My 2002 LS430 door speakers are making non speaker like sounds !!
I'm aware of the foam fail thing but I'm also aware that the speaker design is 17 years old and that they are paper .
There absolutely had to be better options out there !!
I have found two sets of JBL component speakers that are 3 ohm and 2 ohm .
They are GTO-609c 6.5" 3 ohm and GTO-608c at 2 ohm .
JBL make quality gear and I think it will be a substantial upgrade over stock speakers even when they were new .
They can be found on Amazon for slightly less than $100 .
I will be going for the GTO-609c at 3 ohms and will just use the 6.5 speaker and leave the standard tweeter in .
Will let you all know how it goes .

 

get an ohm meter on your old speakers and post that info in here, it might be useful to others in the same boat

 

You don't really know what you're talking about saying the ML speakers are outdated garbage, the materials selected where chosen for performance. The stock speakers are 8 ohm, that's what the amp was designed for, using anything less than 8 ohms will overtax the amp possibly damaging it but most likely will put it in an overload protection mode.

If you really want to use your JBL speakers you will need to replace the factory amp with an aftermarket one that can drive them.

 

Those door speakers were designed and built almost 20 years ago, they may have been built for performance at that time but technology, design, material science, and production have come a long way in 20 years!

Also you havent asked what type of audio system he has in his car - are you sure he needs 8 ohm if he has a non-ml system? Non ml are 2ohm in front and 4ohm rear, not 8ohm.

 

You’ve obviously never heard quality sound or seen anything but a paper cone if you think the ML system rocks. It is absurdly cheap quality for the price they charged for it. Good speakers last a lifetime, not 15 years and disintegrate. The only reason most people think it sounds okay at normal volumes is the amplifier sound processing was designed for the cabin, but turn it up and its terrible. I don’t even turn mine up for fear of blowing the speakers.

The regular Pioneer system is better.

 

Yes I should have stated that my car is Nav non ML so speakers are 2 ohm .
Ellesse is correct as even 20 years ago there where way better quality speakers than stock available but now 20 years later it is a no brainer !!
I cannot understand why people would bother with a foam kit when way better quality speakers can be had for $100 , for me just does not add up especially when you can use the main speaker of a component set .

 

Hey do you know how many watts the old ones new are rated at?

 

I am also an advocate for replacing the front speakers rather then bothering with repairs. Also, the original speaker may accumulate particles of dust which distort the sound and are hard to remove.

Both pioneer and mark levinson systems easily digest any decent 8ohm speaker in the front. I went with Emanecense (can’t recall exact name) and they are still playing very very nice at any volume.

the most difficult part in this job was to screw in the new speaker in original plastic.

 

I bought a brand new set pf Polk component speakers last night and fitted them into my front doors this morning .
They are 4 ohm but I thought I'd see how they go .
O.M.L !!!
They are awesome !!
It helps they are high quality speakers I'm sure rated at 100 Watts RMS but what a difference .
Compared them in isolation to the rear door speaker sound and what a difference .
Will definitely be repalcing the rear door speakers with JBL .

 

Paper vs poly cones

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index....-paper.250204/

Foam vs rubber surrounds

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index....rounds.656148/

The ML speakers aren't flashy like aftermarket but the materials were chosen for performance.

 

In my opinion (sound is usually subjective) I prefer the base system over the ML listening to both with the same disk I usually use to judge a system. For a car system though both are nice and beyond what I expected considering the age of the cars and inherent limits to car audio. I agree that if something is wrong and it doesn't work properly anymore to buy aftermarket replacements for everything but do try and match up all the components to preserve the tone of sound. If you don't then certain frequency's will stand out instead of all being "equal" and for me at least o don't like an unbalanced sound.

I'm biased though since my "standard" is insanely high end so I don't expect much out of any car and I've never heard one that really does more for me than provide decent background noise. I rather have it be listenable and engaging than super precise because from what I have heard it's not possible in a car.

There is nothing wrong with paper cones btw, it all comes down to desired tone and response. I prefer silk over beryllium since even though the latter is better in paper I dislike the tone and it fatigues me after a while

 

What did you do with the tweeters?

 

Rears 6.5 too? I noticed my front passenger is torn when I replaced the window motor, this is now on my list..!

 

I just left the standard tweeters in place , I'm sure the Polk tweeter would be better but probably not much and not pulling the dash out to replace tweeters for little effect .
Not sure what size the rear door speakers are but will most absolutely be replacing them !!

 

Online shows the rears are the same size.
The polk 6501/6502 comes with a crossover did you use those? My fronts are blown and I am learning about speakers.