I have searched, but not for sure if I could find the right terminology for a good search. I'm no audio expert... But who manufactures Subaru's speakers? If you need specifics, I just got a brand new 06 FXT, and I have Infiniti Kappa components (not installed), but the premium do sound pretty good! (at least for me I just listen to 60's-90's classic rock)

Is it only cause they're new and they'll eventually sound like Subaru's paint jobs?

Also for an el-comparo- I had an 02 WRX and no premium sound or anything, but those speakers sucked, would they be the same brand as Premiums?

I know plenty of knowledgeable people lurk here... and thanks in advance.

the Kappas will sound better, hands down.

I dunno, the infinity kappas are some of the worst aftermarket speaker's I've heard


Not sure who makes the stock speakers, but you can rest assured that they're worth around $1 a piece. :)

I have an 04 with premium, but not too sure if it's the same as the current model. Anyways, it was decent, not the best stock system I've ever owned, not the worse. However, everytime I'd take a ride in my wife's lexus I would really see how bad it was. We listen to the same music , so I could hear how much music detail was lost in the forester.

If you have the kappa's already, then I would go ahead and buy an amp to run them. However, with this upgrade, your system may become unbalanced - your stock sub may no longer be sufficient. If so, you may be quite unhappy with the upgrade.

I don't know if I have premium speakers or not but when I changed out my rears the stock speakers had a semi hollow magnet that barely picked up a paperclip. Stock speakers suck hard.

Thanks for the info, is there a link that leads to more info? I did try to search, but really made it nowhere.

I guess they sound great to me, and to add to ironfinger, I had drove around my mother's Lexus rx330 for about a month (while I was on leave from USMC) and her system did sound nice, but my new FXT don't sound much different, maybe a little less than hers. Then again we may listen to different types of music. Since I like guitar I like the highs, I could almost care less about the bass and that can make a big difference between my POV and yours. No big deal tho! Except for Roger Water in Echoes that's good bass to me!

Also bign, what year/model do you have? It might be easy to tell if you have Premium.

And for everybody, thanks for the input!

MAX

^
okay I looked into the 2006 vs 2004. It seems it has a better sytem, 120 watts vs 80. If you're happy with it then maybe better to keep it stock. Oh btw, we do listen to different music.. my tastes go from folk to electronic, not much rock/classic rock though.

I dunno, the infinity kappas are some of the worst aftermarket speaker's I've heard

The truth, but I figure anything is better. Maybe I am wrong, good lord I hope nobody sells worse speakers than OEM Subaru.

I have a 2004 WRX. I heard I had 4" in the rear but it is clearly a 5 1/4. But just look at the difference to aftermarket.... It's disgusting.

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/3176/p10100158rr.th.jpg (http://img341.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p10100158rr.jpg)

/\/\/\i have refrigerator magnets bigger than that.

Factory Speakers = http://shop5aday.com/acatalog/SP-MAGGROUP.jpg

I think the original intent of the thread was to ask who MADE the factory speakers for Subaru......

small children in indonesia

small children in indonesia
would have done a better job than that.

However, everytime I'd take a ride in my wife's lexus I would really see how bad it was. We listen to the same music , so I could hear how much music detail was lost in the forester.
I think that's mostly because the Lexus has lots of sound deadening. Can't really compare a luxury car to an economy car in the sound department. A pair of headphones sitting on the passenger seat would sound better in a luxury car that includes hundreds of pounds of sound deadening. Have you seen the listed weights on some of the small luxury cars??

Yeah, I guess I shall take off the door cards and take a look. I'm doing all the electrical mods right now anyways (abs switch/foglight mod/drl mod/anti-chime mod, etc...) Plus I know Kappas arent the greatest! I guess I bought them back in 2001 when they were pretty good. But I did just take them out of my WRX before i got rid of it, and they still sound great for my kind of music.

Thanks for the input!

MAX

You really need to change out the head unit or get an amp as well if you want to make things sound better. I still have the stock speakers but added a JL (500/5) amp and they sound way better now. The bass was affected the most, i.e. I have some now. I think the stock head unit has a crappy amp that cant pump any amps. As soon as I can afford it I will get some component speakers. Not sure which brand yet though.

what's wrong with kappas? i have some 50.2cs components that sound pretty decent... i've tried alot of sets... maybe the new ones are crap/ 60.7's are 95db sensitive... no?? i'm looking for a good set to go in my front doors on my 06, looking at getting some 6.5's instead of my left over 5.25's but if you say the new ones are junk then i may put the oldies back in... any feedback?

A couple things:

The new speakers use neodymium magnets, much stronger than normal ferrite magnets. This allows a much smaller motor size and still retain motor strength. A lot of aftermarket tweeters use this method for size. These rare earth magnets are trickling into woofers as well. A few aftermarket companies now use neo magnets or a hybrid neo/ferrite configuration to generate the desired motor. Don't diss it just because it's small. :p

All stock speakers are limited by design. They are cheap, dirt cheap. They aren't physically capable as most aftermarket speakers. Aftermarket offers stiffer cones, stronger motors, longer excursion, and wider frequency capability. A thin paper cone, minimal surround, flexable plastic basket, and tiny motor are only capable of so much. What they are good at is running well off little power. For a system comprised of only HU power, stock isn't a bad option.

As well, stock audio systems are EQed. By this I mean, there has been some custom tuning do to make the audio sound halfway decent. The HU has some custom, pre-tuned-in EQ settings that accomodate the stock speakers' behaviors. This makes them sound halfway decent. This also makes it somewhat hard to just throw aftermarket speakers in and run them off the stock HU. Depending on how the stock HU was EQed, the new speakers may sound ok or like crap. I ran a couple sets of aftermarket speakers off my stock HU(while I was waiting for my new HU and amp). This was the 6-disk model in an '02 Forester. I found that it had some punchy midbass(unnaturally strong). Everything else seemed ok, but it's tough to say. The aftermarket HU on the same speakers sounded quite a bit different.

Infinity isn't bad. They have their own unique sound, and some aspects of what they make is done well. I feel it comes down more to a matter of taste. Everyone has their own taste in sound. Some like it warm, others bright. Some prefer a smooth, laid back presence while others love razor sharp and in your face sound. Infinity has its place. For the price(coaxials), Infinity offers a cheap way of getting a relatively high amount of clarity and detail. Sound is clean and tight. I personally think they go overboard on their tweeters(way louder than what they should be), and they lack a little bit too much in the low end for me. I like their Reference line with the silk tweeters. The Kappa/Perfect stuff just gets too annoying with the tweeters. If you have some decent EQing power in your aftermarket HU or want to run an active setup where you can just turn the gain down on the tweeters, I can see Infinity has very usable. I think their actual component sets are a bit pricy. When you start talking $200-$300 for a component set, there are just too many better options available. The coaxials are cheap and offer well enough bang for the buck to be considered. If the components were $100-$150, they would too.

Reguardless, you buy what sounds right to you. Other than that, you purely worry about build quality and make sure the manufacturer took the steps to make a speaker capable enough for your desire(build quality, sound quality, power handling, linearity in excursion, etc...). For me, I simply prefer other brands/models over Infinity. There are other brands that provide the sound I prefer, and at the price level I'm at, I have far better choices available than what Infinity is capable of offering.

60.7's are 95db sensitive... no?

No, Infinity's efficiency ratings are a load of crap, in fact I've found most company's efficiency ratings are a load of crap because they know that people look at it when selecting speakers and nobody is going to actually test it to show how badly they're lying.


As for Infinity, the reference series is alright, cheap and decent sound. The kappas and especially the perfects are not though, they sound worse than the reference (in most peoples opinions) and are more expensive. My kappas lasted about a month in my car before I had to replace them because I absolutely hated how they sounded. Zero midbass, harsh treble...it was like listening to my songs through a 3" midrange and 5 tweets.