Upgrade Speakers - Non M&T

[bh357]

I am upgrading the speakers on my Vibe, with the intention of adding an amp some time down the road. I do not have the Moon and Tunes package. All of the posts I've seen where people have replaced the speakers without adding an amp, have been with the M&T package. What kind of sound quality (improvement) can I expect powering the new speakers off of the factory stereo. The speakers will be Polk db6500 component sets in all four doors.Also, can someone reccommend placements for the tweeters, for best sound?Thanks.

[ragingfish]

If you want to place the tweeters where they would normall be in a M&T equipped car (the sail panel aboive the door panel, next to the window), I have my stock sail panels for sale...You can do what the guy who sold me his speakers did, and glue the new tweeters into the panel...I also have stock tweeters for sale...but the wiring harnesses have been removed, so you might need to get creative to wire tem up.

[bh357]

Thanks ragingfish.What is the difference in the sail panels with and without the M&T, other than the tweeter and grill. I may have to wait until my new speakers to arrive, to see if I'll have clearance to mount them to my sail panels, or if I'd need the ones from the M&T package. My other options are high or low in the door.The speakers have been ordered, however they are on backorder until the end of the month.Do you know approximately how many watts per channel the factory radio puts out? I'm guessing only 10 or so watts RMS.

[ragingfish]

Quote, originally posted by bh357 »Thanks ragingfish.What is the difference in the sail panels with and without the M&T, other than the tweeter and grill. That's just it. Quote »Do you know approximately how many watts per channel the factory radio puts out? I'm guessing only 10 or so watts RMS.Nah, sorry. Jahntassa might though...

[joatmon]

[off topic]welcome back bh357, I added you to the thousand day list[/off topic]

[Jahntassa]

Quote, originally posted by bh357 »What is the difference in the sail panels with and without the M&T, other than the tweeter and grill. My other options are high or low in the door.I think the non-M&T / Non-Nav sail panels are just flat, on the M&T and Nav setups they come out and have the tweeter installed behind them, behind a grille. As yours are probably flat, you'd probably have to drill a hole in them to run the wire through, and either screw the tweeter mount into it, or glue/adhere it on. Otherwise, you can screw into the door, or flush-mount the tweeter. Flushmount is where you create a rather large hole and 'flush' the tweeter into the door, so it doesn't really stick out. You can probably do this either to the front of the doorhandle, or you can probably flushmount into the factory grill, in front of where you mount the woofer. In the front doors, you can mount the crossover to the door itself and have it hidden. In the rear doors, both myself and ragingfish have flushmounted the tweeters into the area just before the door handles up top, and they work very well.Quote »Do you know approximately how many watts per channel the factory radio puts out? I'm guessing only 10 or so watts RMS. Your guess is probably good, considering many aftermarket radios are around 17-20. Component setups demand a lot of power, due to the passive crossovers that're needed. You might not need to change out the factory radio (if you like it), but a four channel amp is definitely reccomended. I know we have a 'Verge' model at Circuit City for about $80 that's actually halfway decent. It's not really name-brand, but i've installed it in a few cars and actually been impressed by it.

[bh357]

Jahntassa,Are the M&T sail panels also flat, but with a grille, or do they bulge out some? I may just have to wait until the speakers arrive (on backorder till the end of the month ) to check for clearance. I'm confident in my ability to install these, even cutting the door inner. What I'd like to know is if anyone can give me opinions as to the best location for the tweeters, for best sound quality/imaging. I may just play around with different locations using double sided tape until I find where they sound the best.What Polk speakers do you have in your Vibe? What amp are you running them with? I've been eyeing the Audiobahn 4 x 75w amp as a potential, but I'll be running the speakers off of the factory radio for a while.

[ragingfish]

Here is a M&T sail: As for tweeter location, allegedly, for optimum sound, you should have the tweeter within 12 inches of the woofer. That being said, it's not really possible in this car to do that. In the front, I have my tweeters in the M&T stock location. In the rear, they are by the door handle:

[Jahntassa]

Quote, originally posted by bh357 »Jahntassa,Are the M&T sail panels also flat, but with a grille, or do they bulge out some? What Polk speakers do you have in your Vibe? What amp are you running them with? I've been eyeing the Audiobahn 4 x 75w amp as a potential, but I'll be running the speakers off of the factory radio for a while.The M&T Sail panels are in the first pic of ragingfish's. So they do bulge out a bit, and the tweeter goes in behind them.I have Polk MM6's in my front doors, and ex6500's in the rear. The pic that I posted is from before I had the MM6's in the front doors.