Need advice/help with speaker upgrade!
06-13-01, 12:05 PM
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I have a GS 430 with the standard Pioneer system. I read the ClubLexus Q&A and they suggested upgrading all the speakers.
Is the speaker upgrade as simple as removing the screens and swapping out the old for new? The Q&A suggested Dynaudio, are there any other brands/models people would recommend that would significantly improve the sound? I do not want to add any enclosures but just use the existing speaker locations.
Assuming the speaker location and sizes have not changed for the GS for 2001 please confirm these speaker sizes: 2- 1" tweeter, 4-4" round midrange, 1-10" subwoofer. Also, does anyone aware of any constraints, such as depth for the various speaker locations and are they true sizes, so I would be looking for 1",4" and 10" round replacements? Did you get a separate amp for the sub and how many watts? Best places to buy speakers online?
Any suggestions and information would be appreciated.
Thanks,
06-14-01, 03:10 PM
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Many of your questions have been answered in other threads, but I'll take a stab at summing it up.
1) It's not as simple as removing the screens and swapping out speakers. The door panels must be removed and the rear deck must be removed to reach the subwoofer, which is complicated. For sub replacement, see this thread: https://www.clublexus.com/vb/showthr...threadid=13833
2) As far as speaker brands, opinions will differ widely. Dynaudio is about as good as it gets (also$$$). Others close behind include Focal, Diamond Audio HEX series, and ADS. It is highly recommended that you add an amplifier to get the best performance from any of these lines (at least 50 watts/channel RMS). You can try it with the stock amp, but you won't hear their full potential.
3) The stock speakers are 4" in the doors, but they are in custom enclosures. You will want to remove these enclosures. The fronts will then accept 5 1/4" speakers, and the rears 6 1/2"(I would not suggest anything smaller than 5 1/4"). You won't have to have new enlosures or pods built (although some people do). What you will need is solid custom baffles built to mount the speakers on (and leave the backs open to the door enclosure). Speaker depth should be 2 7/8" or less to be safe. The interior of the car will look stock!!
4) As for the subwoofer(the stock is a free-air sub), there is not a perfect drop-in replacement. The easiest thing is to do is replace it with the JL Aduio 10Ib4 (10" fre-air sub). This will require new mounting holes and preferably a wood baffle (just ensure an air tight fit with the rear deck), but installation should be quite easy. This obviously saves trunk space, cost, and will not alter the stock look. The alternative is a subwoofer with a sealed enclosure. This would work best if the enclosure hung from the rear deck and the sub fired through the stock hole. This is more costly, intrudes into the trunk space, yet offers wider subwoofer selection and potentially significantly better sounding bass with the right sub and good construction. Some people have changed out just the subwoofer and added a dedicated amp and have been pleased with the results without touching the other speakers.
5) If you want to buy online, checkout elitecaraudio.com They have a forum about online car audio merchants. Or try EBAY, I have had some success getting deals there. Remember, manufacturers warranties may be void.
Also, search this forum deeper. You will get many different points of view on this subject, and some great ideas.
Finally, expect to pay $ 1500 for parts + at least $ 500 for labor to do a full modofication with quality components. For an example, my initial system consisted of the following:
Diamond Audio 5 1/4" HEX components up front
Diamond Audio 6 1/2" coaxials in the rear
JL Audio 10IB4 10" subwoofer
Precision Power PC650 6 channel amp (4 X 50W @ 4 ohms + 200w @ 4 ohms bridged 5&6 channels)
QBASS remote bass control for amp
Navone Engineering N914V 4-channel line output converter
Lightning Audio 1 farad capacitor
Dynamat for rear deck
By purchasing some used items on EBAY, and through other online merchants, parts were about $1100
Labor should be less than $500.
Results: outstanding!!!
Tom
1) It's not as simple as removing the screens and swapping out speakers. The door panels must be removed and the rear deck must be removed to reach the subwoofer, which is complicated. For sub replacement, see this thread: https://www.clublexus.com/vb/showthr...threadid=13833
2) As far as speaker brands, opinions will differ widely. Dynaudio is about as good as it gets (also$$$). Others close behind include Focal, Diamond Audio HEX series, and ADS. It is highly recommended that you add an amplifier to get the best performance from any of these lines (at least 50 watts/channel RMS). You can try it with the stock amp, but you won't hear their full potential.
3) The stock speakers are 4" in the doors, but they are in custom enclosures. You will want to remove these enclosures. The fronts will then accept 5 1/4" speakers, and the rears 6 1/2"(I would not suggest anything smaller than 5 1/4"). You won't have to have new enlosures or pods built (although some people do). What you will need is solid custom baffles built to mount the speakers on (and leave the backs open to the door enclosure). Speaker depth should be 2 7/8" or less to be safe. The interior of the car will look stock!!
4) As for the subwoofer(the stock is a free-air sub), there is not a perfect drop-in replacement. The easiest thing is to do is replace it with the JL Aduio 10Ib4 (10" fre-air sub). This will require new mounting holes and preferably a wood baffle (just ensure an air tight fit with the rear deck), but installation should be quite easy. This obviously saves trunk space, cost, and will not alter the stock look. The alternative is a subwoofer with a sealed enclosure. This would work best if the enclosure hung from the rear deck and the sub fired through the stock hole. This is more costly, intrudes into the trunk space, yet offers wider subwoofer selection and potentially significantly better sounding bass with the right sub and good construction. Some people have changed out just the subwoofer and added a dedicated amp and have been pleased with the results without touching the other speakers.
5) If you want to buy online, checkout elitecaraudio.com They have a forum about online car audio merchants. Or try EBAY, I have had some success getting deals there. Remember, manufacturers warranties may be void.
Also, search this forum deeper. You will get many different points of view on this subject, and some great ideas.
Finally, expect to pay $ 1500 for parts + at least $ 500 for labor to do a full modofication with quality components. For an example, my initial system consisted of the following:
Diamond Audio 5 1/4" HEX components up front
Diamond Audio 6 1/2" coaxials in the rear
JL Audio 10IB4 10" subwoofer
Precision Power PC650 6 channel amp (4 X 50W @ 4 ohms + 200w @ 4 ohms bridged 5&6 channels)
QBASS remote bass control for amp
Navone Engineering N914V 4-channel line output converter
Lightning Audio 1 farad capacitor
Dynamat for rear deck
By purchasing some used items on EBAY, and through other online merchants, parts were about $1100
Labor should be less than $500.
Results: outstanding!!!
Tom
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