Newly installed Polk DB 650's

[deneb]

Just installed a pair of Polk Audio DB 650's in place of my factory speakers yesterday and wanted to do a brief write up. I ordered them from Crutchfield and they also sent a pair of adapters as well. The install went OK, but the adapters didn't fit quite like they should have. I was able to use 2 of the mounting screws, but the third was way off, I had to drill my own screw hole for the third mounting screw. No issues with depth, and it was easy to screw the speaker into the adapter once the adapter was mounted. It may even be possible to screw those particular speakers directly to the door without depth issues.

 

As far as the sound: Cleaner, clearer, and more detailed throughout the audio spectrum. I disconnected the factory tweeter, resulting in a more coherent soundstage with improved imaging. There is a slight loss of volume however, it seems like the sensitivity of the factory speakers may be slighly higher.

 

Conclusion: If you're looking for a nice improvement over the factory stereo with a minimum of time and $, this is a good upgrade (80 bucks and about 2 hrs of work). It won't transform the factory stereo however, as it is still underpowered. Guess I'll have to think about adding an external amp. But then that will overpower the factory sub...

[VXCL]

i have been a fan of polk speakers in the past becuase they are cheap and generally offer good sound quality with high sensitivitey. but i would think the stock amp would definitely start clipping becuase its not powerful enough for them. happened to me on my last car. tried to just upgrade speakers for a temp fix and it was actually worse. oem paper were louder and didnt break up as fast, but it was actually the oem headunit that was breaking up.

[deneb]

It's fairly easy to overdrive the factory amp even with the factory speakers, it lacks headroom (guess that's another way of saying it clips). The quality of the Polk speakers is leaps and bounds over the quality of the factory speakers, I'd be surprised if Subaru paid more than $10 for all 6 speakers.

 

IMO, the slight loss of volume is more than compensated for by the improvement in imaging, clarity, and detail the Polks provide over the factory speakers.

[VTGT]

Price for the polks?

[deneb]

80 bucks at crutchfield http://www.crutchfield.com/S-XOuw3V2wMfe/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?wm=fp&I=107DB650 and that includes an adapter for mounting the speakers (which worked OK, but could've been better) and an adapter with a fitting that connects the factory wiring connection (located on the side of the door woofer) to the Polk speakers, which worked perfectly.

[VTGT]

Thats well worth it, these are the speakers that replace the ones in bottom of the driver and passenger door, am i correct?

 

My right one is starting to go...I need an excuse to replace them :/

[deneb]

Yes, you'd replace the 6.5" driver in the lower portion of the door with these. Since these are coaxial (tweeter mounted on a post where a normal driver's dust cap would be), you can disconnect the factory tweeters as well. By doing this, you get a much better stereo image. You can disconnect the factory tweeter by unplugging the wiring harness at the connector behind the bracket that the tweeter mounts to.

[HansGT]

+1 for Polk. They have products in all price ranges, but as a whole even the cheaper stuff is still good. I have Polk Audio for my home stereo...love it!

[FishingFiend]

Used these for my rear speakers and they sound great with more power. I too would unhook the tweeters if they're in the front doors...