Car Stereo Speakers

[olds]

Our second car is a 2013 Altima 2.5S (non-Bose) and it's not very fancy. Since we bought a new car, my wife took the new car and gave me the Altima. So it's that or my motorcycle.

I'd like to upgrade the stock audio a little bit but I don't want to go hog wild. Will a speaker upgrade have much impact? The factory speakers may be 2 ohm according to some reading I've done.

I am thinking about starting there and maybe adding a head unit like the Pioneer 4200NEX if that doesn't improve the sound much.

I like most all music so I could be playing Rihanna or Led Zeppelin at higher levels.

What say you?

 

[heymrdj]

Every car is different in how it responds, but generally I've had good results just replacing the speakers. The key is getting high efficiency speakers to make the most over every bit of 15W or less your stock unit is going to put out. I really like the sound of the JL Audio Evolution C2. I believe they come in a 6x9 size that fits your car called the C2-690tx. But they are salty. I think like 190-200$ a pair.

 

[SearchMaster]

The only answer is "it depends". You'll need to find some Altima forums and see what the users say about speaker-only replacement.

Most manufacturers tweak their systems to boost some ranges and suppress others, and will even do so depending on which input source is selected. So if you want a flat output you'll have to install some sort of line output converter to give you more control over the signal. But as DJ said, most systems sound noticeably better just from speaker change. My Focus ST has a decent (not great) system from the factory. But I was never happy with the upper range so I put in a pair of $80 components in the front and it was what I was looking for. I also replaced the door speakers and the rear speakers in my son's 98 Accord recently and it was a dramatic difference (about $125 for the two sets).

 

[JulesMaximus]

New speakers and a decent head unit will definitely be an improvement. Be glad you don't have that Bose crap in your car. Makes upgrading a nightmare from what I've read.

Pioneer makes great stuff. I had one of their blue tooth head units with Sirius satellite radio built in in my Maxima and I was very happy with it.

If you really want some punch though I would add an amp and sub at some point.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Sound is subjective so you will definitely need to hear the units playing your style of music before you fork over any cash.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

4 or 6 speaker stock setup? Budget?

 

[olds]

4 or 6 speaker stock setup? Budget?

4, as far as I know. Up to $500 for speakers.

 

[freeskier93]

Every car is different in how it responds, but generally I've had good results just replacing the speakers. The key is getting high efficiency speakers to make the most over every bit of 15W or less your stock unit is going to put out. I really like the sound of the JL Audio Evolution C2. I believe they come in a 6x9 size that fits your car called the C2-690tx. But they are salty. I think like 190-200$ a pair.

Spending $200 for a pair of speakers being powered by ~10 watts RMS each is completely absurd.

By the cheapest speakers you can find that sound good to you and have a high sensitivity. Those JL speakers are only 90.5 dB, they really need to be powered by an amp. There are much cheaper speaker with higher sensitivy that will sound better powered by the HU. Polk dB series have a sensitivity of 92 dB, cheaper Infinitys are 94 dB.

Or get a 4 channel amp. There's a lot of cheaper options these days, especially for compact amps, that will make a big difference.

 

[SearchMaster]

4, as far as I know. Up to $500 for speakers.

$500 is too much to sink into speakers without upgrading other parts of the system. If you're willing to do it yourself, you can get some "good enough" speakers AND swap out the head unit.

If you already had a nice head unit with stock speakers, the $500 speakers would turn it into an amazing system. But just putting in a head unit that does everything you need (certainly BT at a minimum, and having a USB drive with your music on it is nice too...I've never used my CD player on my 2013) and adding the speakers will give you MUCH better sound than you have now. It looks like you're fairly lucky in that you can put in a standard double DIN stereo (some cars have funky shapes that aren't easily replaced), and you can even keep your steering wheel controls with the right system. Crutchfield is a good place to start even if you don't purchase there.

 

[NutBucket]

If you want to keep the stock head unit look for speakers with high sensitivity. Something in the 92db range otherwise you'll be complaining it's not loud enough.

But as others have mentioned, most cars have funky eq tuning to make the crappy OEM stereo more tolerable. It'll really be obvious when you put better speakers in there.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

$500.- is a nice budget.

You could easily have a decent set of speakers and an amp to push them. Decent 2 way non-component speaker sets are around $50-70 per pair. A compact 4 channel x 75 watt class D amplifier will run around $150.-

The big question is do you want/need to retain the stock head deck? Some things to consider are retaining steering wheel controls, telephone bluetooth, sat radio, etc. functions that require specialized adapters or head units to replace.

 

[FeuerFrei]

I concur with those advising the most efficient speakers.

Instead of springing for an amp, I put in the most efficient speakers I could find - for the price. I went with Infinity Kappas and I'm very satisfied with the output. Of course that was 8 years ago, so, don't know if they are still on the market.

 

[freeskier93]

I concur with those advising the most efficient speakers.

Instead of springing for an amp, I put in the most efficient speakers I could find - for the price. I went with Infinity Kappas and I'm very satisfied with the output. Of course that was 8 years ago, so, don't know if they are still on the market.

Infinity Kappas are still around. They are what I have too but they are amped. Great speakers.

 

[olds]

I do have an older MTX 4 channel amp in laying around...

My line of thinking is to just do the speakers and see how it sounds.
If it's not good enough, then go with a head unit.

 

[heymrdj]

Spending $200 for a pair of speakers being powered by ~10 watts RMS each is completely absurd.

By the cheapest speakers you can find that sound good to you and have a high sensitivity. Those JL speakers are only 90.5 dB, they really need to be powered by an amp. There are much cheaper speaker with higher sensitivy that will sound better powered by the HU. Polk dB series have a sensitivity of 92 dB, cheaper Infinitys are 94 dB.

Or get a 4 channel amp. There's a lot of cheaper options these days, especially for compact amps, that will make a big difference.

The JL are 93db 1W@1M according to the specs page. That being said there may be cheaper, but it depends on how you like your sound. I like where the JL tone is on these particular size speakers vs the higher tinny stuff I heard out of the Infinity units.


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[Puffnstuff]

I went with Infinity Kappas and I'm very satisfied with the output. Of course that was 8 years ago, so, don't know if they are still on the market.

I used them a couple of years ago in my crew cab truck and they had an excellent sound to them.

 

[olds]

Well, finally got around to this. My head unit is rated at 2 ohms so I purchased a pair of Infinity Kappa 693.11I. There doesn't seem to be many 2 ohm car speakers out there. They don't sound any better than the stock speakers but probably weigh 4 X more. Maybe they need to be driven by an amp? I don't want to put an amp or a head unit in this car right now as I am not sure I'll keep it.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Yeah, speakers alone aren't going to give you much, if any, improvement. You'll notice a difference with a better head unit for sure.

Those Nissan HUs are garbage.

 

[NutBucket]

Almost all factory HUs are garbage because they lack power and have weird EQ curves. Some forum user(s) actually figured out how to change the eq settings in the factory Forester HU. Best of there's a "flat" setting. Made it sound a whole lot better just by changing that. Oh, and turning off the garbage HD radio which has crappy sound quality.

 

[razel]

Most of the time upping amp power is enough to improve quality assuming the head unit has line-out. Good thing you already have an amp. If it takes speaker level thing at least you can try that and power your fronts only. Don't waste money on the rears.

Other thing you can do to truly improve sound quality and overall enjoyment of your car is to use thin sheets of neoprene in your doors that follows the vapor wrap and thicker Neoprene, undercarpet padding over your wheel wells in the trunk to reduce road noise. If you can reduce road noise 3db and keep the volume knob in the same position that is equivalent to doubling your amp power.

Since you have the doors off, you can also put open cell foam just behind the speaker (by using light fabric glue against the door) to absorb the direct inversed sound from the back of the speaker and ensure that the area around the speaker is sealed against the back. Sound coming from the back will cancel out sound from the front reducing volume level (sensitivity)

 

[olds]

I've used Dynamat for years, none in this car though.