The speaker in the left door has developed a ‘rattle’ that has become very noticeable, particularly in sympathy with base notes. I checked the speaker and indeed the speaker fabric is damaged & I assumed that was the problem so I swapped it with the back door speaker and prioritised the sound to the front speakers to minimise the effect. But that didn’t help all that much and putting my ear to each of the 4 door speakers I could hear they were all producing this ‘rattle’ sound so it seems to be a result of the amplifier output rather than the individual speaker/s. Has anyone got an idea of what’s going on & are there any cures for this malady ?
2008 C5 Sound System
- Thread starter Sunshine Coaster
- Start date
Yes, age, heat & moisture destroy these $2 per speaker items.
Just replace them with a high db (efficient) speaker set. Components in the front and coaxials in the rear.
Just replace them with a high db (efficient) speaker set. Components in the front and coaxials in the rear.
Agree with dcc236 - they've reached the end of their useable life. I swapped out them all with Rockford Fosgate units from Autobarn. They are a direct fit; the difference in sound quality is VERY noticeable!
Which model Nigel. I was thinking component only, not 2 way.
Don
Does the original radio/cd amplifier handle these new Component & CoAxial speaker sets Ok, or do you need to upgrade the amplifier as well ? As a pensioner I’m trying to keep the cost down, but I love good music presentation. Ps. My hearing is damaged in the high frequencies (industrial noise without headsets at the time) so good trebles are important
The tweeters in the front are on top of the dash near the the windscreen on either side and they should still be OK. Get twin cone speakers for the front doors so you get some midrange out of them and the co-axials for the back doors will have a separate tweeter built in, in front of the main speaker and may need a stand off to let you put the grille back on.
The amp should have no trouble handling the upgrade. Just make sure you maintain the polarity of the loudspeaker connections.
Cheers, Ken
The amp should have no trouble handling the upgrade. Just make sure you maintain the polarity of the loudspeaker connections.
Cheers, Ken
The std system in the car, run a modest amplifier, whether it be internal to the head unit or external some models run an external amplifier. If you are happy with your audio performance, just replace them with a modest speaker set that have a high db rating, eg. 92 or higher. This number will be in the speaker specs, so check before you buy.
If you're after a serious audio upgrade - installing a couple of sets of $100 speakers aren't going to cut it. A decent set of components alone from someone like Hertz, Focal, DLS will cost you $600+. To get the most out of them you then need a quality amplifier, again about $400+.
If you're replacing the std speaker, yes you should replace the tweeter with whatever comes in the component set you buy. The std one is dreadful when compared to any aftermarket tweeter. It is probably a $2 item.
Thanks everyone for the feedback. I’m going to go with Coaxial’s in the rear doors with Component’s in the front doors (& Tweeter’s on the dash). Next issue I have to resolve is wiring. The new speakers have Red +I’ve & Black -ive wires, BUT the car wiring has Orange & Green for the door speakers & Orange & Blue for the tweeters. Has anyone any idea which is which ? Guess I can check the outgoing speakers with a 9v battery & deduce it back from there but knowing the colour link up front would be nice.
i don't remember the colours but it's easy to check with a multimeter. Do a continuity check on each to the back of the head unit. Alternatively, I have a polarity tester you're welcome to borrow.
One other piece of advice, you need to install your crossovers between the head unit and the door wiring, inside the cabin. Then run new speaker cable from the crossover to the tweeter, don't use the std tweeter wiring. Once the crossover is in place, you can use the stock wiring to reach the door woofer. So as not to cut any of the std wiring, I used a quadlock male to female harness at the head unit and then plugged the stock wiring harness into it. You can do all your splices and joins using that intermediate harness.
Yes, if there was only one speaker output line per channel, some sort of crossover would be needed to split it. It might be there and incorporated into the tweeter as there are capacitors in some original fit tweeters I've seen from other models. I have replaced bad caps in a home audio crossover in the past that caused a lot of distortion.
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I now have a wiring diagram and the tweeter feed comes off the mid range/woofer feed so a crossover would be wise if not mandatory. Following dcc236‘S advice, I’m planning to use a new line for the tweeter feed from the crossover but keep the original woofer feed out of the crossover. Again, thanks everybody for the feedback & education.