Let me start off by saying I know nothing, zilch, zero about car audio. Not a thing. I have a 1998 GS400 with Nak. audio. I like the sound, but would like a bit better, even if you "pro" audio guys would be offended by it. Not all of us (like me) have gifted ears like you, and can tell what sounds superb and was is only pretty good. Therefore, I want to limit my stereo modification to just changing out the stock speakers. Even if this is an increase in performance of 5 or 10%, I will be very pleased. A friend had mentioned Boston Acoustic FX4 speakers for the front, but I am curious as to what GS owners advise. Would the Boston Acoustics work for the front? What wouold you use in the rear? So which speakers would you pick for front or rear, and why? If you could include model numbers, and where to buy, I would really appreciate that. As I said, I don't have a gifted ear, and my fiancee is deaf (for real..she can't hear), so I don't need a hugely expensive system. Just a marginal improvement is fine. So perhaps some of you experts and pros here have a combo that works decently? Thanks alot, and I hope to learn a little from this discussion...

 

No one guru here to help an audio dumb-bell???

 

I can help...but indirectly. Use the search function and type "GS400 speakers". I think you will find the answers there. Good luck.

 

Yes..I did do a search, but it was not help. Most the the threads had people cutting the door panels. To make it even worse (for me, the audio idiot) there was all this talk about Ohms, and cross overs, and amps, and stuff like that. Mean NOTHING to me. Which is why I asked for someone to pick some speakers that will drop right in, and why they would pick those speakers...but no answers. Am I asking too much?

 

Rocket, I don't own a GS, but I'm fairly sure that the factory size is 4". With that said, swapping one 4" speaker for a "better" 4' speaker is like polishing a turd, for lack of a good analogy. A 4" midrange speaker is very peaky, and will always lack response in the "vocal/rhythm guitar/piano" area while being too loud in the "guitar solo/high keyboard" area. You'll still find yourself turning up the stereo fairly loud on the freeway, just to "hear" the music, and having to quickly turn it down during certain passages due to the 4" inability to provide anything close to a linear response in the frequency range it needs to. What I'm getting at is, you're going to need to go 5 1/4" or 6 1/2" to make an improvement worth doing. Some brands that are well respected here are Dynaudio, a/d/s, and Focal.

 

Mike,

Thanks for dummying down your response so I could understand!

But I find it odd that no manufacturer would make a 4" speaker superior enough than ours to make a difference? Is that what you are saying? A "quality" 4" speaker won't make a difference, but a 5.25" will?

 

RRocket, let me try to give you my insight: I use MBQuart for all of my car I ever owned. its a religious thing so i am bisa towrard it . when ppl want to upgrade, they want to have "richer" sound coming from the system. in most cases, lower frequency (common reffered as "bass") it is lacking of. basic physic: sound is a moving air, and lower frequency has more air movement compare to higher freq. so there comes the size dillema: 4" speaker can just move so much air, which still less compare to 5.25" or 6.5" due to the cone area size. so no matter how high the spekaer quality is, it would be still lacking of those lower freq you want to get. if you notice thesound quality competiton car, most likiel the minimum midbass size is 5.25 and 6.5. some car install 4", but then they also put 6 to 8" midbass on the door to gain the missing freq. so in this case I aggree with mike: for the investment on parts and labor price and installing time, putting an aftermarket 4" speakers to repalce the stock 4" speaker will not give you significant improvement, UNLESS you want to do all out and add addtionla 6 or 8" midbass, which i dont think you wanna do. thus, you have to use at least a good 5.25, and again since the stock size is 4", youll end up modding the mouting anyway, so youd better go with 6.5.

before i install my Xtant amp, i ran them MBQ using stock GS pioneer amp, and I notice significant difference. you might want to take this route: isntal your choice of 5.25 or 6.5, hear them first, see how do you like it, and if you still unhappy then you can add amps later.

you know, most ppl i know who initially said "i just want to have slight imporvement over stock" end up going all out upgrades obivously you are gifted the ears (or is it actually a curse?) , you just dont realize it yet, otherwise you would have been happy with what you already have. youd better watch out waht are you asking for!

 

I'm still scratching my head a bit. The 4" stock speakers sound ok. But no aftermarket 4" speaker will sound better...at all? Just seems weird. I'm an engineer, so maybe I'm being to analytical...

 

Okay then, if you stay with 4's, you'll be missing out on the 20 most important percent of the audible sound spectrum!

 

RRocket:

I am in the exact same boat/camp as you (and I am an engineer as well). I have done a lot of research on this subject over the last few months and talked to quite a few people. In short, it doesn't make a lot of sense to swap 4" speakers for a better set of 4" speakers. You might notice an improvement in clarity, but I would guess that you won't obtain that full/rich sound that you're looking for. I had been looking at putting in Boston Pro 5.25s, but now I'm leaning towards 6.5s (assuming they'll fit). I want to do upgrade as little as possible, and I'm only looking for a slight improvement in sound. People will tell you that you can't achieve this without upgrading the amp, but I want to be the judge of that. Once I get the new speakers in, if they don't seem to be performing up to par, I will look into upgrading the amp (which seems like a much more significant investment). As for brands, it seems that Boston Acoustics, Dynaudio, Focal and a/d/s are highly regarded. The Dynaudios are expensive, and more than I want to spend. I'm taking a close look at the Bostons. Also, I think that certain brands of speakers are better for certain types of music, depending on your preferences. You'll want to consider that as well. Let me know what you decide.

e-man