Your favorite song sounds different?
December 10, 2007
Most of the factory fitted cars will have low-end speakers. Remember, that your car’s speakers are not a high-priority for the car manufacturer. Generally, they are made of simple paper cones that make them sound just acceptable. Generally, you will notice them making noise at peaks and distortion at higher volumes. Even the separate speakers for low and high frequencies (woofers and tweeters) that you’ll find in many so-called "premium" factory sound systems are typically of low quality. Factory speakers will often sound dull, and low frequency notes turn to mush and the highs are buried. In short, your music doesn’t have the impact and detail.
Usually, with the aftermarket speakers, you will have following advantages:
- Clear, brighter and detail sound quality (from tweeters made of superior material)
- Better punch (from woofers made of superior materials)
- And long life (Superior permanent magnets and voice coils)
- Your trusted brand (expect good post sales service, warranty etc.)
Wide range of speakers is available from many sound leaders and you will find wide range of prices. Remember, in sound industry higher price doesn’t always imply better sound quality. It’s important to buy the right speaker, as per your plan. If you plan on powering the speakers directly from head unit, you’ll want to choose speakers with a high efficiency rating (also known as "sensitivity" or "SPL" rating) because they are not power hungry and at the same time, they are not heavy duty. Speakers can sound just as distorted if they’re underpowered as they can when overpowered. If you’re using an amplifier, choose high-quality speakers that are heavy duty (i.e. designed to handle high power).
If you’re installing separate component speakers (woofer and tweeter sets), you’ll get top performance if you power them with a separate amplifier.
If you are not familiar with the speaker ratings, the specifications can be quite confusing and sometimes misleading. Our speaker’s glossary might be of help in understanding the specifications.
Replacing your factory fitted speakers
Not all the cars have same locations for speakers and not all size speakers can be readily fitted in a car. Car manufacturers have chosen different speaker sizes. In most cases, the car’s user manual doesn’t mention the speaker sizes. Usually, 6"x9" speakers (shown in the picture) are fitted in the rear tray, if there is no privision to install speakers in the rear door. Knowing the speaker size can sometimes involve actually unscrewing a portion of door and measure it manually. Websites! Well, internet is the best resource, where you can generally find out the exact speaker sizes that can be fitted in your car.
AcousticsForYou have collected the size & location of speaker placements, for most of the cars. Your job is made simple! Just search through our forum or post a query, we’ll try our best to tell you what fits your car.
After knowing the size, replacing the speakers is a simple job of unscrewing the existing ones and fitting the new speakers.
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