A quick note/recap of my impressions on speakers swaps.
Stock speakers - the backbox and cabinet speakers are cheap ful range speakers. Both run at 8ohms. Both appear to be of same brand and type. They can not play low, and they can not play high either. But he range they play is recognizable, and they align well with each other for what they are.
People like to add a separate powered subwoofer because the subwoofer will extend the low range frequencies that you can not get from the stock speakers. Which helps you hear the low end that was not audible before
What about the highs, just like the low end the stock full range speakers can't produce all of the high end either. A reasonable fix to this is to replace the back box speakers with coaxial speakers that have a seperate tweeter that can play into the higher frequency range.
Extending the lows, and extending the highs will allow you to hear so much more that is in the sound tracks, effects, callouts etc.
A seperate powered subwoofer is relatively easy add on, but maybe a little expensive. (starting maybe @$200 for what you need for an ok setup. Low end solved, kinda..(powered subs really vary in sound quality, boomy bass is cheap, tight bass will cost you much more)
Replacing the backbox speakers is a bit more complicated, though cheaper than adding a seperate powered sub. 4" flush mount speakers like the Kicker CS4 is a great bolt in, requiring no adapters, snip and crimp a couple wires and done. $65 maybe. This will extend you highs, and you will hear some new things you were missing. This is great for playing at lower/normal volumes, and will take a little tweaking in the EQ to flavor just right.
But their is a problem when you keep the stock full range cabinet speaker in place and only swap out the backbox speakers. Now you are trying to align a 4ohm speaker set with an 8ohm cabinet speaker. Trying to find a balance to these two will be difficult. Because the cabinet speaker is a full range it is going to have a large overlap of frequencies with your new back box speakers. These overlapped frequencies are not going to be in sync, they will be out of phase with each other, creating distortion, cancellation and sounding terrible together. This becomes more apparent the higher you turn up the volume, which is why this is only a good solution for more normal volume levels.
You could go into the EQ and drop out all frequencies above say 500hrtz going to the cabinet speaker to help reduce the amount of overlap.
So solving the high end is just a little more involved. But is so worth it as there is so much more info to hear in the high range.
So what to do - In my opinion only, The pin first came alive to me when I replaced the backbox speakers and then replaced the cabinet speaker with an 8" subwoofer mounted inside. All that overlap and misalignment issues stopped - the frequencies that do overlap are closer in alignment to each other given higher quality speakers and both being 4ohms. This solution allowed frequency extension into both the highs and lows - win win..
By using good quality speaker replacements you are also one step closer to adding amplification to take it all to the next level should you choose to.
Hope this helps a bit.
Austin, TX
Sydney
