Speaker Upgrade

[legend_of_lazz]

Hey guys,

I’ve done a speaker upgrade from stock to 4 Polk Audio DB691 6x9s paying $229 per pair hoping for some extra volume. There’s been an increase in clarity but not a great deal in volume. So I guess it may be time to go for an amp. My question is my “Auspack Update” head unit has RCA outlets to 4 speakers and a sub so do you think it would be worthwhile trying to change from the regular speaker wiring to RCA running to the back of the head unit? Will it make a difference in volume or quality at all? If not I guess I’ll have to buy an amp.

Secondly the guy at WOW told me that these are pretty much top of the line speakers. Is this true or have I been told a fast one?

Thanks.

Adam.

[DJKOR]

Edit: I re-read your thread and I think you might be a bit mixed up. You can't run your speakers directly off the RCA outputs on the rear of the head unit. These are just line level outputs that output a low level signal prior to amplification so that you can connect and external amplifier which will then take this clean(er) signal and amplify it (cleanly providing you get a half decent amp) so that you can feed your speakers a good signal. To give you an idea of how low this level is, if you were to connect headphones directly to those RCA outputs, it will be reasonably quiet.

Adding an amplifier would be a good choice. This will enable you to get more potential out of your speakers. After all, you are replacing the retentively low quality amplifier in the Auspack unit with a higher quality external amplifier built with clarity in mind.

Go do your drag first though.

[Steven]

Hey guys,

I’ve done a speaker upgrade from stock to 4 Polk Audio DB691 6x9s paying $229 per pair hoping for some extra volume. There’s been an increase in clarity but not a great deal in volume. So I guess it may be time to go for an amp. My question is my “Auspack Update” head unit has RCA outlets to 4 speakers and a sub so do you think it would be worthwhile trying to change from the regular speaker wiring to RCA running to the back of the head unit? Will it make a difference in volume or quality at all? If not I guess I’ll have to buy an amp.

Secondly the guy at WOW told me that these are pretty much top of the line speakers. Is this true or have I been told a fast one?

Thanks.

Adam.

I wouldn't expect anywhere near top of the range, if a) they're from wow and B) they're only $229 a pair, unless he was meaning the top of that particular range in what Polk gear wow stocks.

Never take a salesman's word on how good something is, for future reference. Most important thing is that they sound good to you.

FYI, RCA's are only for connecting amplifiers up to headunits when it comes to car audio - they aren't meant for powering speakers directly (though they might have enough juice to run some tweeters at super low volume)

[-DAvo]

it also does play a part in how you power the speakers... high end speakers which are underpowered can still sound pretty average, compared to a mid range speaker which is matched with a amp that powers it to it's full potential...

for top end stuff, look at brands such as:

Focal, Mb Quart, Alipne, Rockford Fosgate, JL Audio, Pioneer, BOSE etc etc

but dont worry so much about brands etc, worry about powering the speakers you have to their full potential, and maybe look at some dynamat to help enhance the speakers output?

[legend_of_lazz]

I re-read your thread and I think you might be a bit mixed up. You can't run your speakers directly off the RCA outputs on the rear of the head unit. These are just line level outputs that output a low level signal prior to amplification so that you can connect and external amplifier which will then take this clean(er) signal and amplify it (cleanly providing you get a half decent amp) so that you can feed your speakers a good signal. To give you an idea of how low this level is, if you were to connect headphones directly to those RCA outputs, it will be reasonably quiet.

Adding an amplifier would be a good choice. This will enable you to get more potential out of your speakers. After all, you are replacing the retentively low quality amplifier in the Auspack unit with a higher quality external amplifier built with clarity in mind.

Thanks for the clarification. I've never done anything to do with car audio before. Once I get completely set up I'll post a step by step setup guide here. So thanks again.

Go do your drag first though.

That's a work in progress. Who would have thought it was so hard to coordinate 14 or so seconds of your life? I will update the second it gets done.

[Steven]

I hear you, concentrating for that long is hard. I can't get past 5 seconds before my thoughts drift to sex.... <sigh>