Alright, now-a-days, I am not into having the coolest sound system out there, I just like listening to a few tunes while driving. My car is equiped with the Shaker 1000, which for the most part is fine by me, for I am not so into my music that I have to have the top of th eline. But with that said, I do have a question that I am sure has been approached on here befroe, but I do not recall ever getting a clear answer.
My question is, can the speakers of the system simply be swapped out for aftermarket speakers of the same size? For example, can I take out the two 10" woofers in the box in the trunk, and replace them with aftermarket woofers of higher quality (using the same box and connections)? If not, what would I have to do, rewire the whole system just to swap out the factory speakers for better speakers? Will the Shaker 1000 only work with the factory speakers? Any tips, advice, ideas will be highly appreciated. Thanks.
Granted, . . . I am not a stereo expert by any means. But strictly speaking from an electrical point of view.
If you want to simply swap the bass speakers out with higher quality ones. You need to first make sure that the impedence of the speakers are the same (home stereos speakers are 8 ohms - I believe car audio speakers are 4 ohms). Next the power rating on the speaker better be able to handle the same or greater wattage.
For performance specs, check the frequency range of the speaker and the response of the speaker db/watts
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Alright, now-a-days, I am not into having the coolest sound system out there, I just like listening to a few tunes while driving. My car is equiped with the Shaker 1000, which for the most part is fine by me, for I am not so into my music that I have to have the top of th eline. But with that said, I do have a question that I am sure has been approached on here befroe, but I do not recall ever getting a clear answer.
My question is, can the speakers of the system simply be swapped out for aftermarket speakers of the same size? For example, can I take out the two 10" woofers in the box in the trunk, and replace them with aftermarket woofers of higher quality (using the same box and connections)? If not, what would I have to do, rewire the whole system just to swap out the factory speakers for better speakers? Will the Shaker 1000 only work with the factory speakers? Any tips, advice, ideas will be highly appreciated. Thanks.
MrV.....I am quite experienced with car audio as I have had many aftermarket systems installed in previous cars. So I have done a lot of research. I had nearly over 2000.00 of equipment installed in my 2000 VW GLX.
As for the replacement of the speakers inside the cabin, i.e. not the subs.....yes you can replace those with aftermarket speakers. It's something I have been thinking of doing. The thing you have to watch for is the sensitivity of the aftermarket speakers. Some higher quality speakers have lower senitivity meaning that they need more power to play at the same volume level as speakers with higher sensitivity. An average speaker sensitivity rating is 90db...which means the speaker will produce 90 decibels at a distance of one meter with an input of 1 watt. Low sensitivity would be a speaker rated at 87db or less. That is not an indication of sound quality it just means you will have to use more power from the head unit (turn it up louder...lol) than if you had a higher sensitivity speaker. But I think most speakers you would be looking at would be rated at 89db or above which should be about the same as the stock speakers. The problem is that if you have to turn up the volume too much to drive a lower sensitivity speaker to get the same volume as before, you could drive the head unit's amp into clipping and introduce distortion.
As for replacing the subs and keeping the box that is used for the stock speakers....that's probably not a good idea. Every subwoofer has unique characteristics and the boxes for different subs are "tuned" for the characteristics of that sub. Some subs sound better with a sealed enclosure, some better with a passive radiator and others sound best with a vented enclosure. So you could put higher quality subs into that stock box and they could actually sound worse....meaning they could sound muddier and not nearly as tight. They might not even be able to reproduce the lower frequency ranges as well as they should either.
If you were to replace the speakers in the cabin, just stick with a good manufacturer like Boston Acoustics, Infinity, Polk etc. They do have some very reasonably priced car speakers....but as with anything else....you get what you pay for
MrV....to replace the cabin speakers you can get a big upgrade for not a lot of money. Here is a speaker for example....
Boston Acoustics S85 - 6x8 2 way speaker
The fit right into the factory locations in the front door panel and the rear side panels. Would be a major upgrade to the stock speakers in the rear since the stock speakers are not even 2-way but are a full range speaker.
Input sensitivity is 92db so no problem with the head unit's amp being able to drive them.
Price 120.00/pair......so 240.00 for 4 of them. Add in about 100.00 for installation at a decent shop and you can have a major speaker upgrade for around 350.00 which includes tax and installation.
If you still wanted something a little less expensive you could go to something like the Infinity Reference 6812cf for 70.00/pair.
Both of these speakers use soft dome tweeters - meaning smmoth clear high frequencies without making your ears bleed....lol.
The reason I ask, is that I have a set of 4 Boston Accustic Pro Series (not sure the model number) speakers and a set of JL Audio 10" woofers that I have had for some time sitting in the boxes in the garage. So I am just really curious. The cost is not an issue, it rarely is with me.
If you still wanted something a little less expensive you could go to something like the Infinity Reference 6812cf for 70.00/pair.Just a suggestion....
These are the guys I got, I only have the stock radio (about 120Watts) but I am very pleased with the sound. The stock speakers are cheapo Made in China ones. One of these days I would like to upgrade the radio also. By the way, the doors come apart very easily.
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These are the guys I got, I only have the stock radio (about 120Watts) but I am very pleased with the sound. The stock speakers are cheapo Made in China ones. One of these days I would like to upgrade the radio also. By the way, the doors come apart very easily.
I only have 1k on my car, and at 800 miles one of my speakers in my door is making cracking sounds. Just gotta get a chance to bring it in, spoke to the Ford guy, he said the audio guy only comes in on Weds at 9:30am.
But over all, I like the shaker 500.
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I only have 1k on my car, and at 800 miles one of my speakers in my door is making cracking sounds. Just gotta get a chance to bring it in, spoke to the Ford guy, he said the audio guy only comes in on Weds at 9:30am.
But over all, I like the shaker 500.
You would do a world of good to replace them, waxed05 has a shaker 500 also, and they use the same made in China, 25 watt rated junkers that the stock radio (mine) has. We both upgraded to the 6812cf's.
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2006 GT Tungsten Grey 5 spd, Xcal2/Pipeline CAI, Powerhouse tune. Spoiler delete. Front Speakers:Infinity 6812CF;Blaupunkt GTc652. Rear:Infinity Kappa 682.7CF. H/U:Alpine CDA-9885. Alpine MRP-F250 amp. Sequentials. President of the Splash guard registry. On Deck: Motoblue UDP's.
The reason I ask, is that I have a set of 4 Boston Accustic Pro Series (not sure the model number) speakers and a set of JL Audio 10" woofers that I have had for some time sitting in the boxes in the garage. So I am just really curious. The cost is not an issue, it rarely is with me.
MrV....I believe the Boston Acoustics Pro Series speakers are 2 way separates. I believe the mid range speaker is 5 1/4" or 6 1/2" depending on the model and the tweeters are separate. Plus it's a separate crossover module that also has to be mounted. If those are the speakers you have they would not fit in the factory cutouts and would need a custom install. Although I think they make the Pro Series in a 2-way that's not a separate mid range and tweeter, they are like the traditional 2-way speaker. But even at that the 5 1/4" or 6 1/2" size will require the custom install.
The BA Pro's are a fantastic speaker, but they were too bright sounding for my taste because they utilize that alloy dome tweeter instead of the soft dome. But with a little signal processing they would sound fantastic even to my ear.
The JL-Audo subs are superb....I had 3 10's in my 2000 Jetta. The bass was low, tight and clean....not boomy at all. But they came in a pre-built sealed box enclosure that was tuned for those subs. If you were going to use them have a shop build a custom box for them and they will blow your mind.
I don't have anything quite as nice as Boston Acoustic, but my Pioneer 6x8 3-ways are awesome IMO. They were quite inexpensive on ebay; $120/2 pair. If you want to keep the stock HU, Crutchfield sells a wiring harness to hook up to aftermarket speakers. Or you could just splice into the existing wiring.
Personally, I say rip out the whole thing, but I tend to take things to the extreme.
I don't have anything quite as nice as Boston Acoustic, but my Pioneer 6x8 3-ways are awesome IMO. They were quite inexpensive on ebay; $120/2 pair. If you want to keep the stock HU, Crutchfield sells a wiring harness to hook up to aftermarket speakers. Or you could just splice into the existing wiring.
Personally, I say rip out the whole thing, but I tend to take things to the extreme.
Actually splicing should not be necessary. I assume the installer would just use the same speaker wiring for the aftermarket speakers that are there for the stock speakers once the stock speakers are removed. Unless of course the wires are actually hard wired to the stock speaker terminals.
I am just thinking since I have a car I love and will have for some time, and I just happen to have a a set of 4 BA Pro Series and a set of JL Audio 10" woofers, that I should put the better equipment into my better car. I mean I have modified almost everything else, why not the sound system. Once upon a time, I was a young kid who was really into sound systems. Once I had a brand new car that cost $6500, then had a $3000 sound system in it, $2000 wheels/tires, and about another $1000 in minor mods. Okay, my priorities were slightly out of whack.
I would have those speakers installed if I had them.....it's good stuff. Since you have the Shaker 1000 you can use the sub amp that comes with your system to power the JL Audio subwoofers (just have a nice sealed box made custom for them). I hope you don't need trunk space though....lol.
Eventually you could replace the Shaker 1000 amp with another, much better amp for the subs and get even tighter and cleaner bass response.
Then you could get a nice 4 channel amp to drive the 2 pairs of BA Pro Series speakers instead of using the amp in the head unit.
Or you could circumvent the head unit amp AND the stock sub amp with one 5 channel amp with power of like 75x4 and 200x1....and trust me, unless you are planning on entering SPL contests that would be more power than you would ever need. Especially because most high end aftermarket amps have very conservative power ratings....and it's good CLEAN power.
Then you could......nevermind.....I'll stop now.....lol
Did I forget to mention that I also have 200x2 amp, a 50x4 amp, and a multi-channel crossover laying around with the speakers? I did have a 6 CD changer and head unit, but gave that to my borther for his commuter car.
For the life of me, I can not remember the size of my BA Pros, I just remember that they are very close (plus or minus) 6 inches. They have seperate 1" tweeters, which for some reason I have an extra set of those as well (for a total of 6).
Maybe, I will just break down and have my entire sound system revamped. Ironically, I also had a two-way FM/FM remote car starter/anti-theft/alarm system that actually pages you to let you know where on the car the intrusion is at, but since I was not using it, I went ahead and sold it on ebay last week.
Did I forget to mention that I also have 200x2 amp, a 50x4 amp, and a multi-channel crossover laying around with the speakers? I did have a 6 CD changer and head unit, but gave that to my borther for his commuter car.
For the life of me, I can not remember the size of my BA Pros, I just remember that they are very close (plus or minus) 6 inches. They have seperate 1" tweeters, which for some reason I have an extra set of those as well (for a total of 6).
Maybe, I will just break down and have my entire sound system revamped. Ironically, I also had a two-way FM/FM remote car starter/anti-theft/alarm system that actually pages you to let you know where on the car the intrusion is at, but since I was not using it, I went ahead and sold it on ebay last week.
Bridge that 200x2 baby into 1 channel....wire the 2 JL subs in parallel dropping the input impedance to 2 ohms (providing your amp is stable down to 2 ohms)......and you would have about 800 watts pumping into those subs.
No need to worry about the sub amp overpowering the 50x4 because once the levels are all set it would all be good. Subs need lots of power to reach their potential because they move so much air. The 50x4 would give you plenty of clean power (depending on the amp manufacturer) for the Bostons. You might even be able to enter an SPL contest and not get laughed out of the joint
Shaker 1000 replacement question 
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