I've had my Magnum for a couple of weeks now and am pretty disappointed with the stock stereo in it. I have the 4 speaker system. The sound is really prettty good for a stock stereo but the thing I've noticed is that the sound is very heavily weighted to the front. Typically, I like the sound to be more weighted to the rear.

I'm "not allowed" to change out the head unit in the car as my wife says the aftermarkets don't look as good. Unfortunately, she's right on that, the aftermarket just don't have quite the same finished look as the stockers.

My question, will it do me any good to replace the rear speakers with some better aftermarkets? Meaning, will I get more sound from the rear then, or is the stereo set up to boost the front and not the back? Can an aftermarket amp be added to the stock stereo to increase the rear sounds? I've read about the problems with the lack of switchable power, and think I understand how to get around that, but am unsure of what can be done to maximize the factory head unit.

Any help is appreciated.

 

This depends on the replacement speakers.

Most aftermarket speakers have a higher power handling rating than the stock ones. In very basic terms, if you swap out the stock speaker with an aftermarket one that can handle more power, you'll probably find the aftermarket speaker to be quieter than the original.

It is possible to add an aftermarket amp to the headunit's speaker out, then power aftermarket speakers that way. You'll need a device called a line level converter. It takes the speaker level output from the head unit and steps it down to what an amp is expecting at it's input. almost everyone sells them, wal-mart, best buy, circuit city, etc..

You'll find most after market stereos are set up so that the sound comes primarily from the front, and the rear is just a 'filler'. That's usually why you'll see the better speakers (ie components instead of coaxials) up front.

 

Thanks, that's exactly what I was afraid of (with just replacing the speakers that is).

I have a AIWA MP3 player that is 25x4 that sounded great in the old car, but alas, will have to wait to put it in this one. I may just have to get a small amp that can be installed below the cargo area and replace all of the speakers with the MB Quart speakers. Had those in my last ride and they sounded great.

 

Maybe I don't understand what you are after but simple sound weighting from front to rear would be solved using the fader control. I rented a plain-jane SE that had that on it. Now what I find that is substandard is the 3 channel equalizer - that sux a Chevy.

 

Yeah, I can do the fade, but when I fade to the rear so I can actually hear something from the back speakers, I lose all bass from the front. So that ends up sounding even worse.

Went shopping during lunch today, so I think I'm going to find a 4 channel amp on ebay, either Kicker KX350.4 or JL Audio 300/4, get the line level converter like Angy Pickle said, and get some good speakers.

It sux that it's going to end up costing me more than if I just replaced the head unit, but whatever keeps the wife happy!!

 

Throw in an equalizer too! I had a multi-channel computer controlled equalizer in my Old Mercedes - it made a huge difference - so much so that I even tailored curves for radio vs tapes due to the different compression.

 

You know, that's something that I've forgotten all about. I used to have a 10 channel equalizer in my first "real" stereo back in the late 80's. With the newer radios all having seperate controls for bass, mid, and high's, I really haven't seen the need, or even seen an equalizer, for quite some time. But you're right, I always loved it when I had one.

 

I also just found this internal sirius addon.

Has anyone seen or heard of those? I found them on a couple of sites. Do they work with the lowend 4 speaker system?

 

The DCX 3 band equalizer is a total joke. Try a better one, this is the one I had:
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/csexpo/xe7soncar10b.html

 

Hey, I had some custom speakers put in and kept the head unit, just like you are talking about. Then I realized that the system was front heavy [partly because I had speakers put in to the dash where they weren't before]. But when I went back to the stereo shop they remedied the problem by putting baffles arond the back speakers. They said that the combination of where the speakers aim, and the fact that there was nothing behind the speakers to concentrate the sound forward, made the sound coming from the 6X9 muffled and weaker. As there was nothing they could really do to change the aim, they put some anti vibration material [for sub woofers in a trunk] in there behind the speakers and it really helped to make my system sound nice. It is still a little front heavy, but that is because I added the dash speakers, and also because the 6.5" front speakers are a model higher than the back ones, because they wouldn't fit.