Speaker Struggles with Pioneer Head Unit

[Metzler]

I am in the midst of making some upgrades to the audio system in my 2015 Legacy Limited with the HK system. My main goal, which is already done, was to replace the stock head unit with an Android Auto-capable head unit. I went with the Pioneer AVH-W4500NEX with the iDatalink Maestro to integrate the steering wheel controls. I did the install myself and overall, everything works great with the HU itself and I'm very happy with it.

 

What I am struggling with now is the sound. I was OK with the sound of the HK system and was hoping to at least keep what I had as far as sound quality goes. I was hoping not to have to overhaul the entire sound system with new amps and wiring just so I could get a HU. Based on what I read here and on other forums, that seemed doable.

 

When I installed the new HU, I had some issues with the stock front dash 3.5" speakers popping at higher volume with both very high and very low frequencies. I tried to play around with the crossover settings on the HU, however this degraded the highs and lows of ALL the front speakers. I read that the HK amp powers the front dash speakers in parallel with the door speakers. So, I replaced the L/R dash speakers with Hertz DCX 87.3s. They were better, but still had some popping. I then installed bass blockers on the Hertz speakers, and now the low end sounds better, but I still have some popping on the high frequencies. I'm not cranking the volume to max when this happens - it starts around 2/3 of max volume.

 

I definitely want to replace the front door speakers at this point and I am thinking that I need to get some quality component speakers and permanently remove the dash speakers in order to eliminate the popping issues and get some good sound in the front. Before I do this, I wanted to get feedback on if this is the right way to go. I'm concerned that the stock amp may not feed a full signal to the door speakers and cause the component speakers to sound like crap. Has anyone been down this road and have any feedback for me? Any help is appreciated.