What year car?

 

what year car?

2015

 

In the short time they have been on the road it may be hard to find out. Curious as to what you don't like about the OEM speakers.

 

It's hard to describe in words...things just don't sound right. The bass is flabby and the highs are piercing.

If the speakers in my car are similar to the speakers this guy took out of his car ( http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/104-gen-4-2010-2014/33673-taiguys-car-stereo-install-log.html ) I can understand why my stereo sounds like crap.

I'm hoping changing speakers will improve the sound, otherwise I will also have to instal an amp.

 

The Premium should have the Harmon Kardon system with an equalizer and an amplified subwoofer. Try messing with the settings, if you haven't already. I know the older models have shallow doors which called for shallow speakers of course. Try Crutchfield.com to see if they are up on advice for your 5th generation. Good luck and let us know how you do.

 

The premium does not have the HK system standard. And the EQ sucks to the point that it is worthless.

see here: http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/138-gen-5-2015-present/167849-infotainment-system-eq-whack.html

 

The premium does not have the HK system standard. And the EQ sucks to the point that it is worthless.

see here: http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/138-gen-5-2015-present/167849-infotainment-system-eq-whack.html

The EQ does suck, but not to the point of being completely worthless.

The speakers suck, but not to the point of being completely worthless.

When you add the sucky speakers and sucky EQ, you end up with a pretty crappy stereo system (it's okay for talk radio, but for music it is horrible).

 

I replaced my factory speakers on my Grand cherokee with Infinity Reference speakers and it made a huge difference. I'm thinking of doing the same sometime to my new OB. But in my Jeep, the shop (Car Toys) told me aftermarket speakers wouldn't work with my factory head unit. Which actually might have been true since I had just a super basic Radio/CD player head unit and not a nice Nav or anything. So I had to buy an aftermarket head unit (which I wanted anyway). Hopefully that isn't the case with the new infotainment/Nav system in the OB's. Polk makes some nice car stereo speakers as well.

So I'll be watching this closely. I might even pop over to a shop around town and ask them and report back just for curiosity's sake. I would bet the factory amp isn't really up for the task of powering nicer speakers.

Also, I found this great write-up from the 2020-2014 section, which should be pretty accurate for us as well I assume.

 

I'm thinking about replacing the speakers myself...but I'm afraid to screw something up. On the other hand, I'm afraid an install shop will screw something up too (scratch or break something).

I'm waiting for the Crutchfield master sheet for the 2015 Outback to come out (I asked yesterday and they said they didn't have one yet). Until then I might try to replace the factory "tweeter" with a Polk or Infinity 3.5 speakers. The speakers will probably not fit, so I will have to make my own mount. The worse thing that can happen is that the new speakers will not fit, in which case I will just put the crappy factory "tweeter" back in there.

 

After listening to the stereo for a week I've come to the conclusion new speakers will be necessary for me. That and the head unit's ability to fine tune the audio is crappy. It's just not very...loud. Also FM/HD radio/Sat radio audio quality REALLY sucks. Maybe the worst I've heard in a new car.

Hopefully some sort of amp bypass/new speaker setup will be worked out, because I like the factory head unit look and most of it's features.

 

Keep us posted...I'll do the same.

I just bought a pair of Pioneer 3.5 speakers (on Amazon) to replace the factory dash speakers. I'll report on the sound and the installation process.

 

Interested to see what others do also. The OEM speakers do seem a bit over exaggerated in highs and lows but flat through the middle. Its hard to explain....

 

New Alpine speakers installed today on all 6 locations. A lot of custom work was required. Similar to what can be seen in the 2014s, but the front door speakers are very very different.

 

 

Very nice. How did the installer get the wires for the tweeter up to the dashboard (did he use existing wiring)? Also, did he use the stock door speaker mounts or did he use something else?


Congratulations, by the way. I'm glad the sound is sooooo much better.



Can you live with sooooo much better, or will you have to add an amp to the system?

 

Install looks like it will hurt my wallet! Was there a lot of sound insulation when you opened up the door panel?

Im hesitant to have a local shop botch the door panels and sound insulation. I really hate rattles...

 

rear speakers. Nothing too crazy here, but the door panel inside speaker surround needed to be trimmed a little.

 

There wasn't a ton of sound insulation on the door panels. Yes, some, but not a lot. The surprise for me was the sound insulation on the door. It can be seen in the pictures as the black mat on the door.

Luckily I have a top notch installer at Best Buy that does the highest quality of work I have seen. His fastidiousness and patience with his work far exceeds my own.


The sound is sooooo much better....but the EQ still sucks. If you turn down a specific range on an EQ it should be gone and we know that these headunits don't do that. It's unacceptable in my eyes. Luckily the new speakers sound better and can handle more than the stockers.

The stock tweeters are 6 ohm while the 6.5" are 4 ohm. The are wired together which would give a 2.4ohm load on the stereo/amp. I think this also makes the factory stuff sound so sucky.

 

Also, are you power here from factory head unit? If there is an amp, where did you hide it?

 

I haven't installed an aftermarket amp yet...it's on the floor next to me right now. The installer and I think that there is a factory "unpublished" amp powering everything, but we didn't have time to go searching.

 

I'm going to amp it, mostly to get the cutoffs I want that the crappy factory EQ doesn't.

The wiring is all original and perfectly intact. You can see in the pictures that the stock mounts had to be hacked apart for the 6.5" to fit. The stock speakers at that point were rendered useless and thrown in the garbage. The front door cutout is actually bigger than a 6x9 and we thought about adding a 6x9 but the depth wasn't there because of the window.

The rear speakers also need to be cut out of their mount and then they were thrown away too.

 

Thanks for the information.


I think I'm taking my in this weekend. I'm going to replace at least the dash tweeters and the front speakers.

 

The oem premium setup sounds just fine to me. Then again, I spent 6 years in Marine artillery.

 

I agree, the sound in my OB Premium sounds very nice. Of course compared to the OEM in my Ford F150 two soup cans with a string between them would be an upgrade. I also have found any of the problems others are reporting with the EQ. I'm not an audiophile but still do like quality sound and have no complaints at all.

 

I went to a car stereo shop today and I replaced all the speakers (with a brand called Hertz)...

Like fnlyfnd said, things sound sooooo much better now.:29:


The speakers they replaced are absolute crap (paper diaphragm :gasp. I'll post pictures later.


I can even live with the "whack EQ" as the speakers are able to handle the signal much, much better. The stereo is now acceptable, if not great.

 

The 6x9 are a tough fit and will have to have a relatively shallow depth compared to most. Also the 6x9 wont fit snugly in the door cutout because it is actually bigger in some areas. It can be done and it will be awesome, I just want to make sure you are aware of what lies ahead.

The Alpines sound great without an amp. No under-powering issues at all. Bass response is great. I do want to amp it. On the highway I am turning the volume up to 50 sometimes. The reason being is because the factory ohm rating is lower than the typical 4ohm replacements, therefore requiring the user to turn the volume louder.

 

The 6x9 are a tough fit and will have to have a relatively shallow depth compared to most. Also the 6x9 wont fit snugly in the door cutout because it is actually bigger in some areas. It can be done and it will be awesome, I just want to make sure you are aware of what lies ahead.

Would it be possible to make a spacer to shift the new speaker out of the door (so it protrudes into the cabin more)? Is there room to do that? That would allow a deeper speaker.

Also what kind of sub is in the premium? (if any)

 

Sounds like I'll be paying a guy to do this. :29:

Where were you thinking about putting the amp?

 

I believe there is a control in the head unit that allows you to bump up the sound level (low, medium, high) for matching sound levels of different audio tracks on your mp3 player or phone. Might help get some more volume.

 

I believe there is a control in the head unit that allows you to bump up the sound level (low, medium, high) for matching sound levels of different audio tracks on your mp3 player or phone. Thos might help get sound more volume.

Any idea where? I haven't seen it. Maybe it depends on the HK vs normal stereo?

 

Edit: Kayak is right.

I thought you were talking about something else

 

I found it in settings. It doesn't make it any louder or boost anything. No notable difference from High to Off.

 

I hadn't tried it yet. I just saw it in there somewhere and thought it might up the volume a bit for us. Bummer.

 

As a job during college I installed audio at a high end shop. The speakers may suck but the real problem is the power output to the speakers. If you put in all new speakers and don't amplify them properly, then you will still have crappy sound.

 

Haha...that's what the people at the stereo shop told me.


I put in all new speakers and I'm only using the stock radio to amplify them...and I don't have crappy sound anymore. There is a night and day difference (for the better, of course) between the stock speakers and the replacements.

I'm sure that if I spent another $1000+ in equipment things would sound better, but I'm very satisfied with the way things sound now. I'm also sure that there wont be a night and day difference between the sound I've got now and the sound I would get if I did spend another $1000+.

 

I'd say you don't really know what good sound is then and that's ok. Alpine makes a cheap amp that basically goes right behind the radio and brings all 4 speakers up to the proper wattage. Its $150 and it will dramatically increase your sound quality. Nothing worse to do to a nice speaker than to underpower it.

And I by no means am trying to come off like an ahole, if the sound is good enough to you than sweet, but for me I need clarity and drive even if the windows are down. Can't get that without power and the Subaru clarion stuff is about the least amount of power out there.

 

I'd say you don't really know what good sound is then and that's ok.

LOL...and you would be wrong (really, really wrong).

Alpine makes a cheap amp that basically goes right behind the radio and brings all 4 speakers up to the proper wattage. Its $150 and it will dramatically increase your sound quality. Nothing worse to do to a nice speaker than to underpower it.

I have no doubt in my mind that the little amp will increase the sound quality, but it will not make a night and day difference. You will get night and day difference going from stock speakers to aftermarket speakers.

If you need to squeeze that last 10% of sound quality out of the system, sure, go for an amp. Changing the speakers will get you a 90% increase (well, depending on the speakers you get).