# door speakers upgrade



## getblended (Jun 15, 2011)

DUH! They are built into the panel. Just leave as is. Unless you are going to stare at your grill while you listen to music, who cares


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## cruzeman (Mar 13, 2011)

truthfully its not really worth upgrading just the speakers, the system will sound even worse. hopefully you are adding a amp.


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## Jaycruze (Jul 11, 2011)

getblended said:


> DUH! They are built into the panel. Just leave as is. Unless you are going to stare at your grill while you listen to music, who cares


 
Well I will be replacing all of them eventually so I will be staring at them sort of lol.


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## Jaycruze (Jul 11, 2011)

cruzeman said:


> truthfully its not really worth upgrading just the speakers, the system will sound even worse. hopefully you are adding a amp.


 

This is the stock system, Those rear door speakers are so quiet anything will sound better!...but yes I am upgrading everything with amps and all. I'm just doing it one piece at a time. I got a deal one the sony's so I figured I'd just throw those in the doors in the mean time.


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## cruzeman (Mar 13, 2011)

I changed my rear speakers and they are still quiet plus they lost all bass.


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## yourdoinitwrong (Aug 7, 2011)

I was going to do just a speaker swap too and a reputable local shop told me that it would end up sounding worse. They said if you are keeping the factory head unit the best way is to get something like a JBL Clean Sweep to level everything out and add an amp. That completely blew my budget and nixed my project but at least they were honest with me.


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## gfxdave99 (Feb 26, 2011)

I would concur, factory speakers are tuned to the headunit and visa/verse, if you put in a retail speaker that is expecting a flat response curve and it gets the tweaked response curve out of the head unit its gonna sound like arse. 

Keep your speakers and build up your stuff until you can do a real install where you can use a quality LOC and amp everything.


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## chuck5330 (Oct 1, 2011)

Im sorry but I have to disagree here. Unless the cruze is different than any other car, I have a differing view point. I currently own a 2012 cruze, as well as a 2008 cobalt. In my cobalt I have the factory stereo, but upgraded all the speakers with polk speakers. It made a HUGE difference in sound quality! Not only did the quality increase 10 fold but made the whole system sound like a very nice aftermarket set up. So what your telling me is that putting in some mid-high quality speakers will make the system sound worse? call me a skeptic, but ill see if I agree once I change out the factory speakers. If im wrong, i'll be the first to admit it.


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## Kaimumma (Apr 14, 2011)

Dave has a point but I think what hes really trying to get across here is upgrading the entire system with the proper amplification, head unit, and speaker combo is ideally your best option, as it is with any sound system being built for a vehicle. 

I'm more than sure changing out simple upgraded speakers to the factory head unit in the Cruze won't make the sound "worse," but for the least don't expect much. It's hard to imagine a factory head unit that puts out roughly 22 watts RMS per channel to 6 speakers, and most aftermarket speakers compared to size for the Cruze would be well over 22 watts RMS, causing underdriven sound.


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## dmartinct (Sep 30, 2011)

After spending too much time reading the forum it seems most people are happy after switching speakers on the stock radio. Only one person reported "no bass" in the rear door after the switch. 

How much of a difference is switching the tweeters in the pillars? I'm guessing these small units contribute a bunch to overall sound quality. 

Don't companies create speakers that are designed for stock radios with low wattage?

Thanks,

Dave


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## cruzeman (Mar 13, 2011)

i switched my stock speakers out with low power pioneers that i bought from crutchfield and it sounded terrible. i ended up putting the front stock speakers back in but was to lazy to put the rears back in. I also have a bazooka sub in trunk to help with bass.


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## dmartinct (Sep 30, 2011)

Cruzeman, can you tell me which model of pioneers were bad? I'd like to avoid them. 

Maybe the component systems work better? They have a tweeter, woofer and crossover. I guess the crossover would fix in the door somewhere? The tweeters seem to vary in size, so I would think it would be important to find tweeters the fit in the existing grills?

Thanks,

Dave


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## CHUV (Jun 25, 2011)

gfxdave99 said:


> Keep your speakers and build up your stuff until you can do a real install where you can use a quality LOC and amp everything.


What about with the premium sound system that has a 250W amp? would upgrading the speakers be a good option without changing the head or replacing the amp? (i'm more interested in just the rear deck speakers being replaced...)


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## Bgerk68 (Aug 14, 2011)

Biggest thing with any factory system/speakers is to match the ohms of the factory speakers......most of them now a days are 2 ohm speakers...if you put in a 4 ohm after market speaker, regardless of the brand and cost...theres a good chance it will sound worse or the same at best. 2 ohm head unit...2 ohm speakers the resistence gets cut in half to 1....2 ohm head unit and 4 ohm speakers and it adds to 6. You have to match any system up for it to get the best sound. I added some Infinities to my previous Cobalt and while it didnt get any lounder the quality of the sound improved....depends what your looking to accomplish.


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## Mtopper (Mar 15, 2011)

Bgerk68 said:


> Biggest thing with any factory system/speakers is to match the ohms of the factory speakers......most of them now a days are 2 ohm speakers...if you put in a 4 ohm after market speaker, regardless of the brand and cost...theres a good chance it will sound worse or the same at best. 2 ohm head unit...2 ohm speakers the resistence gets cut in half to 1....2 ohm head unit and 4 ohm speakers and it adds to 6. You have to match any system up for it to get the best sound. I added some Infinities to my previous Cobalt and while it didnt get any lounder the quality of the sound improved....depends what your looking to accomplish.




please explain what you mean by this. the speaker being a 2 ohm load and headunit being 2 ohm does not change the load. if you wire 2, 2 ohm speakers in parallel you will change the load or if you series them you change it. but, if you're headunit is designed to power a 2 ohm load and you put a 4 ohm load to it, you will not get the same power as the 2 ohm load does. 


if an amp were designed to power speakers at a 2 ohm load and you put a 4 ohm load on it, you would not be creating a 6 ohm load, you would be powering a 4 ohm load with a 2 ohm capable amp. in doing so, you will about halve your power but gain an easier load on your electrical.


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## Bgerk68 (Aug 14, 2011)

From everything I have been told over the years and what I"m thinking I remember from college (computer science 89') what I said is true...

Matching the ohm/resistence of the head unit and speakers cuts it in half IF the ohms/resistence is equal...thats the whole purpose of "tuning" or "matching" a system....excluding frequency matching. ALL factory head units/speakers are matched...you will never see a 2 ohm head unit with a 4 ohm speaker from the factory and theres a reason for it. Same goes for any competition system or professionally done system...they always match the resistence.

If its equal it gets cut in half, if it doesnt match you total the ohms which will result in a reduction or loss of power. 

I could be wrong, but the factory generally does their homework, if it doesnt matter or there was a better way they wouldnt match them from the get go.





Mtopper said:


> please explain what you mean by this. the speaker being a 2 ohm load and headunit being 2 ohm does not change the load. if you wire 2, 2 ohm speakers in parallel you will change the load or if you series them you change it. but, if you're headunit is designed to power a 2 ohm load and you put a 4 ohm load to it, you will not get the same power as the 2 ohm load does.
> 
> 
> if an amp were designed to power speakers at a 2 ohm load and you put a 4 ohm load on it, you would not be creating a 6 ohm load, you would be powering a 4 ohm load with a 2 ohm capable amp. in doing so, you will about halve your power but gain an easier load on your electrical.


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## Jaycruze (Jul 11, 2011)

I think Bgerk's point was most people are complaining that it sounds like crap when they replace the speakers is because they are putting 4ohm speakers with the factory 2ohm unit.


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## Chevyderek72 (May 16, 2011)

A lower ohm will put out more power, too low and you will let the smoke out, too high and you are running less power and possibly making it sound worse.


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## Mtopper (Mar 15, 2011)

Jaycruze said:


> I think Bgerk's point was most people are complaining that it sounds like crap when they replace the speakers is because they are putting 4ohm speakers with the factory 2ohm unit.




thats what i got from it but with his explanation, someone who doesn't understand anything with ohms laws and audio could take that the wrong way and screw up something bad then turn and say "well, i saw it here and he said this, so its his fault". so i just wanted to put the truth out there and get a clearer explanation for people


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