Should I replace my OEM Speakers? If so, what should I get?

[Beaker]

I put a new deck in my titan not too long ago. I love it much more then the stock system, but what sucks is after a period of time when I have the volume turn up pretty loud, the sound degrades.....like the speakers overheat...if i turn it down for awhile....then its fine....

The deck I have is a kenwood that has an output of 50w x 4

i assume its the crappy stock speakers.....right?

If I were to replace them, what should I get? I dont want to spend a fortune on speakers.....and im not an audio expert either.......so if you could just paste some links to crutchfield, that would be perfect.

thanks,

beaker

[MaxPowers]

I don't have any links to crutchfield since these aren't sold on there but i put 6.5 diamond audio components in the front doors and 5.25 boston 2 ways in the back and hooked it up to a 4 channel amp and it sounds great.

[bestatchess]

Originally Posted by Beaker

I put a new deck in my titan not too long ago. I love it much The deck I have is a kenwood that has an output of 50w x 4

i assume its the crappy stock speakers.....right?

I am in the process of replacing the stock RF speakers with 6.5" components from edesignaudio.com

The rear door speakers in the RF system are Clarion 50W (peak) 35W (nominal) at 2 ohms. They don't impress, nor do the stock tweets. In addition, there is no water shielding in the door for the speaker, so when water leaks past the outer window seals into the door (as will happen on any vehicle), the speaker gets wet. I ordered some of the foam speaker baffles from crutchfield for this problem. (basically a foam cup that surrounds the back end of the speaker.)

Nissan uses a plastic mounting baffle integrated with the speaker which has a non-standard bolt hole pattern to attach the plastic baffle to the door panel. In replacing these stock speakers, it is necessary to make an MDF baffle of the appropriate dimensions to mount the replacement speaker (you can use the original speaker baffle as a template and trace its configuration onto MDF to get the exterior dimensions of your baffle). In the rear doors, the window glass sits about 2 inches back from the speaker opening in the door, so that you have to make your baffle the right thickness to space the speaker outwardly enough so that the back end doesn't hit or obstruct the window glass. So basically you are looking at some MDF of the appropriate thickness, a router, a jig saw, and a circle jig for the router.

I think the front speaker in the RF are 6x9 and also require making an MDF baffle. I haven't yanked the front door panels yet. I bought some 6x9 to 6x5 adapters for the fronts, but I think they are going to be too thin and I will have to make new ones from MDF.

For the rear doors, there is a nice hollow portion inside the door panel under the arm rest for mounting a cross-over. It looks like this will be the case for the front doors also (although the front tweets are in the dash).

So anyway, I guess the moral of the story is that replacing the speakers won't necessarily be a simple swap. BTW, in doing research I noted that there are pre-made baffles available to swap speakers in Chevy trucks (but of course none for the Titan).

[Beaker]

I am sorry I forgot to mention....

I do not have the RF system....I just have the pop package that came with the indash 6disk changer.

the above post was informative, but i got completly lost reading it.

ill try to dig around on crutchfield and see what i can learn about baffles.

[cbgb]

Beaker Im not an auto adiophile but ,,if your sound is degrading after periods of high volume,I would be more inclined to say your head unit is overheating more than your stock speakers,,,the speakers would distort from the get-go.....maybe,,,just a thought

[Beaker]

Originally Posted by cbgb

Beaker Im not an auto adiophile but ,,if your sound is degrading after periods of high volume,I would be more inclined to say your head unit is overheating more than your stock speakers,,,the speakers would distort from the get-go.....maybe,,,just a thought

sounds like a possibility....anyone want to comment on this?

possibly i have some wires crossed somewhere?

-beaker

[Fatfreeone]

hey beaker i cant really help you with your probelm but you can help me with mine (lol sorry) I also have the indash 6cd changer and want to replace it....what did you buy other than the head unit itself to make it work? and do the steering wheel controls still work?

[Beaker]

Originally Posted by Fatfreeone

hey beaker i cant really help you with your probelm but you can help me with mine (lol sorry) I also have the indash 6cd changer and want to replace it....what did you buy other than the head unit itself to make it work? and do the steering wheel controls still work?

read my thread here:

Installing Aftermarket Radio Tonight...

[Titan4x4Aggie]

i'm guessing you need an amp to power your speakers. the same thing happened in my rx-7, where i upgraded the head unit and added new speakers (120W peak power). the head unit was only like 40 W x 4, so the speakers were greatly underpowered. i'm sure an amp would have fixed it.

you can only turn up sound so far before distortion occurs if the speakers are underpowered.

[Potroast]

Originally Posted by Beaker

sounds like a possibility....anyone want to comment on this?

possibly i have some wires crossed somewhere?

-beaker

most headunit amps SUCK! 52x4 is a common power-rating to see advertised. These decks commonly bench-test at only 16-18W, however... And it's DIRTY sound... I run an amp for everything... Currently I'm running a Crossfire TEK 75.2 on my mains (gains are set to 50W RMS by oscilliscope) and it's night and day difference compared with my head unit's amp! Clean Clean Clean power!

[Potroast]

As for speaker recommendations I like the CDT CL 61 components, and the CDT CL 6X coaxials for fill.

[bestatchess]

The components I got from edesignaudio.com are CDT w/CDT 560 cross-overs

[Potroast]

yep, I think they're re-marked HD series or possibly Euros. How much did you get em for?

[bestatchess]

Originally Posted by Potroast

yep, I think they're re-marked HD series or possibly Euros. How much did you get em for?

I can't give you a separate price for the speakers as I bought a package deal with 2 sets of components, 2 Tru Amps & 1 sub.

If you are interested, call Ben at 319.665.6350

I think he will give you a good price relative to CDT pricing. If a few people were interested, maybe you could get a group deal.

The only thing they seem to be missing is the CDT logo (although the cross-overs clearly state CDT 560). The tweets have the same little dimple in the grill where the CDT logo would reside, but the logo is missing.

Keep in mind that these are not an easy straight swap for the stock speakers as you need to make MDF baffles/rings for mounting. I was initially inclined to do a quick hatchet job with a jig saw, but then decided to do it right and ordered a circle jig for my router, now all I need to do is to find the right size roller bit to trace the outer periphery of the stock plastic baffle. Based upon my measurements, the rear speakers will require about 1.25" thick MDF baffles to keep the rear of the speakers clear of the window glass. I also ordered some foam baffles (cups) from crutchfield to keep the water inside the door off the speakers, as the stock RF speakers were getting wet.

[gop]

yah know polk audio offers the units for the door's and for the rear they give u a free
adapter to fit the stock opening