Rear Speakers

[Gary in NJ]

I've been pondering my options with the sound system installed in the BRZ. To me it sounds "ok"; not bad enough that I want to rip it out and start from scratch but not good enough to leave alone. Adding a sub and the amps to run a complete sound system overhaul would add unwanted weight to the car (I'm sure this was a consideration when Subaru designed the system). Plus, I don't hate the nav unit like many do...I think the nav & audio system are well integrated.

With that said, I just can't get over the lack of fidelity of the rear speakers. They are listed as 4" speakers; not a great sized speaker. I don't mind making the mounting/cut-out holes a little larger to accommodate larger speakers that would provide greater choice.

Has anyone replaced just the rears? What were the results?

[infinite012]

You haven't peeled back the plastic panels, yet, have you? The rear speakers are 3", but they're mounted in a giant void on a strip of metal that is bolt to the car. The metal strip is kind of L shaped and holds the speaker at the angle of the L.

You could easily stuff a 6.5" speaker in that void, but the quality of sound coming from such an odd shape would be....odd.

[cruzinbill]

Why would you waste the time and money on rear speakers? Just disconnect them and improve your front stage.

Rear speakers are for rear fill if someone is sitting back there, which this car is small enough not to need them even if someone is crammed back there.

[Gary in NJ]

Originally Posted by cruzinbill

Why would you waste the time and money on rear speakers? Just disconnect them and improve your front stage.

Rear speakers are for rear fill if someone is sitting back there, which this car is small enough not to need them even if someone is crammed back there.

Yeah, I don't see me EVER cramming someone back there. This car is a two seater.

The rear speakers do serve a purpose. When (if) you sit in a living room listening to music, or sit in a club listening to a band, the speakers fire at you and sound is reflected from the walls behind you. This gives the sense of being surrounded by the sound. In a car with just front speakers the sound is directed from your left and right, leaving a void behind you. To me, this is unnatural.

Given the above description, the rear speakers don't have to do a lot of heavy lifting. But the stock rear speakers can't even accomplish this simple task.

Good to know about the speaker cavity, infinite012. I will have to remove the panel and determine the depth of the space. Maybe a mid-grade 4" coaxial (I believe they are 4-ohm) would work well in that location. Perhaps I could also install an amp with speaker-level inputs to help drive those speakers.

[cruzinbill]

Originally Posted by Gary in NJ

Yeah, I don't see me EVER cramming someone back there. This car is a two seater.

The rear speakers do serve a purpose. When (if) you sit in a living room listening to music, or sit in a club listening to a band, the speakers fire at you and sound is reflected from the walls behind you. This gives the sense of being surrounded by the sound. In a car with just front speakers the sound is directed from your left and right, leaving a void behind you. To me, this is unnatural.

Given the above description, the rear speakers don't have to do a lot of heavy lifting. But the stock rear speakers can't even accomplish this simple task.

Good to know about the speaker cavity, infinite012. I will have to remove the panel and determine the depth of the space. Maybe a mid-grade 4" coaxial (I believe they are 4-ohm) would work well in that location. Perhaps I could also install an amp with speaker-level inputs to help drive those speakers.

A car, club, and living room are all completely different environments for tuning audio.

In a car if you don't have processing and delay for the rear channels its simply duplicates the front. So things that should now be for example between center and left would be coming from behind you.

It also causes issues with getting a good center on the music as well as more problems of bringing the subwoofer in time with your midbass, which leaves it feeling like its coming from the trunk or at best floating between the front and rear.

I'm not tryn to tell you how to set your car up, just giving insight of the issues you run into by having them back there.

[Rabble]

They're 3.5s and getting to them is a bitch. You've got to take out the trunk liner to take out the back seats to take off the side panels just to get to them. That being said, once you get the stuff off its easy and there is a ton of room to add larger speakers if you've got the aptitude to build your own brackets.

I replaced all 6 speakers and it made a world of difference. Just note that the door speakers are 2ohm subwoofers powered by an amp in the trunk area. Getting regular 4ohm speakers is a bad idea.

I've always had great experiences with the infinity brand. I'm also running the 6.5 inch Kicker 2ohm subs in the door, they fit in the stock location if you make your own brackets..

[BlueSTaR]

I'm also thinking of just disconnecting the back speakers. I don't really see a need for them. Although I do have a 4 channel amp :P

[djliquidsteele]

Originally Posted by Rabble

Getting regular 4ohm speakers is a bad idea.

Why?

[JoeBoxer]

Originally Posted by djliquidsteele

Why?

4ohm is fine for everything but the door speakers and that's assuming we aren't adding an amp.

I agree with Bill 100%, rear speakers are not needed in this car and I wouldn't spend any time or money trying to change them out.

[Rabble]

Originally Posted by djliquidsteele

Why?

Because the stock amp runs them at 2 ohm which means you need twice the power just to get the same output when running 4 ohms. I mean, you can run 4 ohm speakers but it won't sound any good.

The twos shouldn't be any more expensive than fours so its just a matter of picking out the right speakers.

[mid_life_crisis]

Originally Posted by BlueSTaR

I'm also thinking of just disconnecting the back speakers. I don't really see a need for them. Although I do have a 4 channel amp :P

Good. Electronic crossover separating the doors from the dash and a passive for the dash speakers. Four channels put to good use.

[Zippy]

I disagree with Bill. It all depends upon what you are listening to. I like to listen to movies.....Not watch, but listen to. The movies I listen to are ones I can quote without it playing verbatim from beginning to end. Movies are recorded in surround sound. Without the rear fill I am without the intended audio environment. For music, the front is enough MOST of the time. If you are an audiophile and have sacd/dvd-a media, then you really do need rear fill. Several sacd and dvd-a disks were recorded in surround. I also have some of these and enjoy listening to them in my other car and soon in my BRZ. Again, without the rear fill you are missing the listening experience as intended.

[JoeBoxer]

Rear fill is not used the majority of the time is cars that are built for sound quality competitions. Everybody has their own preferences so I wouldn't say its wrong to use it but its definitely not needed for most people in a car this size.

[cruzinbill]

Originally Posted by Zippy

I disagree with Bill. It all depends upon what you are listening to. I like to listen to movies.....Not watch, but listen to. The movies I listen to are ones I can quote without it playing verbatim from beginning to end. Movies are recorded in surround sound. Without the rear fill I am without the intended audio environment. For music, the front is enough MOST of the time. If you are an audiophile and have sacd/dvd-a media, then you really do need rear fill. Several sacd and dvd-a disks were recorded in surround. I also have some of these and enjoy listening to them in my other car and soon in my BRZ. Again, without the rear fill you are missing the listening experience as intended.

Again you are comparing a car to a home enviroment. Do you even know of any headunits that will play SACD in car? I'm pretty sure there are none.

So you would need processing to actually make use of the rear speakers still. Slim to none offer true surround sound either. Unless your source unit has it then you aren't actually doing anything other than cloning the front output. Thats all rear is, a duplicate of the front output in 90% of car stereos.

So even if you are listening to dvd audio in a car, its still not surround sound just incorrect imaging from the rear. Unless you have one of the few units that do 5.1.

If someone wants to run rears fine, but there's no reason to have false beliefs of whats going on.