rserkey

Hi all. So I replaced the head unit and all 4 speakers in my 2010 screw yesterday.
Outfitted a Kenwood KDC-BT855U CD Receiver, with Pioneer TS-A6885R 6" X 8" 4-Way Speakers for the front, and Pioneer TS-A874M 6" x 8" 3-way Speakers for the back. Spent all day doing it (man, getting those door panels off was annoying!) and was looking forward to hearing it last night. I wasn't expecting seat rattling bass or eardrum blasting loudness.... But I was very disappointed. It doesn't seem much louder than my stock stereo was, and the sound isn't as clear or crisp as I believe a $400 upgrade should be. The long and short of it is I was sorely disappointed. I'm wondering if anyone else has had similar issues? I've scanned the forum, and haven't seen any titles that may prove helpful... Any help/thoughts/comments would be graciously welcomed!

Rebecca

AustinFern

What a basic upgrade generally nets you is a bump in quality, not so much on the quantity. I've been out of the car stereo game for a while, but even back then $400 want going to get you much more than a name brand.

You're usually better off buying a small amp and new speakers and keeping the factory head.

king nothing

You would have been better off buying a small 4 channel amp and some nice components for the front doors and cheaper coaxials for the rears and keeping the stock stereo in the dash. The kenwood is putting out about 15 watts per channel (dont let the advertised 50x4 fool you) so its not going to be any louder than stock. You should have a little more clarity, but you didnt do yourself any favors with the pioneer coaxials

yanki01

sell the HU and buy an amp. before, the stock HU's were garbage because no RCA output for amps or more wires would need to be run for it. now most stock HU's put out the same power as an aftermarket and of course won't look as clean as the new stock stereos do now. changing the speakers them selves is a big improvement, adding an amp to those speakers will change the sound enormously.

Wyo11Scab

iTrader: (1)

Pioneer makes good HU's but their speakers are low grade. Do what he said or add a sub and sub amp.

rserkey

Wish I would have known that. However, the head unit gives me a whole bunch of features I didn't have with my stock stereo, so I'm not keen to get rid of it. Please forgive my lack of knowledge on the matter, but what would you suggest for an amp? I don't mind taking the speakers out of the doors and shipping them back to crutch field, to obtain (as you call them) "nice components for the front doors and cheaper coaxials for the rears". I've no idea what to look for, would (again) appreciate any and all assistance. =)

king nothing

Would crutchfield take your speakers back? Are you set on buying from crutchfield? Since you already have the coaxials, you might try just adding an amp to them and see how they sound with more power. This MTX would do you pretty good, and its on sale for 100 bucks
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_236TD75....html?tp=35782
As far as components, pick whatever meets your budget here.
http://www.woofersetc.com/c-42-5x7-6x8.aspx?pagenum=1
I like the diamond 672s set. I have the same set in 6.5 and love them

Schambo

You definitely need more power and a sub. Crutchfield has a great return policy. 60 days, no restocking fee. I just recently returned some Infiniti coaxial speakers in exchange for components. They even paid for the shipping back to them. As for component speakers, they are a custom install that requires cutting and mounting small tweeters. You might want to just get some coaxial's like polk or Infiniti. Look for the ones that run on low wattage. The Infiniti reference 8602 sound real good with low power. Which means the would be perfect if you don't want to add a 4 channel amp. For the sub, get a powered one that fits under the rear seat. That alone will make a huge impact.