Hey all,

I have an '08 GT with Shaker 500 and all factory speakers right now. I'm a total newbie when it comes to car audio, but I've been reading a lot lately trying to research. Basically I just want a better quality of sound overall in my car, and I'm trying to put together an upgrade plan that I can do in phases over time when I have the extra money to spend.

For the first phase, I'd like to get the most bang for my buck, so my question is would it be better to replace the door subs, with the shelby ones and replace the other door speakers with some aftermarket ones (also possibly the shelby replacements or infinity or whatever), or instead of new speakers get a new amp to provide more power to the existing speakers? If I go the new amp route, would it be powering the door speakers and rear speakers? Or would I want to hook the door subs up to it too? And if so would that require a crossover?

I guess that's more than one question, but if anyone has any advice I'd really appreciate it, thanks!

 

An amp can do wonders. I'm not sure how it works with the shaker though since you have a small amp already. I'd disconnect it if you go aftermarket. With the 8" subs, personally I'd run a "small" (remember they're only 8"...won't need much) mono amp to them. A separate 4 Channel amp to your doors and rear deck. As far as what to do 1st, if you're keeping the head unit, I'd go amps 1st. Your current speakers may sound very good with just a little more power. Then you can save the cash you would have spent on new ones. If they don't sound good, you can buy the speakers you planned on anyways and will already know how much power you have to give new speakers before buying them.

You don't need anything crazy expensive. A trip to Wal-Mart/Best Buy/ etc... Should have what you're looking for in that range. As far as the subs, I'd go aftermarket but thats just me. Everyone's car is personal and ultimately you gotta live with what you choose so to each his own.

 

Thanks for the reply, I guess I can't really go wrong either way. An amp, or new speakers will make the sound better and the combo would be best, it's just which do I want to buy first.

 

An aftermarket head unit can also work wonders. You can do a more in depth tuning of your system and get better results, and not to mention aftermarket head units look cool.

 

Well, like Citadel said, a new HU is a great start as well. It's really your personal preference. Any of them will make a difference to some degree. The only thing I'm not sure about (I don't have a shaker) is if an aftermarket HU will work with the Shaker amp... If not, you will likely lose power rather than gain it if you did the HU first.

 

I'm not sure about the 500 system, but I have the Mach 460 system, which is an amplified system as well.. I didn't lose the power when I swapped units. But, thats just the 460, maybe the 500 is different...

 

Yah, don't get me wrong, I'd love to upgrade my HU as well, but when I do I want it to be a nice one, so I'm not sure I'm ready to spend the cash on that right now. I'll have to try to find some specs on the shaker amp to see what kind of power it's putting the current subs and if it will work with other HUs.

 

The only amplifiers for the Shaker 500 are located in the driver's side kick area and they power the 8" door subwoofers. The 6x8 speakers in the doors and in the rear deck are powered by the factory radio.

If you wish to retain your stock 8" subwoofers and amplifiers, you are going to either need a resistor or a voltage regulator to put on the remote turn on lead that goes to your door amplifiers. Most aftermarket head units have a 12 volt remote turn on whereas the Shaker 500 amplifiers use a 5 volt remote turn on. Failure to use a resistor or voltage regulator will result in a horrific turn on and turn off pop.

 

start with the deck, it will make the biggest difference and then allow you to upgrade the speakers later. The shaker speakers use a strange 6 ohm impedence which means you will not get full power out of an amp made to power a 4 ohm speaker, and you can't really make the speakers sound much better anyway as they are too cheap. You can wire a deck into the mach or shaker systems and no offense if you do not know this maybe you should be reading/learning rather then giving advice?

 

Are you certain that the 6x8 Shaker 500 speakers are 6 ohm? I tossed my plates (which were labeled as Mach to boot) , but the 6x8s that came out of my rear deck are marked 4 ohm and 25 watts.

EDIT - Here is a photo of one of the 6x8s that I pulled from my rear deck:


The 8'' subs that I pulled from my doors are dual voice coil, 1.2 ohm drivers rated at 60 watts per coil.



If this Shaker 500 subwoofer amp produces 120 watts RMS without clipping, I'll eat my hat: