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Audio/Video ElectronicsWired up? If you have some sort of A/V modification let's hear about it here. Discussion of stock electrical problems should be done in the 'Lighting & Electrical' section.
I installed factory pioneers out of a factory pioneer Pontiac Aztec in my door of my blazer and I like how they sound the only mods I had to do was to the speaker housing on the rear doors and I spliced the Aztec speaker wiring into the rear door speaker wire and trim a little on the back of door panels front speaker justs plug in and had to trim the back of door panel plus you can never tell whey didn't come in the blazer
I think you should check out polk audio for your door speakers. Yes they cost a little more than pioneer but the improvement is amazing! Those are the only speakers ill put in my blazer from the doors to the sub that's my go to brand. They are reasonable and their marine grade so their durable too. Check them out you won't be sorry.
In process of installing 4 Focal RSE-165s (6.5" component speakers) in my 2001 LT 4x4. Got all four for $233.82 off Ebay - pretty good price for Focals I think. Front tweeters are in the stock brackets in the dash to bounce off the windshield. Rear tweeters high in the rear doors. Speakers required 1/2" spacers to clear the magnets in all doors + drilling at a slant to fit the 6.5" speakers. Rear door panels required removing the internal plastic ring in the inside speaker area for clearance. Front door panels required cutting the built-in speaker grille out and letting the Focals poke through the panel using their own grille. Took out the analog OnStar system from the right side cargo area and installed a Soundstream PN5640D 5-channel amp on the bracket inside the compartment. Bought an 8" BT8024DVC Bazooka tube to mount in the back and point at the corner, but haven't even taken it out of the box yet. Hopefully can get all the wiring and crossovers run next weekend. Taking it slow and trying to do it right. Already have a Kenwood do/play everything head unit with 6 preouts installed from a few years ago. Did I mention this is the vehicle that my wife drives..... No Pop, Hip Hop, or Rap music for her - she listens to Progressive - like Magic Pie, Airbag, Porcupine Tree, Riverside, and Dream Theater so I think she deserves it. Happy wife! Happy life!! She has time for one nice 25 minute long Prog song each way to work! I think she is going to really like the sound out of this system. Not a thumper stereo - but balanced sound in a SUV, without killing all the cargo space is the objective.
Les, I had a bazooka tube in my old '94 LT Blazer, definitely sounds good. The right amount of thump that doesn't alert the neighbors you're almost home.
I'm rockin' two 10" Alpine Type Rs on an Alpine amp. A step up from the tube in terms of sound, but a few back in cargo space.
I upgraded all my door speakers to Kenwoods, and since updated the dash tweets to a decent Pioneer. I saw a pair of Focal tweets on Crutchfield going for 550..yowzas!
I will upgrade all my speakers eventually. If I add it to the list now, it may get done by next year.
Les, I had a bazooka tube in my old '94 LT Blazer, definitely sounds good. The right amount of thump that doesn't alert the neighbors you're almost home.
I'm rockin' two 10" Alpine Type Rs on an Alpine amp. A step up from the tube in terms of sound, but a few back in cargo space.
I upgraded all my door speakers to Kenwoods, and since updated the dash tweets to a decent Pioneer. I saw a pair of Focal tweets on Crutchfield going for 550..yowzas!
I will upgrade all my speakers eventually. If I add it to the list now, it may get done by next year.
Sounds like a nice system. I had an Alpine head unit and amp back in the late 80's. Was pretty high end at the time (before subs became popular). Haven't followed the car stereo stuff for some years but I did buy a amplified Bazooka tube to upgrade the factory stereo in my wife's Ford Ranger back in 2008 and was pretty impressed. Threw it behind the seat in a regular cab Ranger using their built for Ford wiring harness - barely fit!
These Focals really seemed like a bargain compared to the rest of the Focal line so I thought I would try them. Hopefully they wouldn't put their name on junk.
I put Boss audio chaos series in the dash, doors and the 6x9s in the rear. Had them left over from a prior vehicle, but you could probably get them all for $60-70. Sounds good so far.
Haha! Well, got it all finished up this last weekend. The four RSE-165 Focals had to be spacered out 1/2" with a plastic ring to clear the magnets on all doors and then the screw holes redrilled in the speaker mounting surfaces. Had to cut out the speaker grilles in the front doors and let the speakers poke through with the Focal grilles in place. Rear doors only required trimming the internal speaker ring on the inside of the door panel flush. Mounted front tweeters in stock location under grilles in the dash. Mounted rear tweeters on inside of post between front and rear doors. Bazooka sub in the back, with the amp's sub-level control mounted inside the cassette cubby inside the front console. Soundstream Picasso Nano PN5640D Amp in place of the old analog OnStar equipment mounted on old bracket. Running off of the same Kenwood do-everything / play everything KDC-X898 head unit I had before. Never ran so many wires in my life - soldered everything. System really cranks and I think sounds great. Wife says she had no idea it would sound so good....... says it's like having new music to listen to.
Looks like a great set up.
You've definitely opened my eyes to the Focal brand.... Been hunting their speakers down, for a reasonable price.
Ebay is the best that I could find for a pair of the RSE-165's ($129 - no tax - free ship). I bought 4. Pretty reasonable compared to Crutchfield (169.99 + tax), and certainly less than most other Focal speakers. They were in OEM boxes and packages with all the stuff. If they are knockoffs, then kudos to whoever is knocking them off. Don't seem to be very efficient speakers, but when you have a true useable 60W x 4 + 200W to the sub, efficiency is not quite so important. Yes I know that kind of power is nothing compared to what is out there everywhere in systems with subwoofers. But point being these speakers probably really need to have an external amp of some sort to drive them well. Amp in a deck by itself isn't going to do them justice. I'm pretty happy with them for what I consider to be bargain speakers. Focal is a high end French brand, but these RSE-165s are probably oriental-made to their specs (hence relatively cheap price). However, I did not notice any made in China stamps or stickers so don't know for sure. Instructions were multi-lingual and very brief, so no clues there. Maybe these ebay speakers are like many cell phones - originally destined for sale in a different country at a cheaper price, so you get no warranty in the USA. I really don't know where they came from and don't really care.
Entire upgrade was really pretty cheap - heckuva lot of work, but still pretty cheap. Even without using the sub, the speakers sound quite good and have decent punch when you crank them up.
05-01-2019, 02:56 AM
Speaker suggestion on a budget
