My Adventures in Upgrading the Subwoofer and Center Speaker

[98jfuentes]

you gotta redo your whole system to get the most out of it. I did a whole sound system overhaul. my ears ring every time i leave my car lol.

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[WhooptieDo]

Damn dude, save some dynamat for the rest of us! lol

 

[98jfuentes]

Damn dude, save some dynamat for the rest of us! lol

it’s harder to lay it flat and in one piece cause the trim panel hooks on to the gap where the regulator sits. the water shield isn’t exactly flat to do a cut out either. regardless, it does the job

 

[Starship Enterprise]

I fully understand a complete stereo system overhaul will be the biggest improvement. But for those who don’t want to go that far, just swapping out the sub and center speaker is a decent gain.

TBH, I find myself constantly turning down the stereo to hear the real music coming out the tailpipes…lol.

 

[Deleted member 64400]

OK, this subject has been talked about ad nauseum. Do we need a new thread on it? Probably not. But if it helps someone upgrade the 2 speakers without having to look at 10 different threads, why not?

I put in the Pioneer 10” subwoofer.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JVD1ZHV?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

Red Wolf adapters (These made the new Pioneer sub literally a plug and play!)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B089Q9K9Z6?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

The 4 bar grill
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H9IL29S?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

And replaced the center speaker with the Dayton Audio 3.5” speaker.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Q3M9852?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

Pioneer 10” sub:
Drops right in as everybody said. I rotated it ever so slightly so I could drill new holes in the sub box to mount it. Drill extra small holes!!! The screws need to bite. Sounds better but not much boomier. What did happen is that it had better soundwaves which allowed all the other speakers to sound better. (I have the B&O 12 speaker system). I noticed significantly better sound out the side woofers! It just made the whole sound system sound better overall. This sub replaces the stock 4 ohm dual coil with the same specs. By using the stock holes on the Pioneer, I saved about an hour of drilling and bending the metal ring and was now able to put the Pioneer trim ring on. And you can’t really notice the Pioneer logo is slightly tilted.

I drilled 4 new holes and put the grill over.

Things I noticed while listening to different songs on XM Sirius:
- Folding down the back seat lets more sound up front
- In Surround mode, the sound is fuller and more spatial, but if you isolate the sub with the fader, some songs struggle with the sub…you can hear a distinct squealing and unpleasant audio artifacts….but it depends on the song.
- In Stereo the sound is much stronger at the cost of being less spacial, but the sub is stronger and shows no bad sound artifacts.

Dayton Audio 3.5” Center Speaker.
I got this speaker because the OEM center speaker is 8 ohm, 12.5 watts. This speaker is also 8 ohm, which I believe won’t upset the sound balance.

Center grill pops right off. Just held on with 4 clips. Just pop off with trim removal tool. Remove the 2 screws, Unclip the connector, and snip the wires and solder them to the new speaker. If you look close + and - are marked on both speaker terminals.

Now here’s the hard part. The new speaker holes don’t come anywhere close to lining up with the two stock screw holes in the dash. There’s also no room to drill new holes as the windshield is just 2 inches above the opening. I thought about it a while and determined, if 3M tape can hold on my front splitter, louvers, rear spoiler, and side louvers, they can hold a little speaker on the dash.

So I peeled the foam tape off the new speaker, and double taped inside the little recessed sections underneath inside the metal ring recess, so the final ring of 3M tape has a flat surface to stick to. Then I trimmed the little plastic alignment tab off the center dash, and laid down a ring of 3M tape to the dash to receive the speaker. I connected the wire clip, dropped in the speaker and secured the edge of the ring with more thin strips of 3M tape. I determined it is NOT going anywhere! The speaker grill clipped on top of it…. no problem.

Testing the sound, I feel a massive improvement!

For now still going with Surround and having at least one back seat folded down to let more sound up front.

Hope this helped anyone considering replacing the sub and center speaker!

Pioneer sub with 4 bar grill.

CENTER SPEAKER
Mounting holes not even close!

New vs. old

Showing how the little strips of 3M tape fill the recesses in the speaker ring.

OEM clip soldered on to new speaker

Final ring of 3M tape around new speaker for mounting.

New speaker mounted with 3M tape. Don’t laugh…it worked! OK…lol.

Center Speaker Grill Clipped right back on. (Phew)

Nice!!!

 

[Deleted member 63243]

Thanks to help from this forum I finally got around to replacing the center speaker. I previously did the Pioneer sub. Removing the center grill wasn't the problem I had imagined. Somebody previously posted that they used the Pioneer TS-A879 3 1/2" speakers because they have the same 2 mounting holes so I bought a pair. The install took less than a half hour. The speaker mounted perfectly and sounds much better than stock. What a POS that was. I had to buy a pair so I have another one. If somebody wants it PM me and we can work out a deal.

 

[Junkyard Dog]

A pair? There are two in the center?

 

[Deleted member 63243]

A pair? There are two in the center?

No just one, but the speakers are sold in pairs. I have the second one NIB.

 

[Junkyard Dog]

Oh, I was very confused . . .

 

[20ducks]

..." If somebody wants it PM me and we can work out a deal.".

If you were closer to Kansas, I'd PM you for a deal on the extra center speaker.

 

[Starship Enterprise]

That center Pioneer speaker looks nice. Being that it’s 4 ohm vs. stock OEM 8 ohm, does it sound louder than the other speakers? Like, does it sort of stand out?

I still don’t know if it’s really a bad thing to go with lower ohm on a little center speaker. I chickened out and got that Dayton 8 ohm.

Either way, glad you got a good solution and upgrade!

 

[Deleted member 63243]

That center Pioneer speaker looks nice. Being that it’s 4 ohm vs. stock OEM 8 ohm, does it sound louder than the other speakers? Like, does it sort of stand out?

I still don’t know if it’s really a bad thing to go with lower ohm on a little center speaker. I chickened out and got that Dayton 8 ohm.

Yes, it does sound a little louder, but not much. The music is a lot clearer, not nearly as muddy, and there's a little more bass.

 

[Starship Enterprise]

Great! Glad you saw an improvement!

 

[KFishohio]

These are available as singles, I'm not much of a sound guy. If any one has any opinions, please let me know.

Dayton Audio ND91-8 3-1/2" Aluminum Cone Full-Range Neo Driver 8 Ohm

 

[D/\rK•650]

you gotta redo your whole system to get the most out of it. I did a whole sound system overhaul. my ears ring every time i leave my car lol.

I know im gonna sound like an old fart but if your ears are ringing it's to loud !! LOL I have tinnitus and it's freaking awful..! Please take care of your ears you'll thank me when you get older..

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