Anyone upgraded their Shaker 500 (aftermarket--not to the Shaker 1000)? This may be a stupid question, but is the Shaker 500 500 watts? Upgrade the speakers? Anyone know the wattage of the speakers in our car?
I just really love my music and the sound system in my GT is not all that impressive to me.
I know it's a different car (and maybe that's a huge factor), but my husband had the stereo and speakers replaced (Alpine) in his 1980 Corvette and it sounds freaking awesome! I really think I could make my ears bleed with it!
If there are no speakers in our rear deck (and I don't know), would it be possible to add speakers there?
I wish they still put the speakers in the dash--I HATE having my music directed at my knees!!
Kimberly....you have touched upon one of my great interests...audio.
I've backed off doing a ton of aftermarket audio upgrades in recent years because stock audio equipment has improved by leaps and bounds in the past decade or so.
The Shaker 500 is actually a very good, clean and accurate sounding system. But of course it can be improved and it could be improved quite a bit for not a boatload of cash.
Here is what I would do in this order to improve the sound:
1) Replace the current speakers with Infinity or Boston Acoustics or some other well respected brand of car audio speakers. Both Infinity and Boston Acoustics make very affordable speakers that would be a huge upgrade over the stock speakers.
2) Add a powered subwoofer to the system. This is usually one 10 or 12 inch subwoofer that has a built in amp to power it. It's not as good as a custom sub with an enclosure powered by an outboard amp but it will vastly improve the low end response and has the following advantages: Lower cost, easier installation.
3) Keep the stock head unit but purchase a very good 4 channel amp to power the speakers you had installed from step 1. Buy from a well respected manufacturer like Alpine, Rockford-Fosgate, Eclipse, etc.
Remember POWER does not equal SOUND QUALITY. A high end amp like Eclipse that puts out 50 watts per channel will blow away any of those low end amps that are claiming 300 watts per channel or more. Good, clean 50 watts per channel to drive tweeters and mid-range speakers is very sufficient and you can get plenty of volume out of that. Probably more than you will ever need for practical purposes. You only need higher power to drive subwoofers because the sub's cone moves more because it has to move more air to recreate the low frequencies of the audio range. But if you get the powered subwoofer it will already have a 100 to 200 watt mono amp built in :-)
Follow those 3 steps and you will be rattling the windows of your GT with any of your AC/DC CDs....lol.
My setup started with the shaker 500, I replaced the HU with a Pioneer 5900ib with ipod hookup and xm. I disconnected the front subs. I added a 12 inch sub with a 200 watt amp in the trunk .Look in my profile,looks very clean, dont believe the hype that you need 2000w of bass to sound good. Also applied a 125 HPF to all the speakers (minus the sub which gets a LPF that cuts off around 60HZ) . It sounds awesome and can be turned up all the way with no distortion. You can feel tons of bass inside and its not at all overpowering.
In the future I plan to upgrade the speakers to Infinity 4 ways in the back and infinity reference components in the front. No need to upgrade the factory amps,they provide more than enough power....talk to someone who knows peak and rms ratings and they will say the same. I was gonna go for a 4 channel amp but thats overkill since I can adjust sound from my HU (tons of options to adjust) and get my power from the factory amps.
oh and remember that as far as speakers go the shaker 500 was meant to be sound up front with subs and mostly bass in the back. With a HPF you will get a world of difference. If you upgrade to aftermarket speakers that have NICE BIG tweeters (made of titanium and other metals) , the difference is night and day compared to the factory system.
psycho....I agree that the stock amp is actually very good. Quite a bit of clean power. And I also agree that changing the HU will be an improvement. However I think changing the HU makes the least amount of difference and here is why:
1) Even though the factory amp is very good it simply cannot compete with amps manufactured by Eclipse, Rockford-Fosgate, Stillwater Designs(Kicker), etc.
2) With current technology the difference between a 250.00 HU and a 650.00 HU usually comes down to features and not performance. Electronics are electronics and when it comes to CD electronics you reach a point of diminishing returns when it comes to digital filtering, oversampling rates, etc. When reading digital material even a low end head unit will be able to do that nearly flawlessly. Head units were much more important back in the days of cassette tapes. Of course if you want a better tuner if you listen to a lot of over the air radio, then changing the head unit for that is imperative.
3) In my experience this is the order of component replacement that will have the biggest effect on sound quality....1) Speakers (which is obvious), 2) Amplifier quality, 3) adding a subwoofer and then 4) Head Unit.
So Fuzzy, talk to me like I am 6...and break it down Barney style....if I understand you, I can upgrade my system (Shaker 1000) with new amps and speakers and still keep the HU?
I just happen to have a set of Boston Acutsitcs Pro series lying around (one pair of 6" and one pair of 6 1/2", then a set of 4 1" tweeters). Additionally, I have a pair of JL Audio Subwoofers (12"), and a ectronic crossover (Sony, I think). will this stuff upgrade my systems nicely? Not worried about rattling windows...my top is always down anyways.
So Fuzzy, talk to me like I am 6...and break it down Barney style....if I understand you, I can upgrade my system (Shaker 1000) with new amps and speakers and still keep the HU?
I just happen to have a set of Boston Acutsitcs Pro series lying around (one pair of 6" and one pair of 6 1/2", then a set of 4 1" tweeters). Additionally, I have a pair of JL Audio Subwoofers (12"), and a ectronic crossover (Sony, I think). will this stuff upgrade my systems nicely? Not worried about rattling windows...my top is always down anyways.
MrV...I'm not sure if the stock setup in the GT uses an outboard amp already or if the amp is in the HU. However it really doesn't matter if you wanted to add outboard amps.
If the GT's amp is already an outboard amp then all you have to do is just purchase a higher end 4 channel amp and replace the GT's outboard amp using all the same inputs and outputs currently used by the amp.
If the GT's amp is in the HU, the HU still should have low level outputs that would be used to feed the new outboard amp you purchased. By doing that you would be bypassing the amp in the HU rendering it useless.
The biggest issue with installing an outboard amp is usually location. Most shops will install it somewhere in the trunk so the amp can be installed in a spot that is fairly open to keep it from overheating.
In my VW Jetta GTI, my subwoofer amp and 4 channel amp were both installed on the back of the rear seat, so they had lots of air that could move over the heat sinks and keep them running cool. Plus since the back seat folded down, it made it easy to access the amps to do any adjustments
Unless you listen to over the air radio a lot or you want a bunch of bells and whistles, I think replacing the HU should be a low priority. I will bet that in a double blind test, that if you listened to the same CD through the GT's stock head unit and a 550.00 Eclipse HU with the rest of the system set up exactly the same....you would not be able to hear the difference in sound quality from one CD player to the other. Some people might but the vast majority of people could not. Change the speakers though and EVERYBODY would hear the difference. Change the amp and a LOT (not all) of people would hear the difference.
My setup started with the shaker 500, I replaced the HU with a Pioneer 5900ib with ipod hookup and xm. I disconnected the front subs. I added a 12 inch sub with a 200 watt amp in the trunk .Look in my profile,looks very clean, dont believe the hype that you need 2000w of bass to sound good. Also applied a 125 HPF to all the speakers (minus the sub which gets a LPF that cuts off around 60HZ) . It sounds awesome and can be turned up all the way with no distortion. You can feel tons of bass inside and its not at all overpowering.
In the future I plan to upgrade the speakers to Infinity 4 ways in the back and infinity reference components in the front. No need to upgrade the factory amps,they provide more than enough power....talk to someone who knows peak and rms ratings and they will say the same. I was gonna go for a 4 channel amp but thats overkill since I can adjust sound from my HU (tons of options to adjust) and get my power from the factory amps.
oh and remember that as far as speakers go the shaker 500 was meant to be sound up front with subs and mostly bass in the back. With a HPF you will get a world of difference. If you upgrade to aftermarket speakers that have NICE BIG tweeters (made of titanium and other metals) , the difference is night and day compared to the factory system.
I'm about to blow out of here for lunch so don't have time to speak to all that was said, but here's a question. It occurs to me that I have 2 pairs of an Infiniti Reference Series speakers (directional tweeters) that I bought for and subsequently took back out of my 2003 Explorer. They are 5 x 7s. Our cars take 6 x 8. Could that be made to work? Would it be an improvement in sound over the factory speakers?
As for HUs, I'm eyeballing a JVC DW-XG700. I didn't even know you could buy aftermarket double din HUs. Shut up!
very very easily done. Crutchfield (and anyone else for that matter,but if u buy crutchfield u get a mastersheet that tells u how to take everything apart) sells a 5x7 to 6x8 adapter. Very high quality, I have used a ton of them with no problem. and they are cheap (cost wise,quality is top notch).
I swapped out my Skipper 500 Head Unit for an Alpine CDA 9885 with an Ipod cable and I am much happier! I also changed out the back speakers with some Infinity 6x8s.
I have a set for Infinity's the front doors too, but I have yet to change them out because of a screwy work schedule. Basically, if the weather is nice outside I can count on work to give me an additional assignment for that day!
As for subs, I was going to add a JL Audio Stealthbox, but I think I am just going to go with the MTX Thunderform self amplified 12" sub instead. I am getting too old and have lost way too much hearing to warrant another true 1000 watt sound system for my car.
From my experience as an installer, ive heard both the infinity reference 6x8s on an alpine 4 channel at 50w rms x 4 and the alpine type s 5x7s on the same amp.....to me, the alpines sounded crisper and cleaner and reproduced the highs better than the infinitys. however, the infinitys sounded great on just the headunit, unamped.
the shaker 500 only has 2 external amps in the system....1 for each sub and they are located above the driver kick panel. the 4 speakers run directly off the headunit and theyre rated at 25 watts peak....probably 10 watts rms.
in my gt, i put in some alpine 5x7s in the front (they came with 6x8 adapter plates) and some rockford 6x8s on the rear deck....i had em laying around and was cheap lol...im eventually going to be puttin in some alpine type x ref. components up front and moving the type s to the back when i sound deaden the entire car later.
as for subs go, i built a custom box for 1 10" alpine type e sub....i had it laying around so i used it...but it hits harder than my friends 2 12s that hes got in a premade box. if you can, custom boxes are the way to go...or at least get a premade one that matches the sub's air space dimensions and it will sound amazing.
I actually liked my stock HU , but I really needed the ipod hookup and I'm a fan of xm. as far as the sub box, I really like my box because it blots in @ factory locations and doesnt take away too much trunk space.
When I do change the speakers , I have a profile ha-1040 amp that I will use to power them. might look into alpine as I have never heard negative reviews on their speakers.....
I actually liked my stock HU , but I really needed the ipod hookup and I'm a fan of xm. as far as the sub box, I really like my box because it blots in @ factory locations and doesnt take away too much trunk space.
When I do change the speakers , I have a profile ha-1040 amp that I will use to power them. might look into alpine as I have never heard negative reviews on their speakers.....
The only review I pay attention to regarding speakers are my own ears. People have different preferences for sound quality. A speaker that sounds amazing to one person sounds like dog crap to another.
For me, Alpine speakers are too bright. I like crisp, clear and clean highs but I like them smooth. For me, listening to a speaker that is overly bright sounding causes me listener fatigue. I don't need a speaker system where the tweeters sound like they might make my ears bleed....lol. That's why I am partial to tweeters that have soft dome tweeters as opposed to metallic tweeters. I am partial to Boston Acoustics because they have a lot of car speakers that utilize soft dome tweeters....and they sound smooth yet crystal clear. Metallic tweeters can handle more power but I prefer the smoother sound of the soft domes.
No one offered an opinion on: "Would they (5x7 Infinitys) be an improvement in sound over the factory speakers?" Fuzzy, opinion?
Thank you to the person who told me that, yes, 5x7s can be installed in a 6x8 hole!
I don't think I'm looking to replace the subs. I'm happy with the bass and God knows there is no room in the trunk for one more thing! Not looking to buy an amp either.
I'd just like to make the best upgrades I can to the HU and four speakers.
No one offered an opinion on: "Would they (5x7 Infinitys) be an improvement in sound over the factory speakers?" Fuzzy, opinion?
Thank you to the person who told me that, yes, 5x7s can be installed in a 6x8 hole!
I don't think I'm looking to replace the subs. I'm happy with the bass and God knows there is no room in the trunk for one more thing! Not looking to buy an amp either.
I'd just like to make the best upgrades I can to the HU and four speakers.
Without question the Infinity's will improve the sound.
By the way....a powered sub can actually be installed under one of the seats and even if installed in the trunk it would not take up much space at all.
While a new HU would be more eye catching, using that money for a higher end 4 channel amp to use with the stock HU would be money better spent in my opinion. A higher end amp is not just to reach higher SPLs (i e play louder), but higher end amps provide more accurate sound, better clarity, etc. A higher end amp would do a lot more to make those Infinity's reach their potential than a new HU would.
No one offered an opinion on: "Would they (5x7 Infinitys) be an improvement in sound over the factory speakers?" Fuzzy, opinion?
Thank you to the person who told me that, yes, 5x7s can be installed in a 6x8 hole!
I don't think I'm looking to replace the subs. I'm happy with the bass and God knows there is no room in the trunk for one more thing! Not looking to buy an amp either.
I'd just like to make the best upgrades I can to the HU and four speakers.
I managed to squeeze a 5x7 speakers into a 6x8 hole with NO PROBLEMS in both my 1996 Ford Thunderbird AND my 2000 F150 extended cab. Get this, I did it WITHOUT using any fancy gizmo adapters either. What i did was purchase some weather stripping and I trimmed it down to make a gasket around the edge of the 5x7 driver. That way, my alignment wasn't as critical and I got a good seal around the edge of the speaker.
In that same Thunderbird, I also replaced the door 5x7s with some 6.5" Infinity speakers, BUT, that required an adapter plate. IMHO, the 6.5"s sounded a little fuller than the 5x7 Boston Acoustics speakers that they replaced.
Also, I believe the Infinity 5x7s would sound way better than the factory door speakers because the Infinitys are built from better components.
Stereo and speaker upgrades 
