I have a 2000 4 door Blazer LS

Right now I have essentially no speakers. The only ones that work at all are the passenger side dash tweeter (which so quite/crappy it may as well not be there) and the rear right side door speaker (which doesn't work about 80% of the time.

My max budget is around $200. I've been told that if you're not spending at *least* like $700+ it's not worth it to try and mess with a sub, amplifier, or dash speakers (I have no idea if that's accurate).

At the bare minimum I want to get decent speakers for all 4 doors, and I need to either find a replacement "faceplate" for my head unit, or buy a new one. If it was feasible I'd like to have a sub, but I'll be moving soon so I can't really spend outside my budget for a while.

Any help/tips/advice you guys can give would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!

Also whatever speakers I buy will be off Amazon and only ones that have prime shipping. Right now the only thing I have to go off is looking for 2 way speakers in the right size that are rated 4 stars and up, and just pick one that seems a decent price.

 

The quote about the amount you're spending isn't completely wrong, not completely right either, but the point is something like a sub is going to bust that $200 budget for certain.

I could go into a long, drawn out explanation of what you should look for and what to stay away from and all that but considering your tight budget it's probably not really worth going through.

IMHO I think you should keep to the method you're using now. Speakers in the price range you're having to consider aren't remarkably different from one another. It would both surprise and anger you what it costs the companies to manufacture them compared with what you're charged for them. Don't fret as much about the speakers themselves as how they're installed in your truck. The installation, no matter the cost of the speaker, will make or break it's performance.

To get the best bass you can from the door speakers go to Lowes/Home Depot or any similar store and buy some galvanized duct work sheet metal. You can typically find it for $5 or $6 a sheet. Cut it into the shapes of the holes in the door and attach them with RTV Adhesive or something else that's not real permanent in case you ever need to get back into the door. While you're at the hardware store pick up some poor man's sound deadener, also known as Peal 'n Seal. Cover the entire door panel with it from the top to the bottom and then cut out the little holes where the plastic tabs for the door card attach to the door panel. Now, go to a carpet store near you and ask if you can have or purchase some leftover/scrap pieces of carpet padding. Use a little bit of glue in a few spots and fill all the recesses on the inside of the door card with layers of the padding.

The sheet metal covering the holes in the door help it act more like a real enclosure, separating the rear sound waves of the speaker from the front ones to stop output robbing cancellation. The Peal 'n Seal helps to eliminate resonances, buzzes, and some rattles. The carpet padding blocks more of the speakers rear waves and some of the outside noise from getting in the vehicle. The net outcome is a noticeable difference in the sound of your music and a quieter ride. Making your ride quieter and blocking the outside noise effectively helps your music get louder on the inside because it's no longer having to compete with the noise.

It's been YEARS since I've recommended using these products, but I think in your case with your limited budget this is going to get you the best results without having to spend any serious money.

 

I have 3 way 6x9 and I built boxes for them. People tell me they sound great. Crazy to spend 700+ on a car stereo

 

To be fair my car apparently had some a sub and/or amplifier as it as some wiring (I think copper power wires, a ground, and some "audio cords"), so some of the annoying work is already out of the way. It still seems like it'd be out of my budget. The cheapest I could get away with would be around $70-90 for 4 door speakers based on the 4 star amazon "criteria" I mentioned and then have $150-200 to spend on a sub/amp. I have no if there is decent gear in that range, or it'd be waste.

Yeah that probably makes sense. With how my car has been audio wise, literally anything I do with 4 functioning speakers will be a enourmous upgrade. That said even if I'm not spending a lot of money, I like to make my money for as far as it can (thus why I posted on here haha).

Do you have any pictures for reference of what you mean? Are you referring to the speaker "circle" for the sheet metal and any open space on the door panel?

Also do you know the actual speaker size? I've seen mixed sizes. Some places say 6 1/2, some 6 3/4, and I think I've seen people say 6x9 as well.

 

It would be money better spent on the speakers and how they're installed. You, and anyone else reading this, would be surprised at the difference a proper install makes even for a cheaper set of speakers. It's worth the time and added cost to get the most for your money from whatever speaekers you choose to go with. You can always add a subwoofer later if you feel you need one, or just want it.


That's why I answered the way I did. Spend the time, effort and money now on the parts that matter.


Absolutely, although I think I need to explain in a little more detail the difference between the door panel and the door card, as far as my definitions are concerned. The door panel I was referring to was the sheet metal of the door itself. Where the factory speaker mounts, the window motor/crank mechanism mounts, the actual door. The door card is the plastic panel that covers all that stuff up and makes it look good, as you had shown in your picture example.

On the door panel there are holes in the sheet metal that allow access to the window tracks, window itself, door operating mechanisms, etc. Those are the holes I'm referring to when I talk about covering them with a piece of sheet metal. Then cover all of that with the poor man's sound deadener (Peal 'n Seal) being sure to cut holes for where the plastic tabs and screws go to mount the door card and things like that.

Something like this:

(Don't use screws though!!)


and




The door card, like you had pictured, is what I was talking about with the carpet padding. Cut the padding into small pieces that take up the deepest parts of the recesses in that door card. Then add another layer cut a little larger to fill the entire space above the first piece you put in. Keep doing that until you have as much covered as possible without it sticking out above the highest points of the door card. The highest points are the points where the card touches the panel, so obviously the padding cannot be thicker than that, or covering those points or it won't go back on.

Something like this when it's complete.




RAAMAUDIO should still have a tutorial on covering the holes in the door panel, and treating the door panel with their products. It should give you a good idea on how to proceed with your project.

The reason you see the sizes mixed like that is because both will fit. The factory speaker isn't technically either size by the standard. Most 6.5" speakers fit without too much trouble at all. For the most part 6.75" will fit but they can be challenging to find good ground for the screws to screw into the factory plastic. I generalize it like this because the frames that manufacturers use in the speakers vary greatly. There's no uniform and exact measurement they have to go by.

Which brings me to another point I missed on the installation. The factory plastic mount is a flimsy piece of crap, they all are in every vehicle. The best solution is to make one. The more solid the mounting baffle the stronger the bass output and the cleaner the midrange is. I made mine as pictured. I cut out the base of it by tracing the base of the factory plastic one. I could then have used fewer rings to stay behind the door card, but I cut out the factory speaker grill and built mine to protrude slightly past the door card.

























Hope this helps explain everything.

 

This is my driver side door atm. The plastic panel broke off a while ago, and I haven't fixed it yet, though I will be replacing tomorrow/today (friday). A lot of a the plastic in my car (like the dask, dash speaker covers, and a door panel or two are/were in rough condition, which I'm fairly sure is due to whoever did aftermarket audio work on the car not knowing what they were doing. Also I assume that's the crappy plastic factory speak mount you were referring to.

What did you use to cut your own speaker mounts?

I love the idea of everything you mentioned, but I'm not sure if I will have the time needed to get do all that, as I'm trying to move across the country this weekend (which is also why I want to speakers in, for the long drive).

I'm having difficulty narrowing down speakers at all. The only thing I have to go on is a vague guide from . As far as I'm aware the idea is to match the speaker wattage to what the head unit/reciever/radio puts out. The head units I was looking at buying are around the $40-50 range, and those said they had 4-50 watt ouputs or w/e. However on amazon a bunch of the speakers at least claim to have way higher ( ).

I'm not sure if I mentioned but I currently have a pioneer DEH-1300MP which I bought like 5 years ago, and the aux input is busted. So I either have to replace the faceplate for it, or just buy a new head. At this point I just want to get something working though.

I hate to ask, but would you be willing to take a look and give me some guidance on spefici speakers/heads?

Either way thanks for you comments/help so far, it's much appreciated!

 

Yep, that blue piece the speaker is mounted to. The plastic in these things isn't the most resilient in the world either. I've seen lots of the defrost vents on the dash broken just because the plastic gets brittle. I do have to say, that's the first time I've seen a door card broken like that though, lol.


I used a jigsaw to cut out the base and a router to cut out the rings. A jigsaw could be used to cut rings too though, that's no biggie, but a circle jig on a router is a must for anyone who's doing a lot of stereo work.


There's no reason you can't do all that a little at a time, especially when funds are tight. As a matter of fact it's almost better to do it a little at a time so that a person can get the best products they can for their money. The "Poor Man's Sound Deadening" products I listed (Peel 'N Seal and carpet padding) are NOT products I normally recommend or the normal route I usually ever tell anyone to go. They're simply not as effective as real products designed for that specific purpose. I only mentioned it for you since you're on such a tight budget, and like most people I'm sure the budget doesn't usually allow for anything extravagant in the first place. It's hard for most people to justify the cost of the good products. Take the comment from NEWGUY on the second reply for example. $700 seems ridiculous to him and lots of other people and there's nothing wrong with that. However, someone with a hunting hobby spending hundreds and even thousands of dollars on hunting gear, guns, etc. seems a little silly to me and look at how many people do that. Hobbies are hobbies and everyone has different interests. I could spend $700 on just sound deadening materials for a vehicle and never think twice about it the same way an avid hunter could spend $700 on a new shotgun, or to stock up on a big ammo sale.



Don't trust what you're reading at that source, they're not right. When things are done right you can drive a 1,000 watt speaker with 100 watts and in the same regard you can drive a 100 watt speaker with 1,000 watts. It's all in the goals, the application and how it's executed. That being said, everyone gets all warm and fuzzy when the numbers all match up, sure. Contrary to popular belief and teachings it's REALLY not that important. Power ratings tell a person how many watts of power the speaker can handle (how much heat it can dissipate) before the coil burns up. It has no real world correlation to how loud they get, how hard they can hit, how low or high they play, nothing. Also, the MAX power ratings don't mean anything either. They're nothing more than marketing hype. The RMS ratings of speakers, subs, amps, etc. are the real power numbers that mean something. The better equipment to purchase won't even list a "MAX" rating.

Now, there's a long list of brands to stay away from, any product they sell, and Pyle is definitely on that list. Pyle, Pyramid, Power Acoustik, Boss, SoundQuest, Xplore, Nitro, Volfenhag are all brands whose products aren't worth the packaging they come in, and there's plenty more that can be on that list. I like to recommend the Pioneer D series speakers typcially for budget speakers. They can be found fitting your price range and are hard to beat for the money. JBL has a couple of budget minded lines that aren't too shabby, so does Alpine, Kicker, and other major name brands.

You can pick up a new Pioneer similar to the one you have now for about $65-$80 from Sonicelectronix.

 

I think we do have a jigsaw so I may be set there. What material did you use? Do you have any recommendations for a material for me to buy/where I could get it (from a store is definitely preferred due to time)?




Yeah that makes a lot of sense. It's mostly that I don't have tools or know what I'm doing, but right now I have a family friend who used to be a mechanic and knows how to install speakers/etc so he can help me with mostly anything on my car for free. However since I'm moving it just comes down to a matter of time. I am gonna be delayed a few days no though, so I may end up being able to try some of what you recommended.




Yeah I definitely learned that when I researched buying a TV for gaming. The manufacturer always bull****s their products specs and uses their own measurements to make it sounds better than it is.


Okay so I've narrowed it down to three so far. It was pretty much down to my previous criteria (prime shipping, rated 4 star+) and not the cheap brands you listed.

These and both have extremely high review scores (4.5) and around 500+ reviews. also caught my eye as they too are rated 4.5 have around 150 reviews, and are one of the brands you mentioned.

I've been told that generally speaking anything over 2 way is just gimmicky/no good. I've also been told that in my price range and with no amps/dubs it's probably better to just stick with 2-way coaxials instead of components. Would you agree with that?

If I was to get components I'd only do that on the front since I would just stick the tweeters in the dash (I don't want to mess with cutting a new whole on the door panels).

For a replacement head I'm definitely trying to keep that low, as I had only intended on replacing my current one's faceplace. Does what you said about peak wattage not really mattering and RMS being more important still hold true for heads?

Based on the 4+ star/prime search there are 3 in the price range I'm willing to spend. is the cheapest and apparently has the lowest wattage (40 max, but 20 RMS). It doesn't have a CD player (which is fine cause I don't care/need one), but it does have USB (which could be nice but isn't necessary). you mentioned. It has 50 peak wattage and 14 RMS. It doesn't have USB, but again that's not crucial either (unless USB somehow has better sound quality for a phone than an aux cable). says it has 80 watts (doesn't specify if that's peak or RMS, I'd assume peak), and it does have USB.

It's odd to me that the Bravo has 40 max/20 RMS and the Pioneer has 50/14.

Once again, thanks so much for all your help! I really appreciate the in depth replies, you've been by far the most helpful person I've come across in my audio quest.

 

Mine were just made from MDF, which is a popular material for building subwoofer enclosures. Plywood would definitely work fine as well just be sure to cover it with something (paint, rubberized undercoating, bedliner, fiberglass resin, etc.) to protect it from the elements. I used three layers of 3/4" thick MDF (the base and two rings). You can buy 2ft x 4ft and 2ft x 2ft pieces of plywood at Lowes and Home Depot so if a person wanted they could mix thicknesses to get them right up next to the door card without rubbing.


There's a plethora of information on the internet about how to do this stuff. A good deal of it isn't always right, but it can still be useful. There's an audio forum called Sound Solutions Audio that I'm also a member of (haven't been very active there lately though due to being busy with my Wife's install). The members there are some of the absolute most knowledgeable people I've ever come across. A few members seem a little brash when you see some of their responses but they're simply trying to get people to think for themselves instead of being spoon fed all the information. Regardless, if you've got any interest in the audio hobby there's more collective knowledge there than anywhere else I've come across.



Definitely, that problem exists in almost every product segment in the market. As you've learned already, all it takes is some research and a little learning about what the specs really mean to start to learn when numbers look too good to be true, especially once the price comes into play.


These are all fine choices for your budget range. I've always been partial to Polk myself but don't let my opinion solely sway your decision. Watch for reviews where people describe the sound. Try to be sure that what you pick out is more tailored to your listening and music styles.


I completely agree that anything over a 2 way coaxial is a waste. There's absolutely nothing useful that can be played by any additional drivers (speakers) the size of a nickel or dime. I don't agree with the comment about sticking with coaxials instead of components. I ran those Bravox components you saw (yellow cone) in my pictures for about a year on the HU. They gave me plenty of output and sounded fantastic doing it. The sound deadening treatment and the baffles I made were even able to give me midbass you could actually FEEL all off headunit power. Now, once I did get my amps installed there was no comparison to the difference, but there wasn't anything wrong with how they worked and sounded on the HU. Besides, you can always come back and install an amp later if you want to.


You're definitely thinking right here. Not only because of having to modify things though, but simply because a component set in the rear would be a waste of money.


Yes, it's true for everything. MAX/PEAK ratings are nothing more than a marketing number. You still see them on the good brands too because if Pioneer only advertised the 14 watts of power and the Sound Storm next to it in the store was advertising 80 watts of power, which one do you think people would buy?


Out of the three the Pioneer would easily get my vote. The RMS power rating is fairly accurate (more so than the other two I would imagine) and the internal processing and DAC's are going to be superior to the other two. The Pioneer should provide more power with a cleaner signal than either of the other two. It's not odd, the Bravo is most likely advertising specifications they were able to get on some test bench of theirs under conditions that would never happen in the real world. The Pioneer unit is at least more truthful in the RMS rating.


You're welcome and I'm glad I can help out.

 

Okay so I just have one last question for now.

I assumed that since I have an aftermarket radio already that any single din reciever/head should fit. That doesn't necessarily seem to be the case however, and it's tricky trying to get a concrete answer online that makes sense.

(that I linked earlier according to amazon has the dimensions 9 x 10 x 4.5 inches. Other heads I was looking at have different dimensions, such as with 6 x 4 x 4 inches. According to crutchfield they both will fit with (and wiring kit, but I'm not worried about that).

This doesn't make any sense to me as they're completely different dimensions. Does that instalation come with parts/kits for multiple different sized receivers or do receivers come with something that will make them fit that installation kit?

That pioneer ^ has the same dimensions as my current radio, so I'd assume I have that same installation kit. When I got my current radio installed it was by bestbuy like 5 years ago. If that installation kit came with multiple fittings I'd assume the best buy guys just chucked whatever ones weren't needed for my current radio?

Thanks again