Heading to Best Buy to get new speakers.... my 8-ohm Eminence Alpha 6C mid-range guitar speakers aren't cutting it anymore But they did a LOT better than I expected when I installed them 6 or 7 years ago

 

Well, I really wanted the Polk Audio MM 6502 speakers but not shelling out $600 right now for a speaker swap

• handles up to 125 watts RMS (375 watts peak power)
• frequency response: 35-40,000 Hz
• sensitivity: 93 dB

Second choice Polk Audio DB 6502 - but still almost $500 after shipping.

• handles up to 100 watts RMS (300 watts peak power)
• frequency range: 35-23,000 Hz
• sensitivity: 92 dB

So I picked up some Kicker's instead: slightly lower sensitivity & freq response, but hopefully will live up to the spec's.

• handles up to 100 watts RMS (300 watts peak power)
• frequency response: 40-20,000 Hz
• sensitivity: 90 dB

both rear speakers in the HHR have been non-working for about 6 years, the Eminence have done a great job for me up front but they do lack high end & good bass response. I would have liked a speaker that went down to 30Hz but that's a very tall order for a 6.5" speaker, even a dedicated 6.5" sub woofer!

 

Volume knob on the Sony goes up to 50, around 34/35 seems about the same loudness as the factory stereo was on max! Haven't gone above 40 yet cause that's about as loud as I can go and still be able to hear emergency siren's more than 100 yards away with the windows up. Wish I had thought to dig out my decibel meter before swapping the speakers I think listening at 50 for more than a full song would leave my ears ringing.

Found out the factory speaker connectors on both rear speakers were bad, cut them off & used heat shrink butt connectors instead & system sounds great! So nice having working rear speakers again, and even nicer being able to turn up the music so I can hear minor nuances without getting distortion caused by maxing the volume.



Was a bit surprised though.... the Kicker speakers claim response down to 40Hz, but even for rock/metal I put the Sony Extra Bass level at highest boost.

And had one disappointment with the player itself.... it doesn't shuffle.... I have a support request in with Sony cause the manual says it's supposed to have a shuffle mode.

 

Pulled out my decibel meter, at 40 on the volume knob with the meter held at the gear shift, it read a peak value of 103dB. Purely guessing here, but I would estimate the old radio & speakers were topping out around 90dB.

Here it is installed:


please forgive the scratches... I haul lumber in here from time to time.

EDIT: BTW... according to Crutchfield this radio will not fit in the HHR....

 

Found a very cool feature with the new radio:


I know have an easy way to check battery voltage!!!!

 

Nice deal!

 

Good stuff.