Speakers Upgraded Tonight!!

Cobra2top

WOW!! My speakers in my 92 are the originals. After close to 16 years and what I am sure is louder then usual volume due to the top down and just regular old convertible road noise, I bought new speakers.

I have the factory radio with the graphic equilizer. It's not going to set off car alarms or rattle my mirrors, but for me it is not bad, and I always liked the look of the equilizer. I remember seeing it back in 92 and wished I could get it for my then 89 GT vert. Now that I have it I really did not want to go the new head unit route, just wanted to clean up the sound a bit. I called Crutchfield for an opinion this weekend and they recommeded just adding new speakers.

I ended up buying $120 in speakers, Polk and Blaupunkt brands. Polk in the rear and Blaupunkt in the doors and dash. My door speakers are on back order but tonight I had a hour and it literally took less then that to swap out the speakers. Everything fit perfect and they even included the Ford wiring plugs. Seriously, I turned on the radio when I was done and it is like I have a brand new system, and I still have the Ford "Premium" speakers in the doors. I now can not wait until those get changed out! One nice thing, not that I was in any rush, but i ended up calling them back last night to order, it was about 5:30pm. Today around 3pm the UPS guy was standing at the door with my speakers! I was shocked!! The best part, free shipping!

I could not "crank it up" tonight without waking the kids so tomorrow I am going to take her out (pending weather) and see how they perform.

Anyone looking for a cheap upgrade, look to adding new speakers!

Ken

PS...I do not work for Crutchfield, after re-reading I sound like a shareholder! Any company will do, it is just they were very helpful on the phone and included everything I needed for free. I did not want to start cutting wires and the free plugs really helped. I put the Ford speakers in the boxes and in storage they are going. Who knows, someday they may be worth something. They do have a "premium" sticker on the back so who knows!

Cobra2top

I was looking through my packet from Crutchfield and they gave me 3 coupons to "tell a friend" and that person get's $20 off any order.

If anyone here is looking for anything and wants to save $20 I would not mind at all to email them the codes. My address is

cobra2top at aol.com

Ken

TWF_John

I ended up buying $120 in speakers, Polk and Blaupunkt brands. Polk in the rear and Blaupunkt in the doors and dash. My door speakers are on back order but tonight I had a hour and it literally took less then that to swap out the speakers.

Hey, I tried this a couple years ago but I didn't get results like yours! Like you, I had the original speakers and wanted an upgrade but with the factory stereo. I installed Polk db 570's in the rear. I purchased Polk db 650's for the front but never installed them because the door panel needed to come off and I was a little disappointed with the results in the rear so I balked at doing the fronts. Maybe the addition of the graphic equalizer made the different. What model speakers did you go with?

I really like Crutchfield as well. The service is second to none and their prices are usually competitive. And, you can usually find coupon codes online (or through their friend referral program, as you mention) to offset the difference. For those saving for their children's education (or their own) through a 529, they are also a Upromise reward program member.

Cobra2top

I put in the Polk db570 for the rear and Blaupunkt GTx352 in the dash so far. The Blaupunkt GTx652 for the door are on back order. Even without them the sound is pretty good with mine. I would suggest adding the dash speakers. I believe they made a big difference. Even though they are small they are right by our ears and with the top down, you get alot of reflection off the windshield.

I do have the equilizer and I think it makes a big difference. I am able to really play around with the sound to set the base just enough to get a nice "thump" without distorting the sound. When I turn off the equilizer, it does not sound very good.

What I did find out is that my speaker grills need to be re-glued at the front side. They were buzzing yesterday when a song with alot of base came on. Looks like the factory used a white adhesive. I am going to look at a way to re-glue it.

TWF_John

I didn't even think about the dash speakers. Were they hard to install?

Cobra2top

I didn't even think about the dash speakers. Were they hard to install?

Very simple. It was one screw on the side of the dash (use a socket wrench) and pull the speaker cover off. Then just replace from there.

It really made a difference with my system. I had the top down today and I can really "crank it up" now vs. the stock speakers.

white6468

Ken,

Thanks for the great post. I too have wanted to replace my tired old “premium” speakers. One of my rear speakers has a buzz when I play the music at “top down” levels. I thought it was the speaker, but your post makes me think it may be the grill mounting tab. Either way your post heightened my interest in this upgrade. I will email you for the discount from Crutchfield. I have used them in the past and found them to be very easy to deal with.

Thanks again for your post!

Kevin
[B-)]

Cobra2top

Ken,

Thanks for the great post. I too have wanted to replace my tired old “premium” speakers. One of my rear speakers has a buzz when I play the music at “top down” levels. I thought it was the speaker, but your post makes me think it may be the grill mounting tab. Either way your post heightened my interest in this upgrade. I will email you for the discount from Crutchfield. I have used them in the past and found them to be very easy to deal with.

Thanks again for your post!

Kevin
[B-)]

Sent you a email.....good luck!!