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Advice on replacing base 350z door speakers

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Old Jun 22, 2017 | 09:17 PM
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Default Advice on replacing base 350z door speakers

I'm looking for advice on what some good quality options are for bang for buck speakers/tweeter replacements for the 6-1/2 inch door speakers.

The reason for the replacement is that when I turn the sound up on my aftermarket deck and the bass hits, the vocals in the song distort (robotic voice) until the bass dissipates. Running a clarion nx702 deck and an external soundstream amp to power the speakers. The only way to fix this is to tweak the deck to turn down around 50Hz frequency and the vocals don't distort

will upgraded speakers fix this problem or is it a problem with the amp/deck?

Last edited by IRunRexdale; Jun 22, 2017 at 10:38 PM.
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Old Jun 23, 2017 | 02:12 PM
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Anything's going to sound better than the factory door speakers on your Z. If your car's more than ten years old, they're probably falling apart anyway.

It'd be useful to know the year and trim level of your car (was it factory Bose?)
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Old Jun 24, 2017 | 11:23 AM
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OP said it was a Base car, so no Bose. Look at crutchfield.com and they'll have a great selection of speakers to fit your car. Be warned, though, the stock headunit puts out horrible sound, and upgrading speakers isn't going to fix your issue completely. In fact, when I was installing my system, just for curiosity's sake, I installed the headunit first, and listened to the stock speakers. The sound actually wasn't too bad - meaning the bad sound was from the OEM headunit more than than the speakers. So, maybe look at what you can afford, and if you could spend even $200 on a headunit and $100 on a pair of speakers, you'll likely be very pleased with the improved sound.
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Old Jun 24, 2017 | 11:33 AM
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Originally Posted by dcains
OP said it was a Base car, so no Bose. Look at crutchfield.com and they'll have a great selection of speakers to fit your car. Be warned, though, the stock headunit puts out horrible sound, and upgrading speakers isn't going to fix your issue completely. In fact, when I was installing my system, just for curiosity's sake, I installed the headunit first, and listened to the stock speakers. The sound actually wasn't too bad - meaning the bad sound was from the OEM headunit more than than the speakers. So, maybe look at what you can afford, and if you could spend even $200 on a headunit and $100 on a pair of speakers, you'll likely be very pleased with the improved sound.
Wondering if the orig post was changed (shows edit).... no mention of trim level and it does mention it has an aftermarket deck - but seemingly OE speakers already.

Based on that, a good set of speakers seems in order. Apparently the newer deck has wider frequency response (as expected) and the sub-standard/old speakers just can't reach low enough. Just a classic case of mismatched - good and crap - components.

Personally, I love my Focals.

Last edited by MicVelo; Jun 24, 2017 at 11:39 AM.
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Old Jun 24, 2017 | 01:21 PM
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Sorry, missed the part about the aftermarket headunit. Still recommend crutchfield.com as a source, though, and agree that Focal makes some great speakers.
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Old Jun 24, 2017 | 02:19 PM
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Originally Posted by dcains
Sorry, missed the part about the aftermarket headunit. Still recommend crutchfield.com as a source, though, and agree that Focal makes some great speakers.
Crutchfield.

Word.
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Old Jun 27, 2017 | 03:37 PM
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Thank you all for the advice and sorry for the late response (have been travelling the past few days).

I will replace the speakers through Crutchfield like you all suggested and let you guys know how it works out.

Thanks again!
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Old Jun 28, 2017 | 01:24 PM
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Originally Posted by dcains
In fact, when I was installing my system, just for curiosity's sake, I installed the headunit first, and listened to the stock speakers. The sound actually wasn't too bad - meaning the bad sound was from the OEM headunit more than than the speakers.
I did the opposite for my first sound experiment on my Bose system right after I bought the car. I installed some Infinity speakers on the front and back (the kind with the pass switch on the tweeter) and they sounded a lot better than stock. Still, compared to the full job I did on my last car, it wasn't cutting it, especially in the low end (the factory subwoofer was a joke.) Eventually, everything got ripped out and the car sounds great now.
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Old Jul 6, 2017 | 02:56 PM
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I'm also a fan of Focal speakers. I just replaced the set I bought almost 13 years ago. Great sound.


Originally Posted by MicVelo
Wondering if the orig post was changed (shows edit).... no mention of trim level and it does mention it has an aftermarket deck - but seemingly OE speakers already.

Based on that, a good set of speakers seems in order. Apparently the newer deck has wider frequency response (as expected) and the sub-standard/old speakers just can't reach low enough. Just a classic case of mismatched - good and crap - components.

Personally, I love my Focals.
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Old Jul 6, 2017 | 03:53 PM
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JL speakers, werd!
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Old Jul 7, 2017 | 12:39 PM
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I've got Infinity Reference 6030CS up front getting about 150 watts from a Kicker amp. What would really help here is a small subwoofer to handle the 80Hz and below bass. Since 6.5" door mounted speakers generally can't handle such low frequencies at high volumes.
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Old Jul 7, 2017 | 03:29 PM
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One of the best mods to my Z was adding MB Quarts up front and providing clean power:

http://www.epinions.com/review/pr-Mb...t_111890697860
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Old Jul 7, 2017 | 06:45 PM
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Originally Posted by JMII
I've got Infinity Reference 6030CS up front getting about 150 watts from a Kicker amp. What would really help here is a small subwoofer to handle the 80Hz and below bass. Since 6.5" door mounted speakers generally can't handle such low frequencies at high volumes.

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Old Oct 25, 2019 | 06:25 PM
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Originally Posted by zakmartin
Anything's going to sound better than the factory door speakers on your Z. If your car's more than ten years old, they're probably falling apart anyway.

It'd be useful to know the year and trim level of your car (was it factory Bose?)
MY 350Z is a 2003 Performance model. It only has 32,000 miles it. It wasn't factory Bose, it had the standard Recever/CD player. I only recently upgraded the HU so I could enjoy hands free talking and get away from the lame stereo quality of the original system, The Pioneer HU was my first step. I'm considering poking the holes all the way through on the door panels in front of the speakers. That should put a little more sound in the cabin.
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