VZ Stereo Sound Quality

[rebecca22]

The sound quality is very poor with the factory stereo in the VZ. No treble response. Has anyone just upgraded the door speakers and not the head unit with good results?

[EQUIPED]

Yes...I have the OEM 6 CD stacker but all 4 door speakers in my VZ have been upgraded and they sound heaps better!

[rebecca22]

What brand speakers did you settle on? Did they fit in without modication?

[tonys vz]

hi
you would probably find you have little bass too.
i had 2 front speakers put in the door and 2 put in the back door.
to help with the bass i had 1 subwoofer put in the boot with an amp to power the sub and the front speakers.
i left the same head unit that came with the car and that goes loud enough and with good quaility speakers and sub it does sound very nice
tony

[danja]

The sound quality is very poor with the factory stereo in the VZ. No treble response. Has anyone just upgraded the door speakers and not the head unit with good results?

Hmm.. mine had a factory 6-speaker system (4 doors, plus two dash-mounted tweeters) and the treble and sound staging was quite good for a budget stock system, it was the bass handling which really let it down (and it distorted easily if turned up loud).

What brand speakers did you settle on? Did they fit in without modication?

If you get 6" speakers they'll fit without any modification (except you'll need to remove the factory speaker plug and solder/crimp your new ones on)

6.5" may need some modification of the pod to fit.

When it comes to brand, you really need to choose for yourself because everyone has different listening preferences. If you walk into JB HiFi (or any car audio store) and listen to a few they have up on the board you should be able to find one you like - some will have more bass, some less.

Rule of thumb with JB and their cheaper speakers, is when it comes to talking price aim for about half of the sticker price. They put huge markups on these. Several times I've bought two pairs for the price of one (becomes less true of the higher end speakers, but there is still room to haggle).

Upgrading just the speakers will give you much better sound, but if you want really good sound you'll need to either put an aftermarket head unit in, or do what many of us (myself included) have done, and get a modification to your stock head unit so it's outputs a signal which can be used to run an amplifier and some high-end speakers. There is a bloke on these forums called Phreddy who makes such a mod ( Blaupunkt low-level outputs? You betcha! :D ) should you want to take this path.

[EQUIPED]

What brand speakers did you settle on? Did they fit in without modication?

Pioneers all round with 6x9s and they fit in with minor soldering (I think).

[danja]

Pioneers all round with 6x9s and they fit in with minor soldering (I think).

6x9's will fit in the parcel shelf if you punch the factory sheet metal covers out and drill some holes for the screws, but no way you'll get them in the doors. You must mean 6" for the door? - that's what the factory speakers are.

[Lumps of cheese]

I run pioneer splits in the front and fusion cheapies in the shelf and it produces good enough sound for what i want atm. I will be going for phreddys mod as soon as i can get my ass up that way.

[PaulSV6]

The sound quality is very poor with the factory stereo in the VZ. No treble response. Has anyone just upgraded the door speakers and not the head unit with good results?

Maybe ur speakers are on the way out.
Ive got a 6 stacker in my SV6 & the sound quality is great! On the 6 stackers there are EQ settings.

[Phreddy]

Hmmmm - I dunno about "great" Paul....

"Adequate" maybe....

[PaulSV6]

Hmmmm - I dunno about "great" Paul....

"Adequate" maybe....

Yeah thats the word i was looking for! It does the job 4 now.

[Phreddy]

Heh - kewl...

Seriously tho - you can get an improvement in SQ by replacing the factory paperweights with some good speakers, but pure and simple - the Holy Grail of good quality sound is POWER. Not the "peel the roof off" stuff, but enough to get the tunes up over the road noise, and have some headroom available for the louder bits. It's amazing how much "cleaner" it sounds.

Having said that, some better speakers (particularly for the front) makes a remarkable improvement...

Cheerz!

EDIT: 6" units should drop straight in to the mounting pods, 6.5" will in most cases require a bit of a trim-up of these pods.

[EQUIPED]

6x9's will fit in the parcel shelf if you punch the factory sheet metal covers out and drill some holes for the screws, but no way you'll get them in the doors. You must mean 6" for the door? - that's what the factory speakers are.

silly me...yeah I meant 6"!

[EQUIPED]

Where are you based? It's best to get a 1st hand experience by sitting in a car that has upgraded speakers. Then, experience sound in a car with more advanced setups such as 6x9s (w & w/out amp) in parcel shelf and then one with sub + mono amp and then one with sub+mono amp and a 4ch amp that powers the door speakers you get the gist...

[Phreddy]

EQUIPED - I'm in the Penrith area, outer West of Sydney. You're welcome to drop in for an audition any time.

[Ewok]

I went for Pioneer 600w 4ch amp and 1200w pioneer sub in the boot. Have kept the Blaupunkt speakers for now and just wired the base through to the sub. Being that it's SV6, has the splits up front so the tweeters in the dash. Sounds pretty mint for what it is, speakers will be next to upgrade, not too keen on upgrading the head unit at the moment as I am not sure how long I am going to keep it for (currently eyeing off an LSx....).

[EQUIPED]

EQUIPED - I'm in the Penrith area, outer West of Sydney. You're welcome to drop in for an audition any time.

mate, this is Anu...I got the combo installed from you, not too long ago Barbados colour VZ...remember? I still owe you some money from that hehee now you should remember!

[Phreddy]

Ah - OOPS!!!

(g'day Anu - of course I remember! No problem Mate, when you're good...)

You were obviously advising another member, not asking me....

[EQUIPED]

no worries mate Yeah...I was asking Rebecca's whereabouts. Hope all well.

Cheers