I'm looking to do a minor upgrade to my '93 f150 truck's audio. It has a new(er) Sony radio with a cassette deck, it's not the factory am/fm radio. I don't care if it has a CD player, I can just plug my mp3 player into one of those tape deck adapters and it works fine.

At a normal listening level on radio stations it sounds decent enough. But as soon as a song with some bass or you turn the volume up a little, the quality goes straight to hell. It gets all scratchy and distorted. Since the exhaust isn't quite right the truck is a little louder than ususal at highway speeds, you can't hear the radio at all unless you put it up, then you get crappy quality so it's off unless it's just around-town. I don't think it's the radio's problem, since the speakers are now 13 years old and they wern't good to start with.

I've been looking at Best Buy for a decent set of speakers to replace the factory originals. I've found it takes 6" speakers, and four of 'em. I don't want to spend a fortune upgrading, but I really can't stand how crappy it's current setup sounds. Looking to spend about $50/pair for the speakers, like I said, nothing too fancy.

I was looking at these to upgrade the current ones. They're Pioneer speakers so I know they're good quality and they're only $50 for a pair. Any other suggestions or opinions are appreciated.

Couple questions:
I checked out the setup and it appears all 4 speakers are easy to replace. The ones in the door just require the removal of the door panel, and the two in the bend behind the seat have a seperate screwed-on panel covering them. I'm pretty handy wiring things and can solder if necessary, but if it's going to be a hassle then I'll pay the $30 installation fee. Should I do it myself?

Also, the Sony XR-3500 radio is only 4x15watts. A 60 watt total output is anything but impressive, I know. Could I just disconnect the rear two speakers, only buy one pair of new ones, and give double power to the new ones so it sounds a little louder? Would 2 new speakers still be sufficient from the original 4? I'm not out to rattle buildings around the street, but I would like to be able to "crank it" and still get decent sound. Would doubling the power(30w instead of 15) be possible?

 

Those speakers should work good enough for what you are wanting. If you are really worried about sound, the best thing to do is to go to a store and listen to different speakers. Sure they are going to sound different in your truck than they do in the store, but it will give you an idea of what you like...

There is no way to get 30w to a speaker by losing the rear speakers with that radio, your speakers will get 15 watts no matter what. You still might be good with only two new front speakers and ditching the back ones...everyone has their own taste. You could just buy one pair of them, install them and see how you like it, and if you want more sound, go buy another pair for the back.

I would try to install the speakers yourself too...why pay someone for something that you can easily do? All it involves in pulling off your door panel or whatever your speaker is behind, unscrew the speaker, cut the stock harness off, splice the new speaker wires into the stock wires, and screw the new speaker in. Heck, you can even get harnesses that will plug into your factory speakers harness, and they splice into your new speakers wire pigtails; then you dont even have to do any cutting of the factory wiring or anything....

 

I pulled off the panel today to get a look at the current ones, and I can see why the quality blows so much. One of the rear ones has a puncture in it(something must have gone through the grate covering it) and the passenger door speaker looks like it got wet at some point. I'll do it myself, the wires are right there in the open so it won't be a problem.

I looked at some other ones today. There were some JVC 3-way ones there for $40, and Pioneer 2-way for about $45. Those were the only pair in my price range, others were noname cheapo ones or too expensive.

Any brands that I should prefer or stay away from? Since my other car has factory Bose speakers I've never upgraded car audio before. I recognized some brands(JVC, Pioneer, Sony), but there were some others I hadn't heard of. Lightning Audio(whole ton of these)? Bode?

So even if I take the wire for the rear speaker, splice it in with the front one, and wire both to one speaker there won't be any difference? Since I have rather limited audio power I'd rather not waste any of it.

 

Pioneer is the only brand out of those that I would even consider...


Hooking the front and rear speaker outputs to one speaker is a no no

 

K, just wanted to make sure about that. I don't need any fires in the dashboard or to blow my already mediocre radio, don't need to be spending more on this thing.

I've been looking at reviews and pretty much across the board I see people having problems with Pioneer speakers, namely with the bass going out. Any truth to this?

What's the difference between pure power in wattage, and "RMS" wattage to the speaker? Some speakers have about the same RMS and watts, some have the watts much higher than RMS. Does this reflect on the quality, or is it more performance or tuning?