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Home > Visual / Audio Mods > Audio FAQ/Help > stock radio and speakers question

stock radio and speakers question

Related threads: ( Click here to view )
Thread Topic	Replies	Views	Author	Last Poster
speaker options...	2	40	asquarecan	07sctc @ Nov 26, 2008
front speaker dilema	12	126	Dat_Tc_Guy	Dat_Tc_Guy @ Nov 19, 2008
Speaker Help	9	94	08_tC	Dr_Isotope @ Nov 10, 2008
Speakers in trunk	16	237	DarkMan_X	dhowton @ Nov 04, 2008
Speakers!	11	121	tc_ownsu	09tc @ Oct 29, 2008


WhooKid New York, US Oil Changer	i've got stock speakers and the stock radio in my tc, and i want to put a sub or two with an amp in the trunk. would it be worth it to upgrade the headunit and/or stock speakers for a little better quality, or do you think the stock system will be fine with a couple Kickers? just trying to get a few opinions before i start the process. Thanks
[#] Jun 19, 2008 10:59pm
ssm_251 Mobile Alabama, US Detailer	I have a 12 in my car with a pioneer head unit and stock speakers. IMO the stock speakers sound pretty good especially with a better head unit. it really depends how much money u want to spend. if ur not gonna amp up ur door speakers then the stock ones sound pretty decent, but with two 12's u may have overpowering bass
[#] Jun 19, 2008 11:04pm
KansasCitytC05 Platte City Missouri, US Tech Advisor	I have two 12 inch subs hooked up to my stock radio, I just bought a converter box for the radio easy to hook up. The stock speakers suck I am going to replace mine soon, but the stock radio is fine I like mine because its a 6 disc. I have not a problem yet. tC Pimpin!!!!!!!!!
[#] Jun 19, 2008 11:06pm
tCdreamer87 New York New York, US Scion Guru	it all depends how much into music and sound u are. if u are really into it i sugest you get 2 different types of amps. one for the subs and one for your voice speakers. also upgrade the speakers Life is hard!! just sit back let go and let god deal with it!!
[#] Jun 19, 2008 11:06pm
KansasCitytC05 Platte City Missouri, US Tech Advisor	I have two 12 inch subs hooked up to my stock radio, I just bought a converter box for the radio easy to hook up. The stock speakers suck I am going to replace mine soon, but the stock radio is fine I like mine because its a 6 disc. I have not a problem yet. tC Pimpin!!!!!!!!!
[#] Jun 19, 2008 11:06pm
WhooKid New York, US Oil Changer	hmm, so maybe i could just get an amp for my stock speakers, then get subs and an extra amp for those. i really don't want to have to install new stock speakers and an upgraded head unit if i really don't have to.
[#] Jun 19, 2008 11:18pm
KansasCitytC05 Platte City Missouri, US Tech Advisor	Dont get a amp for stock speakers you will blow them.... keep the stock radio get some new speaker with a small amp if it is need and add your subs. tC Pimpin!!!!!!!!!
[#] Jun 19, 2008 11:20pm
tCdreamer87 New York New York, US Scion Guru	austinmg wrote: Dont get a amp for stock speakers you will blow them.... keep the stock radio get some new speaker with a small amp if it is need and add your subs. there you go bud cant go the cheap way. it will cost doble in the future. you can get a good deal on some voice speakers just look around Life is hard!! just sit back let go and let god deal with it!!
[#] Jun 19, 2008 11:23pm
xcessivenoize San Bernardino California, US Vehicle Designer	you could keep you stock speakers with an amp i did for a while until i could afford the door speakers i wanted, they were still kickin hard when i took them out. as for the system if you do more than 2 12s than youll need to amp the doors, but if you have one sub you could get away without amping the doors, but i would suggest an aftermarket head unit, the sound 10x better than the stock one
[#] Jun 19, 2008 11:29pm
ssm_251 Mobile Alabama, US Detailer	xcessivenoize wrote: you could keep you stock speakers with an amp i did for a while until i could afford the door speakers i wanted, they were still kickin hard when i took them out. as for the system if you do more than 2 12s than youll need to amp the doors, but if you have one sub you could get away without amping the doors, but i would suggest an aftermarket head unit, the sound 10x better than the stock one ^this is what i was trying to say
[#] Jun 19, 2008 11:44pm
WhooKid New York, US Oil Changer	well i'm either gonna get 1 12 or 2 so im not going to go TOO strong on the bass. as for new door speakers, is the installation and removal of the stocks expensive? any suggestions on what kind i might want to look into purchasing? i don't want to go crazy and spend a ridiculous amount of money, so i might just consider a small upgrade in the stock system before i throw in the subs.
[#] Jun 20, 2008 12:05am
ErnDawg El Paso Texas, US Vehicle Designer	i did this project a year ago. it took about a year to build my system. i swapped out my HU for an eclipse avn 5495 for $1,000. it cleaned up my stock speakers a ton but at the same way eliminated almost all bass. then i decided i had to put in subs. i found a greeat deal on 2 10" kickers for $70 at circuit city. i mostly listen to rock so 10's are ok for me. i kpt the 10's and shopped around for a box. i decided to go fiberglass even though its more. i HATE rattle. i found a place with a good rep and they did 2 individual custom boxes to match the curves of the trunk and maximize space for $450. afterwards a local shop with a higly recommended name had a closeout sale and i got an alpine 600 RMS amp for $250. i got sattelite radio as an open box item at circuit city for $50 bucks. got everything installed for a little over $100. overall i think i saved $1000. what i got in the end was a premium system. it sounds perfect. and looks great.
[#] Jun 20, 2008 12:18am
07sctc South Carolina, US Chief Mechanic	if you are on a budget i would recommed just going with the subs first. it will make the biggest differnce. besides our stock speakers are decent quality compared to most stock. next (or at the same time) i would get a headunit with SUB contol, a dedicated non-fading output meant to run sub amps. that way you can control the amount of signal going to the subs and not mess with the BASS control on the headunit. remember more BASS is turned up the more distortion you will get in the door speakers which means bad sound quality and shorter speaker life for all the speakers in the system. leave the BASS contol on 0 or less and use the SUB control to get more from the subs. if you do change out the door speakers, get a 4ch amp to drive those otherwise you probably wouldn't be able to tell a huge difference. all stock and most aftermarket headunit dont have enough power to effectively run aftermarket door speakers. beware of the mad sciontist ! ask me your car audio and electronics questions!!
[#] Jun 20, 2008 12:22am
WhooKid New York, US Oil Changer	2 10 inch kickers for 70 bucks? how did you manage to find that? i wouldnt mind throwing those in my trunk, and installing an amp for the subs wont be a problem. any more opinions on what to do with my stock headunit/door speakers are greatly appreciated.
[#] Jun 20, 2008 12:26am
WhooKid New York, US Oil Changer	07sctc wrote: if you are on a budget i would recommed just going with the subs first. it will make the biggest differnce. besides our stock speakers are decent quality compared to most stock. next (or at the same time) i would get a headunit with SUB contol, a dedicated non-fading output meant to run sub amps. that way you can control the amount of signal going to the subs and not mess with the BASS control on the headunit. remember more BASS is turned up the more distortion you will get in the door speakers which means bad sound quality and shorter speaker life for all the speakers in the system. leave the BASS contol on 0 or less and use the SUB control to get more from the subs. if you do change out the door speakers, get a 4ch amp to drive those otherwise you probably wouldn't be able to tell a huge difference. all stock and most aftermarket headunit dont have enough power to effectively run aftermarket door speakers. i like that idea alot, i figured a head unit that can control the subwoofer rather than the bass of the door speakers would be much better. so i may even be able to get away with that instead of installing speakers, because as you said the stock speakers are not bad at all. now, where would i be able to find a HU that can control the bass of an aftermarket subwoofer instead of the door speakers?
[#] Jun 20, 2008 12:29am
07sctc South Carolina, US Chief Mechanic	most any decent deck these days has a sub output. i would recommend looking for one that has three sets of preamp output one for SUB, one for FRONT and one for REAR. the SUB would control the subs as i mentioned b4 and the FRONT and REAR will allow you to upgrade later down the road to adding a 4ch amp to the door speakers. i would recommend alpine, pioneer, or eclipse headunit and maybe sony and kenwood. i used to be a professional installer from 2000-2006 at Circuit City along with plenty of other stuff before that and i would really stick with one of these BIG manufacturers, you will thank me in the long run. i cant tell you how many dual, jensen, and low end jvc i have seen that just die. no offense to anybody that owns of of those though. i've just been around a long time and seen a lot in the car audio industry. you could pickup a headunit like i was talking about for around $150 to $200. beware of the mad sciontist ! ask me your car audio and electronics questions!!
[#] Jun 20, 2008 12:40am
ErnDawg El Paso Texas, US Vehicle Designer	a lot of people will tell you to look on crutchfield for stuff. their ok, a lot of selection but the prices are on par with other chain stores. i find circuit city has the best deals, the only hassle is the customer service is shitty. a good rule of thumb is to stay away from sony or kenwood or pioneer. if you crank the music often, which you probably do since youre thinking about upgrading, their life span is not good and end up with delayed thump. i have two bad ass kickers and i saw kicker 2 for 1 all the time at circuit city. upgrading your HU makes a work of difference on subs. a decent HU is around 150-200 install is usually free but you have to buy a wire harness in almost all cases.Sony, kenwood and pioneer speakers and subs suck, but their HU's are not bad at all. one option is getting one great quality 10" or 12" and buy a smaller amp. i found the chunk of my money was going to go to the amp so i held off on that for really long time. oh and lastly....DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT, fall for that nice looking Dual sub and amp package with the LED's. Dual is ok for high schoolers who cant afford anything else. DO NOT BUY DUAL. the most important thing is if youre on a budget like i was, be patient, great deals come around.
[#] Jun 20, 2008 01:47am
07sctc South Carolina, US Chief Mechanic	^^^ dual ftl beware of the mad sciontist ! ask me your car audio and electronics questions!!
[#] Jun 20, 2008 02:02am
WhooKid New York, US Oil Changer	well i see getting a head unit is pretty much a definite now, i can throw 200 for a nice headunit to control the subs. but i was thinking i could just get all my bass from there, this way i wont have to upgrade the door speakers and i can just leave them with very little bass so they wont blow. i've checked out some songs with serious bass on these stock speakers, and it sounds scratchy, im guessing because everything is coming out of those speakers. if i seperate the bass it should sound alot better. there is a circuit city near me that has a car audio installation shop,i'm gonna head over there soon and check out some head units, and i'm already pretty sure that i want Kickers to be the subs. but how will i know if the new headunit is going to fit into the dash properly? i guess the guys at CC can help me out with all of that right? EDIT: i was checking out the Sony CDX-GT620IP and the Alpine CDA-9886...they both look good, it says they can both control bass level for the subwoofer output, but will i be able to control the sub level of the door speakers seperately from the sub level of the aftermarket subwoofer?
[#] Jun 20, 2008 04:14pm
07sctc South Carolina, US Chief Mechanic	it seems that you are on the right track. go with the alpine, you will like it a lot. as far as the dashkit, there is a dashkit that the stereo shop will use to fit the headunit in the dash. so dont worry about that. make sure they use one specific to the tc. there a multi-kits out there that just dont kit well. cc and bb use metra kits usually, but i have the scosche kit and i think it looks good. as far as SUB vs. BASS control so you know the difference. BASS contol, like is on your stock headunit is a bass boost and makes the signal going to the speakers (door and subs) more distorted. the signal ends up being "clipped" and turns from a smooth sine wave to more of a square wave. that is where the distortion you hear is coming from. A SUB control basically changes the amplitude of the signal going to the subwoofers only. it doesnt boost the signal like the BASS control does. it adds more or less signal, but doesnt change the signal. so if you had a system made up of door speakers and subwoofers changing the SUB control will not affect the door speakers at all. it is just for the signal going to the subs. the BASS control affects the entire setup. BASS control = same signal to speakers but added distortion SUB control = varying level of signal going to subs it is kinda hard to explain without going into a lecture on A/C waveforms haha. the higher end alpine units have an equilizer in them rather than BASS and TREBLE controls, which is a different story. just get the installer to show you how it all works. good luck on you system! beware of the mad sciontist ! ask me your car audio and electronics questions!!
[#] Jun 20, 2008 10:26pm
acespacer San Antonio Texas, US Tire Changer	i would check new egg and amazon for a New one after selecting the speakers you want, i save about 70 on a front door and rear pair of speaker for my last car i had.
[#] Jun 20, 2008 11:57pm
WhooKid New York, US Oil Changer	thanks for all the help, i'm pretty sure i know what i'm going to do. now i just need to find a good head unit, some Kickers and an amp and i'll be good. but when you say don't buy a dual package, you mean don't buy the two subs in one box package, correct? what is wrong with that, it looks good...if i got 2 subs, wouldn't i be putting them in the same box anyway?
[#] Jun 21, 2008 12:43pm

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