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Factory speaker sizes

38K views 11 replies 6 participants last post by  Mongo 
#1 ·
I just bought a 2010 Commander, and need to upgrade the speakers fast. Does anyone know the actual sizes of the factory speakers in the dash, and front and rear doors? Also how hard is it to pull off the door panels to get to the door speakers? And how does one get to the dash speakers? Thanks in advance.
 
#2 · (Edited)
Do you have a BA system? BA amp is a 6 channel. Front doors: base only, Dash: mids, highs, Rear Doors: Full Range.
Dash: 3.5" - the grill pops off straight up. I replaced mine with Infinity 2 way, 2 ohm
Front Door: 6x9 - I replaced mine with Kicker 1 way, 2 ohm. On the door panels, there are 3 screws - one up by the mirror, one behind the door pull, one behind a little door in the middle of the door handle. The rest is held on by those funky plastic clips. Plan on breaking some of them.
Rear Door: 6.5" - I repaced mine with Infinity 2 way, 2 ohm. The rear door panels have 2 screws: 1 behind the door pull, and one in the door handle, just like the front doors.
I originally replaced all of my speakers with the Kicker upgrade. Within a couple of months, I blew the ones in the rear doors. Kicker would not acknowledge my emails, so I bought the Infinity's, and replaced the Kicker dash speakers with Infinity's also because they produce crisper highs. Since the factory BA speakers are 2 ohm, I stayed with replacement 2 ohm speakers, so as not to lose any power from the BA amp. :eek:rangehat:
 
#5 ·
How do you like the new sound? ...and compare it to the BA system, what are the differences. I have an 07 Overland...the stock speakers are fine right now...just curious for future reference.
 
#4 ·
prolly wanna look into getting a new amp as well. Most aftermarkets will be 4 ohm and your amp in the factory radio is only about 10 watts - maybe 12. Hell go for the gusto and grap a new head unit as well! One things with mine (I had the stock system non BA) is that the wiring colors were not consistent. I got my stuff from Crutchfield and they helped me identify + and -. I originally had a few speakers wired out of phase.....
 
#7 ·
So I've been thinking about upgrading my stock (non-BA) speakers for some time now, but they really sound pretty good and the project always seems to remain on the back burner for mods. But reading over these last couple posts got me thinking about it again, but I have a new consideration to factor in. While the speakers are stock, what I will assume are 2ohm, my head-unit is the OERadio operating on "4-8ohms" of resistance. What does this mean I should be looking for in a new speaker? Are the 2ohm speakers making the sound seem better with the aftermarket head-unit? Or should I be looking to pair speakers with the proper impedance?
 
#8 ·
The Mopar OE Radios are 2 ohms, as well as the BA amp. This was my dilema when I was looking for speakers. At the time Circuit City was still around, and all they carried, as well as Best Buy, was 4 ohm. What I eventually came up with was if I switched to 4 ohm speakers without changing my amp/head unit, I would effectively cut the power in 1/2. I still do not know 100% if this is true, but anyway, I went to Crutchfield where they carry the 2 ohm Infinity's. The Kicker set for the Commander is 2 ohm. I hope this helps. My radio is the 6-disc RAQ. It is about a year old - the discs got stuck inside and the radio was replaced under warranty. I also have a Navus by Mopar dash mounted nav system, so I really don't intend to spend any more money on sound unless one of these craps out again. :eek:rangehat:
 
#9 ·
Sorry, I knew I should have explained my headunit better. OERadio is the aftermarket brand unit I have in the dash, model CH-4100. If you were concerned that 4ohm speakers on a 2ohm headunit would cut your power in half, does the inverse hold true, doubling the power of my 4ohm headunit with stock 2ohm speakers? I'd love to install some higher quality speakers for more punch and crisp highs, but don't want to put in 4ohm speakers only to find out the sound is diminished (the current setup really does sound pretty great, btw).
 
#10 ·
From what the "kids" at Circuit City and Best Buy told me, you run the risk of blowing your stock speakers with your aftermarket 4-8 ohm head unit. So, the inverse would hold true. Having a 4 ohm head unit allows you a much wider choice in speakers. BA makes good ones - I still don't know why the stock BA's weren't of a higher quality. Rockford-Fosgate also would be my choice. :eek:rangehat:
 
#11 ·
For reference. I ran an Alpine hd unit w/ infinity reference speakers in all doors and front dash. 250W JL Audio amp hooked to JL Audio 10" power wedge just behind the 2nd row. Its got enough lead so I can put it behind the 3rd row if I ever use them.

I run bass flat, treble at +1, have the sub crossed over at 80 HZ and can feel and hear the music with all windows down at 80 mph. I do have a gap in the low mid bass that I am trying to correct (probably around 115 HZ), but other than that it sounds as good as an SUV can for a moderately priced system. I am thinking of removing the rear seats and installing a 12" and 2 8" subs in its place.

The problem you will have running 2 ohm speakers w a 4 ohm headunit is overdriving the amp to clip too soon - then you either blow your amp or more likely your speakers as you will send them straight DC. If you run 4 ohm speakers w a 2 ohm factory amp, then you will have a hard time getting any volume out of the system (power is inverse to resistance).

BA makes great aftermarket speakers, but so does Focal, JL Audio, Infinity, Pioneer, MB Quart etc.
Unless you are paying for a B&O or Mark Levinsen system you will always get something less than what their true aftermarket components are.
 
#12 ·
The problem you will have running 2 ohm speakers w a 4 ohm headunit is overdriving the amp to clip too soon - then you either blow your amp or more likely your speakers as you will send them straight DC. If you run 4 ohm speakers w a 2 ohm factory amp, then you will have a hard time getting any volume out of the system (power is inverse to resistance).
From what I've read, and it makes perfect sense, its the scenario where the amp can't provide enough power, that blows speaker, like strokeZ says.

Playing music, the voltage is constantly changing, to create the signal that is constantly changing to make the speaker cones and the coils attached to them constantly move back and forth to create the sound.

You try to create a signal peak that is higher than the amp can output, the amp stops at its max output and stays there until the signal comes back down to a point below its max output (it clips the signal to a straight line). That causes the cone/coil to extend to its max point and stay there until the signal is unclipped again. Just those few moments of NOT moving at max power and NOT constantly changing the signal to let it cool off, will overheat the coil and damage it, i.e. BLOW YOUR SPEAKER.

Like all the posts have been saying, you have to balance the circuit, that the speakers draw as much power as the amp supplies at that impedance. Speaker lower ohms than the amp is designed for, they'll draw more power than the amp can supply, speakers higher ohms than the amp is designed for, they won't draw all the power the amp can supply.
 
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