6spd

New to the site, bought my 08 a week ago with only 7k miles....As you might expect, the only dissapointment is the stereo....Have gone through alot of the posts on sound upgrade, but don't see many on if I just want to improve the sound and keep the stock stereo, not really wanting to put amp in it, does changing the speakers seem like a lost cause? I can go to a stereo shop and ask, but if they don't deal with alot of S2000's they will probably tell me anything to get me to buy speakers.....I dont expect a drastic change by only changing the speakers, but any sound improvement would help....Suggestions? Thank you

///KM

Changing the speakers on a stock head unit won't do much for you since the stock amp sucks so bad.

Changing the head unit to aftermarket w/built-in amp will make your stock speakers sound better, since aftermarket head units have a cleaner signal as well as having a higher powered built-in amp. It really is noticeable.

cvjoint

Depends on the headunit. Usually if the amplifier is built in the increase in power is not that noticeable. Doubling the power gives 3db gain in output. Humans can generally perceive changes of more than a decibel. If the stock unit does 30w and the aftermarket does 40w the increase is probably not noticeable. Then we have the issue on how both rate power, which can be tricky as well. IMO, the difference, if it exists is minimal. The annoying part with the OEM is lack of format support (MP3) and the lack of skip protection. My AP1 shakes the laser loose when going over street reflectors.

Without buying an external amp the biggest difference you can make is by getting high efficiency speakers. I would look at pro audio drivers. Next up, stiffen the door panel with some damping materials.

takeshi

Why exactly do you want to keep the stock HU? There's nothing exceptional about it. It really isn't especially designed to match the interior of the S or anything either. It seems odd that there have been so many recent threads with OP's fixated on keeping the original HU.

Car audio is pretty much car audio across the board. Replacing just the speakers won't gain you much if you can't get them enough power. That's why you don't see many threads with people sticking with the stock setup and just replacing speakers -- it's not effective.

Reckon

I replaced the stock HU first and noticed that the stock speakers did better. I then replaced the stock speakers and the whole system sounded much better.

As stated, replacing just the speakers will probably not give you much of an improvement. There will be some, but it might not be noticeable till higher volumes.

For around $300, you can replace the HU and speakers with some aftermarket parts and get a decent and noticeable boost in sound quality. With some more budget, you can do more, obviously, but that is a good place to start.

6spd

Thank you for the input....I wanted to keep the stock head unit because I like to keep things stock on the car, and I remember looking at another 08 for sale that had a Kenwood system, which would not allow the volume and channel controls on the dash to function....My knee gets in the way of the radio door that comes with the car, so keeping it open to funtion the radio does not seem like an option.....
But just for the sake of it, does anyone know a great Stereo shop that has alot of experiance with S2000's in the Orange county area of Calif.? Thanks again for the help!!

SIchodelic

you'll never get good sound out of the stock headunit and speakers

if you're gonna upgrade sound, you shoudl do it right

amp + speakers and a new HU if you can

then if you must retain the dash control, buy a modifry dci

2poor2mod

but if your main goal is to retain the stock function of the side controls a DCI from Modifry www.modifry.com is your best solution along with replacing the stock head unit.

Ragnarok043

if you insist on keeping the stock HU, to get the best sound you can get a sound processor such as the Audison Bit One or the JBL MS8, but its not gonna be cheap though.

nartnailuj

I am trying to keep my HU too because i JUST bought the USA spec ipod adapter and i dont want to sell it and buy a new HU. Could i upgrade the speakers and buy an amp?