Aberdeen Chris Posted November 9, 2016 Share Posted November 9, 2016 Has anybody upgraded the speakers on their XV? I'm finding mine to be lacking especially for any Base and have seen an upgrade kit by kicker. their kit has 4 door speakers with mouldings as a direct replacement and a tweeter kit for the dash. Has anyone fitted this or an alternative to improve the sound. My 2.5GX Leggy has much better sound and the lack of oomph in the standard XV speakers appears to be because the magnets on them are tiny! Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dug Posted November 10, 2016 Share Posted November 10, 2016 not upgraded mine but I understand what you mean how much is the kicker upgrade? you would also need to upgrade the sound proofing and deadening as I find I get quite bad rattling from my door cards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aberdeen Chris Posted November 10, 2016 Author Share Posted November 10, 2016 Hi Dug, I think they come with a foam seal at the front and a sticky foam bit to fit round the block connector which should avoid rattles. I'm guessing around £300 from the US of A. I still need to try my main dealer although I'm shure their price will be North of 300, but I can get the correct part number from them. I just don't understand why such c*** speakers are being put in to the XV and same in WRX? Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aberdeen Chris Posted November 13, 2016 Author Share Posted November 13, 2016 Ok, si I was wondering if the premium 2016/7 XV actually had the HK speakers as it has the 7" HK infotainment system. Which is the same as a WRX gets but I've read somewhere that the Legacy premium gets the better HK speakers, which makes the Kicker upgrade speaker kit redundant. My ears tell me the speakers in my car are rubbish, but I didn't want to order the upgrade kit before checking what was actually in the doors. Hear's what I found :- 1, the speakers sit of the door in a specially constructed aperture housing. 2, when you remove the door card there is one side quick release tab to push in to disconnect the connector block for the electrics, 3 the speaker is attached by three screws rather than the usual four, 4, some of the white door card clips did not release with the door card, but stayed in the door. so it was nessesary to remove them from the door and re-fitt them to the door card prior to re-fitting the door card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aberdeen Chris Posted November 13, 2016 Author Share Posted November 13, 2016 5, A standard trim removal tool was unable to rebove the more stubben clips, 6, a heavier tool got them out easily, 7, pic of door card where clip detatched and 8, the removed clip re-inserted in advance of re-fitting the door card, 9, the speaker removed had the feel of 'Much Cheapness' 10, from the back you can see it's structure is all plastic apart from the minuscule magnet, 11, I took a photo with a two pound coin, and a one pound coin to to give scale to the tiny proportions of the magnets that drive the speakers. If you look more closely you will see they are rated for a whopping 35 Watts... Awesome-Not! 12, there is a special connector for the speaker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aberdeen Chris Posted November 13, 2016 Author Share Posted November 13, 2016 I have ordered this kit which is made as a direct fit and is offered as an OEM upgrade in USA by Subaru dealers OEM Speaker Upgrade Kit by Kicker for SUBARU Impreza & XV Crosstrek - H631SFJ001 You can see from the pic that they have decent magnets and I believe are a good solution as although expensive at just over 200 quid del, have the correct connectors and are a direct replacement for the original speakers. You can see they have slightly larger magnets also. " Upgrade your speakers and enhance sound clarity and high-end definition with this Genuine Subaru Speaker Upgrade Kit by Kicker®.• Manufactured for Subaru by Kicker®• Set of 4 - Includes front and rear speakers. " I Have no doubt they will have the XV's infotainment system sounding good, and I don't think any extra amplification will be needed, nor the upgraded tweeter kit which is also available as the lacking part of the current sound is bass and also distortion when the volume gets ramped up while driving at greater speeds. If I had bought a WRX I'm sure the beautiful sound of the engine would have sufficed, but coming from a nice sounding 2.5GX with an awesome sound system I can't live with only the lovely sound of the turbo being drowned out by the diesel undertones, and a fantastic HK audio system being let down terribly by awful speakers not worthy of a kitchen tranny, and to top it all the chassis of the stock speaker is made of thin plastic which I'm shure could wilt under a hard stare. Shure the kit's a bit overpriced, I know I could get speakers as good or better for much less; but they're designed to fit straight in and have the correct connectors and offset plastic mountings and foam seals at the back and the front for a snug trouble free fit against the door card. In my book that all makes sense, Subaru engineering sense! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aberdeen Chris Posted November 13, 2016 Author Share Posted November 13, 2016 I forgot to mention the previous pic of the back of the Kicker speaker shows also to the right the origional equipment speaker with it's tiny magnet. So you can see the difference in driver magnet size for your self... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mohamed Abdallah Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 Is it worth it to do the upgrade? What about its base compared with the original stock speakers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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