Hey all,

I am going to be purchasing a new 06 GT soon and I am planning on adding an aftermarket stereo (probably at least a Kenwood head unit and Infinity Kappa speakers). I am looking for superior sound quality over pure loudness and bass.

My first thought was that I should just get the base stereo, since I will just be replacing everything anyway, but now I am thinking it will be easier to upgrade with the Shaker 500 system, since it already contains mounting locations for an additional four speakers (including two woofers).

What are the exact differences between the base stereo and the Shaker 500, as far as size/type/location of speakers? I would rather not mess around with drilling/cutting and modifying the car to add additional speakers, so would I be better of getting the Shaker 500 option?

 

If your gonna pull everything out anyways, the only diffrence would be speaker grills, the mounting locations and sizes would be the same.

 

no i'm pretty sure the standard stereo does not have the mounting places for the door-mounted subs...other than that and the extra amp i believe everything else is the same...could be wrong as i dont own an S197...but if i was to get one i would go throught the same dilemma....it depends how custom you want to go....if you want to go for a "bolt-on" approach get the shaker 500 so you can just swap out the factory equipment...if youi want to go all custom forget the shaker and make (or have it done) some custom door panels molded with fiberglass and do kick panels too...then you can put the speakers wherever you please...

obviously custom door panels could get expensive if you dont do them yourself...but isnt the shaker 500 a $500 option?...you could just put that money towards custom work...just for you to think about

 

The Shaker 500 is definitely more upgrade friendly. The base unit just has four 6x8 dual-cone or coaxials, while the Shaker has a 4" component set on a 6x8 plate in the door plus the 8" sub in each door and regular 6x8s on the rear shelf. The door subs are in enclosures with 3.5" of depth allowing some ordinary 8" subs to fit, but there are also specialty shallow mount units that will work great. The enclosure needs to be braced up a bit in any case though.

My wet dream would be a Dynaudio System 360 3-way set in the doors and a 12/15" sub in the trunk in a slot loaded or down firing enclosure. The component set uses a 8" mid-bass that is a hair under 3.5" deep, a 3" midrange that would fit fine in the 6x8 hole with a plate. The tweeter would be best in the A-pillar, but should fit with the midrange in the 6x8 opening.

Until you upgrade, the Shaker would be far easier to live with as well. The tweets are a bit harsh for my ears but the bass is almost all there, even though it doesn't hit your chest, you can hear it all.

 

the difference as far as speaker location goes is the added 8" in the doors otherwise the 6x8 locations are all the same.....

 

Im considering the same thing. Theres a new 06 that I have been looking at with the Shaker 500 system but I already have a brand new Alpine stereo with the Ipod support that I would like to use. Have any of you here attempted the replacement of a Shaker system? All I really want to do is just swap the head unit and keep the factory speakers using a harness adapter. I had a friend with an 03 mustang with a mach system and he told me he could not just simply swap out the head unit. I didnt know if it would be the same with the Shaker. I have done some research and it seems a pretty simple swap. If its going to be too much of a pain I figure I can just look for one with the plain old cd player.