Car audio upgrade help needed.

Dezzy

Dezzy

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I have a 2004 Cavalier with the factory radio/cd player and speakers still, and they kinda suck.

I want better sound, but it's very expensive to replace the actual radio due to the parts needed.

My question is, can I simply get all new speakers(front and back) and get a good upgrade in sound while still using the factory radio? Seems that most aftermarket do about 50 watts per channel, but I'm not sure what the factory ones do.
 
If the original receiver is crap, then you might not be able to drive the speakers efficiently, which will make the new speakers sound worse than they should. Also, if you're in an old Cavalier, I'm guessing that there isn't much sound insulation either, which would make any upgrades less than optimal from all the road noise.

Don't blame you for not wanting to rip up the dash to replace the radio though...looks like a huge pain in the ass. If you buy from crutchfield, they'll give you everything you need to do the replacement, but you might need to splice some wires.
 
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My guess is you're looking for more oomph out of your LFE's, but unless you're willing to put subs in you will be disappointed. Factory speakers are so shitty because they combine your mids and lows on the same speaker. When you go to replace the car door speakers, you will lose most of that oomph but gain quality in the process. So the short answer is no, just replacing the existing speakers will not have a huge impact, unless of course the old one(s) are blown out.

Also, not sure where you're factoring cost of parts is expensive to replace the stereo. All you need is a proper harness (don't do a ghetto job and cut into the existing) and new stereo. You might need a dash kit for it to look stealth, but I'm guessing it's a single-din and might not need the kit to mount. It's super simple to do yourself, plus you have control over doing a good wiring job (I recommend closed-end wire caps). Unless you're colorblind, you can do it just fine yourself.

Lastly, if you just upgrade the speakers, know that you're using the old wiring which is likely shit and most shops replace the old wiring for you. The labor involved would far exceed the cost of replacing a stereo if you go that route. If you add subs, that would require running wiring from the battery through the firewall and across the floor boards to an amp in the trunk. This is all food for thought at this point, but NEVER allow a shop to tap into the fuse box for the amp. Make sure whoever you take it to explains exactly what they'd do.
 
[quote name='Jodou']Also, not sure where you're factoring cost of parts is expensive to replace the stereo. All you need is a proper harness (don't do a ghetto job and cut into the existing) and new stereo. You might need a dash kit for it to look stealth, but I'm guessing it's a single-din and might not need the kit to mount. It's super simple to do yourself, plus you have control over doing a good wiring job (I recommend closed-end wire caps). Unless you're colorblind, you can do it just fine yourself.[/QUOTE]

I'm assuming the expensive part hes talking about is the dash kit. American cars (Chevys especially) decided that they wanted to give their radios a sleek look and make the radio look as if it were part of the dash itself, so replacing the radio requires replacing damn near the entire dashboard, if not a good chunk of it. Ontop of that, alot of Chevys have either Onstar or a factory amp or some other bullshit that requires a special harness that runs $100+. So yea, Hondas, Toyotas, etc don't cost much to swap radios out, but American-made cars can be pretty pricey.

With that said, swapping out the factory radio + speakers will give you a significant boost in quality, but if you want something top notch, you're gonna need a sub + monoblock amp and a 4 channel amp for the rest of the speakers. And no, riding around with a sub doesn't mean you're going to be blasting bass throughout your neighborhood (unless you want to). A small 8" or 10" sub will give you good bass. If you wanna go for window-shattering bass, though you can go for two 12" subs.
 
[quote name='DOMINATOR912']I'm assuming the expensive part hes talking about is the dash kit. American cars (Chevys especially) decided that they wanted to give their radios a sleek look and make the radio look as if it were part of the dash itself, so replacing the radio requires replacing damn near the entire dashboard, if not a good chunk of it. Ontop of that, alot of Chevys have either Onstar or a factory amp or some other bullshit that requires a special harness that runs $100+. So yea, Hondas, Toyotas, etc don't cost much to swap radios out, but American-made cars can be pretty pricey.

With that said, swapping out the factory radio + speakers will give you a significant boost in quality, but if you want something top notch, you're gonna need a sub + monoblock amp and a 4 channel amp for the rest of the speakers. And no, riding around with a sub doesn't mean you're going to be blasting bass throughout your neighborhood (unless you want to). A small 8" or 10" sub will give you good bass. If you wanna go for window-shattering bass, though you can go for two 12" subs.[/QUOTE]
Ah, consider me enlightened. I've only ever owned import and swapped my stereo twice without need of a dash kit. ;)
 
did you buy the car new? did it get worse over time or was it bad since day one? if they got gradually worse because of bad quality speakers or because it was played too loud for too long new speakers would help

if its been bad since day 1 new speakers might not help

modern cars have pretty robust oem head units for the mainstream, many are contracted out to major car audio companys like clarion, jvc, etc. Many times people change out there system just for the sake of changing it out, and dont get much sound return on their investment.

if your head unit is good get good quality front speakers and tweeters if you want to improve clarity, get subs if you want more boom, which i wouldn't recommend on an 04 cavalier for a variety of reasons. Buying new rear speakers are next to useless because you will never notice the small improvement if you get new rears and have crappy fronts and if you have great fronts, you can just turn off the rears.
 
After doing some GISing for what the inside of that model looks like, that wouldn't be too much of a bitch to do. Just go to a professional car audio shop. You can save some money by buying the harness and install kit yourself rather than buying what they sell. As instal shops rape you on harnesses and dash kits

I upgraded my '99 Accord last summer by installing a Sony head unit that I used in my old '95 TBird. Also upgraded the entire speaker set up by using 3-way JBLs from and back and tossed in a sub and amp.
 
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