I have a aftermarket high-power Kenwood CD Deck playing my stock speakers, and they jam really good. Will I see a noticible difference if I upgrade to aftermarket speakers?

andy@frascone.com

 

I belive it only makes a difference if you are upgrade to components.

 

If you buy quality stuff, I guarantee it will sound better. No matter how good a stock system is, it can't compare to a well setup aftermarket system.

My advice is, if you are happy with your current system, just enjoy it and don't worry about upgrading. It's a very very very expensive hobby, and once you get a taste, you will just spend more and more. I probably have spent 3000 bucks in the past couple of years.

Once you hear a great system (I'm not talking about a ghetto bass machine) its truly hard to go back to a stock one.

 

Even $100 - $150/pair replacement speakers are really going to improve the sound - put the front ones in first to check it out before you buy a pair for the rear.

Get dynamats, and a lot of people like that baffle for the speakers. Check out Crutchfield. And I agree w/ BLoGGy - you do try to figure out ways to improve it once you get started.


clancy

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Or if you are on a budget get a set of tweeters (as little as $20.00) and mount them on the door.

 

I definitely agree with 54regcab...get some tweeters or go with components. I've gone through 3 different brands of coax/triax speakers, and am not happy with any of them. I'm currently planning on going with components, something I should have done from the beginning.
BTW, the stock speakers may not have much top end, but they have better bass than the Orion/Pioneer/Kenwood 5x7s or 5.25s. Just my opinion, TIFWIW.

 

This is an expensive hobby and after 25 years of it, I can tell you it ain't getting any cheaper !!!!

Sound and listening to it is quite subjective. I myself have evolved from groundpounding, ear-spliting, wake up the neighbors systems to a system that provides clarity, precision, and cab filling low-end. This is achieved by wattage, especially when usig lower volume levels.
Upgrading only the speakers won't do much for you and I recommend you only do that when you've upgraded to some larger amp systems. The Kenwood Hi-power head units put out 10-15 watts RMS which is the spec you want to look at... not peak. That kind of wattage drives mids and tweets pretty well until you get into some power hungry speakers that require mega watts to drive to their potential. Therein lies my advise that if you upgrade, look at amps first. To notice a difference there, you'd probably have to go to a 50 RMS per channel to really get a substantial difference.
I would suggest that you simply add a sub and sub amp to your current system and let'er rock.

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As DonnyD says get an amp first. Right now i just have a 4-channel amp with subs, stock speakers, and a Kenwood deck and the only people who notice the stock speakers are people with really good systems or a lot of experience. The amp and sub make all the difference and you dont even need earth-shattering, wallet-breaking stuff to sound great. Just my opinion.