Audio upgrade questions from an '18 OWNER - UPDATED Feb 22, 2018

UPDATED FEB 2018: I now have an 18GT with the Shaker Pro, so removed any subwoofer references from below and updated what I'm looking to achieve. New info is in red.

I currently own a 2006 which came with the Shaker 500 stereo system. I found the bass muddy and the overall sound quality lacking. So I upgraded the head until to a JVC KW-XR810, and replaced the 6X8 speakers and 8" door subs with Shelby/Kicker speakers. Kept the factory amp. Total cost was about $600 if I recall. I installed everything myself so no labor cost. I think I had to solder something, but other than that it was plug and play.

That upgrade was all I needed - I'm not looking to wake the neighbors, but I want tight bass, punch from the drums, clear mids, crisp highs, and minimal distortion at high volume. I listen to mostly rock. I will say that the max volume on the Shaker Pro is acceptable to me, so maybe don't need an amp, just better sound quality.

One thing I find a necessity is a good equalizer - 3 bands aint gonna cut it for me. I am constantly adjusting the JVC EQ with each song. And the high and low pass filter settings of the JVC really help distribute the bass the way I want.

So I'm wondering a few things about the S550 stereo:

- Since the stock system has some built in sound processing specific to the stock speakers, is it possible to upgrade the a-pliiar tweeters and/or the door mids without having problems related to the factory sound processing? Has anyone replaced the tweeters or mids only and had good results?

- If I decide to replace the amp, are there other things needed (line level converters, etc)?

- How can I get better EQ options if I don't replace the head unit?

I have a basic knowledge of car audio, but I'm not knowledgeable enough about ohms, impedance, preamp outputs, etc to just dive in and DIY. I guess I basically want to know what to expect as far as difficulty, cost, and overall improvement expected when upgrading the S550 audio.

Any help is appreciated - let me know if more info will help.

TIA

Want to know this as well...

I've quoted you and will try to answer some of your questions below...

Rash said:

So I'm wondering a few things about the S550 stereo:

- Is it possible to upgrade the 9 speaker or 12 speaker systems for a reasonable price (less than $1000) and significantly improve the sound quality? Probably... It's been documented by many folks that the bass in the S550 is lacking, and many just add a self-powered sub and are happy with the results. If you want to replace the stock front stage, you should buy another multi-channel amp as the stock amp doesn't do well driving aftermarket speakers.

- Since there are car functions integrated with the head unit, is it best to keep it and just replace everything else? Others have used a TomTop, but I'm not familiar with it, so all I'll say is 'yes'.

- Are there other things needed (line level converters, etc) when adding or replacing the amp? It depends, some amps have a built in LOC and some don't. If you pick off the signal at the right location, you can get a good low-level (think RCA) signal to feed an amp or processor.

- How can I get better EQ options if I don't replace the head unit? By adding one of the many processors/eq devices available.

I have a basic knowledge of car audio, but I'm not knowledgeable enough about ohms, impedance, preamp outputs, etc to just dive in and DIY. I guess I basically want to know what to expect as far as difficulty, cost, and overall improvement expected when upgrading the S550 audio. If you go beyond the powered sub, the level of difficulty goes up... can't be helped.

Any help is appreciated - let me know if more info will help.

TIA

Click to expand...

Regarding the EQ/processors - where would it be mounted? Can you link to an example of one?

Rash said:

Regarding the EQ/processors - where would it be mounted? Can you link to an example of one?

Click to expand...

They would typically be trunk mounted. The link below is to Crutchfields list of eq/processors to add amps to a factory stereo, which is essentially what most of us are attempting to do. I'm not recommending Crutchfield, but they tend to have things listed nicely with a good amount of detail.

Start at the AudioControl LCQ-1 and work your way down from there.
http://www.crutchfield.com/g_318850/Sound-Processors-for-Factory-Radios.html?tp=70736

mumbles said:

They would typically be trunk mounted. The link below is to Crutchfields list of eq/processors to add amps to a factory stereo, which is essentially what most of us are attempting to do. I'm not recommending Crutchfield, but they tend to have things listed nicely with a good amount of detail.

Start at the AudioControl LCQ-1 and work your way down from there.
http://www.crutchfield.com/g_318850/Sound-Processors-for-Factory-Radios.html?tp=70736

Click to expand...

So there is no way to have an EQ that can be adjusted within the car while driving?

Rash said:

So there is no way to have an EQ that can be adjusted within the car while driving?

Click to expand...

There absolutely is. You could mount a traditional DIN style eq somewhere up front, but you would likely have to also have a separate LOC to feed it. In the items I linked, there are also models with a separate display module, but they start approaching $1k in price and not everyone is ready to drop that kind of cash on car audio... If you are, then you would be what I classify as an enthusiast and should be checking out DIYMA.com for all things car stereo.

I updated the original post since I now have an '18 GT.

Now mainly looking to improve mids and highs. Has anyone replaced he tweeters and mids with good results? I've read some things about harshness due to the factory head unit sound processing when upgrading speakers only. Anyone experience that?

Rash said:

I updated the original post since I now have an '18 GT.

Now mainly looking to improve mids and highs. Has anyone replaced he tweeters and mids with good results? I've read some things about harshness due to the factory head unit sound processing when upgrading speakers only. Anyone experience that?

Click to expand...

I have not heard of any harshness due to just replacing the factory speakers. Perhaps if a raw tweeter was installed without placing a high-pass capacitor inline, it would sound bad since the tweeter would then be playing midrange frequencies, but I'm speculating.

I noticed you are in Cary which looks to be a little over an hour from Greensboro... check out the link below to a get-together coming up in April.

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...q-meet-6-8-april-2018-near-greensboro-nc.html

There are people coming from as far away as Oklahoma & Massachusetts for this event. It's not a competition, just a bunch of great folks with all levels of stereo systems sharing knowledge, etc... lots of fun!!! In fact, I made the 6 hour drive from Atlanta to the last one and didn't even have a working system... still had a blast!

I would recommend looking into Infinity Kappa components for front and coaxials for the rear. They have high sensitivity and less resistance(2 ohms) than the factory(My speakers were 4 ohms on my V6 (don't know about the GT though). Just make sure you seal up your speakers to the door panels with foam rings as well, so that you wouldn't lose your midbass. (this is the easiest path)

I have a 7 band EQ with two amps and couple of 8" subs and components. I can tell you it's a deep rabbit hole to go through if you choose to go this way. There are problems of signal summing and compensating for processed signals and time alignments that would be very costly and time consuming to rectify. I am happy with what I have now but I have spent around 50 hours of installation and lots of pain.