Polk speakers for a 2003 Cavalier

glaze

I have a 2003 Chevrolet Cavalier with the stock factory CD stereo and stock factory speakers. I called my local Chevrolet dealer and they could not tell me what ohms the stock speakers are. Then I called Chevrolet customer service and they could not answer the question of what ohms the speakers are either. I have not looked at the stock speakers yet to determine what ohms they are if they are marked with such information.

I drive this car and hour and a half a day total to work and back home, so it's worth an upgrade. I would like to keep the stock factory cd player stereo and put Polk speakers in this car which are the correct ohms and will sound good with the factory radio. What Polk speakers will fit, be the correct ohms for the factory radio and sound the best with the low wattage factory radio?

I'm also open to your suggestions of just upgrading to an aftermarket CD deck with an amp if it is a must with Polk speakers. Please list brands and models you guy's prefer.

Thanks

Mike

vawakemonster

get aftermarket cd player and amp if you really want to enjoy the polk potential.
or an amp and line out converters.

MacLeod

The stock speakers are most likely 4 ohm.

Id get aftermarket speakers first. This will make the biggest improvement.

Then Id get an amp next.

Then an aftermarket HU.

Of course its best to do all 3 at once if you can.

sickicw

I like rockford fosgate head unit, but there are a lot of good ones out there....

If you have the money i would get...

http://www.cardomain.com/item/POLSR6500

and

http://www.cardomain.com/item/ROCT8004

glaze

MacLeod wrote:

The stock speakers are most likely 4 ohm.

Id get aftermarket speakers first. This will make the biggest improvement.

Then Id get an amp next.

Then an aftermarket HU.

Of course its best to do all 3 at once if you can.

Macleod

2006 Rookie of the Year
TN State Champion
World Finals 2nd place

Obviously you know what you are talking about... I want Polk speakers because I've done a ton of research and Polks get extremely high ratings for car audio speakers. Polk home audio speakers have been the best I've heard in person even when compared with home audio speakers costing five times more money. I prefer the Polk sound.

I drive my Cavalier for an hour and a half per day(total drive time) for five days a week to work and back and I feel it's worth the upgrade because I'm into music and great sound. This car is where I really will listen to music most during my day, so why not make the most of it.

I'm a guitar player and I like great tone. Give me a great sounding vintage Marshall Plexi on a Marshall 4x12 cabinet with Celestion Greenbacks in it with my #1 Les Paul and that's tone heaven for me.

I do not want to listen to music so loud it will damage my hearing and I'm never going to compete in an car audio competition. I just want a great sounding audio sytem that reproduces the music as accurately as possible at moderate volume levels. I don't mind turning things up a little because I love rock and blues, but I'm careful with my hearing.

What brand of CD player head units, amps and Polk speakers would you recommend to meet my needs?

Thanks

Mike

glaze

sickicw wrote:

I like rockford fosgate head unit, but there are a lot of good ones out there....

If you have the money i would get...

http://www.cardomain.com/item/POLSR6500

and

http://www.cardomain.com/item/ROCT8004

Sickicw

I did read several reviews of the Polk SR6500's. I read one review where they got the highest rating out of everything ever tested. Lot's of Polk speakers get good reviews also.

The last time I had a real audio system was in a 1972 4x4 Chevy Blazer I had. I had a Rockford Fosgate amp with Rockford Fosgate speakers and an Alpine head unit. It sounded pretty good, but I had a single amp which would distort at high volumes. This was when I was much younger and the Blazer is long gone. Rockford has made good gear for a long time. I will look at that amp, so thanks for the head up.

Mike

MacLeod

Im assuming you dont want a sub and just want drop in replacements of good quality.

Id suggest heading down to a Circuit City and as about the DB 4x6's. Both the Polk and Crutchfield website say they wont fit. Im assuming its due to depth but you may be able to make em work with a spacer. The installers at Circuit City could tell you better what will and wont fit.

As for the rear deck, those are 6x9's. The DB690 would be a drop in replacement for this.

Now if you want to spend a little more, find you a Tweeter and check out the Momo series.

As for amps, it just depends on how much youre wanting to spend. Go to Crutchfield.com and Cardomain.com and look around. Look for something in the 75x4 range and in the price you can afford.

On head units, Im partial to Alpine myself. But this Panasonic is a $500 HU on closeout right now for $200. Its a steal!

pentavolvo

Ok they are deff 4 ohm speakers stock. The db 4x6 deffinetely fits in the cavalier, why it says they dont is far beyond me. Not only do I drive a cavalier as a beater I have installed them in a many cavaliers. With very minimal work you can fit the db 5.25 in the front doors as well i mean minimal work as in making some new mounting holes for them. they will fit right into the stock plastic mount in the door. I did this in 2 different cars where they wanted to amp the speakers and i felt the 5.25 would be a much better bet then the 4x6.

myork

Crutchfield has adapter brackets so you can mount 6.5 inch speakers in the doors - I had a pair of Polk EX603a speakers in the doors of my Z24. The bracket does extend the speakers out of the door frame by over an inch (and angled upward), so mounting depth shouldnt be too big of an issue. I didnt have any problems with the speakers hitting the door panel - but the tweeters on those Polks didnt extend out past the woofer frame by alot, if at all.

mwh9

As a musician myself, keyboard player, you are not going to be happy with cheap speakers. For a HU, this may be a personal preference but, try to find one that you can upgrade easily, something that has 3 pair of RCA outputs, ect. I do agree about the 6 1/2" speakers for the front. You will get much better sound from a speaker of that size and it is worth any effort you may have to make to get them installed. I don't think that you will be disappointed in any of the Polk speakers, even the db650's sound good, all of them have a good sound reproduction. Just give them a little time to break in, this will hold true with most good speakers. If you ever sell the car, it doesn't mean the sound system has to go with it.
Mike

myork

Here is what the adapters look like:


And here is the link to them in Crutchfield:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-cPs4wnVR71N/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=103200&I=120823300

I could not get the configurator to show any applications other than 4x6 and 4" for 2003 - but when I switched to 1998 (which is what my car was), the speaker selection changed to include 5.25" and 6.5". Dont know why, as I am 99.99% positive that the doors are the same, but you may want to doublecheck just to be sure.