Aftermarket Speakers on Stock HU?

[crazedmodder]

Ya, so my friend has a 1994 (I believe, it's one of those body styles) Toyota Corolla and his speakers are shit. That's actually an understatement, his speakers sound like someone cut the cones and put in some pebbles and pennies. His birthday is coming up this Sunday and I made plans with two other friends to get him some new speakers, the only problem is that getting him a new deck as well might be stretching our budget a little far. We can get him the fronts and rears for less than the cost of the new head unit with fronts OR rears. We would much rather get him just the speakers because he hooks up his IPod to his stock HU with a cassette adapter anyways. So can I use aftermarket speakers with a stock HU? What resistance do stock decks work with or do I have to check with a multimeter or something?

Thanks :D

[Mitsu3000gt]

Even aftermarket HU's put out only about 15 watts RMS per channel, and any decent aftermarket speaker is going to need 50+ watts RMS per channel. His stock HU Proably puts out only a couple watts RMS per channel and I would think the aftermarket speakers would sound just as bad or worse because you aren't giving them any power. If you buy aftermarket speakers, you should amplify them. Crappy stock speakers will sound better with an aftermarket HU however. If you buy him anything I would make it the HU and do the speakers later, or not at all if they improve enough for his liking.

[Alterac]

Go for a good Headunit, and 1 set of speakers for the front.

If the backs are ass, disconnect them till you can replace them. (Or move balance all the way forward and leave connected)

Make sure he doesnt crank the crap out of it either, cause that will wreck the speakers because the headunit powered speakers you have to be careful with.

Set the Lowpass filter on the deck if you can so that stuff below 50 or 80hz wont go to the speakers.

[Mitsu3000gt]

I agree that he should add a pair of front speakers to the system as well as a head unit, but how will a head unit putting out almost no power wreck a pair of aftermarket speakers? Maybe your talking about the stock speakers.

[QuasarCav]

I've run a stock deck with aftermarket speakers and there is a definate sound improvment, it will sound better than a upgraded HU with stock speakers.

You could buy 4 6.5" speakers and an entry level deck for under 300.

[Alterac]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt
I agree that he should add a pair of front speakers to the system as well as a head unit, but how will a head unit putting out almost no power wreck a pair of aftermarket speakers? Maybe your talking about the stock speakers.


Well most aftermarket HU's only put out about 20Watts RMS per channel. Aftermarket speakers depending on the quality can handle quite a bit more power.

When cranking your deck to maximum volume, it will not produce clean sine waves (Sound) to your speakers and it will go into clipping (Start to look like a square wave) and clipping wrecks speakers.

I would say dont turn up a system powered off the main deck more than 80-85% of max.

[soupey]

well im assuming his stock speakers are blow cuz ur saying ti sounds like pebbles and shit are bouncing on them, so yea, by all means replace them with something...and yes it'll sound better.

next step would be to get an HU, but if thats not in the budget, just get good speakers...doesnt matter if ur stock HU wont power them to the max...but any aftermarket speakers will be more efficient than the stock speakers ever were...and it WILL sound much better.

[crazedmodder]

Thanks for the opinions guys. Ya you're right soupey, they're not just bad quality, they're destroyed (his stock speakers). They still put out sound but you can easily tell (even with the volume really low) that they're broken. lol 300$ is wayyyy out of our budget, we're broke and looking to spend around 30 each, max. I think we're going to stick with the speakers for now because I can get fronts+rears (96$ Tax In) from best buy at the price of a deck + harness + the holder thing (95$ No Tax) (another friend's employee discount). And his deck isn't good, but it's working, unlike his speakers. I'll tell him not to crank it. We were hoping to collab with his other friends to get the deck and speakers but they already got him something :(

[soupey]

hmm if ur gettn fuzz while the volume's turned down, check the wiring of the stock deck...grounds n stuff...the deck might be dead...


also...if ur jus looking for stock replacement speakers...nothing more...jus go get some cheap cheap speakers from princess auto...that or check the beyond marketplace for something...maybe put up a WTB, someone might have some speakers they dont use layin around...

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by Alterac



Well most aftermarket HU's only put out about 20Watts RMS per channel. Aftermarket speakers depending on the quality can handle quite a bit more power.

When cranking your deck to maximum volume, it will not produce clean sine waves (Sound) to your speakers and it will go into clipping (Start to look like a square wave) and clipping wrecks speakers.

I would say dont turn up a system powered off the main deck more than 80-85% of max.

Alright that makes sense.

[GTS Jeff]

Originally posted by Alterac



Well most aftermarket HU's only put out about 20Watts RMS per channel. Aftermarket speakers depending on the quality can handle quite a bit more power.

When cranking your deck to maximum volume, it will not produce clean sine waves (Sound) to your speakers and it will go into clipping (Start to look like a square wave) and clipping wrecks speakers.

I would say dont turn up a system powered off the main deck more than 80-85% of max. True, but you're also implying that cranking a deck to max volume is alright if there is an external amp involved, which is not true. The pre-outs are subject to clipping as well, so you should never be turning the volume up to teh max no matter what.

[Alterac]

Yes. My Bad.

That is why the real pro guys spend huge change on a deck with 8v pre-outs with no internal amp, line drivers, etc.


Not me. hah.

Panasonic Deck, 50x4 RMS Amp, some PG and Rockford 6.5"s all around. Simple, easy.