one of my rear speakers is rattling. i bought a pair of pioneer 6x8's from wally world for $55. installed one and compared to other side and it didn't sound much different at all.
i have the factory cd player and was wandering if i am going to be able to get any better sound out of any speakers with that head unit.
i am thinking the polks or punch 6x8 would probably sound better, but before
i go that route i want to know if i am just pissing in the wind cause of the factory cd player...

thanks for any help.

 

the the voltage output of the factory head unit is pretty low. the best speakers in the world will sound like sh*t without power. the speakers i have in the rear of my truck i got for $4 each but they sound great because they are hooked up to a fosgate amp. im still running the stock HU but look forward to an aftermarket one when i have some cash to blow

 

Totally agree what luckythirteen13 said, you need a better head unit to push some power to those speakers and get some better sound out of them. When you have the power to feed the speakers thats when you'll notice the difference in quality between the stock and the upgraded speakers. I have a pioneer head unit in my truck with Polk audio speakers (the 651s) and they sound amazing compared to the stock speakers, or any 10 dollars speakers you would get at wallyworld. I would highly recommend to upgrade your stock head unit.

 

can you add an amp to the head unit to make up the power difference
or is it totally useless?
i kinda like the stock look and fit.

 

You would get plenty of power for 4 speakers just from a head unit plus if you get a nice head unit like pioneer you get Equalizers that enhance the speaker's sound. I would only get an Amp if i wanted to power some big subs or an extra set of speakers. But in theory, yes adding an amp to your speakers will increase voltage but its an expensive hassle and for the same price you can get a head unit.

 

Same here, I like the OEM head unit. Audio Control makes a sound processor (EQS) that takes input and "cleans and enhances" the signal before it is sent to the amps. There is quite a bit of fine-tuning abilities of this unit so you might consider it.

 

not useless but if you dont plan on ever getting an aftermarket head unit then it maybe.

 

not necessarily expensive. the amp i bought came with hi and low inputs.. so it easily would have went to my head unit. This means that i could have used rca (which i did) or i could have used the speaker wires coming from head unit to go to amp then to speakers. If cash is an issue (which it is for me) then look at some amps and make sure they are capable. I went with a middle of the road amp Profile ap1040 and it isnt a competition amp but it makes my infinity kappa's sound very nice.

 

I have seen people do some pretty nice things w/ the factory h/u! I would most certainly look into an 4-channel amp for your setup! I think an amp is the biggest part of the puzzle. A high quality amp will make crap speakers sound amazing! I had a pioneer h/u w/ some momo's in another car and it wasn't cutting it. I just have a jl 450/4 amp in my truck on stock everything else and im very happy with it. And I think it sounds much better then the h/u powered momo's. So I would most certain get a good amp! Just my $0.02!

 

I have the AVIC D3 with an Eclipse XA5100 pushing 4 Polk DB5251's with the tweeters mounted behind the grill in the front and in the door panels in the back. I'm very happy with the sound. If you have the money I would suggest investing in a decent amp to push them, and just throw it behind the rear seat.