hey guys, just boutgh a set of sony xplod speakers for my gf's 2001 saturn (two xs-v6942a 6x9's, and two XS-V1642A 6.5"ers) changed out one of the door speakers and fired up a cd to compare the two. i was amazed to hear that the oem was louder and had more bass! the speakers both have the same resistance, why wouldnt the sony's perform better?

ps. the sony's were marginally clearer in the highs when i messed with bass/treble, but they should since theyre 4 ways.

 

It's because they're sony's.

 

id assume due the increase in rms (sonys) im sure the deck is like 10-20rms and most oem speakers are rated around 20rms and 40-60peak.

 

It is the difference in efficiency of the 2 speakers. OEM wants 5 watts and the Sony wants 20-25 before it becomes somewhat happy with the power.


And its a Sony!

 

You've just discovered what a system is all about...and as most find out, just changing speakers in a typical oem system rarely delivers the performance they expected.

 

what do you guys think of blaupunkt? they have a pretty good reputation? i know they make oem stuff for alot of euros, hows their aftermarket?

 

Used to be that installing almost any aftermarket speaker was better than the factory ones. Not so anymore. Car makers spend money making sure speakers sound half decent now.

And while I won't say that your speakers sound bad cuz they're Sony, buying anything over a 2way coaxial is not the road to great sound.

 

without getting into a fighting match over oem vs aftermaket.. or which brand is better, I can give 2 comments:
1: the 4 way speakers you see sold are not the best sounding. They are there to sell to the *more is better* buyer. Most good systems are 2 way with a dome tweeter. You dont see 3 ways untill you get into very expensive custom systems. Yes there are some 3 way dome coaxials like Polk 6x9s but it is more for the power handling than splitting up the frequencies.

2: Even with a good pair of aftermarket speakers you still may have less bass aparent with a given head unit. For increased low end bass response you have to give up efficiency. So your OEM system my have less low end and be more efficient, aka louder, but have more mid bass in the 100Hz region that many find will sound like more bass.

 

sony and blaupunkt, kinda sounds like youre shopping at wal mart for your car audio, if youre looking for good gains in sound quality youll probably have to upgrade more of the system than just the speakers.

 

an underlying theme here is you are trying to get good 'bang for the buck'. Those saturn OEM speakers were nothing special but they were tuned to the car (but gave horrible one note bass)
Try to focus on going just a little upmarket at buy things that sound as real as possible TO YOU. You can get good sound on the cheep but you have to listen and be patient