more bass than I get now (though I will say, I'm impressed with the factory bass capabilities to be honest, it's not bad at all).
I can't find info on what size and brand to get as far as A-pillar tweeters, door speakers, and rear C-pillar speakers. I'm on a budget so I can't be spending $1000 upgrading speakers but what sizes and brands I should be looking at in any case?
Is there a maximum depth that they need to be within or are they pretty much all going to fit?
And will I need to run new speaker wire or will the factory wire be okay? I'm considering mocking up a Nexus 7 in the dash so I can have Spotify loaded up on it wherever I am. I'lll have to figure out some kind of way to hook the tablet into an amp and then run the wiring from there, but that's all in the distant future! I just want better speakers for right now lol
Not sure about the GMT900 but I think my 800 has 6.5" in the rear too. I know in mine for the door there is room for about any tweeter in the stock location under the original grill. I'll have to look at some newer doors to say for sure. Its been a trend for many years that GM leaves a lot of space for tweeters.
I don't think there were really depth issues. If you have a budget that shouldn't matter anyway.
Which leads me to some tips. I was in the car audio business for a long time. From reading your initial post, I have to believe you adjust your bass up from flat and listen to your music loud. I listen to mine way too loud so not judging here. But the lower the frequency the more power is required to produce the sound. I personally keep all setting as flat as possible to hear things as recorded. If you need more bass then you physically need more bass production, not just forcing it out where it shouldn't come from. The full range speakers cant , as you learned, sustain it.
Make sure when you shop, to look for a good quality speaker with the highest efficiency (usually called "Sensitivity") you can find, unless you are also buying an amplifier for them. The new aftermarket speakers will usually never be as efficient as the stock speakers, so they will not be able to play as loud or produce as much bass as the original ones on the same power.
I did not discuss "Watts" or "Wattage" because its an over used irrelevant word. Usually the higher the Watts a speaker can take, the higher the needs.
This will mean you need more power. So you need and amp or a bigger amp. I have Never seen any of my customers blow a speaker from too much power. They were all from the distortion you described due to being played too hard without enough power to control them.
Please ask away if you have questions. I apologize if I sound judgy but I have a lot of years in the business and do try to help and educate as well as possible.
Not sure about the GMT900 but I think my 800 has 6.5" in the rear too. I know in mine for the door there is room for about any tweeter in the stock location under the original grill. I'll have to look at some newer doors to say for sure. Its been a trend for many years that GM leaves a lot of space for tweeters.
I don't think there were really depth issues. If you have a budget that shouldn't matter anyway.
Which leads me to some tips. I was in the car audio business for a long time. From reading your initial post, I have to believe you adjust your bass up from flat and listen to your music loud. I listen to mine way too loud so not judging here. But the lower the frequency the more power is required to produce the sound. I personally keep all setting as flat as possible to hear things as recorded. If you need more bass then you physically need more bass production, not just forcing it out where it shouldn't come from. The full range speakers cant , as you learned, sustain it.
Make sure when you shop, to look for a good quality speaker with the highest efficiency (usually called "Sensitivity") you can find, unless you are also buying an amplifier for them. The new aftermarket speakers will usually never be as efficient as the stock speakers, so they will not be able to play as loud or produce as much bass as the original ones on the same power.
I did not discuss "Watts" or "Wattage" because its an over used irrelevant word. Usually the higher the Watts a speaker can take, the higher the needs.
This will mean you need more power. So you need and amp or a bigger amp. I have Never seen any of my customers blow a speaker from too much power. They were all from the distortion you described due to being played too hard without enough power to control them.
Please ask away if you have questions. I apologize if I sound judgy but I have a lot of years in the business and do try to help and educate as well as possible.
Thanks for the info! I actually have the bass set at factory right in the middle, and had to turn up the higher notes in order for the bass to not drown them out...but yes I do listen to it decently loud, not going to lie!
Now I'm not a huge audiophile by any means...I just want clean sound. That being said, I had this exact same speaker/box and amp setup in an old '95 I use to have and it sounded pretty decent to me, what do you think of this combo for the price?
The Box looks great. I probably personally go with a better amp.
Especially if you want subs, replace the full range speakers and give them an amp too.
What happens is you don't hear the damage until its done because the sub hides it. And everything else struggles to keep up.
I personally have one Kicker Solobaric 8" (the square ones) under the driver rear, Polk components in the front doors, Polk 2 ways in the rear, and about a 25 year old Sounstream 5 channel running my whole truck. It all works great.
The Box looks great. I probably personally go with a better amp.
Especially if you want subs, replace the full range speakers and give them an amp too.
What happens is you don't hear the damage until its done because the sub hides it. And everything else struggles to keep up.
I personally have one Kicker Solobaric 8" (the square ones) under the driver rear, Polk components in the front doors, Polk 2 ways in the rear, and about a 25 year old Sounstream 5 channel running my whole truck. It all works great.
So you think I should run two amps? Lets say I replace all four door speakers with something like this:
Either a separate amp or separate channels of a 5 or 6 channel amp. The power will help longevity.
I'm using an old version of this
35 watts x 4 channels for the full range and 100 watt single channel for the sub. My sub has two four ohm voice coils, so in parallel it about doubles the power. Its plenty. The sub is usually adjusted way down to keep from being overpowering.
don't have a pic in the newer box in my truck but heres the sub before I sold my Nissan.
02-17-2016, 05:28 PM
Speaker upgrades for crew cab GMT900
