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Factory speakers, good bad ?

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  #1  
Old 10-21-2009, 06:52 PM
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Factory speakers, good bad ?

I just replaced the rear speakers in my GE8 sport with pioneer two ways. Now the factory onces have very littel magnet and are light as a feather while the pioneers are substantial. Is it my imagination or do I hear more bass from the stock front ones when I fade to front ? I'm debating weather or not to replace the front factory ones, maybe it will sound great once I get all 4 pioneers in / I'm confused her. Pioneer TS-G1343R 5-1/4" 2-Way Speakers
 
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Old 10-21-2009, 07:09 PM
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Smile

What's the power rating of the speakers you put in? Maybe the factory HU is not supplying enough power to the new speakers. If a more powerful speaker is installed and there's not enough juice going into the speakers, they will never sound right. At least that's what I know.

Hopefully someone with a better audio background will eventually chime in on this one and give you a better advice.
 
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Old 10-21-2009, 08:04 PM
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I also noticed something else... you put in 5 1/4" speakers when the Fit uses 6 1/2". this could definitely be a difference as in many cases, a larger speaker can produce lower frequencies more efficiently. Also, I believe in the sport, the highs aren't sent to the front door speakers as they are handled by the dash so the front door speakers are having to reproduce a lesser frequency range than the rear doors (which I believe are full range speakers).

One thing I've found with the factory honda speakers is that they can almost always take more power than the factory head unit can put out. Usually the lack of audio quality is in the head unit and while the stock speakers are nothing great, they are more than adequate for the stock HU and even many entry level Aftermarket HU's. The Stock Fit HU is pushing out 160W I believe but that may be peak which should put it somewhere around 50-80W RMS. As stated above, if your Speakers are designed for 40W RMS, there's no way you're stock head unit will be able to come close to the capability of your new speakers.

My recommendation is work from the head unit outwards.

~SB
 
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Old 10-21-2009, 08:10 PM
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I doubt the stock HU even puts out 10 watts RMS per channel.
 
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Old 10-21-2009, 08:41 PM
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Originally Posted by Virtual
I doubt the stock HU even puts out 10 watts RMS per channel.
it's rated at 160 and that's with 4 channels so I'd say that each channel would probably run 15-20 +/- a little bit.

I wonder if one of he wiring diagrams has any info on this.

~SB
 
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Old 10-21-2009, 09:31 PM
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The little magnet on the stock speakers is neodymium. Neodymium is around 10 times the magnetic strength by weight compared to ferrite magnets. The way neo magnets are used on a speaker concentrate almost all of the magnetic force in the voice coil area.

I have fit base, and I think the stock speakers are quite good. They sound even better with some sound deadening on the inside of the outer door panel. I removed the speakers, taped over the runners and lock mechanism and sprayed with rubberized undercoating. It improved the mid-base of the stock speakers just like someone on the forum said it did for them.

I'm planing on adding the factory tweeters to bring the sound forward.
 
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Old 10-21-2009, 09:34 PM
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my factory speakers and system are very good. they make the car thump just fine. i dont need to lose my hearing, but i can still make the rear view mirror look like the back window is jumping off the car, if you know what i mean. even loud the quality is still good to prevent distortion

love the system
 
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Old 10-21-2009, 10:00 PM
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Originally Posted by FIT410S
my factory speakers and system are very good. they make the car thump just fine. i dont need to lose my hearing, but i can still make the rear view mirror look like the back window is jumping off the car, if you know what i mean. even loud the quality is still good to prevent distortion

love the system
yea amazingly decent for a stock system, especially in a small gas saver like the fit wouldn't expect it
 
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Old 10-21-2009, 10:05 PM
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I don't have any real issues with the stock system either. You certainly can do better, but unless you really know what you're doing, which I don't, I think you'd be best off having a professional install to avoid problems, and also to get a handle on all your options.

Dan
 
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Old 10-21-2009, 10:31 PM
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Just checked the Pioneers... they are 2-25 RMS so there's no issue there. I'd say the speakers are just too small.

~SB
 
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Old 10-22-2009, 01:29 AM
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FWIW the front and rear door speakers are the same part number: same speaker.
 
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Old 10-22-2009, 06:14 AM
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The stock speakers really ain't that bad.

The only things I'd grumble about are rattling on heavy bass airplay (e.g. long durations of sustained bass) and a slight lack of clarity vs. proper separates. Considering that they're unamplified, that's par for the course and much better than the stock speakers in my old Honda.
 
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Old 10-22-2009, 08:05 AM
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While I agree the stock system is quite good, I replaced the HU to get more features, not so much because the stock one was bad. I replaced it with a Pioneer AVH3100 DVD and optional Sirius and bluetooth add-ons. I believe it is rated at 200w compared to the factory 160. I bought those Pioneer at the recommendation of Crutchfield and was suprised how much smaller they were than the factory ones. I'm thinking of going with a different speaker after hearing the two pioneer I installed in the back. I would like to stay with Pioneer components so if you have any suggestions , fell free to let me know what you think. Also, I have replaced the factory tweeters with Pioneers.
 

Last edited by polokid69; 10-22-2009 at 08:13 AM. Reason: wrong model #
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Old 10-22-2009, 08:51 AM
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I found that replacing the HU on my 08 Fit Sport made a HUGE difference already. The speakers aren't that bad, really, it's the crappy HU IMO I'm perfectly satisfied with the sound in my car now and won't replace my speakers anytime soon.
 
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Old 10-22-2009, 09:03 AM
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Originally Posted by Mela_SC
I found that replacing the HU on my 08 Fit Sport made a HUGE difference already. The speakers aren't that bad, really, it's the crappy HU IMO I'm perfectly satisfied with the sound in my car now and won't replace my speakers anytime soon.
Thanks, I'm having second thoughts about changing factory speakers . I might change the 5 1/4 ones for some 6 1/2 ones
 
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Old 10-22-2009, 09:13 AM
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Originally Posted by Mela_SC
I found that replacing the HU on my 08 Fit Sport made a HUGE difference already. The speakers aren't that bad, really, it's the crappy HU IMO I'm perfectly satisfied with the sound in my car now and won't replace my speakers anytime soon.
Same here. The HU replacement worked wonders and really showed off what the stock speakers could do. By the way my HU's a Pioneer 1-DIN model.

The advice is correct: if your source is crappy, no matter what you change down the line the sound will still be crappy

That said I might still change my GD's stock speakers, but I'm in no hurry. My only real beef with the stockers is imaging: it feels like you're listening to it from a balcony and not from a stage up front. Unlike the GE that at least has provision for tweeters, the GD doesn't have it at all.
 
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Old 10-22-2009, 10:42 AM
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Same here - I changed the stock HU to a Pioneer single DIN HU. And the display matches my blue car perfectly
 
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Old 10-22-2009, 12:37 PM
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i once owned a dodge avenger and swaped out the factory 6x9's for aftermarket 3 ways, i lost the bass, so i put back the factory ones. some times thats the way it is, dont get me wrong, you can swap out the factory ones for aftermarket ones and get better sound. but not allways
 
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Old 10-22-2009, 10:00 PM
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Not to hijack the thread in anyway... but I don't think this merits starting a new one:

Has anyone noticed that on the factory set up... if you turn it up loud, the bass seems to hit a ceiling, and the treble/mid will increase in volume, however, the bass will not?

For the record, I keep Treb and Bass at +4, fade and all that at C, and SVC is off.
 
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Old 10-22-2009, 11:14 PM
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I usually knock the factory speakers but I'm getting kind of used to them.

Try fader all the way to front, bass/treble at 0, and svc off. Then just turn up the volume.
 


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