Ok. I've been through 6 pages & can't find what I'm looking for. I installed a new Kenwood in my 01 gt, got the right connectors,(apparently Ford has about 5 different ones). All speakers are working, but sound the same or worse than factory. What can I do to separate the music without an EQ. (I don't think the built in ones are any good). I know how to add subs but I want it to sound right. Also, I've been told that when the tweeters stop working you're just SOL, & they wont work if you replace them. This doesn't seem right. Anyone got any ideas??

 

a few questions
1) what model kenwood
2) does your car have factory subs
3) did you mean you replaced just the radio
if you only replaced the radio it should still sound better, and get noticeably louder. without making any adjustments to the radio(eq settings/ treble, base) it will sound similar because you have the same speakers. once you make adjustments you should notice a difference. however with the stock speakers you will always have that hollow sound(it wont sound full).

 

It's a Kenwood HD552U. If you mean rear deck speakers when you say "factory subs", then yes. Just replaced the radio so far. I don't want replace anything else if it isn't going to sound better. I usually just adjust the Bass & treble because the built in EQ seems to overload certain tones(to my ears anyway). I've changed the stereo in all my vehicles & thi one is the only one that didn't do anything. Do you happen to know if it's true about the tweeters not being replaceable? I'd like to go with the Kicker set up.

 

One side note, with factory speakers when you adjust the eq it will not sound good because they cant reproduce sound very good. Your radio has a 3 band eq. If a 3 band eq is all you have ever dealt with then yes you will not be able to adjust your sound that well(even with aftermarket speakers. An aftermarket radio with a 7 band eq will allow you to fine tune the sound(if you have aftermarket speakers). Now back to your question. there are 3 types of 2/3 way speakers. 1) the tweeter is built in the speaker. 2) the tweeter is seperate from the speaker. 3) the tweeter can be seperate, and it can be part of thr speaker with an adapter. In type 2 and 3 you can replace thr tweeter. In type 1 you cant. I loked on the kicker website and they have type 2 and 3 speakers. The oter question. If you want better sound you will have to replace the factory speakers. The only other issue you will run into if you like your music loud, or like that full sound, you will need a amp to push the full potential of the speakers. Your radio has a 22 watt rms, and 50 wat max output. aftermarket sprakers are probably going to start out at 50 to 100 watt rms, and 200 and up max watt output. So you can see why you would need an amp. If you not planning on buying an amp then go with some less expensive speakers that dont require that much extra wattage to push the speaker.