Hi All the sifu, need to ask you all some advice. I understand that (national car less then 40k) stock HU and speaker need to be replace if you want to have an improvement. The question now is that if i only have budget less than 1k. Should i change the HU first or the speaker first. I went to a few shop and 2 shop advice me to change the speaker first and one shop advice me to change the HU first.

Change speaker reason was because the original / come together speaker only are (low amp/watts, not sure what they said) speaker. So once you change speaker you will see a different.

Change HU reason was coz the stock HU is in output so even you change the speaker you would not really see the big improvement . Is best you change he HU first, you can see the different that way.

I am currently using the FM radio transmitters thing for USB song. Don't really have CD in my car. Either radio or MP3 using the FM transmitter.


Please advise.

Of course, change the HU first, the highest spec as you can. If you want a significant improvement, find HU with at least 4-ch pre-out, if you are seriously into audio, go for at least 3-way active. Some of the forumner here sell decent HU, mine bought from them 4 yrs ago and still doing fine, Pioneer P7150UB.

Later put on an amp, but please dont buy cap ayam brand, better find 2nd unit of well known brand amp rather than new cap ayam. 30W rms is enough for front staging. Forget those rear speaker.

Later change your front speaker will a good component. Again no ayam brand.

Last digital amp with well known brand sub. Again no ayam brand.

I've experience both a bunch of ayam brand component with a few well known branded component. The same cost of investment, but a different world of experience.

Goodluck in your ICE journey

Thanks man for your advice.

wow i wanted to ask the same question.
HU first or speakers first.
so it is HU first la? but like the threadstarter fongwan asked, will the standard speakers from the car (same la, national car) be good enough to sound better eventhough we've upgraded the HU? the car i'm planning to improve is a Saga flx. Thx

Actually it is 50~50.

A lot of people would say speaker first.

But I prefer HU first, because nowadays people look for what ipod support, BT, USB ...etc.

But speakers upgrade you definitely can hear a lot of difference too.

Since you guys ask which one first, then either one is ok. You will be changing the other one also later on.

alamak.... u just brought me back to square one with that 50-50 answer
the standard HU has everything i need actually. CD, mp3 and even USB and AUX-in.
So in my case, it makes better sense to just upgrade the speakers first, yes?
and if speakers are the way to go, the front pair, or the rear pair makes bigger difference?
front pair is located at the door panel, while the rear pair is on the board behind the passenger's neck.
sorry if i offended ICE fans by such silly questions, but i really just wan better/decent sound instead of the stock ones which has no "depth" in the bass at all; without breaking my bank

This post has been edited by masao343: Oct 16 2012, 02:49 PM

I go for speaker 1st, but i think the HU not enuf power to drive the component, then will be suck also.. so have to change HU.. then change HU becos wan make life easier, change HU and amp together becos don wan open the HU again...

hmm..can i say any basic/entry HU now a days should have no problem driving the stock speaker right?

You are answering your own question though, if your HU already have all features that you need, then you should change speakers first.

You change the front one only, ditch the back ones. Why, cannot? Scare back passenger cannot hear? Don't worry, even if you cover the speakers on the back board, the sound/music can still be heard by back passenger.

thanks. i'll go shop around for decent speakers to replace the pair at the front doors.
2-way speakers suffice right?

Please look for good entry level component set for the front.

With what you have, RM60~RM80 installation charges should apply.

"component set" means what? sorry...

In my case, i go for component speakers first. Then later go for change HU. I believe if the HU signal stronger but OEM speakers cannot assist in output.

You might surprise of your current speakers performance once you change to a better HU, so if it is me, I go with HU first

What do you mean by 2-way speaker?

my understanding on aucostics is that the larger speaker produces low frequency sounds, while the smaller one is used to produce high frequencies. so some brands made speakers that has both of these speakers built as 1 single piece. sorry if i used the wrong term/name. i'm a total noob with ICE as u already found out.

EDIT: i googled "component speakers" and if not mistaken, this means u are advising me to get speakers that has the smaller speaker (tweeter) and the bigger one (woofer) separately?

This post has been edited by masao343: Oct 16 2012, 03:50 PM

Yeah... that's what it means.

means dont get those 2-way speakers?
get separated ones is better la?

...and it comes with a box call crossover, 1 for each side to separate the freq for you.

The one with tweeter and mid stick together kind is call coaxial speakers. which is normally cheaper if you compare same brand same range.

2-ways component speakers is made up of 2 6.5" bigger speakers + 2 smaller speakers (aka tweeters) + 2 units small box (crossovers)

3-way component speakers is normally made up of 2 6.5" bigger speakers + 2 4" medium size speakers and 2 small size tweeters + 2 units box (crossovers)