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Will new speakers help - with factory radio


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Most definitely, I recommend Polk Audio db series as they are the most sensitive,93db, 6x9 in back and 5 1/4 in front(preferrably components up front)

 

While I'm not so much into Car audio, I am really into Hi-Fi, and most of the same principles apply. you need to look into getting speaker with a high sensitivity rating. The ratings are usually measured with a 1Khz test tone, from a distance of 1 meter, with an input power of 1 watt. Generally, you will see something like 93db @ 1 watt/meter max SPL 113 db. This means that with only 1 watt of power, your speaker will produce 93db of sound, and the most sound this speaker can put out would be 113db. Also, for every 10 db increase in SPL, you will require 10 times the power. If we take this into consideration, to crank up the volume to 103 DB, than you will require 10 watts of Power. Now, crank this up to 113db and you will require 100 watts of power. This is only simple tones, and not taking into account any transients in the music, but it does illustrate the point.

 

I will use another example using a speaker that is only rated at 83 db @ 1 watt/meter. To reach an SPL of 93 db, you will require 10 watts of power. To bring that up to 103 db, it will gobble up 100 watts. If you wanted to try and hit 113 DB, than you would need an amp capable of producing 1000 watts.

 

The second speaker will sound just as loud with 10 watts as the first one would with only 1 watt. Now, if the factory head unit can produce 10 watts RMS per channel, the first speaker will sound louder and clearer than the second one ever could.

 

Also, speakers are not blown by underpowering them. Driving a low powered amp into clipping (which is easy to do with a factory HU) creates additional harmonics which can be seen as high power by the speaker and that can cause it to burn up (generally the tweeter gets cooked) However, should these harmonics never exceed the actual power handling of the speaker, then you will do no harm.

 

This is a good read, if you are interested in more info

http://www.axiomaudio.com/power.html

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

there are many other specs to pay attention to other than the sensitivity. I hardly ever look at that when choosing a speaker. but that would be the main thing to look for when choosing a factory replacement, your right.

 

I would just go to the junk yard and grab some different ones if you think they are blown. either that or get a cleansweep from jl audio and amp and components. then you can be sure it will actually sound better than stock.

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  • 1 month later...

Anyone have an answer before i rip it apart?

 

What there an 8 speaker option for the 96 GP GT?

 

Should be like any other 8 speaker GM stereo. Components up front, with the tweeters either in the dash, or i the front doors, and Coax in the rear.

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Should be a 6 speaker system. 6x9 coaxials in the back and 5 1/4" component set in the front doors.

 

the rears may be dual voice speakers, that have a separate tweeter mounted in the center of the 6x9 with separate feeds for the 6x9 and tweeters.

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Should be a 6 speaker system. 6x9 coaxials in the back and 5 1/4" component set in the front doors.

 

the rears may be dual voice speakers, that have a separate tweeter mounted in the center of the 6x9 with separate feeds for the 6x9 and tweeters.

 

That could be the case. I think thats cheating though, calling that a 8 speaker system. That would be like saying a 3-way 6x9 is 3 speakers. If the tweeter is attached to the speaker i consider it one single speaker.

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I generally go by Crutchfield's site, and for your car it says you have 5.25's up front and 6x9's in the rear, and that's it. Maybe giving a dealer a buzz first might get you a better answer, or tearing it apart and seeing for yourself.

 

As far as speakers go, I take people's suggestions/reviews with a grain of salt, you have to like what sounds good to *your* ears and *your* type of music you like to listen to. When I was shopping, I went to (almost) every place in town that had car audio setup to demo, and, spending more money doesn't necessarily mean you get better sounding speakers.

 

I also suggest getting the GM speaker wiring adapters so you don't destroy your factory wiring, unless you're planning on running the car into the ground/never putting the stocks back in. Makes it plug and play which real nice so you're not lying upside-down trying to cut/splice/solder speaker wire.

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You can't always go by what the dealer says about the speakers. I went there to find out what size speakers I had in the doors of my 1990 Grand Prix STE. They said the computer says it was 5.25, so I went and bought a set for the audio place. Took the door panel off and guess what! Turns out the STE has stock 6.5 rounds in the front doors.

 

The dealer even used the vin number to check it and it was wrong.

 

The STE is classified as being a 10 speaker system, but it only physically has 8 speakers. The rear 6 X 9's are dual voice speaker.

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"cheating" or not, it is describing how it is.

 

remember that same Dual Voice speakers actually have separate feeds, like most of the 6x9 with center mounted tweeters as used in "performance sound systems", and some like the door tweeters in some 95+ luminas have round 5.25" speakers with a tweeter mounted in the center, but use the same feed for both.

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  • 1 month later...

Should be a 6 speaker system. 6x9 coaxials in the back and 5 1/4" component set in the front doors.

 

the rears may be dual voice speakers, that have a separate tweeter mounted in the center of the 6x9 with separate feeds for the 6x9 and tweeters.

 

Ya that's what i have... anyways did put in new 6X9 and they still sound like crap, hocked them up to the tweeter feed (full range) guessing it might be the deck that has bit the dust now...

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Most definitely, I recommend Polk Audio db series as they are the most sensitive,93db, 6x9 in back and 5 1/4 in front(preferrably components up front)

 

While I'm not so much into Car audio, I am really into Hi-Fi, and most of the same principles apply. you need to look into getting speaker with a high sensitivity rating. The ratings are usually measured with a 1Khz test tone, from a distance of 1 meter, with an input power of 1 watt. Generally, you will see something like 93db @ 1 watt/meter max SPL 113 db. This means that with only 1 watt of power, your speaker will produce 93db of sound, and the most sound this speaker can put out would be 113db. Also, for every 10 db increase in SPL, you will require 10 times the power. If we take this into consideration, to crank up the volume to 103 DB, than you will require 10 watts of Power. Now, crank this up to 113db and you will require 100 watts of power. This is only simple tones, and not taking into account any transients in the music, but it does illustrate the point.

 

I will use another example using a speaker that is only rated at 83 db @ 1 watt/meter. To reach an SPL of 93 db, you will require 10 watts of power. To bring that up to 103 db, it will gobble up 100 watts. If you wanted to try and hit 113 DB, than you would need an amp capable of producing 1000 watts.

 

The second speaker will sound just as loud with 10 watts as the first one would with only 1 watt. Now, if the factory head unit can produce 10 watts RMS per channel, the first speaker will sound louder and clearer than the second one ever could.

 

Also, speakers are not blown by underpowering them. Driving a low powered amp into clipping (which is easy to do with a factory HU) creates additional harmonics which can be seen as high power by the speaker and that can cause it to burn up (generally the tweeter gets cooked) However, should these harmonics never exceed the actual power handling of the speaker, then you will do no harm.

 

This is a good read, if you are interested in more info

http://www.axiomaudio.com/power.html

 

 

 

All technical talk aside, I'm not exactly sure how this works.

 

I have a set of Polk Audio DB series speakers front and rear. DB5250 front components and DB690 rears. I had installed them to test with only one Pioneer head unit, which would get 25W RMS x 4. Unfortunately, they sounded like complete ass, were horribly distorted, and could get nowhere near loud enough to make my grandpa nod his head.

 

So in that regard,

 

Most definitely, I recommend Polk Audio db series as they are the most sensitive,93db, 6x9 in back and 5 1/4 in front(preferrably components up front)

 

No, I don't think you can run a set of Polk Audio DB series speakers off the stock head unit and expect them to sound good. Unless a stock head unit can push far more power than my Pioneer head unit could (which was at the time a DEH3900MP), they will sound like ass. These speakers need a lot more power than any head unit alone can provide. The only way I got them to sound good was by installing a dedicated 4 channel stereo amp, which was stolen and then replaced with two 340W RMS (680W RMS total) Kenwood stereo amps.

 

On a side note, the front components, the DB5250, have 89db sensitivity.

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xtremerevolution - where you running your amp off the factory deck using the speaker level inputs on the amp

[/quote

 

I tried running these polk audio speakers with two configurations. First, directly into my Pioneer head unit, and then, through an amp connected to my head unit using RCA's. I'm not very convinced that the stock head unit can push significantly more power than my Pioneer head unit on its own.

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Should be a 6 speaker system. 6x9 coaxials in the back and 5 1/4" component set in the front doors.

 

the rears may be dual voice speakers, that have a separate tweeter mounted in the center of the 6x9 with separate feeds for the 6x9 and tweeters.

 

Ya that's what i have... anyways did put in new 6X9 and they still sound like crap, hocked them up to the tweeter feed (full range) guessing it might be the deck that has bit the dust now...

 

Dont hook to the tweeter leads. There should be a Brown (+) and Yellow (-) on the left and Dark Blue (+) Light Blue (-) on the right. Hook up to these to get full range. Hooking into the tweeter leads will give you highs only.

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Should be a 6 speaker system. 6x9 coaxials in the back and 5 1/4" component set in the front doors.

 

the rears may be dual voice speakers, that have a separate tweeter mounted in the center of the 6x9 with separate feeds for the 6x9 and tweeters.

 

Ya that's what i have... anyways did put in new 6X9 and they still sound like crap, hocked them up to the tweeter feed (full range) guessing it might be the deck that has bit the dust now...

 

Dont hook to the tweeter leads. There should be a Brown (+) and Yellow (-) on the left and Dark Blue (+) Light Blue (-) on the right. Hook up to these to get full range. Hooking into the tweeter leads will give you highs only.

I disagree.

 

On my (former) 95 I have regular 6x9s feeding off the "tweeter" feed. the "tweeter" feed is really the normal feed, and the bass/woofer is provided by the amp. The highs on the tweeter fees are created by a simple capacitor crossover mounted on the speakers...

http://www.bcae1.com/capspkr.htm

 

However.... try unplugging your amp to see what difference results, as it may be drawing off some of the signal... the amp is not plugged in in my 95....

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O right this was the 96 GP with the factory amp. Im not real familiar with the factory amps on these cars. Does it run just the rear 6x9 woofers? If so then yea you could just disconnect it.

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O right this was the 96 GP with the factory amp. Im not real familiar with the factory amps on these cars. Does it run just the rear 6x9 woofers? If so then yea you could just disconnecting it.

CORRECT!

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  • 7 months later...

I ordered some Kenwood 5 1/4's for the doors and eclipse 6x9's and kenwood 4 1/2's for the rear deck. I talked to the tech at Crutchfield and the GP's with 8 speakers and no on-star the rear 6x9's are bass only and the 4 1/2's and front 5 1/2's are full range. They came with speaker adapters and printed instructions.

I post my opinion on the sound of the setup

Mark

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