Speaker noob, looking to upgrade existing speakers

[MikeE024]

Not true. As above, you only need to find good quality aftermarket speakers that have a high enough Sensitivity rating (>90 dB) to require no more power than the factory installed speakers do. Polk and Kicker are two manufacturers that make speakers with high enough Sensitivity ratings to work well with the factory radio.

I respectfully disagree if you want the speakers to sound damn good rather than simply make noise that will be insufficient in multiple scenarios (top-down, traffic noise / larger tires with a soft top).

I was running an aftermarket Alpine deck (18rms) to the polls (90+ sensitivity) and they seemed "ok" but definitely lacked in richness and I couldn't hear the music too well with the top-down driving through town or at higher speeds with my soft top up.

Assuming the stock deck puts out around 10rms, I absolutely would not use it to power even Polks because it will be limited in sound quality and output (—> I've played that game enough to learn my lesson regarding return on investment/effort).

I'd run an aftermarket deck to the stock speakers before going the other way around unless you run something like an Alpine power pack (universal) to the speakers.

That's my $.02 with full mindfulness that each person's needs/constraints vary.

 

[Vtx531]

Assuming the stock deck puts out around 10rms, I absolutely would not use it to power even Polks because it will be limited in sound quality and output (—> I've played that game enough to learn my lesson regarding return on investment/effort).

I can confirm that stock speakers sound better than 6.5" Polks when using a factory radio. Here is a pic of mine before I promptly removed them.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

I respectfully disagree if you want the speakers to sound damn good rather than simply make noise that will be insufficient in multiple scenarios (top-down, traffic noise / larger tires with a soft top).

We'll have to agree to disagree and that's not what you originally said, you claimed you couldn't run aftermarket speakers with the power that the stock radio puts out. You said "Sadly, there's not enough power to run anything but stock speakers in your situation."

Absolutely it can be done and with significantly better sound than it had with the factory speakers. I spent years in the very high-end audio industry doing up to and including theaters and stadiums and full-well know the requirements of getting great sound. YES adding an aftermarket high-power amp will help when the Jeep's top is down, with a soft top, etc. but you can still get a significant improvement with nothing more than good quality aftermarket speakers with the STOCK radio or aftermarket head unit providing the aftermarket speakers have a 90 dB or higher Sensitivity rating.

Before adding the aux amplifier to my last TJ I installed Polk DB speakers with the factory head unit and the improvement in sound the Polks made was very significant.

 

[MikeE024]

We'll have to agree to disagree and that's not what you originally said, you claimed you couldn't run aftermarket speakers with the power that the stock radio puts out. You said "Sadly, there's not enough power to run anything but stock speakers in your situation."

Absolutely it can be done and with significantly better sound than it had with the factory speakers. I spent years in the very high-end audio industry doing up to and including theaters and stadiums and full-well know the requirements of getting great sound. YES adding an aftermarket high-power amp will help when the Jeep's top is down, with a soft top, etc. but you can still get a significant improvement with nothing more than good quality aftermarket speakers with the STOCK radio or aftermarket head unit providing the aftermarket speakers have a 90 dB or higher Sensitivity rating.

Before adding the aux amplifier to my last TJ I installed Polk DB speakers with the factory head unit and the improvement in sound the Polks made was very significant.

Your idea of significant improvement is probably different than mine because a stock head unit running Polks would not be what I'd considered a significant improvement. In fact, I'd be pretty bummed as soon as I drove it down the road at a reasonable speed.

The jeep's environment, envelope, power availability, etc. are very different from a stadium or a theatre. We are discussing car audio decks and four jeep speakers where tires, wind, and road noise play a part in the listener's experience.

With that said, I should not have said it can't be done (obviously it can be done). I should have said that it can be done but will almost certainly have practical limitations that can easily be improved upon (by doing more than what you suggested).

I prefer to build anything I do to a standard that holds up to most if not all of my practical uses. I drive up to highway speeds with a soft top up or down w/ 35s, and I'm still able to enjoy my music. I didn't have to do anything exotic to achieve this level of performance. And I don't have to sit in idle, drive slow, or let off the throttle to be happy with my tunes. No mind tricks are necessary for me because I don't have "kinda good I guess" results.

You don't really explain your reasoning for your significant-improvement claim or where there might be limitations to the proposed significant improvement. It would be super useful if you told us why you believe there is a significant improvement along with environments where you found that opinion to excel or be limited. Providing your reasoning is very important. I'd like to see more applicable details for your reasoning rather than you pivoting into your past work on stadiums and theatres, which involve very different variables and constraints.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

I went into as much detail as I'm going to with you. I am well educated in the subject and I expressed my opinions. I have even built from scratch my own audio amplifiers, vacuum tube and solid-state, and speakers. You don't agree so let's just agree to disagree.

 

[MikeE024]

I went into as much detail as I'm going to with you. I am well educated in the subject and I expressed my opinions. You don't agree so let's just agree to disagree.

I would like to be good on this, but I have something that I find concerning.

You not being willing to go further into detail while then claiming to be "educated" sounds potentially elitist and egotistical. This saddens me Jerry B.

This is about helping others with decision-making, not about you or me. Good day, sir.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

I would like to be good on this, but I have something that I find concerning.

You not being willing to go further into detail while then claiming to be "educated" sounds potentially elitist and egotistical. This saddens me Jerry B.

This is about helping others with decision-making, not about you or me. Good day, sir.

Its your responses like that that made me not want to continue discussing this with you.

 

[MikeE024]

Its your responses like that that made me not want to continue discussing this with you.

Feel free to discuss off-topic items such as stadiums, vacuum tubes, and solid states all while sidestepping the direct subject. That low-level bs doesn't work with me.

Edit: To be clear, that post you quoted was the first post I made "like that" and it was intentional.

 

[LostintheForest]

With a stock radio-

I've tried five or six different pairs in the Jeep side by side with the stock speakers...the stock speakers sound much better than all the others. They all sounded like tin cans with no bass so I left the stock ones in.

I wish there was an easy swap that sounds better but I haven't been able to find it. Maybe buy some speakers locally that you can return if you have the same experience as me.

The factory radio doesn’t have enough power to “wake up” aftermarket speakers, wasn’t driving the voice coils.