Opinions or Other Options Wanted - '16 Speaker Upgrade
03-09-2017, 10:32 PM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Opinions or Other Options Wanted - '16 Speaker Upgrade
Like to upgrade the speakers in our 2016 XLT SuperCrew. Has the 7 speaker non-sony system with 8" screen without navigation. Have read through numerous threads and not finding much advice on solely upgrading our speakers. Most answers are whatever we use to upgrade sound better than stock.
Looking for clearer, tighter sound off the factory HU. We are not in our 20s anymore so don't need anything that can be felt, or heard, when outside the truck. My past stereos have been setup with Alpine followed by Polk speakers. Options I keep coming back to are the Infinty Reference or Kicker CS series speakers. Planning to start with coax 6x9 upfront and 6 3/4 in the rear and see the difference. Then if we feel it needs further improvement upgrade the center channel and tweeters.
Questions are will I notice a difference in the Infinity speakers over the Kickers on factory HU power to justify the extra cost? Are there other speakers I should be looking at to run off factory HU power?
Appreciate any experience with the speakers above or suggestions of other speakers to look at.
Thanks
Looking for clearer, tighter sound off the factory HU. We are not in our 20s anymore so don't need anything that can be felt, or heard, when outside the truck. My past stereos have been setup with Alpine followed by Polk speakers. Options I keep coming back to are the Infinty Reference or Kicker CS series speakers. Planning to start with coax 6x9 upfront and 6 3/4 in the rear and see the difference. Then if we feel it needs further improvement upgrade the center channel and tweeters.
Questions are will I notice a difference in the Infinity speakers over the Kickers on factory HU power to justify the extra cost? Are there other speakers I should be looking at to run off factory HU power?
Appreciate any experience with the speakers above or suggestions of other speakers to look at.
Thanks
03-13-2017, 06:08 PM
#2
Like to upgrade the speakers in our 2016 XLT SuperCrew. Has the 7 speaker non-sony system with 8" screen without navigation. Have read through numerous threads and not finding much advice on solely upgrading our speakers. Most answers are whatever we use to upgrade sound better than stock.
Looking for clearer, tighter sound off the factory HU. We are not in our 20s anymore so don't need anything that can be felt, or heard, when outside the truck. My past stereos have been setup with Alpine followed by Polk speakers. Options I keep coming back to are the Infinty Reference or Kicker CS series speakers. Planning to start with coax 6x9 upfront and 6 3/4 in the rear and see the difference. Then if we feel it needs further improvement upgrade the center channel and tweeters.
Questions are will I notice a difference in the Infinity speakers over the Kickers on factory HU power to justify the extra cost? Are there other speakers I should be looking at to run off factory HU power?
Appreciate any experience with the speakers above or suggestions of other speakers to look at.
Thanks
Looking for clearer, tighter sound off the factory HU. We are not in our 20s anymore so don't need anything that can be felt, or heard, when outside the truck. My past stereos have been setup with Alpine followed by Polk speakers. Options I keep coming back to are the Infinty Reference or Kicker CS series speakers. Planning to start with coax 6x9 upfront and 6 3/4 in the rear and see the difference. Then if we feel it needs further improvement upgrade the center channel and tweeters.
Questions are will I notice a difference in the Infinity speakers over the Kickers on factory HU power to justify the extra cost? Are there other speakers I should be looking at to run off factory HU power?
Appreciate any experience with the speakers above or suggestions of other speakers to look at.
Thanks
The following users liked this post:
ccmead (03-14-2017)
03-14-2017, 02:07 AM
#3
Mass Effect
I'm not a fan of Infinity or Kicker speakers. Infinity are too bright and Kicker just aren't very good.
I'd look to some of the better name brand speakers like Morel (my personal favorite along with Scanspeak) Focal (although they can be bright but once tweaked are superb). Polk Audio makes some good stuff too as does JBL. I'd recommend getting a component set so you can upgrade the tweeters. It will help and while it would be best to use the crossover that comes with the speakers, you wouldn't have to. I would actually unplug the center channel speaker as it's not necessary and technically do more harm than good. If you just have to have a center channel (it's not really a true center channel anyway) there are several raw home audio drivers you can buy off Madisound or Parts Express that would fill the bill.
The rear speakers you could just go with some upgraded coaxials but get the same brand and series as your front speakers.
The thing with the stock speakers, they make more bass than aftermarket speakers but sound like crap over the rest of the spectrum. Most people associate "good sound" with lots of bass so they make their cheap paper speakers play well from 100 Hz and below and be crappy above that. The aftermarket speakers may not have as good a low end response especially off stock deck power but will give you ten times better midrange and hgh frequency performance. Aftermarket speaker makers figure if you're going to be upgrading your system, you're going to be throwing in a sub too so they can make their speakers sound as good as possible on the mids and highs and not have to compromise anything by beefing up the low end because you'll generally have a sub for that.
I'd look to some of the better name brand speakers like Morel (my personal favorite along with Scanspeak) Focal (although they can be bright but once tweaked are superb). Polk Audio makes some good stuff too as does JBL. I'd recommend getting a component set so you can upgrade the tweeters. It will help and while it would be best to use the crossover that comes with the speakers, you wouldn't have to. I would actually unplug the center channel speaker as it's not necessary and technically do more harm than good. If you just have to have a center channel (it's not really a true center channel anyway) there are several raw home audio drivers you can buy off Madisound or Parts Express that would fill the bill.
The rear speakers you could just go with some upgraded coaxials but get the same brand and series as your front speakers.
The thing with the stock speakers, they make more bass than aftermarket speakers but sound like crap over the rest of the spectrum. Most people associate "good sound" with lots of bass so they make their cheap paper speakers play well from 100 Hz and below and be crappy above that. The aftermarket speakers may not have as good a low end response especially off stock deck power but will give you ten times better midrange and hgh frequency performance. Aftermarket speaker makers figure if you're going to be upgrading your system, you're going to be throwing in a sub too so they can make their speakers sound as good as possible on the mids and highs and not have to compromise anything by beefing up the low end because you'll generally have a sub for that.
The following users liked this post:
ccmead (03-14-2017)
03-15-2017, 04:27 PM
#4
Senior Member
I love my Focal's that I installed. Off the factory HU they sounded better than the stock speakers and would of been acceptable but I already had the plans on building the whole system. Adding in a sub just to pick up the low end is much needed though.
The following 2 users liked this post by 1NiceHarley:
ccmead (03-16-2017),
TooManyVehicles (03-26-2017)
03-16-2017, 10:49 AM
#5
Senior Member
Thread Starter
I'm not a fan of Infinity or Kicker speakers. Infinity are too bright and Kicker just aren't very good.
I'd look to some of the better name brand speakers like Morel (my personal favorite along with Scanspeak) Focal (although they can be bright but once tweaked are superb). Polk Audio makes some good stuff too as does JBL. I'd recommend getting a component set so you can upgrade the tweeters. It will help and while it would be best to use the crossover that comes with the speakers, you wouldn't have to. I would actually unplug the center channel speaker as it's not necessary and technically do more harm than good. If you just have to have a center channel (it's not really a true center channel anyway) there are several raw home audio drivers you can buy off Madisound or Parts Express that would fill the bill.
The rear speakers you could just go with some upgraded coaxials but get the same brand and series as your front speakers.
Thanks for your input. The thing with the stock speakers, they make more bass than aftermarket speakers but sound like crap over the rest of the spectrum. Most people associate "good sound" with lots of bass so they make their cheap paper speakers play well from 100 Hz and below and be crappy above that. The aftermarket speakers may not have as good a low end response especially off stock deck power but will give you ten times better midrange and hgh frequency performance. Aftermarket speaker makers figure if you're going to be upgrading your system, you're going to be throwing in a sub too so they can make their speakers sound as good as possible on the mids and highs and not have to compromise anything by beefing up the low end because you'll generally have a sub for that.
I'd look to some of the better name brand speakers like Morel (my personal favorite along with Scanspeak) Focal (although they can be bright but once tweaked are superb). Polk Audio makes some good stuff too as does JBL. I'd recommend getting a component set so you can upgrade the tweeters. It will help and while it would be best to use the crossover that comes with the speakers, you wouldn't have to. I would actually unplug the center channel speaker as it's not necessary and technically do more harm than good. If you just have to have a center channel (it's not really a true center channel anyway) there are several raw home audio drivers you can buy off Madisound or Parts Express that would fill the bill.
The rear speakers you could just go with some upgraded coaxials but get the same brand and series as your front speakers.
Thanks for your input. The thing with the stock speakers, they make more bass than aftermarket speakers but sound like crap over the rest of the spectrum. Most people associate "good sound" with lots of bass so they make their cheap paper speakers play well from 100 Hz and below and be crappy above that. The aftermarket speakers may not have as good a low end response especially off stock deck power but will give you ten times better midrange and hgh frequency performance. Aftermarket speaker makers figure if you're going to be upgrading your system, you're going to be throwing in a sub too so they can make their speakers sound as good as possible on the mids and highs and not have to compromise anything by beefing up the low end because you'll generally have a sub for that.
Is there a particular spec I should look for to identify efficient speakers which will have sufficient power delivered from the factory H/U?
More than a need for bass on the low end I hate hearing how the mids and highs bleed together. I've never had a vehicle where I've heard the distortion like I do with the factory speakers. If we still want more on the low end I know we'll need to add an amp and sub.
Last edited by ccmead; 03-16-2017 at 10:50 AM. Reason: thanking the member for their reply
03-16-2017, 10:51 AM
#6
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it. Is there a particular spec I should look for to identify efficient speakers which will have sufficient power delivered from the factory H/U?
03-16-2017, 10:52 AM
#7
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Thanks for the input on how your speakers sounded on factory H/U power.
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03-16-2017, 01:19 PM
#8
Like to upgrade the speakers in our 2016 XLT SuperCrew. Has the 7 speaker non-sony system with 8" screen without navigation. Have read through numerous threads and not finding much advice on solely upgrading our speakers. Most answers are whatever we use to upgrade sound better than stock.
Looking for clearer, tighter sound off the factory HU. We are not in our 20s anymore so don't need anything that can be felt, or heard, when outside the truck. My past stereos have been setup with Alpine followed by Polk speakers. Options I keep coming back to are the Infinty Reference or Kicker CS series speakers. Planning to start with coax 6x9 upfront and 6 3/4 in the rear and see the difference. Then if we feel it needs further improvement upgrade the center channel and tweeters.
Questions are will I notice a difference in the Infinity speakers over the Kickers on factory HU power to justify the extra cost? Are there other speakers I should be looking at to run off factory HU power?
Appreciate any experience with the speakers above or suggestions of other speakers to look at.
Thanks
Looking for clearer, tighter sound off the factory HU. We are not in our 20s anymore so don't need anything that can be felt, or heard, when outside the truck. My past stereos have been setup with Alpine followed by Polk speakers. Options I keep coming back to are the Infinty Reference or Kicker CS series speakers. Planning to start with coax 6x9 upfront and 6 3/4 in the rear and see the difference. Then if we feel it needs further improvement upgrade the center channel and tweeters.
Questions are will I notice a difference in the Infinity speakers over the Kickers on factory HU power to justify the extra cost? Are there other speakers I should be looking at to run off factory HU power?
Appreciate any experience with the speakers above or suggestions of other speakers to look at.
Thanks
Sounds to me like you should look into a component set for the front, coaxial`s for the rear and maybe a sub, and one or two multiple channel amps.
You have two problems with the stock system.......poor quality speakers and not enough power.
03-17-2017, 10:34 AM
#10
Senior Member
They sounded fine. Not much low end, as expected. If you not planning on the amp I would leave the factory tweeters in the door pillars alone and just put 2-ways in all 4 doors. Doing that would be a lot less work than dealing with a component set in the front.