I have the set of 4 speakers in my LS. I've heard some people say they sound pretty good, but mine are horrible. I have an 05 that I bought used w/10k. They dont sound like their blown, but are not very loud at all. with the windows down on the xway I can barely hear the radio. I can adjust the sound to the back/front right/left, but is still pretty bad. Anyway, I dont want to put a system in the car, just replace the stock speakers. Has anyone put in some cheaper replacements? I found some infinitys that are about 120 a pair and some Pioneers that are about 90 a pair. Would it really improve the sound by just replacing the 6.5s in the front and the 6x9s in the back with these? Should I get a new radio as well? I'm pretty new to the audio stuff so take it easy on me.

 

I replaced all the speakers in my SS but i got all 4 new pioneers for like $100. check out cardiscountstereos.com and cardomain.com. But yeah the loudness in the base model sucks with the windows down.

 

i was thinking about getting new ones too since i have a new headunit now. how hard is it to replace speakers i havent really looked, i did it on my old cavalier. at least just the back speakers

 

heres a link to the removal of the rear deck and the door panels.

https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/show...t=rear+speaker

 

all of u guys need to keep a couple of things in mind....#1-stock systems use very low power hence low overall volume,
#2- anything stock sux lol
just be warned.....changing the speakers alone will not fix the issue it may make it worse.....this is because most distortion is caused by not enough power...not too much power.....changing just the speakers will not get very good results and no volume will be gained....cahnging the radio is an issue as well b/c factory unit only put out 10 watts max per channel.....new radios put out 20 watts per channel.....this will blow the stock speakers very quickly if not instanly....just a heads up ask me if u need any more info

 

If you replace the stock speakers I would look into replacing the deck to get more power like simmons said OR put a line out converter on the stock deck and add an amp to give more power to the aftermarket speakers.

 

1. Distortion is not caused by not enough power, its caused by driving the amp into clipping due to the volume level not being high enough for the user, no matter how much power you started with.

2. Volume will be gained by changing speakers since aftermarket speakers are generally more efficient then stock speakers.

3. A new head unit will NOT blow the stock speakers, not instantly, not ever unless you run them a clipped signal all the time. After I installed my HU and amps, I had the amp which is 75W RMS per channel (but the certificate was for higher) running the stock speakers for a week or so. I was pretty hard on the volume knob but I didn't run them into clipping, and they didn't blow.

 

#1 wrong...i work in the mobile field for a living i should know ....#2-wrong aftermarkets are less efficient...they need more power to work correctly.....#3=wrong a new unit CAN blow the speakers very easily actually unless that system was already amplified from factory clipping is the main reason for distortion as u said but more power not only means more volume but more clarity at all volume levels....not to mention u cant just throw and amp on a line out...that is the worst set up ever unless we are talking about subs.....u must use a frequency combiner like the JL cleansweep in order to EFFECTIVLY use and aftermarket amp....factory unit w/ amp and no cleaner = ASS lol

 

What about the crappy ass "tear drop, one bolt" setup that the LS has for the door speakers? Im afraid of drilling holes due to the fact that Im sure moisture gets in there, I dont want the holes that I drilled rusting out. Besides, and aftermarket 6 1/2 or 6 3/4 isnt going to fill up the complete hole left by the stock speaker...

 

#1, do some research. "I work in the mobile field for a living I should know" is not an acceptable answer. Underpowering a speaker will NOT blow it. However, turning the amplifier up to where it drives into clipping and feeds the speaker a square wave will blow it since the speaker will overheat from not having enough movement to cool the voice coil with the large wattage going through it.

#2, again, do research, you're wrong. Higher quality speakers generally have a greater sensitivity, ie, more decibels from 1 watt measured from 1 meter. For example, I just looked at a pair of $300 Infinity speakers on Crutchfield, 95 DB sensitivity. On the other hand, a cheap pair of Blaupunkt $50 6.5" have a 90 DB sensitivity.

#3, again, you're wrong. An aftermarket head unit will not "blow the stock speakers very quickly if not instanly(sic)" like you said. A regular aftermarket HU that's like 20 watts RMS will probably run stock speakers forever unless you keep sending them a clipped signal.

If you're going to come on here and profess your knowledge since you work at Tweeter, you should know what you're talking about. I bet StreetDreamz will have something to say about this when he sees this post.

 

The rust shouldn't be a problem. I drilled 4 holes for my 6.5"s to mount in the door and now 7 months later its no big deal. When I unscrew the speaker screws, there is some rust on them but its no big deal. If you're worried about it, paint the holes after you drill them or fill them up with silicone.

However, moisture DOES get inside the door and WILL get the magnets and backs of your new speakers wet. Make sure you get or make some sort of baffle to keep the back of the speaker dry. If you use an aftermarket baffle, the lip at the front of it should be enough to fill up the rest of the gap left by the stock deal.

 

Replace the headunit with like a Pioneer Premier DEH-P580 (NOT 5800) or if you have the extra cash go with something nice like an Eclipse CD5000. Don't worry about your factory speakers, I will address that in my next post. If you are paying more than $70 for Infinity speakers or $40 for Pioneer speakers you are getting ripped. Infinity is garbage, always has been and Pioneer is good for OEM stuff and that's about it. Just basic speakers, that's all they are. They may look cool, but that's all they do. Hell on their "4-way" speakers, two of the little drivers on top don't even get power to them. They just reverberate the sound waves coming from around them. Go with some nice Memphis M-Class speakers or Kicker KS-Series if you want more crispness/loudness. Your headunit is your first best bet, trust me. Then if you got the extra money, go after your speakers. Don't worry about rust or anything though. Dynamat and self-tappers are your friend. Make a cover over top of the speakers inside the door itself with dynamat to keep water off them and self-tap the speakers to the door after you cover the metal area around the speaker hole with dynamat to keep vibrations down.

 

Here is my whole take on the thing after reading through all this garbage. I am not going to go after either one of you because you both make wrong assumptions and conclusions. Simply replacing the head unit in ANY modern vehicle is not going to blow the factory speakers whether they are factory amplified or not. Something like the JL Audio CleanSweep does NOTHING to sum seperate signals in a car, that's the CLSSI which hasn't even been released yet (Mid-August pending). You would not need a Clean Sweep to simply line-level anything in a Cobalt if all you want is more power/volume. Seriously. We amplify factory speakers all the time at sometimes three times the RMS power they are suggested at. A head unit is ALWAYS the first step. You could have a high powered aftermarket headunit (Such as the Pioneer Premier P8MP at it's 60W setting at 30RMSx4) and never blow the speakers in your car, I've seen it far too many times. Factory speakers are made to take lots of abuse. Lots. Your best bet would be to simply line-level an amplifier to your factory speakers off of your factory head unit since you are lookng to keep visual modifications to a minimum it sounds like. Look for a good 35-50 RMSx4 amplifier at around $150-$200. DO NOT run a 2 channel amp at anything less than 4ohms with 2 speakers on each channel, you will have horrible damping factors and though it may be louder it will have much degraded sound quality. If you really want to go on from there, add a headunit in the mix. It's hard to do this stuff when you are talking about miniumal modifications/money. After the head unit of course we are looking at getting those other speakers out of there for something better. I've been involved in this stuff for far too long to keep letting stuff like this go on. We get big box places all the time who tell our customers that if you put a head unit in there you must replace your factory speakers. Do you know what that means...they are trying to make more money. That is it. Plain and simple. I would NEVER tell a customer that even if I worked at a place like that. I explain to them the advantages but would never go as far as to say that replacing your head unit will blow your factory speakers. That is just plain moronic.

 

all the above is correct to a degree...Bravo clipping is the transmission of a square wave but that is not the issue at hand so lets leave clipping out of the equation. But just because a speaker has a higher sensitivity does not mean it will work properly at low power levels.....think about it if u have a driver that needs a certain pwr rating(hence the rms) anything below a certain point will not move the driver at the correct speeds it was designed to replicate freq at therby giving off an inaccurate or "distorted" sound if u read carefully i said that while your suggestions would work....from the standpoint of OPTIMAL performance those are not the correct ways to do it....as far as my answer before i just did not feel like getting into the specifics of ohm's law and other varibles i had to learn to work here so while i appreciate the fact that u have pretty good knowlege yourself.....an optimal system would NOT be done the way u suggested....and as far as low power distortion u are correct.....however MOST HIGH end speakers REQUIRE the use of an amp to perform properly....again a higher sensitivity is found on most lower to mid end speakers but when refering to REAL speakers like Focals they are NOT more efficient....and as far as blowing stock speakers it is possible but again as i said only on systems that ran low wattage and are NOT amped from factory and this usually take some time but it can happen ive seen it....and i never said that too little power would "blow" aftermarket speakers i just said they would not work at optimal ranges so please read b4 u flame....asshat....as far as the other one involved in this i cant deny that the way i have been instructed may be in part due to "selling" tactics but you cant deny the hard evidence that my customers are much happier w/ a complete system as opposed to piece mealing the ****...so w/ that said im done w/ this convo....do what u want and good luck but i know im not all knowing but i do know my **** pretty well and i would appreciate it if the "fire" went out....geez

 

For one, I never suggested how to do it so don't put words in my mouth. I only rebunked stuff you said that isn't true. The best way to do it obviously is to have an aftermarket HU, aftermarket speakers that are amped with a good 4 channel. For the rest of it - my brain can't handle the lack of punctuation, capitals and sentence structure so I'm not going to waste my time. If you want people to take you seriously, you should use some form of proper english when typing a post.

Oh yeah - I did see the "asshat" remark. Obviously your arguments don't hold much water if you have to resort to using personal attacks. You're saying that I'm "flaming" you - but if you'd notice I never called you any names, I simply pointed out that you are spreading misinformation. When confronted with this, you returned with name calling and that says a lot about you as a person. If you want to talk more about it, you can use proper english and drop the personal attacks and I'll be happy to debate this with you.

 

*sighs* Please forgive my sentence structure. I didn't know it was an english final, lol jk. I do that because otherwise it takes way to long to talk about something. As for my attacks, i apologize but i felt as if i was under attack and reacted. I'd just assume leave it at this: We both can agree on most of this but we just have different opinions on how to go about a proper system. Fair enough? No harm intended and never said you didn't know what to do but im sorry, i can only go on my personal experiences and i have seen all the issues i mentioned before occur. Sorry but i do believe what i see and ive seen all that. Either way between the two of us it seems any audio question can be answered. Glad someone came out with their ideas so now i know who to bounce my knowlege off of and get another side of it. I dont believe my company has all the answers which is why i try to do my own research but i have been known to be wrong occasionaly. But again most of what i said is relevant but i may have worded it incorectly.

 

Sounds good bro. I think in the end we probably have the same ideas of what a good system is - for one with my stuff I don't have stock anything....but that's beside the point. A lot of people say that underpowering a speaker causes more distortion - which in itself it does not but the end result is usually distortion since the lack of power means a lack of volume and a lack of volume usually means the user turning the amp up into distortion. So I guess what you said is often the end result but not the first result.....lol.

I don't usually like to pick on spelling, grammar etc but a big block of text with hardly any spaces, capitals, and punctuation is really hard to read. Your stuff will be read more if you throw some enter keys in there once in a while.

Friendly and/or heated debate is cool but I'm not into personal attacks on message boards - unless I've had a few drinks, then I've been known to let some flames go

Jamie

 

LOL Cool man. Glad to see common ground was reached. I did go back and read that horrific blob and i apologize. Enter keys o plenty will follow. I'll try to resort to attacks at the end not right away. I agree, we both know whats good just need to watch my wording.

Good Times for all,
Brett

 

anyone have a pic of this odd mounting thats required to drop in a aftermarket speaker? I'd like to see what challenge is ahead of me.