8” screen w/nav, but not Harmon Kardon - best sound upgrade option?

Is there a write up anywhere on what it would take to bring the “sound” up to that which you get with the Harmon Kardon upgrade?

 

I know there are more speakers, but not aware of whether adding those speakers is restricted. And if an amp/sub would be enough to satisfy.

 

I’m not interested in having excessive bass. I don’t want to fill my trunk with speakers.

 

That said, my wife’s Outback is outfitted with the HK upgrade and it sounds considerably better than my Legacy.

I was like you and wanted better sound from my '17 Legacy but not wanting to go to a higher trim to get the HK. A new pair of speakers in the front doors gave me a substantial improvement in sound quality and the correct amount of bass that blends well with the music I listen to. I did the back doors as well, but with less noticeable of a difference and if I didn't again I might not even bother with the back. Would definitely recommend starting with speakers, as this is the best bang for your buck from my experience.

Be careful with the speakers you choose. The relatively low-quality speakers and materials selected for base stereo system are matched to what the stock radio can output, which isn't much. On the flip side, expensive, high-quality speakers are designed to be driven by an external amp.

 

You'll want to keep an eye on the power handling range and capabilities of the speakers you purchase. You may be disappointed in the output if you're trying to drive your 100W RMS 3-way speakers with your stock head-unit.

 

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MY philosophy has always been to upgrade your source before your speakers. Whether this is simply by updating the head-unit, where possible, or adding a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) and an amp, providing a cleaner, more powerful signal is more important to receive better sound quality from even the stock speakers, especially keeping the above in mind.

 

With that said, I'm not willing to spend the money on any of that for this car right now, so I decided to give go against my own philosophy by upgrading the speakers first, just to gain some perspective.

 

I went with Sound Ordnance P69B (front) and P65B (rear) from Crutchfield. They're lower-powered (~2-50W RMS) and two-ways. We'll see how they do when I find the time to install them.

Edited January 22, 2020 by gathermewool

I was like you and wanted better sound from my '17 Legacy but not wanting to go to a higher trim to get the HK. A new pair of speakers in the front doors gave me a substantial improvement in sound quality and the correct amount of bass that blends well with the music I listen to. I did the back doors as well, but with less noticeable of a difference and if I didn't again I might not even bother with the back. Would definitely recommend starting with speakers, as this is the best bang for your buck from my experience.

 

What speakers did you go with? Did you upgrade speaker wire?

Be careful with the speakers you choose. The relatively low-quality speakers and materials selected for base stereo system are matched to what the stock radio can output, which isn't much. On the flip side, expensive, high-quality speakers are designed to be driven by an external amp.

 

You'll want to keep an eye on the power handling range and capabilities of the speakers you purchase. You may be disappointed in the output if you're trying to drive your 100W RMS 3-way speakers with your stock head-unit.

 

//

 

MY philosophy has always been to upgrade your source before your speakers. Whether this is simply by updating the head-unit, where possible, or adding a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) and an amp, providing a cleaner, more powerful signal is more important to receive better sound quality from even the stock speakers, especially keeping the above in mind.

 

With that said, I'm not willing to spend the money on any of that for this car right now, so I decided to give go against my own philosophy by upgrading the speakers first, just to gain some perspective.

 

I went with Sound Ordnance P69B (front) and P65B (rear) from Crutchfield. They're lower-powered (~2-50W RMS) and two-ways. We'll see how they do when I find the time to install them.

 

Does Subaru give out speaker information without having to dig into the car? The 8" Head Unit is nice....I really don't want to go aftermarket on that.

 

Hope to see you upgrade soon - would like to know how it sounds.

 

Anyone tried to add speakers where the HK upgrade adds?

What speakers did you go with? Did you upgrade speaker wire?

 

I used these (now discontinued it looks like):

 

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_108R9623IX/Infinity-Reference-REF-9623ix.html

 

I only took out the old speaker and put in the new one, no other modifications.

 

It looks like these are the "new" version:

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_108R9632IM/Infinity-Reference-REF-9632ix.html?tp=91

Edited January 27, 2020 by crudzinskas

I used these (now discontinued it looks like):

 

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_108R9623IX/Infinity-Reference-REF-9623ix.html

 

I only took out the old speaker and put in the new one, no other modifications.

 

It looks like these are the "new" version:

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_108R9632IM/Infinity-Reference-REF-9632ix.html?tp=91

 

100W RMS on the stock head unit!? No thanks

You may be disappointed in the output if you're trying to drive your 100W RMS 3-way speakers with your stock head-unit.

100W RMS on the stock head unit!? No thanks

You seem to be confusing speaker Power Handling Capacity with Minimum Power Requirement (i.e. speaker sensitivity). In this case, 100W RMS represents the upper mechanical limit of the speaker. It says nothing about the sound level from any given power input. For example, to produce the same sound level a speaker rated at 91 dB at 1 W (sensitivity) will require only 1/4 as much power as a speaker rated at 85 dB at 1 W. Each 3 dB increase in speaker sensitivity reduces the amplifier power requirement by 1/2.

You seem to be confusing speaker Power Handling Capacity with Minimum Power Requirement (i.e. speaker sensitivity). In this case, 100W RMS represents the upper mechanical limit of the speaker. It says nothing about the sound level from any given power input. For example, to produce the same sound level a speaker rated at 91 dB at 1 W (sensitivity) will require only 1/4 as much power as a speaker rated at 85 dB at 1 W. Each 3 dB increase in speaker sensitivity reduces the amplifier power requirement by 1/2.

 

 

You're probably right. I'll admit that I'm no audiophile and base my opinion only on past experience/ what I've heard. Do you know the spec's for the OE Premium speakers, say, for a '15 Legacy? Assuming the sensitivity between two sets of aftermarket speakers is much greater than the stock speakers, wouldn't the aftermarket speaker with a lower power handling capacity be better suited for a lower power head-unit? I.e., I was assuming that a MUCH higher power handling capacity speaker would tend to utilize the low power available worse than a lower power handling capacity speaker.

 

I'm comparing speakers I've used in the past (100W+ RMS) to what I just purchased (2-55W RMS), based on the above assumption and as a test. I've also been out of the game for around a decade, so I'm taking baby steps getting back in.

 

Background:

 

I'm basing the above logic on the few times I've installed mid-to-higher-end aftermarket speakers, then replaced the HU, then added an amp, usually in that order. i'm by no stretch of the imagination a guru but have personally replaced speakers on stock HU's and been disappointed with the outcome. From what I remember, there was a LOT of low-frequency output lost, mids were muddled at higher volumes and the overall sound was always garbage when pushed to levels comparable to where I used to jam out with an all-OEM setup. Except for low-level listening, it was a net loss by what recall to be every other metric.

 

IME, a cleaner signal from an aftermarket HU was a night-and-day improvement, even though the actual power output isn't that much greater than an OEM HU, relative to the capacity of the speakers themselves (due to obvious heat/space limitations). In certain situations, the stock paper speakers sounded better than the aftermarket speakers, especially for bass-heavy music, and if I really wanted to jam out.

 

Add even a small amp and the difference is night-and-day. I remember the first time I amped a pair of boxed 6X9" Alpine 3-ways circa 2000 (a lot of theft at my HS, so I had to go for boxed speakers in the rear, to keep the stock look); I forget which aftermarket speakers I had in the front. For this non-audiophile, it made a lot of my music sound like heaven! I added a single 10" RF sub (whatever preceded the P-series model) and I thought I was hot shit back then.

 

Since then and up until I got my STI I was happy with an aftermarket HU and mid-level speakers. The STI was so bad with NVH that I never really even listened to the radio. I preferred to listen to the drive-train instead.

 

Now, I'm hoping I'll be happy with some lower-end two-ways in my Legacy. My wife's FXT has the HK stereo, which I find to be just OK. I'll upgrade the speakers, if the experiment with the Legacy shows positive results.

Edited January 27, 2020 by gathermewool

Do you know the spec's for the OE Premium speakers, say, for a '15 Legacy?

No. I've never seen such specs published by any auto manufacturer for their OE speakers.

 

Assuming the sensitivity between two sets of aftermarket speakers is much greater than the stock speakers, wouldn't the aftermarket speaker with a lower power handling capacity be better suited for a lower power head-unit? I.e., I was assuming that a MUCH higher power handling capacity speaker would tend to utilize the low power available worse than a lower power handling capacity speaker.

In general, no. A superior speaker will usually sound better at ALL power levels up to its max rating. Driving a speaker at power levels above its rated capacity risks banging the voice coil into fixed parts of the assembly, which results in gross distortion, as well as voice coil overheating.

 

I'm comparing speakers I've used in the past (100W+ RMS) to what I just purchased (2-55W RMS) ...

FWIW: For a typical home audio system, 5W RMS is enough to provide a loud, room-filling sound level for program material like a symphony orchestra or a jazz ensemble. (A vehicle interior should require far less sound power for the same sound loudness level.) The 100W amplifier is needed just for the peak transients ... a.k.a. head room. Consider that a 100W peak is only 13 dB louder than 5W. (dB = 10 log (P2/P1)) Edited January 27, 2020 by ammcinnis

Thanks for the info.

 

What you say makes sense about actual power consumption. I've got a pretty simple home theater setup: two powered Klipsch R-28PF floor standing speakers with dual powered SVS PB-1000 subs. Based on my inline power meter, I notice very little difference in draw between listening to music at low volumes and a booming action scene while watching a movie. I.e., whereas my power meter won't likely indicate peak draw, it should indicate relatively accurately during sustained action scenes, and that draw is lower than I would have thought.

100W RMS on the stock head unit!? No thanks

 

It looks like you have had a good discussion with others about this already.

 

I am no expert on sound systems, nor am I saying what I did is the best or most effective solution out there. Just posting what worked for me. As a classically trained musician, I appreciate quality and clarity of the sound produced especially at higher frequencies and these speakers did a good job of that for me without adding anything else to the equation. What I liked most about these speakers is that I could have the volume lower than I would normally and still get great clarity of each instrument/voice. The built in manual tuning the head unit has really helps with this too.

 

It is nice to hear ammcinnis' technical perspective also! As a musician and chemical/materials engineer, my electrical background is lacking

I used these (now discontinued it looks like):

 

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_108R9623IX/Infinity-Reference-REF-9623ix.html

 

I only took out the old speaker and put in the new one, no other modifications.

 

It looks like these are the "new" version:

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_108R9632IM/Infinity-Reference-REF-9632ix.html?tp=91

 

 

 

I bought speakers for a truck about 6 years ago and never used them. Checked and they actually would fit. Still new in box.

 

 

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_575R169X2/Rockford-Fosgate-R169X2.html

 

Other speakers are Polk Audio DB651 6.5” speakers.

 

I’ll be damned. Upgrade and didn’t even have to spend $$.