Speaker Upgrade

I replaced the factory speakers in a 2000 Honda Accord EX Coupe, and the sound was only a "slight" improvement with the addition of an amplifier hooked up to the factory radio powering these factory replacements. Don't get me wrong, it was much louder than the factory setup, but I didn't care for the speaker level inputs on my amp. Just think of it like this, any distortion from the head unit, gets amplified, and passed through your lovely speakers.

Speaker line inputs are, at best, "nasty" when it comes to sound quality versus running RCA cables from the head unit pre-amp outputs to your power amp(s). In my 2000 Accord, I really didn't notice in improvement in sound quality until I replaced the factory radio. It was a major improvement by adding an Alpine CDA-9827 that did MP3/WMA/CD. The only thing I lost was the "steering" wheel remote, but, that was already on the fritz so it was no big loss! The Alpine unit has its own remote and it helps when listening to CD ROMS containing MP3/WMA files.

You are welcome!

You will definitely notice an improvement with better speakers. They are usually the weak point in stock Honda car systems. But doing it in stages might not be a good idea, as you'll want to match the watt handling capability (and ohms, of course) of the new speakers with what your current front end puts out for best efficiency. This could limit you in your chioces of a new amp/front end, as you will probably want to get more power in both items.

If there's not going to be a long time gap in between the two upgrades, it wont' hurt to get higher watt speakers for your current low watt stereo, you'll just have to crank the volume knob further to get the same amount of sound, and it won't sound like the improvemnt you hope for until both ends match properly. I would do them together. And don't skimp on the cables that connect the amp.

Bob