Hi, I did some reasearch on some car audio. I have The two front dash speakers, and the 2 rear speakers. I know that the dash are 3.5in, and the reare are 6 x 9. If I were to replace those with some new speakers, do you think it would be good sounding enough?
I listen to Rock music, so I don't need "Thumping" bass, but nice bass.
Also, would the saab stock head be able to handle new speakers, or would it sound ok?
And would any1 know the stock saab speaker's wattage and head's stock wattage?
And can I have coaxial speakers?
Hi - avoid co-axial's (cones mounted together) and go for 2-way (cones on seperate mountings). The 3.5's are a bit too small to provide anything but a bit of fill so it's worth investing in some good 6x9's for the rear. The stock Saab unit is not that good and is easily bettered by a descent modern head unit - even better if you drive the speakers with a seperate amp.
Thanks for the info. I was looking at these speakers. I don't really understand the difference between coaxial and such... 3.5's 6x9's
I would like to get an amp and new head, but everything is just so expensive, and I don't know how to install it. I looked over some guides and it looks very complicating. If I was to get an amp, subs, and new head and got it installed with these new speakers, how much money do you think I'm looking at...
Actually coaxial just refers to one driver being inside the other. All two- and three-way car speakers are coaxial, unless they're components and have the tweeter mounted away from the woofer. What you want to avoid are dual-cone speakers, which don't have a separate tweeter, but instead use a smaller "whizzer cone" to try to produce higher frequencies. Those are mostly only used in factory stereos and are pretty rare in the aftermarket, though.
Ok, so if I was to use an amp, how do I hook an amp up to the head? Do I run wire under the carpet? I would prob mount it in the boot (like showed in the guide) and get one large enough to incorperate from subs as well. From what I gather from an amp is you hook the Head up to the Amp, and the Amp to the speakers, correct? How much wire would I need and what kind seems reasonable?
Is there a head I can keep that will allow me to still use the LCD on top of the radio that displays MPG and such?
Thanks. I'm planning on this being a Christmas present so I'm trying to see if I can do this without instalation fees. I use eBay as well, so I'm thinking I can get some great prices.
Ok, so if I was to use an amp, how do I hook an amp up to the head? Do I run wire under the carpet? I would prob mount it in the boot (like showed in the guide) and get one large enough to incorperate from subs as well. From what I gather from an amp is you hook the Head up to the Amp, and the Amp to the speakers, correct? How much wire would I need and what kind seems reasonable?
Is there a head I can keep that will allow me to still use the LCD on top of the radio that displays MPG and such?
Thanks. I'm planning on this being a Christmas present so I'm trying to see if I can do this without instalation fees. I use eBay as well, so I'm thinking I can get some great prices.
Step by step...
1. Amp needs signal from the HU. You connect them with a RCA cable; the best way to route it is under sill plates. It is plenty of room there, just beware that RCA cables are carrying signal which gets amplified, so any interference they catch will also get amplified. Keep them well away from power cables!
2. Speakers are connected to the amp with simple speaker cable. More powerfull the speakers, bigger the diameter of cables.
3. Amp also needs power, ground and "remote". Power comes directly from the battery, again put cable under sill plates. Ground is somewhere near the amp. Remote is used to turn on the amp - you get it from the HU.
4. I used 10 m of RCA cable for 4 channels, so that makes ~ 5 m per route. Also used 6 m of power cable and 12 m of speaker cable: from amp to crossovers behind passanger site kick panel and from them to the door speakers. Tweeters had their own (crappy) cable. Oh, if you don't use meters, do some calculation :lol:.
5. That nice LCD is called SID (Saab Information Display). HU only controls a part of the lower line - that part with track number / RDS information. If you get yourself another HU, you will loose only that line - it's like driving with the HU turned off.
This has cost me about $1600 so far (i had everything installed professionally, thought i would do my amp and speakers but then i started taking **** apart and trust me... get it professional and cough up $550 for it (it hurt... bad))
I went with Kappa 60.7cs (3.5's and oversized 6.5's)
Kappa 693.7 (6x9's)
Reference 475a 4ch amp (90watts per channel)
I also have a Kenwood Excelon KDC-x791 head unit
Honestly, I LOVE IT, and its not broken in yet... the sound is sooo clear and i can hear every little detail perfectly... all im mising is a few kicker comps and another amp (looking at prob another 500)... regardless i highly recommend an amp, and i would HIGHLY encourage upgrading your headunit if you want to go without an amp... no point in having nice speakers with nothing to power em
for wiring you want a streetwires amp kit (4gauge for me, depends on what your running), 60 feet of speakerwire for 6 speakers... for the best sound you want to run each speaker to your amp, also you need a to ground the amp and connect the amp to the headunit... eitherway honestly it soudns like you are where im at, i recommend you buy RCA's, streetwires amp kit, speakerwire, speakers and amp and cough up 500 for installation... i really tried to do it myself, but once i took it apart i realized i should just give in and pay up
This has cost me about $1600 so far (i had everything installed professionally, thought i would do my amp and speakers but then i started taking **** apart and trust me... get it professional and cough up $550 for it (it hurt... bad))
WOW! Thats alot of money. When I priced it out online, mostly through amazon, nothing was nearly that high, even with subs. Hrmm, If I could keep it under $400 of $500 I think I could make it work. One, quick question, what's a sill plate and where is it located =]
I'm pretty good with electronics, so I'm thinking I could pull this off with a buncha times on my hands.
As far as AMPS's go, say I get the 3.5's, 6.5's, and 6x9's, and Subs, does that mean I need a 4 channel amp with about, 2000 Watts?
Thanks so much for the help guys, I'm really startin to get it =]
Tom
well i actually bought all my stuff off ebay (i know i know) but i highly recommend 3alarmsales who has a store there, great customer service and if something doesnt work they say you have 30 days, but ive talked to them 4 months later and there customer service is great... plus you can get warrentys through ebay from squartrade.com (3 year warrenties on anything) so lets see i think i payed 170 for my kenwood unit, 160 for my 475a amp, 160 for my component speakers, 150 for my 6x9's... (plus my wires were about 150, so i guess ive speant about $1750) anyways i spend 762 on installations (BS).
You wont be able to run 6speakers + subs on one amp, no way... Im pretty new to this stuff too but ive learned some from this whole experience... you will want to get a component system (2 6.5's, 2 3.5's, and a pair of crossovers) this will allow you to essentially run 4 speakers using only 2 channels of the amplifier (thanks to the crossovers), the other 2 channels will be occupied by your 6x9's. So you will want a 4 channel amp to power that (plus wiring). (i paid 620 for all of this, and i went with pretty high end speakers using ebay to keep it somewhat affordable)...
ive yet to add subs but when i get to it i plan on adding 2 12" Kicker 07dcvr122, and a Kicker ZX750.1 mono amp with enclosure i figure will run me about 400 on ebay (could probably install that myself)
Anyways you might be able to install it but its going to require you getting speakerwire through your front doors, running 4 wires up to the front of your car, another wire to the ground, and a few rcas to your head unit, plus 2 wires through your rear speakers... not to mention other unexpected suprises you might run into.. but if you can pull it off kudos, if i could have i would have spent half of what i did
I bought an used 4-channel amp for ~ 100 €, speakers and wires were another 100, I installed everything in one afternoon. It's not _that_ difficult.
Sill plate: perhaps there's another expression for that . It's that plastic piece between seat and outer world .
The most troublesome part for me was getting the cables to the doors. My car was pre-wired, but I decided to replace those tiny wires, so I drilled through the common connector for door cables. That was easy. But getting the new cable there was a PITA: there are two very tight rubber grommets on each side. A lot of liquid soap did the trick on the passenger side, however I had to cut one grommet on the driver's side. Everything else was pretty easy.
If you're interested I can post details of my installation with more pictures.
I would REALLY appreciate more pics if you have them. I know I can make this work for a rather cheap price, but I'm so worried about the installation. I'm very good with computers and I'm not used to not knowing about something, which is cars. So hooking everything up, I'm not worried about. It's hiding wires, and whatnott hats tough. I've successfully taken the HU out of my car before, so I'm not too worried about that.
Thanks for the help thus far =]
Tom
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