Upgrading Tweeters, Headunit, then Speakers

[babyburner]

I just wanted to give my experience.

Started out with a JL 8" W3 in the back with a RCA converter. Nice amount of fill bass but nothing to write home about.

I had installed 3.5" polk db's with my stock headunit and it significantly make the soundstage better... up higher and the tweets were nice and sharp as well.

Added an alpine headunit and man, it made the speakers SING! The tweeters sound soooo good. Surprisingly enough the JL wasn't as strong.

Then... going down that slippery slope I added JBL GTOs to all 4 doors. Surprisingly enough, the amount of money spent... it didn't make it sound all that more impressive. If I had to describe it any, I would say it smoothed out the sound in the midrange. Tweeters don't feel as sharp and mid bass is more apparent.

This also was done with sound deadening through the boards, doors, roof, and cargo. Doubt that would make much of a difference to all but just as a FYI.

Summary - sub, tweeters, and deck is just about all you need to get good SQ out of our vehicles however all the other stuff I did would help if you listen to music at a high level. I would describe my listening style to moderate levels, vocals, electronic music, hip hop, and dance.

 

[ddnww]

Summary - sub, tweeters, and deck is just about all you need to get good SQ out of our vehicles however all the other stuff I did would help if you listen to music at a high level. I would describe my listening style to moderate levels, vocals, electronic music, hip hop, and dance.

I would have to disagree a bit, imo my mids made a huge difference , just as everything else did. Much louder, fuller, clearer, more precise representation of the music. You can tell on the simple stuff that most don't really notice, like the pluck on a guitar, or the fret noise. Normal mid range sounds like horns, synths etc sound so much better. Albums like pink Floyd the wall just come to life and sound so amazing.

I did go with an old school set of components that are well known for sound quality but a decent price. I've always been a diamond audio fan. So I installed the d6 components with silk tweeters.

 

[riceandpho]

i would do head unit and speakers at the same time, seems like u spent more money integrating to stock unit then to just start fresh.

 

[sr3tlaw]

Did I miss reading about an amplifier to power all this?

 

[riceandpho]

Did I miss reading about an amplifier to power all this?

i think he has an amp for the sub only and it was integrated with factory unit first, then i dont see/read if he took that rca converter out and use rca directly to alpine unit to amp.

 

[az4runner02]

I am curious on how much it all cost. Can you upgrade speakers and add a sub and amp and leave the stock 6 disc changer or would that be a waste? I think the stock sound system sounds alot better then alot of other vehicles out there, but only when using some CD's that I burned a bunch of MP3's to. The radio is mediocre and there isn't much worth listening to here is Phoenix anyways. I have the Sport edition with no woofer but it could sound alot worse. I would love to just add the amp and sub and upgrade the speakers but keep the stock look.

 

[jfry008]

I just wanted to give my experience.

Summary - sub, tweeters, and deck is just about all you need to get good SQ out of our vehicles however all the other stuff I did would help if you listen to music at a high level. I would describe my listening style to moderate levels, vocals, electronic music, hip hop, and dance.

What kind of amplifiers for highs/mids & sub?
I only did a JL 10W3/V3 on a 500/1 w/high level input from rear driver side speaker, sealed box, & bass knob. I'm pretty happy with bass.
Wondering if I would get much added SQ with a highs/mids upgrade.

 

[babyburner]

My jl is a powered box by JL. Amp built in.

I personally would recommend a new head unit and the tweeter. The full range tweeter really brought out the mid and high notes. To the early poster, it was probably a similar experience since the woofer and tweeter on your components were separate but the Polk db has a mid 3.5 and tweeter in one.

 

[babyburner]

The order I would do it in.

Jl 8w3 amped sub - 400 bucks
Tweeter to full range 3.5 polk db 40 bucks
Head unit - alpine 135bt 130 including install kit and bezel
Jbl gto speakers - 55 a pair

Sound deadening - mass vinyl , rammat and fabric barrier 150.

Didn't completely break the bank but spent a fair amount. Car is quiet and music is amazing.

I think this is as cheap as it can get to achieve the sq outside of buying everything used.

 

[gshadow325]

maybe i missed it but is this a non JBL system?

you probably didnt notice much difference in the fronts because you didnt remove the passive crossovers that are mounted to the back side of the 6x9 speaker surround inside the door.

i have done plenty of runners, 6x9 in the front doors, 6.5 in the rear doors, 5 channel amp 8" woofer in the stock oem location and its done. more bass would require a box.

 

[babyburner]

Non-jbl

Don't get me wrong, the 6x9 replacement sounds better. Just saying the tweeter full range made the most difference minus the addition of the sub.

 

[Bluesky 07]

Any comments on the stock speakers? With the caveat that I've haven't looked to verify my '07 Sport still has the stock speakers, everything in the truck was bone stock when I bought it so there's no reason to believe otherwise.

My point being that most OEM speakers could stand to be replaced the minute you leave the dealer lot. These sounded damn good for OEM speakers with the stock HU and even better with the new Kenwood I recently installed.

 

[jfry008]

I like the mid bass of the stocks...must be the 6x9s.
The highs could be a little brighter imo

 

[ddnww]

What kind of amplifiers for highs/mids & sub?
I only did a JL 10W3/V3 on a 500/1 w/high level input from rear driver side speaker, sealed box, & bass knob. I'm pretty happy with bass.
Wondering if I would get much added SQ with a highs/mids upgrade.

If you were near me , I would invite you over to hear my system, its a night and day difference between the old stock mids and tweets and the new component sets and amp. definitely worth the upgrade