Thrahl

Car specs: base '07 coupe, non-Bose, cheap Kenwood HU (DDX372BT)

The passenger side woofer is blown and driving me nuts.
I could of course just buy a replacement OEM speaker and call it a day (I'm not an audiophile, the stock system sounds good enough for me).
I'm not looking for amazing sound or killer base, but if I'm already in there and buying stuff, I figured I'd explore my options for a small upgrade.

From what I understand my car has no external amp (non-Bose), an 8" woofer and a 3.5" twiddler in each door, a 5.25" in the b pillars, and a 3.5" in the middle of the dash (unless I'm getting something mixed up with the Bose system).
It seems like the most common suggestion is to ditch everything, put a 6.5 and tweeter in the door and a stealthbox in the back, but I don't want to spend that much money or time on this project.

So my question is, should I do a shallow-mount 8"/10" sub in each door, a 6.5" in each door, or just replace the blown speaker with another OEM one?
I don't mind cutting and soldering new terminals for replacement speakers, but I don't want to run new wires or install an amp.

TorchRedFred

If you are not looking to ditch everything and add a subwoofer and amp and all, and if you are not looking for amazing sound or killer base or to spend much money, then here is a suggestion. Replace the blown woofer with another OEM replacement, but replace the 3.5" twiddler in each door with another 3.5" 4ohm speaker. You can also consider replacing the rear 5.25" speakers also. It won't be a huge improvement but it will help clean up the sound and it will be a noticeable improvement.

Do not put subs in the doors. The doors can't handle it and besides subs need a lot of power, so adding any sub requires an amp. Also, without going all aftermarket and adding an amp and subwoofer, 6.5" door speakers won't sound any better than what you have now. IMO, the only way to improve the sound without adding an amp is to replace the 3.5" twiddlers with some better quality speakers and also the rear 5.25"s. If you say the stock sound system sounds good enough for you, this is a simple cost effective way to improve on what you have already.

Thrahl

Appreciate the quick response. Your solution definitely sounds up my alley.
I'll grab an OEM replacement speaker and look into some decent 3.5"s for the doors.
Reading around it seems like everyone also recommends unplugging the middle 3.5" so I'll do that as well and see how it all sounds.
I'm happy enough with the 5.25s in there now but if I get the itch for a bit more quality I'll swap those out too.

I'll also be installing sound deadening in the doors, primarily to cut down on road noise, but that might help the sound quality a little bit too.

TorchRedFred

Factory systems tend to sound muddy due to the cheap speakers they use. Usually replacing the speakers with some aftermarket ones, will at minimum give you a better cleaner sounding tweeter and improve clarity.

rgregory

You might be very surprised and just how crappy that base speaker is. My 2000 C5 had the base stereo and even some cheap speakers I picked up at walmart were way better than the factory. The magnets were so tiny in the factory ones.

pewter99

crazy, my 07Z speakers are still OK, we just had the drivers side replaced under GMEPP on my wife's '12GS ...had it done while we had the seat harness replaced for the damn airbag light $0 deductible...all is well

PCMusicGuy

You might be surprised at just how good the OEM speakers are. If you are looking for shallow mount 8" woofers that don't require an amp, I don't know of anything better.

Thrahl

Finished the speaker install yesterday. Installed some Rockford Fosgate Punch 3.5s that had good reviews for the price, replaced the broken passenger side woofer, and installed sound deadening in the doors.

After doing the driver side door I put on some music to compare the stock 3.5 in the passenger door to the upgraded driver side. You guys were right, big difference. I didn't realize how muddy the stockers were until I compared them side by side, it's so much clearer with the upgrades.

Now when I play with the fade to push it all to the rear I realize how terrible they sound, so that will probably be the next upgrade lol. I can't tell if there is a high pass filter somewhere in the stock setup or if the stock rear speakers are really that bad, but there is absolutely no base back there. The new 3.5s sound beefier and clearer than those 5.25s.

Being able to turn the bass back up now that I fixed the blown woofer, I'm really pleased with the stock ones. They have enough power to shake the mirrors and feel a good rumble.

Also if anyone reading this hasn't put sound deadening in their car yet, I cant recommend it enough. $60 for a 35 sq ft kit on Amazon was enough to cover the entire hatch area, behind the seats, both doors, the transmission tunnel, and a little under the seats. Massive difference in road noise, makes it so much nicer above 45mph.

Thanks for the help and suggestions guys.

TorchRedFred

Glad it worked out. As far as rear speakers, they are not in any kind of speaker enclosure like you might expect. Chevy could of really done a better job with this. I used some sound deadening to try and seal some of the opening to separate the air in the front from the air behind the speaker. I think it helped a little, but you limited by the design from getting the full potential out of a speaker. That being said, a better speaker will definitely perform and sound better and help to improve overall sound quality.

Pb82 Ronin

I agree with Torch. Speaker baffles are your friend with the rears.