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)

Hope this is clear enough.

Example :

wah you found my photo LOL
ok, i'll look for these component speakers thanks ya!

Jumping in to add some comment.....
Would suggest to wait for a while and change HU & Speaker together and work to getting something that compliment your budget (save up more). Change together maybe can save some installation cost and get better compatibility.
Currently if ichy hand/butt can do sound-deaden for the car as insulate external noise will enhance current stock system slightly and as first step before jumping into next step. Also help on ride NVH levels.

i say you change speakers first...

HUs... well it depends... sometimes if its a b**** to change, i wont change it... adding a processor works a lot more wonders than just changing a HU...

I say component speakers 1st.
For some ppl thats the end of their ICE journey.
Still not enuf then go buy ODR, eh sorry, I mean a better HU.

eh mind elaborating more on this please?

i may be taking that path depending on my future car choise

since it's 50/50, i believe a spk will be more beneficial to user since the sound stage are immediately being pulled up on the dash..or even on the right position after changing speaker, while changing hu will only make the detail better but still singer lying on the foot area and sing for you....unless u were playing some "other" type of music in the car then maybe sound from down there will be making more "sense"......

can i ask... if i upgrade speakers first (and i hope it ends there) but not satisfied, instead of changing HU, will adding an amplifier helps? coz someone mentioned the risk of the standard HU not powerful enough to drive the new speakers.

Why everything this fler said sound...."dirty"?

Of course it will help.

But it is more like changing different item to achieve different objective. You change something to achieve 1 objective, not changing something to achieve nothing.

usually change speaker first u will get more difference in sound than changing HU first, however some ppl need to change HU first due to feature constraint, like no usb input, or no aux input, etc etc

Yeah.. I agree wtih zennn, change speakers first

tat's called ICE poison. i already kena. haha. i bought a light-pwred 50W RMS compt speakers, seriously hoping no need to pasang amp. but sadly found out d HU (also bought brand new for d features) cant drive them properly on mid-low volume. sounded a bit flat, esp d tweeters.

then add an ecomonic budget amp (i'm poor) from Howie, then found d compt speakers came so much more alive. haha. happy icing and get poisoned!

recommendation? of cos go to Howie.... he got lots of 'drugs' to sell from low to mid to high end depending on ur budget n d amount of poison u already kena. his installation charges of cos not the cheapest in town (wad to do, doktor pakar mah) but u can be assured of excellent workmanship n materials used.

this is what i'm afraid of!
but i'm a person of simple requirements. i just need something that sounds nicer.
coz the one in the FLX seems to sounds insufficient, even compared to my other national cars. weird as i thought they should be similar

My opinion...

b4 decide which. .need to know what kind of speaker r u getting.are u using amp or output of the player? if no amp chg hu first because scared ur hu output cannot push ur speaker if u get those branded speaker. or better chg hu & speaker one shot

This post has been edited by vickyz: Oct 17 2012, 05:59 PM

tat's ICE journey. I'm a beginner too! btw, i'm driving BLM. like u, i dont hv high requirements and on limited budget. but once started, hard to stop le... hehe.

do soundproof 1st, then save $$ for comp spkrs. then u'll feel d spkrs cant play well in certain range cos not enuf pwr. then u will consider pasang amp. but to add amp u'll need aftermarket HU cos stock HU dun hv RCA pre-out. then aft tat u'll start to think about sub to get more bass. haha. tat's y very hard to stop one....

Ya ya, on that. You need to have a budget first, then go to shops and start listening to different speakers.
Take your time and bring your fav CD along, no CD cetak rompak ya.
If MP3, then just use shop owner's CD will do.

To TS, I think I can share some experience.

Not driving a FLX but Preve.
Not happy with stock speakers, went for a combination of 2ways component speakers + amp.
Crossover din install though as recommended by the installer where my amp is good enough to handle all the 4 channels. Rear speaker? Disconnect the wire.

So far, I'm pretty satisfied with it. The sound not really till dashboard yet but not far from it. At least not on the floor anymore.

If u into music listening, dun use the FM modulator.....

Happy hunting.

Understand what you mean coz by using Radio frequency thing the level drop but what to do , can't keep buying cd / burning CD. So that is why i need to ask advise from all the sifu here. Coz money is the main source of the issue here. Of coz if is possible i would like to do one time of thing but don't have money. So have to stick to the ground and think which i can see the difference straight without killing my wallet to much.

a player with USB input, is much better than using FM modulator.
Even if it just 320kbps MP3.
I would say change HU first.

This post has been edited by allenultra: Oct 19 2012, 07:46 AM

In my opinion u shud change d speakers first. Reason is now a days most of cars coming with usb input so d source will b same (mp3) whether u play on stock hu or aftermarket, d quality will not differ much unless u go for audiophile HU means u buy new HU but u will feel not much difference in quality

U shud change speakers cz stock spk r made of paper cones n usually come without tweeters. At louder volumes sound will start to distort n in few months cone will rupture. Aftermarket spk will sound much much better especially components with stock HU using usb or CD.

This post has been edited by mughal90: Nov 18 2012, 07:40 AM

If cost is an issue, change speakers first because its the cheaper part of an ice setup. HU n amp is more expensive.
Get a component set which is low power wan if using hu to drive.

Speaker 1st!

but Hu play a lot too!

All debates aside bro.....since u r using fm modulator for usb u should get HEADUNIT FIRST cz no matter how xpensive spk u get they will sound crap with fm modulator Headunit first followed shortly by spk.

i tink TS will end up buying whole setup becoz year end bonus coming soon