Today I went to an audio shop here on Staten Island -- reputed to be one of the better shops around.

This guy totally did not want to work on my car. He kept saying that he would not touch the factory systems. First I wanted fog lights, and he refused to use the factory wiring for the switch.
Then I inquired about upgrading my speakers.
And he gave me this line that the factory speakers run on a different voltage than aftermarket speakers. So if I want to replace the speakers, I'd have to add an amplifier too.
And if I add an amp, I'd have to replace the headunit too.

Was he just feeding me a line of BS ? Or is there
perhaps some truth to what he was saying ?
(He also says that he has a 99 1.8t, and that he was speaking from experience.)

Has anyone replaced JUST their speakers ?
I want to put in ADS speakers all around.
Obviously an amplifier would be ideal. But I don't want to spend too much on car audio.
(My home system is more important to me, and is
worth about as much as the entire car.)

Thanks,
Peter

if you have the budget to get A/D/S all around, i will say think about using the same budget to get the whole system (head, amp, and maybe a cheaper speaker)

that way, i am sure you will get better sound than running A/D/S using factory head.

personal opinion.

Eric C.

...with the A/D/S speakers anyway, if you don't get them good power. Whether or not it is possible to just drop them in, I'm not sure. I do know that it probably won't sound good. You should be able to add an amp without replacing the head unit. You have to use a speaker level to line level converter or get an amp that accepts line level inputs. Not the best way to do it, but it works. The A/D/S speakers will run nicely on 50 Watts per channel, but it has to be good, clean power. When you think about it, a nice head unit and a good amp will run less than $1K anyway. Why not do it right? :-)

Charles

Yes, they are different voltage, so you need an aftermarket amp. You don't need to change your head unit.....

The a/d/s/ speakers I have are the 335is 5.25" components which retail for $600. You'd probably get better sound overall by spending $350 on other speakers and $250 on a good amp compared to using the amp in the current head unit with $600 speakers.

If you want more info about the hassles of installing the 335is in the stock door locations, search the forum archives for "Jim Meyer" and "a/d/s" to find posts I made a long time ago.

Good luck
Jim Meyer
'98.5 2.8QMS