300A Door Speaker Upgrade

[Mark23GT]

maybe even CHEAPER ones.

hope they don't get even cheaper speakers in the new cars, that would be bad lol

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[Mark23GT]

Yep as Brian said, it’s dang near guaranteed they’re using the same (or same quality) speaker in S650.

I guess it all depends on how you want to spend your hard earned money. If you plan on trading the car in in a couple years, I wouldn’t go crazy on audio, you’ll never get it back at trade in time. If you plan to keep it a while, the world is your oyster when it comes to audio stuff. There’s a lot of good options out there

yeah I had not researched car audio in many years, so all the stuff the car shop was saying had me bit confused on all the options. how bout you try changing your speakers out first and let us know how you like it lol . i keep adjusting my bass, treble, mid about every day driving to work seeing if can improve the stock sound haha. need to avoid going down that audio rabbit hole lol

 

[MAGS1]

maybe even CHEAPER ones.

I won’t ever put anything past the bean counters over there that’s for sure

 

[shogun32]

i keep adjusting my bass, treble, mid about every day driving to work seeing if can improve the stock sound haha.

just turn all the knobs to 11. If it works for SpinalTap...

you need to find a representative collection of pieces that you listen to. Then while sitting stopped, play one song partway and then twiddle things LARGE (at least 3 clicks from current) and see if it's better or worse. Just like you do in an optomitrists chair.

The 300A it takes 2 clicks IMO to make any useful change. And the volume needs to be at least 12-15 bars to start getting a representative response. I don't listen that high (normally around 8) but at low volumes the response isn't as discernable.

For example I play Jackson's Billy Jean. I cranked the bass the whole way. Then tried backing it off 2 clicks at a time. You'll never get a good, solid bass line out of the 300A but +4/5 worked for me that it wasn't totally out of kilter.

Then played eg. Rock of Ages by Def Lepard.
Then 2 Cellos pieces. A couple pieces from Ghost, or PowerWolf. Some Brahms. Some Tchaikofski 1812 or Wagner Flight of the Valkaries,

Write stuff down as you play with settings

Now, was that helpful enough?

 

[shogun32]

ok, sue me. I'm tempted to try this.
https://www.amazon.com/Rockville-SS10P-Under-Seat-Powered-Subwoofer/dp/B0BTZ35DKY?th=1

if cost is no object, this might be the simplest plug-play option.
https://www.amazon.com/Focal-ISFORD165-6-5-Component-Kit/dp/B08FJK31LY
this is way cheaper but no opinion on quality
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_151OE65CFD/PowerBass-OE65C-FD.html?tp=99519

half price sale till 3/31
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_091RSE165/Focal-RSE-165.html?tp=99538

 

[Evolvd]

ok, sue me. I'm tempted to try this.
https://www.amazon.com/Rockville-SS10P-Under-Seat-Powered-Subwoofer/dp/B0BTZ35DKY?th=1

if cost is no object, this might be the simplest plug-play option.
https://www.amazon.com/Focal-ISFORD165-6-5-Component-Kit/dp/B08FJK31LY
this is way cheaper but no opinion on quality
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_151OE65CFD/PowerBass-OE65C-FD.html?tp=99519

If cost is no object? LOL just one of my 3.5” mids cost more than that component set

 

[shogun32]

If cost is no object? LOL just one of my 3.5” mids cost more than that component set

for people who have a 300A car.

 

[stogie5150]

I did Hertz in my 2018 300a and they sound WORSE than my stock speakers. first time in 40 years of DIY car audio that's ever happened. And the Mustang is the very worst car I have ever done, install wise, you have to blow everything apart to get to anything...I was floored you have to take the rear seat OUT to get to the rear deck speakers. I am getting too old for this BS. That was almost two years ago and I am so disgusted with it I don't even want to put in the effort to figure out why.

At this point I would rather just tear out the stock headunit and replace it but then you run into buying 12,387 dollars worth of interface boxes and trim pieces and HVAC controls to make it all work with the car <sigh>. I can wire speakers and build sub boxes and have all my adult life but the complexity of modern cars just sucks the joy out of DIY audio.

I have Focal in my 2013 F150 with an amp and sub and they sound superb, but they F150 is MUCH easier to work with.

I stream all my music from my own PLEX server with the paid Plexamp app through my iphone using FLAC lossless files. I got tired of chasing terrible streaming quality and decided to do it myself.

 

[Evolvd]

I did Hertz in my 2018 300a and they sound WORSE than my stock speakers. first time in 40 years of DIY car audio that's ever happened. And the Mustang is the very worst car I have ever done, install wise, you have to blow everything apart to get to anything...I was floored you have to take the rear seat OUT to get to the rear deck speakers. I am getting too old for this BS. That was almost two years ago and I am so disgusted with it I don't even want to put in the effort to figure out why.

At this point I would rather just tear out the stock headunit and replace it but then you run into buying 12,387 dollars worth of interface boxes and trim pieces and HVAC controls to make it all work with the car <sigh>. I can wire speakers and build sub boxes and have all my adult life but the complexity of modern cars just sucks the joy out of DIY audio.

I have Focal in my 2013 F150 with an amp and sub and they sound superb, but they F150 is MUCH easier to work with.

I stream all my music from my own PLEX server with the paid Plexamp app through my iphone using FLAC lossless files. I got tired of chasing terrible streaming quality and decided to do it myself.

The stock amp is garbage when you try to drive anything aftermarket. Your hertz speakers would sound much better on an aftermarket amp.

 

[stogie5150]

The stock amp is garbage when you try to drive anything aftermarket. Your hertz speakers would sound much better on an aftermarket amp.

Oh, absolutely. No question.

 

[Mark23GT]

The stock amp is garbage when you try to drive anything aftermarket. Your hertz speakers would sound much better on an aftermarket amp.

Yeah I watched a couple youtube videos by a car stereo shop guy and he said just installing aftermarket speakers may make it sound worse because the stock amp does not have the power to drive the better speakers. so yeah he said need an amp also. think i am going to leave mine stock for now, got it sounding decent after adjusting settings and the EQ

 

[shogun32]

he said just installing aftermarket speakers may make it sound worse because the stock amp does not have the power to drive the better speakers

Is this because new speakers are 4ohm and stock is 2?

 

[Evolvd]

Is this because new speakers are 4ohm and stock is 2?

Stock speakers are all 4 ohm (I verified with an ohm meter).

Aftermarket speakers generally have greater power handling and have an optimum range. It’s likely the RMS range of the OEM amp is not enough to efficiently drive aftermarket speakers.

It would be like wiring a 1000 watt RMS subwoofer to a 250 watt amp. Sure, it’ll play, but it won’t play loud.

 

[joeyvaz]

I use all Hertz in my car (tweeters, 3.5", and 6.5") Currently running off of the the Dynavin D8. Sounds MUCH better than stock, but I did install 300hz bass blockers to the 3.5" mids. Cleaned up the sound a bit. For subs, I'm running dual 12" Image Dynamics IDQ v4 off of a Soundigital 1200.1 amp. The interior speakers are holding their own off of the radio's power, but I will be adding a 6 channel amp to go fully active on the interior speakers. This will not only clean up the sound more, but also allow it to play louder. Going with an Audio Control D-6.1200 for the interior speakers. I don't run rear speakers since the subs will drown those out anyway. I only listen to music with front speakers, just like I would at a live concert.

For streaming, I use Amazon Music and Qobuz. Both have very good Hi Res streaming.

 

[Evolvd]

I use all Hertz in my car (tweeters, 3.5", and 6.5") Currently running off of the the Dynavin D8. Sounds MUCH better than stock, but I did install 300hz bass blockers to the 3.5" mids. Cleaned up the sound a bit. For subs, I'm running dual 12" Image Dynamics IDQ v4 off of a Soundigital 1200.1 amp. The interior speakers are holding their own off of the radio's power, but I will be adding a 6 channel amp to go fully active on the interior speakers. This will not only clean up the sound more, but also allow it to play louder. Going with an Audio Control D-6.1200 for the interior speakers. I don't run rear speakers since the subs will drown those out anyway. I only listen to music with front speakers, just like I would at a live concert.

For streaming, I use Amazon Music and Qobuz. Both have very good Hi Res streaming.

I always find it odd when people say that not considering concerts have reverb and echo from walls and structure behind the crowds. Rear speakers can be tuned to mimic this effect. You’ll never be at a concert where you ONLY hear sound in front of you. It’s physically impossible.

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