Topic: Car audio question - new speakers with factory deck?

[aaronk]

We have a decent sound system in our 2010 Santa Fe but because we spend quite a bit of time in the vehicle I would like to upgrade the door speakers and possibly add a low-profile subwoofer. Can I do this without changing the factory dash unit? Would a 4-channel (or more) external amp be enough to run the speakers plus sub?

On another note, anybody have a suggestion of who could install something like this and do a clean job?

Thanks!
Aaron.

[mmret]

<Parasite>
I am also curious. The Z4 stereo sucks. But I am not sure if its because of the amp, the (very numerous) speakers themselves, or just the fact that its a loud car with very little noise insulation.
</Parasite>

[rrocket]

Yea, I've done this a few times.  I kept the stock deck in my Supra (and a few others) and replaced them with Boston Acoustic, JL Audio and Polk.  Those are the only 3 aftermarket speakers I've ever used.  Quality and sounded great.

 

[dr_spock]

I added additonal rear speakers to a Sentra that came with only 2 front speakers.   It wasn't hard to DIY.

[tortoise]

With a bit of work you could probably do it yourself.  Otherwise, do some searching for shops that have a good reputation.  From what I gather, Futureshop or BB are hit and miss regarding the quality of installers.

You'll need a 4 channel amp that accepts line-level inputs if you want to use your stock deck.  Basically you connect the speaker wire to the amp and it sends it out to the speakers.  You would want to use the front speaker wires for the front speakers and the sub and then power the rears off of the head unit.   The rear speakers don't to much anyways.

I'm not sure how much of an improvement you would see but certainly it would be better than the stock system.  I'd suggest going with a smaller sub (8"-10") in a sealed box so you don't eat up too much cargo space.

[aaronk]

With a bit of work you could probably do it yourself.  Otherwise, do some searching for shops that have a good reputation.  From what I gather, Futureshop or BB are hit and miss regarding the quality of installers.

You'll need a 4 channel amp that accepts line-level inputs if you want to use your stock deck.  Basically you connect the speaker wire to the amp and it sends it out to the speakers.  You would want to use the front speaker wires for the front speakers and the sub and then power the rears off of the head unit.   The rear speakers don't to much anyways.

I'm not sure how much of an improvement you would see but certainly it would be better than the stock system.  I'd suggest going with a smaller sub (8"-10") in a sealed box so you don't eat up too much cargo space.

Hey thanks for the advice. I notice you say 'not sure how much of an improvement you'll get', isn't changing the speakers the main upgrade one can make? How much does the head unit really do, and is that really where I should start if I want an upgrade? My problem is I want the vehicle to look stock...

[tortoise]

The comment was more me covering my ass than anything.

The issue is that stock HU's don't usually put out a lot of power so the stock speakers are very efficient to make the most of it.

I've read that if you just change the speakers you'll often lose some bass because the HU is tuned to the stock speakers.     

For sure changing either will make a difference and changing both will have the biggest effect.   I'd do a search on Hyundai forums to see what owners have said.

Adding an amp (even if it is just to drive the front speakers) will make a big difference with the after market speakers.

As for preserving the stock look, something like this might work:
http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/kenwood-kenwood-in-dash-double-din-mp3-wma-cd-car-deck-with-ipod-control-dpx308u-dpx308u/10164181.aspx?path=925dbdb98aea79b6effc424507e63eb5en02

[johngenx]

The general public tend to equate number of speakers with quality of system.  Hence, the upper trim levels of many cars have "818 speaker sound system!!!" marketing.

One of the most beautiful sounding systems we ever built had two tweeters, two mids, and one sub.  But, the system was built with insanely high quality components and countless hours of imaging analysis to position the speakers, tune the crossovers, and so on to create a soundstage.  When you attend a concert, none of the band sits behind you.  So, you don't really want any frequencies above the bass to be projecting from the rear.

Even on many luxury cars, we found crappy paper cone speakers that would have been cheap in a base Accent, much less in a $50K car.  We did many fairly inexpensive upgrades by adding a small line-level amp (many factory head units don't have pre-outs) and better speakers.  We typically only added power to the front speakers.

The best factory system I've heard is the Mark Levinson Lexus system.  A lot of effort combined with superb components really make upgrading those systems either difficult, or a case of "why bother?"

Don't get me started about Bose...

[tortoise]

http://www.davidnavone.com/heresHow/files/OEM%20vs%20Aftermarket%20Decks21.pdf

Maybe OEM HU's are not that bad after all. 

Also, I forgot to add that you don't specifically need an amp that can accept line level inputs.  You could also use a quality LOC (Line Output Converter).

[allmango]

Thanks for sharing the great link. I did just that-keep the factory HU and replacing speakers only. I was lucky enough to come across a set of Pioneer TSC720PRS on ebay. It was $100.00 more than the $150 I had budgeted for but the end result is fantastic1