Hey everybody. I just picked up a 2000 Z28 coupe and I noticed that the audio quality was terrible, much worse than the 01 Z28 I used to own. First off, the previous owner replaced the hatch speakers with Sony XPlod speakers and one of them is blown....thats part of the problem. The other problem I noticed is that nothing is coming through either of the sail panel speakers. I removed one to make sure it was connected, and it is. Does anybody have an idea why they are not playing? Thanks!

 

Probably blown.
All but one of my door speakers died with the stock HU.
The stock speakers are not durable at all.

 

They aren't rattling...just no sound coming out of either of them. The door speakers are fine. I was wondering if it had something to do with the junk XPlod speakers that was installed.

 

Ok...lets complicate matters even further. It appears that the previous owners installed 6x9 speakers in the hatch area rather than what is supposed to go there. Any suggestions on what I should do with the blown speaker? Should I just find another set of 6x9s or what?

 

If you want. I must assumed that he cut it out so you can't put stock 4"(?) in the back anymore. So if the speaker grill is covering it and it really is not buging you, just replace the them with 6X9. I had the previous owners of my Camaro installed 6x9 speakers too. But it look like junck so I got new (old) panles for my car.

 

With regards to the sailpanel speakers I would take a speaker you know works and wire it up to see if the issue is the speaker or if it's something else like the amp or a wiring issue. Keep in mind that only bass comes from the sails so you need to use music that has some bass to it so you can tell easier if it's functioning or not. The sail panel subs are a common issue in these cars and blow pretty easily.
As for your hatch speakers...I hate when someone hacks up a car unneccessarily. Really you could skip those all together. They really don't add that much to the sound in the vehicle, especially if your front door speakers and sails are doing there job properly. If you feel you must have those speakers functioning I would recommend using an adapter plate for a 6 x 9" to 5 1/4". This would allow you to put a round speaker back in that location which overall have better sound then an oval speaker and since someone already hacked it up for you this would lend itself to a cleaner install, allowing you to put a slightly larger then stock speaker in there. The stockers are a 4" component set.

 

I ended up contacting a local stereo shop and they recommended me to replace the hatch speakers with 6x9s. I ended up going with Rockford Fosgate Prime speakers per their recommendation and they sound much better than before. The previous owner did hack the panel a little so the 6x9s would fit, but the new RFs don't fit quite as well as the old ones did. They had also thrown away the factory speaker grill so for me to bring it back to stock specs, I probably would have needed to replace both plastic hatchback panels, which I really didn't want to do. I may use one of the old 6x9s I took out to see what the issue is with the sail panel speakers. That could help me decide if they bypassed them or if the speakers are just blown.

 

They recommended them probably because they want to make a sale. The rear hatch panels are plastic, I highly doubt you will get anything out of a 6x9 in a plastic panel. Listen to keeaudio, he knows his stuff. If you want to spend money on speakers then ditch the hatch speakers and get a nice set of front components and sail panel speakers and you should be very happy. I running front CDT components and a 10" sub in a stealth box (ditched the sail and hatch speakers) and I have a very good sounding system.

 

how can you tell?


also, replacing rears before fronts doesnt make any sense at all, and neither do 6x9s which are mathematically proven the worse speakers there are. a 6x9 to 5.25/6.5 adapter plate costs very little which is what I used to put a second set of components back there.

I've pretty much found that audio shops (not online. not bashing kee) dont know crap about anything, or are just focused on sales of one (usually bad) brand since they must get some bonus from that company. These days kenwoods arent good for car audio or home theater (although might be best that actually makes 6x9s).

 

hey bro its time for UPGRADE, get an aftermarket HU & AMP & some decent speakers,

then start singing "dippy do da ded-dippy doo do da"

 

The 6x9s sound good in the car but they are a poor fitment and look like crap. They will do for now, but later I will probably replace them with a different speaker that fits better, probably a 4.5 like is supposed to be there. The new speakers will fit my DD, which could use an upgrade so I'll probably install them in it. I don't know if my door speakers are stock or not because I haven't taken it apart to find out. Im not concerned with a killer sound system...just something that sounds good and I don't really feel like bothering with revamping the whole car from top to bottom.