Factory sound system. Hurts ears!

[robertoa1a]

All of the speakers in my XLT are working (non premium sound). It sounds trashy to me.

I have a nice home system which may have raised my expectations a little when it comes to sound.

Upon removing the inner door panels I discovered that a former owner replaced the factory speakers with Boston units. Perhaps by design, they are so out of phase with the rear factory ones that, they sound crappy in the mix.

Has anyone had any luck with a stereo set up that isn't offensive to the ear at a low price. This isn't a lamborghini for Gods sake.

 

[BradR]

Wow, Boston speakers sounding crappy is almost unheard of in my opinion. They are good quality speakers.

I still have stock speakers in my truck running off of a 4channel amp and it sounds superb.

Besides Boston, other good speakers to look into might be, MTX, JL Audio, JBL, and Kicker.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Honestly- my $100 Pioneer HU powering old Kenwoods sounds really good to me for a budget setup... I spent some time setting the audio on the radio, with bass levels and the manual equalizer- it sounds almost as good as the MACH system that was in my Taurus- minus the lows, but I can remedy that when I put in the sub.

 

[Blazepet7]

Yeah factory suxx no matter what speakers you have and boston acustics are pretty high up there in speakers i have a Pioneer avic d1 its from 2001 they made them real nice now and i LIKE it not love it but you dont wanna spend too much money check out crutchfield signature line im buying my girl an alpine for just under 300 with a mini monitor...it also depends on the options you want the radio is 300 but if i want hd radio:$110 sat radio:70 etc crutch field is highly recommended by me because it comes with alot of the stuff you need, trim to fill in wiring harness rear radio control adapter if needed...if you dont have that adapter the people in the back seat cant use the controls, mine is disconnected..plain and simple ant aftermarket radio you buy usually will have a higher output of sound with more options to customize thus sounding alot better than most stock setups...IMO

 

[robertoa1a]

The only thing I can come up with, is that the phase is wrong in the wiring (-,+) The wrong phase make everything sound sound like mud on good spkrs. I will try some of my old engineering equipment. Little tricky though. Thanx for the reply.

The wavelength of 500hz is over six feet. So I will keep checking for bad wiring.

 

[BrianDye]

Basically it all comes down to how much you wanna spend, do you have the regular ("amped") headunit, or the JBL system, where the amp and brain are in the back panel?

I dont know what year the amps were built into the headunits, I think like 97 and up?


(I have a 95, JBL system, which means the front speakers were actually 2 speakers, a mid and a high, the back speakers were just regular speakers, and theres a little 6-8"? sub in the back)

I replaced my fronts with 3 way sonys, along with a set of tweeters and a crossover, put the front "stock 2-way" speakers in place of the rear speakers, and I think it honestly sounds decent for what it is. If my rear sub werent blown, id be happy with it, but I get minimal bass from it lol. (As im waiting to find the wiring harness to allow an amp bypass rather than having to run all my own wirig

 

[celly]

6X8 (5X7) are so plentiful that you can instantly upgrade the sound by swapping out whatever is in there. Someone mentioned Sony, but I think they blow for car audio as well as just about anything they make. Sony used to be a prestige name back in the Trinitron days, but I personally don't buy Sony anything because it's all pretty average stuff to me. Sony dominates the local Wal Mart car audio section. Enough said.

Since you have BA already, that's a start (I've got BA all around and love them). Get another set for the rear. Speakers are only as good as the signal you run through them and they all sound better with some power. A stock HU doesn't really fit the bill. I personally have good luck with Pioneer. Decent features ans specs for the price, IMHO. A sub definitely makes a difference. You do NOT need a big honkin' sub box to get the results either. I have a nice 10" in a Q-Logic box in the rear passenger side pocket and it's more than adequate and I have full use of my cargo space. I used to have a small 10" sub box I could move around the cargo area and leave plenty of space for "stuff".

Unfortunately, speakers need some power behind them so amps usually come into the equation. I have two basic Fosgate amps driving my system. They didn't break the bank either and I've got them mounted to back of the passenger side rear seat so I can still use the space in my cargo area even when folded down.

You can get create a decent system by doing your homework. Crutchfield is a great site to do your research.

 

[BrianDye]

Someone mentioned Sony, but I think they blow for car audio as well as just about anything they make. Sony used to be a prestige name back in the Trinitron days, but I personally don't buy Sony anything because it's all pretty average stuff to me. Sony dominates the local Wal Mart car audio section.

Sony deff. isnt competition quality, or big budget quality, but I think I paid 55$ for the set I have, and ive had them in all 3 explorers, and in my 92 with my kickers and all that, and they are honestly good speakers. Like I said, not competition quality or anything by far, but they are by far better than stock haha.

I remember though walking into Best Buy the day I got them, I had a 100$ giftcard, and like 50$ on me, and I said whats the best set of speakers for the money? And the guy walked me over by all the Sony's

 

[robertoa1a]

Sony makes some of the best home equipment. The 52" Bravida in my livingroom looks as good as any plasma. My Sony blue ray player is bar none, not to mention the laptop I am using.

Though Sony may not be the source of choice for cars and trucks. I do have an older Sony unit on my shelf that I can install.

I know the typical quwstion. How did you