I have noticed that a lot of you replace the front two speakers in the Z, but not the back ones. Do you feel it is unnessary to replace them? I'm in the process of buying a new system and don't know if I should replace only the front speakers with kappas 63.5i, or also the rears with other speakers. Also, what are the actual recommended sizes for the speaker locations. The kappas are 6.5"(is this an ideal size..or?).

 

I replaced my front with polk db6500 components and listened to the difference. It was better. Then i went on to replace the rear with polk db650 2-way. The replacement of the rear actually made a bigger difference in my case. The midrange was much better defined. Now the reason to chose those speakers was b/c of their high sensitivity level in fear of low rms wattage from stock HU. I would highly recommend db650, but I listened to db6500 against inifiniti 6000 components at circuitcity. I regret not going with infinity! Goodluck with your rear speaker replacement, and becareful of polarity. I swear this stereo was put together by a bunch of cheese eating, surrendering monkeys (literally!)

 

Did you do this with the Bose, or the base stereo?


I am wondering if VERY efficient speakers could be driven adequately by the Blose amps since I do not really need HIGH volume levels.

 

Andy,
In reply to your question, I had the base Clarion stereo...no Blose. I am not sure how the Bose amps are configured (4ohms or 8ohms) so I can not say for certain if aftermarket speakers will be compatible. As far as sensitivity goes, the new Polk speakers actually play louder than the stock speakers leading me to believe that the stock clarion speakers had sensitivity less than 92db.

 

Replace all speakers. Changing your fronts has less impact than changing the rears, IMO. The fronts are down at your feet and will be muffled a bit more than the rears. The rears are blocked by the speakers, but from the driver's side should be able to hear the passenger side speaker fairly well.