Speaker upgrade placement questions

[neevo]

Apologies if this has been asked before, I have searched a million audio threads but didn't find this in any of them.

Looking to upgrade the speakers in my 9.5 SV6 Sportwagon. Not going to go crazy with amps etc but will be putting some better quality drivers in the doors and unplugging the centre speaker.

My questions are:

1. Will this deliver a better sound than current (not the warmest sound in the stock car)?
2. Will the tweeters from a splits system drop into the existing space ok?
3. Are the cables for the tweeters run from the speaker in the door? Looking for clarification on how to run the crossover.
4. Where is the best place to put the crossover? In the door? It doesn't look like a small device.

Cheers in advance.

[Joe Bellissimo]

1. Yes
2. In most cases yes
3. Not sure but a simple inspection once you take trims off would give you the answer
4. Essentially anywhere you want. Show it off, hide it, up to you. As long as it doesn't get wet obviously.

I'm the audio sponsor on here as well btw so I can happily help you with hardware as well.

[holdenboy]

1 and 2 have been answered above.

3. No, the stock tweeter wiring dosent run into the doors, it splits somewhere in the dash and runs to the tweeters.

4. Run new wiring to your tweeters and ususally i install the crossover inside the side cover panels of the dash, theres plenty of room in there and you can access the speaker wiring going into the doors here most of the time too.

[HCVP]

Im going to go against 1, and 2. I've said this before, i cannot see any point in spending the extra money on better quality speakers, without anything to back them up. Without an external amplifier, they are never going to perform to their full potential, and you will basically be limited to the tuning capabilites of your factory Head unit.

Define warmth? To me, warmth is bass response. Whether your using your standard speakers, or upgraded aftermarket ones, put simply, your never going to get real bass response, because the size of the speaker you are dealing with, just wasn't designed to be producing those particular frequencies.

Factory systems, all though still considered rubbish by most audio enthusiasts, have come a long way. There's still the forever ongoing problem, that they are designed to run all the speakers in full range, to give you illsusion of "bass response" It's when you start using the right components, to play the right frequencies, that you will begin to make a worthwhile change ...

[HCVP]

In response after chatting with Joe, i don't mean to put people off the idea of replacing their standard speakers.
Let's say some one spends $300 on a set of speakers, add another $100 for instalation, assuming one can't do it themselves. Now $400, is a LOT of money, for a "non-audio enthusiast". And the gains they get, may not be what they had in mind, versus the amount of money spent.

Replacing standard speakers is sometimes the first step, in an audio upgrade. However, usually, this upgrade, is followed by another, and so forth, until the desired outcome is achieved. When the individual is not willing to go beyond the point of just replacing the standard speakers, then as far as value for money is concerned, i'd be looking else where, to see what can be done to improve what is already there.

I'm a big believer that road intrusion noise is the biggest killer of all, when it comes to audio quality. I'd personally rather see someone spend $400 on sound deadning their interior, if that's going to be the one and only step, in an audio upgrade. You wanted deadning tester's Joe, what could be better than seeing what improvements can be made, with a brand new VE...

[caraudiorookie]

I have recently replaced the speakers in my calais v sportwagon. I used some gear that I had already. I'm no enthusiast but I did want it to sound better than factory. I simply replaced the doors with some pioneer coaxials, left the factory tweeter in place, added a 10in sub (certainly helped) and disconnected the front center. It sounds much better to me. Would it sound better if I bought better speakers again and amplified them, of course but I don't feel that I need it to.

The factory door speakers are 2ohm. I replaced them with 4ohm speakers. I was concerned it would make the system too quiet but the new speakers must be more efficient than the factory so I haven't noticed any decrease in volume.

[Joe Bellissimo]

You wanted deadning tester's Joe, what could be better than seeing what improvements can be made, with a brand new VE...

Working on that in the LS1 forum

[neevo]

Thanks for all the info guys. Sounds like I have somewhere to start now.

Thanks too Joe, I will drop you a line when it comes time to buy. I had a look on your site and saw a couple of potential candidates.

[Luke0011]

Be careful mounting the crossovers above the kick panel in a ve. Some amplifier and line converter configurations have seen engine noise introduced mounting them there. To avoid possible engine noise for this reason if the crossovers are small enough, mount them behind and under the headunit under the heater vent where ther is no wiring close by. Or towards the back of the car.