I am tired of the door speaker sound in the 4th gen, Especially after having driven a rented Chevy Cruze for work. Non-Premium System with MyLink sounds great! I just can't seem to get any speakers to sound decent.

I am looking at getting the Q-Logic Q-Forms, and have a few questions that didn't seem to easily be found in a search.

1. I have read that "some vehicles may require modification to fit", and Crutchfield lists it in the notes on these. Does anything have to be hacked up/trimmed on the kick panels/lower door moulding to make these fit? I'm not much of a MacGyver.

2. It looks like the speaker openings will have to be cut to the size of the speakers. I know the cutout sizes can vary slightly on 6.5" speakers. I don't want to be limited to whatever my first set of speakers happen to be. Would there be a good universal size to cut them out to, so that I could fit most replacements in the future? Also, how easy is the material to cut?

3. Which color will match the charcoal/black interior color on an early LS1 4th gen (98), as I read the later 4th gen had a slightly darker color? The available colors are kind of confusing... Black, Medium-Gray, Medium-Neutral, Graphite, Very Dark Grey(Slate). Any of these colors can be/have probably been used to describe these interiors. Any idea which is right? I am assuming Black would be safe.

4. And the ultimate question. Do these sound noticeably better than the door speakers?

 

You don't like the sound, you compare it to that of an econobox, and from that you conclude that the speaker position is the problem? With a good aftermarket head unit properly adjusted and a good set of convertible-mount component speakers, the sound from the doors will be as good as anything available without modifying your interior.

 

That "econobox" has an amazing sounding stock system. Bass goes very deep, almost to subwoofer levels, it has good midrange, midbass punch, and the treble is completely smooth and not harsh. As far as I can tell it ONLY has front components (5.25, or 6.5's in the doors, and tweeters angled toward the dash in the A-Pillars), and possibly dual-cone speakers in the rear doors (very little treble is heard from the rear).

I simply am not able to get anything close to that out of my camaro. I have also owned a 94 and 96 camaro with the bose system. Stripped that out in the 94, and ran aftermarket head unit, front/sub amps and a 10" sub. I have probably tried 10 different models of door speakers between my Camaro's, and they all shared the same traits. There is no midbass whatsoever. The overall sound out of the doors is anemic and thin, probably due to that terrible leaky plastic speaker mount pod thing. Midrange can be decent with good speakers, though. Yet, the 99 Mustang I briefly had sounded damn good with a basic pair of 5x7 JBL GTO's in the doors.

I am not blaming the speaker position alone. I am hoping that an actual enclosure, without any leaks will improve the sound. My clear plastic door liners are not in the best of shape. Also, FWIW, I do have an aftermarket HU (Pioneer DEH-X7500HD) going to the stock Monsoon amp, and I'm currently running a pair of Soundstream SST6.5's in the doors. They are bi-ampable coaxials (no onboard crossovers), which are basically the same as convertible components. I think they are actually a downgrade from my last pair, (Alpine Type-E coaxials modded to wire separately). The treble is very harsh and tinny, and i think they're underpowered by the early 97-98 Monsoon amp. The 99-02 amp is supposedly 200RMS vs 200Peak.

Believe me, I would rather NOT lose the leg room from the Q-Forms (and save the cash), but I am borderline disgusted with the sound coming from the doors.

 

Odd, I haven't heard others complain about that particular issue with Camaro door speakers. I never experienced that with the T/A (which has basically the same mids although the tweeters are mounted separately) nor with my earlier 95 Z28 Bose system. I'm not saying that there wasn't plenty to upgrade just that your particular issue is a new one to me. Certainly some door tweeter pods would help with the high frequencies but that wouldn't do anything for your mid-range. I'm afraid I don't know what to suggest.

 

I've owned 2 Camaros (95 v6 and 99 SS) and from my experience, the lack of midbass you get from the Camaro doors is mainly caused by 2 things.

1. The plastic speaker mounting cup and surrounding fiber composite door panel structure are flimsy. The more rigid the mounting surface, the more energy gets transmitted as sound. I used MDF coated in bedliner material to make a more solid plate for my speaker to mount to.

2. There is a gi-normous access hole in the inner door skin. When the front and back sound waves of a speaker are allowed to interact, cancellation occurs. This is especially noticeable in the lower frequencies. What I did was get some inexpensive perforated steel and fashion a cover for that hole. Then I put an inner and outer layer of sound deadener (Dynamat) on the steel cover and then screwed it in place.

These 2 things made a significant improvement in the amount of midbass I got from my door speakers.

Your results may vary, but this worked well for me.

Also, I've had the Q-logic kick panels and they are not a sealed pod. They are open back and just kind of sit in place. They are also made from very thin plastic. Lots of work needs to go into them to make them even remotely effective.

 

not many people know this, but when all the old cars are off the road, the car stereo will pretty well die. New cars are designed with EVERYTHING comfort in mind pretty well. the premium stereo's manufactures offer are usually sony, bose, or bang ulfosen (know i didnt spell that right). My mom always bitches when i set her bass to max in her fusion, but her car is set up so you CAN'T blow the speakers (easily) lol

 

People have been saying that for 20 years. I still have a job and from the number of 2014 and 2015 models I've already worked on, I'll have a job for quite some time.

OEM is definitely light years ahead of where it used to be, but a lot of the manufacturers still cut corners when audio/convenience/connectivity is concerned and there is still a large demand for aftermarket equipment.

I see the demand for aftermarket radios steadily declining, but when one door closes....

 

You my son are audibly deprived if the stock cruze crap is considered quality audio.

Go down to your nearest custom car audio shop not best buy. Get some high quality audio equipment deck amps some components and a sub or 2 then dynamat the hell out of the doors and the whole car and you will then get to experience high quality audio. The stock door positioning is pretty damm good in these cars when the right equipment is installed.

 

I'll admit, i actually had my 94 Z28 sounding somewhat decent before i sold it. I ran separate wiring from HU to the door/sail speakers (Pioneer REV 6.5's), and the particular head unit I had allowed me to turn the rear two speaker-level channels into subwoofer outs. The bass from the stock sail woofers was actually good in this setup.
I think part of my problem may be either a defective monsoon amp, or the fact that it's an early amp. The sound distorts above about 35 on my HU, and the volume isn't loud enough at that level. Subs start thumping, in a bad way, and the treble on the door speakers gets really harsh. I am currently sourcing a newer amp to give that a shot.

Other than being true components, the other major difference i noticed in the T/A is that the mids are spaced further out from the door, closer to the "pod" in the door panel. I'm not sure what difference this would make.

I actually thought about getting a set of 6LE tweeter pods. But, the price is not exactly cheap, and I appear to already be power starved with the monsoon amp. Wouldn't really be viable unless I wanted to wire external amps.

I like that MDF idea. Could u send me a life-size template? Believe it or not, I have tried many things to deaden those useless speaker mounts. I've tried everything (not at the same time) from a layer of modeling clay, rope caulk, even siliconed around the opening in the door. There still seems to be a gap in the area where there really should be a 4th screw. There's not enough pressure from those 3 screws to close the gap.

I'm not really a macguyver, so I don't see myself doing the "steel-plate mod", but I would think that, assuming the door panel fits relatively tightly, that the hole will be mostly sealed by the door panel itself. I definitely noticed a difference in sound (warmer) with the door panel on vs off.

There's no doubt factory stereo's are getting better. There is actually thought, research and engineering that goes into the system, rather than the old mentality of "oh, just put the speaker anywhere in the door, it won't make a difference"

Have you actually heard the system in that particular car? Or are you assuming that every "econobox" has terrible audio?
Aside from the mids being a touch too harsh for my liking, it is definitely the best sounding non-premium factory system I've ever heard. If the Monsoon system sounded anything close, I would probably never upgrade it.

I have actually had my share of aftermarket systems in my various vehicles. I have a pair of brand new Alpine Type-E 10's, an old 150 x 2 Elemental Designs, and a Viper 600D (600 watt 1ohm mono) amplifier sitting in the closet. but I'm reluctant to wire separate amps in this car. Running speaker wire from HU and thru the door grommet was a hair pulling, nail biting mess on my 94.
I'm not doubting that it's useful, but I dynamatted (Elemental Designs E-Dead) the entire doors in my previous Mustang. I honestly didn't notice much difference in the sound. There was a fairly large opening in those doors as well, which I covered up.

 

Yep I've heard them we sell a cruze every now and then unfortunately.