natesi

Would it be worth upgrading the speakers and keeping the stock head unit in a 2011 xB?

I was thinking about getting Alpine SPS-600C ($150) for the fronts and Alpine SPS-600 ($100) for the rears.

Thanks,

-Nathan

natesi

Will the stock head unit be able to drive after market speakers, or should I not bother?

buickid

I wouldn't bother. Stock speakers and headunits are made to work together. They use cheap speakers, then program the headunit to EQ the deficiencies out of them, which is why they sound half decent. This is also much cheaper than using good speakers.

When I changed HUs, the stock speakers sounded pretty lifeless. I installed pretty high end speakers and amp in the front doors, and everything sounded way better. I would hazard a guess that aftermarket speakers on the stock headunit would sound peaky at certain frequencies, and the stock HU probably wouldn't have enough power to drive them well. Stock headunit only puts out about 17W per channel. You'll probably want at least a 50w/ch amp to drive em. Hope this helps!

natesi

Thanks for the reply,.

Not sure if it changes your opinion, but if I go with an aftermarket deck I'm not going to use an external amplifier though, so I'll only be looking at maybe 22W RMS per channel, max. Well, unless I go with an Alpine unit. Then I'd probably spring for the Alpine Power Pack, which brings things up to 45W RMS per channel.

I love Alpine, but I want to use a USB stick (not an iPod). And the way they handle mp3s on a USB stick is extremely lame -- you'll just see hundreds of songs listed. It doesn't show you folders. So it's impossible to find someone by artist and album. Totally lame.

Hopefully they will fix this. Anyone know when their new decks are coming out?

buickid

Aftermarket deck will help with the tonality for sure. And it'll give you RCA pre-outs to hook up aftermarket amplifiers!

afterlifespecialist

I could be wrong, but doesn't the 2010+ stock stereo have rca pre-outs for a sub already built in?

hingyfan

I am thinking of getting a 2011 XB soon.
Is the the one with the navigation any better as a stereo than the other two?
I am reading that the premium is the stock with a touchscreen and they are both lacking. Any thoughts on this? Thanks.

buickid

Just get the stock radio and go aftermarket. Way more value.

SparksAI

Aftermarket speakers on a Factory stereo isn't always a bad idea. Like was mentioned earlier, they tend to use pretty cheap speakers in factory setups that are meant to play on the safe side and their main function is to last as long as possible. Aftermarket speakers are more efficent almost always so they will be able to do more with what they are given. But if you are changing out the speakers you might as well change out the HU as well or add an aftermarket amp.

For USB playback look at the Pioneer Headunits, navigation is by Folders making it a lot easier to sort your music the way you want. I run a Pioneer X920BT in my car and while I have my iphone with all of my music on it I tend to throw on my USB key a majority of the time.

KaneoheKoa

The stock HU does offer some tweaks to help the stock speakers, but you can always turn off that setting (sounded fake even on the stocks, if memory serves). For me, the biggest problem of my 2010 Pioneer stock HU was the lack of a pause and true fast forward/reverse control. Changed out to a Sony HU with these features and have not regretted it at all. Aftermarket HU make it easier to upgrade to an amp or two (or five!) to really improve your sound on aftermarket speakers. Personally, I prefer speakers made by speaker companies. Why? It's their primary business: most of their R&D goes into making better designs. What designs, ideas, materials that work well in home speakers also have a use in car audio, too. I've got Infinity's now, but plan on totally redoing the crossover with better components (better coils, Solen caps and a smoothing cap for tweeter).