dissapointing aftermarket speakers

[impyboy]

After finding out I had the BMW stock speakers, i thought an upgrade to an aftermarket speaker set would make it sound alot better.

The stocks were good to start with with the new head unit. awsome bass response, and no distortion when turned up.

so i looked into 'better' speakers.
The cheapest decent speakers i found were about £30.
after many weeks, i decided to double that amount and go for something of a better reputation.

so i jumped in my car, turned on my fav tune and listen for a while.
turn off, the system, and changed the speaker with this 'you beaut' new speaker... which fit in perfectly.

turn the system back on.... whoah, what happened to the bass?
what happened to the volume?
man, it was do dissapointing that these speakers performed worse than the stockies.

i knew i should have bought the pioneers, which were the same price!
these are Infinity's...which i thought would have been a better brand than pioneer, when it comes to speakers.

tempted to put the nokias back in and selling these!

[L84THSKY]

I'm very happy with my stock speakers, don't see any reason to change them.

Originally Posted by impyboy

After finding out I had the BMW stock speakers, i thought an upgrade to an aftermarket speaker set would make it sound alot better.

The stocks were good to start with with the new head unit. awsome bass response, and no distortion when turned up.

so i looked into 'better' speakers.
The cheapest decent speakers i found were about £30.
after many weeks, i decided to double that amount and go for something of a better reputation.

so i jumped in my car, turned on my fav tune and listen for a while.
turn off, the system, and changed the speaker with this 'you beaut' new speaker... which fit in perfectly.

turn the system back on.... whoah, what happened to the bass?
what happened to the volume?
man, it was do dissapointing that these speakers performed worse than the stockies.

i knew i should have bought the pioneers, which were the same price!
these are Infinity's...which i thought would have been a better brand than pioneer, when it comes to speakers.

tempted to put the nokias back in and selling these!

[Bluebimma]

Man that sucks...could it be an issue with capatibility with the stock amp?

[evalha007]

The stock speakers should be Alpine...

[bullmand]

Originally Posted by evalha007

The stock speakers should be Alpine...

My '98 has Nokia speakers in the kick panel and the rear shelf. Not sure about the ones in the doors.

[madfronter]

My stock speakers are made by nokia as well.

Get some JL audios or MB Quartz or your brand of choice speakers and run them through an amp with the propper power rating for your new speakers and you will be very happy with the sound. It most likely has something to do with the new speaker being hooked up to the stock amps. I bet the stock amp doesn't have enough power to power your new speakers.

[mickd]

Suprising the Infinity speakers sounded that bad. Check to see if you reversed the polarity on one of the speakers, if you did, the bass will be bad because the sound will cancel.

[davep-uk]

infinity's are good speakers generally especially their componant sets. but i'm a big fan of JL Audio as someone mentioned. not over priced and a wicked sound!

[stormos]

I LOVE my Kenwood PS stuff. TOP MARKS!

[mohaughn]

The resistance(Ohm) rating of the speakers can also make a difference. I'm pretty sure the expected impedance of the stock amp is not the resistance of your aftermarket speakers. I'd never recommend using after market speakers with the stock amp.

You are also more than likely underdriving the new speakers. If you take a speaker that is rated for 100 watts nominal load and only push 20 watts to that speaker it will not sound as loud as a speaker that is designed to work with a 20watt nominal load.

[snwbrdrbum10]

i love my stock speakers and a 12" kicker sub...sounds great

[impyboy]

I'm not sure whether the stockies are Alpine or Nokias, it's just that people hav been saying they're Sh*tty Nokias, but on the back it just says BMW followed by 4 Ohm/25W. But they are the Dual cone type speakers. the rubber surrounds are really soft, which i guess explains the bass response.

I've just spent all evening after work wiring up the components straight to the Head unit instead of the std wiring.
i've done one side and working on the other side now. (called in for dinner ).

i've listened to one side, and it's not much better.
but sound stage is improved coz the tweeters are mounted on the A-pillars.

i'll do the other side and see how it sounds.
i think coz there is no room behind the speaker due to the large magnet, there is no 'chamber' for the sound to resonate. I dunno.
I've taken that material off the other side, and mounted the speaker straight onto the metal to see if it sounds any better. there's quite a bit of room behind it now. i'll check after dinner (in the dark).

i'll be back......
else, i'll get an amp later, as suggested. the speakers are rated 75WRMS, and my HU is only pumpin out 22WRMS.

[madfronter]

What type of speakers did you get? Did you buy a component set with a 5 1/4" and 1" tweeter with a crossover? If this is the type of set up you are attempting to wire to your headunit you won't get very good sound out of them. You need to get a new 75watt x 2 channel amp for those speakers. Or you can get a 75watt x 4 channel amp so in the future you can hook up new rear deck speakers to it as well.

[sublimeti]

I actually just replaced my stock speekers with the infinity Kappa component speakers. the front and the rear. I placed the tweeters in the door panels and in the rear also. the only stock ones i kept were the 3 incherson the doors...i was gonna replace them but the dude at the sound place said that if i touched that speeaker i wasgonna need to get some kinda custom mount because they tend to fall off the door if not mounted properly?? whatever---anyways i also got a kick ass amp to go along with my new set up for 500watts. it was a b**** to get the damn things to start working, but when they finally did they sounded AWSOME! $800 later...professionally installed including speekers and wire harnesses and crossovers. I kept the original head unit and 6 disc cd changer.-------those little a*s nokia speakers had a magnet the size of a POG! Replace ur speakers...you will be sooooo glad! do it right and pay some one if u dont know how.

[stormos]

i had infinity in my clio, it was definetly well up there with ratings, probably as good as what i have now if not better! but i had a sub then and not now