Upgraded (ish) Speakers/Advice?

[seasonalvoodoo]

Since the factory speakers are not that great I upgraded all 4 this past weekend....the front are 300 watt peak (only like 60 watts nominal) and the back are...well not quite sure as they were given to me, but they sound good....

My question is this...what are the specs of the factory head unit? If I upgrade that, will I be able to get more juice going into the speakers, or does it not matter so much unless I go all out like most of you and get a sub woofer to put in the hatch (I don't see that happening anytime soon). Thanks.

Also, this is why I should never wash my car...I did so this weekend and noticed 3 scratches or so on the left corner of the bumper...not sure how that happened...looks like someone brushed something up against my car...

[my_new_v]

I doubt the stock head unit can power what you have in there now. But I dont know the specs. so dont quote me. But to be safe just run an amp to em. Its cheap and easy.

And I too am finding all sorts or scrathes on my V. I think someone doesnt like me and takes it out on my car.

[Ever Victorious]

S or SL?

The SL is the more powerful of the two at... I want to say 180 watts.

[xtwoonamatchx]

no matter, S or Sl... your better off upgrading the headunit, you will get a better RMS rating which means they will sound better... no to mention it will give more power all around. Also, if you dont want to buy an amp for the speakers, buy an Alpine headunit... most, if not all, are able to use their new power pack thats about to be released, giving you a full 45 watt normal power as opposed to the 18 found on theirs, and most other headunits.

[my_new_v]

This is just from what Ive heard, but Pioneer doesnt do so great with sound quality, they do have good power ratings though. Ive heard Kenwood does really good with sound qualitly but from my personal experience, they power isnt all that great, its good but not great. And what I said about the Pioneer decks I've just heard from friends and co-workers, I myself havent had any experience with them.

[xtwoonamatchx]

yeah, i prefer Alpine out off them all... my personal opinion

[JoshH]

The headunit will power them. You won't get the max that the speakers can play to (if they even can). Underpowering is not a bad thing.

I don't know RMS power on the stock headunit, but my pioneer unit (deh-p6900ub) puts out 22w RMS I believe. On the stock speakers I noticed much less distortion using the pioneer headunit at higher volumes and could play much louder than the stock unit. The best thing to do for the speakers would be to amp them. Even though I had less distortion on the headunit, the main reason to get the new headunit was for the features and future upgrades (RCA outs for amplifiers).

[my_new_v]

yeah, i prefer Alpine out off them all... my personal opinion

Yeah alpine has some good stuff...though i cant find any good double din decks from them.

JoshH---I actually heard under powering speakers are worse than over powering them.

[JoshH]

I have no clue where you heard that from. Unless you are clipping the internal amp to the headunit or amplifier, you will not cause any damage from playing them underpowered. It may not sound as good as with an amplifier or get as loud, but you will not be risking the speakers at all.

[Onyxblue]

This topic reminded me about some new speakers I bought a year ago for my ex Mercedes and laying down somewhere in my garage. One set is 2-way Alpine 6"1/2 200W peak/40 W RMS and another one is 2-way 5"1/4 Alpine 175W peak/ 35 W RMS.Do you know what size are the speakers in SL w/o convenience package? Should I install them or Craiglist/eBay?

[rdsworks]

what are the size of the speakers, can't find anywhere

i assume 6 1/2, but wanna make sure

[my_new_v]

Yes they are 6 1/2

JoshH---Maybe they were talking about subs then lol. Im not sure, ill talk to my friend again (hes in his own audio biz).