GOLFMK8
GOLFMK7
GOLFMK6
GOLFMKV

replacement speakers.

janz3n

New member
so im not sure if i suck at searching or im the first one to do this but im looking to replace the speakers in my 2.5 golf. i believe its got premium audio ( says premium on the top of the radio ). im not looking to replace the head unit or run a separate amp for the speakers. honestly, i thought the quality of the audio is good, i heard some buzzing from the front speakers and took a look today and found the woofers are ripped. i may or may not down the road add a small sub woofer with a line output converter.

given the face that i dont mind the sound quality now, should i replace just the woofer in all doors or both woofer and tweeters in all doors? any specific brands and models best suited for my application? if this has been discussed can anyone point me to the proper thread?
 

GolNat

Autocross Champion
Checkout crutchfield for reviews and user experiences. Really any good brand speaker will do just fine and the more you replace the better the sound will be.
 

janz3n

New member

gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
Keep in mind that the OEM head unit is programed based on OEM speakers. The head unit digitally processes the signal, which means it adds EQ based on the characteristics of the OEM speakers. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't replace the speakers, you can certainly see an improvement in sound quality, but the improvement won't be as big as if you started with a much better head unit.

Having said that, if I was in your shoes, I would buy a decent set of component speakers for the front, and leave the rears alone (unless they are blown as well). Rear speakers are supposed to contribute very little to the overall sound in the car with the fronts being dominate to help retain decent staging/imaging.

Those Rockfords you linked do have a crossover, it's just built in. Most likely there is a simple capacitor in the tweeter, for the high pass filter, and a coil in the woofer for a low pass (the woofer may not have any crossover at all). These aren't particularly flexible speakers, meaning that you won't have any way to adjust their sound. I would suggest looking for a set of components with better crossovers. Something with an attenuation circuit in the crossover to adjust the tweeter output would give you a lot more potential to be satisfied with the final outcome.
 

janz3n

New member
Keep in mind that the OEM head unit is programed based on OEM speakers. The head unit digitally processes the signal, which means it adds EQ based on the characteristics of the OEM speakers. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't replace the speakers, you can certainly see an improvement in sound quality, but the improvement won't be as big as if you started with a much better head unit.

Having said that, if I was in your shoes, I would buy a decent set of component speakers for the front, and leave the rears alone (unless they are blown as well). Rear speakers are supposed to contribute very little to the overall sound in the car with the fronts being dominate to help retain decent staging/imaging.

Those Rockfords you linked do have a crossover, it's just built in. Most likely there is a simple capacitor in the tweeter, for the high pass filter, and a coil in the woofer for a low pass (the woofer may not have any crossover at all). These aren't particularly flexible speakers, meaning that you won't have any way to adjust their sound. I would suggest looking for a set of components with better crossovers. Something with an attenuation circuit in the crossover to adjust the tweeter output would give you a lot more potential to be satisfied with the final outcome.
Thank for the info. I ended up buying some generic 1/2 inch stackable spacers and aome skar audio 150rms 4 ohm 6.5 inch woofers. Im really not looking to improve the sound but trying not to make it worse at the same time.
I had $100 amazon gift card so I spent that much to replace just the front for now. If it sounds good to me ill probably do the same for the rear if they are blown and probably install a 4 channel amp in the future.
If they sound worse im out $100 and start over.
 

janz3n

New member
So i got the new speakers in. Haven't had time to really test them. Been trying to find a real answer about replacing high watt handling apeakers with a stock head unit. What I have found is they might not sound as good as the stock ones. I'll find out on my way to work i guess.

Install isn't pretty. I need to redo it a little and clean it up and maybe seal it a bit but everything works.


My new question is. If I were to amp the speakers now would I have to ad in a cross over between the tweeter and the woofer? I'm a little confused as to how they are separated now. Is it all done in the head unit? I'm still trying to find a correct wiring diagram for my car. Again I feel like I'm the worst at searching but ill keep trying.
 

gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
So i got the new speakers in. Haven't had time to really test them. Been trying to find a real answer about replacing high watt handling apeakers with a stock head unit. What I have found is they might not sound as good as the stock ones. I'll find out on my way to work i guess.

Install isn't pretty. I need to redo it a little and clean it up and maybe seal it a bit but everything works.


My new question is. If I were to amp the speakers now would I have to ad in a cross over between the tweeter and the woofer? I'm a little confused as to how they are separated now. Is it all done in the head unit? I'm still trying to find a correct wiring diagram for my car. Again I feel like I'm the worst at searching but ill keep trying.
The OEM tweeters have a simple capacitor on them to serve as the high pass filter. I don't believe the woofers have any crossover on them, but their may be some filters set in the head unit. Did your new speakers come with crossovers? Running tweeters without a crossover is a bad idea, you can cook them very quickly. Running woofers without a crossover isn't as bad on the high end, but you can still ruin them by sending them low frequencies. The low frequencies may be dealt with through the head unit, but again, I'm not sure. Regardless of whether or not you use an amp, you need to have crossovers in place.
IMG_6602.jpg
 

janz3n

New member
yeah, i read that the tweeter has the capacitor in it after i posted. the new woofer does not have anything like the stock speaker. so technically i should be able to amp the speakers just fine since the tweeter has one?
 

gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
yeah, i read that the tweeter has the capacitor in it after i posted. the new woofer does not have anything like the stock speaker. so technically i should be able to amp the speakers just fine since the tweeter has one?
I don't understand your question. What speakers are you using, can you post the model number?
 

gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
Ok, so the speakers you installed are just midbass/midrange woofers. You will need crossovers when changing out the head unit. Typically, you would get passive crossovers with the speakers you buy, but you didn't buy component speakers, so you don't have those. You can add an active crossover (DSP), or find component speakers with passive crossovers. I don't recommend adding a random passive crossover that wasn't designed for the actual speakers that you're using.

There are some head units that will give you all of the crossovers that you need, but there are still far more that won't. Pioneer has "network" mode on some head units that will allow you to run any tweeter you want, with any midwoofer that you want, and have control over all of the crossovers. Kenwood has 3-way crossovers on some of their head unit's as well. You'll need to know what you're buying before you pull the trigger though because running speakers without appropriate crossovers will not only sound bad, but it will ruin speakers quickly.
 

gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
so the capacitor in the tweeter works with the stock head unit to act as a crossover?
Yes, a capacitor is a simple high pass filter crossover, it blocks the low frequencies from reaching the tweeter. Are you planning on keeping the stock tweeters? I guess I don't fully understand your plan, so I might be speaking nonsense.
 

janz3n

New member
My tweeters are stock. My plan was to keep them stock. At this point I'm ok with the sound quality. It seems like its going to cost a little more than I thought to amp the speakers at this point so I may just live with what I have for now.

I've already bought and installed new woofer/midrange in the front. New components front and back plus a new head unit and amp is way more than im willing to spend on my beater.
 

gijoewoz

Go Kart Champion
Ok, I understand better now. You can use an aftermarket head unit, and/or amp. The tweeters have a crossover built in. Keep in mind though, that the crossover frequency of the tweeter was chosen based on the amount of power the OEM tweeters are expected to receive from the OEM head unit, and by adding more power you may ruin them prematurely.

If you decide to tackle a stereo project, let me know and I'll be happy to help. I would suggest that you forget about upgrading the rear speakers altogether. Most of us in the hi-fi world remove them completely, and if you do keep rear speakers, they contribute so little to the overall sound that even the basic OEM speakers are perfectly fine. There are plenty of head units out there that will give you much better sound than you have now, and will play well with what you already have installed. Pretty much every aftermarket head unit will out perform the OEM head unit. You could swap the head unit, and you wouldn't even need to add an amp, unless you wanted to, and still see a noticeable improvement.
 
Top