2010 Chevy Suburban

[AudioHobbiest]

Hey guys, thank you for taking your time to read my post.

I have a 2010 Chevrolet Suburban and am in the process of restoring it to brand new. One thing I really want to change is upgrade that really old audio system. It comes factory with a Bose sound system which was great back then, but now is falling short and dosent give good sound quality anymore. I want to replace them with 6.5 Inch RockFord Fosgate speakers (300W) and heard Rockford is the best speaker brand out there and is on top of car audio with the clearest audio and best bass. I was wondering, could I run these with my factory head unit? I was reading that the factory head unit only pushes out about 25 watts and sometimes I read it can push out 200. Can the factory unit power 300 watt speakers? Is it necessary to add and wire a AMP? Also was wondering if 300 watt speakers were good.

Thank you so much for your time
Mack

Edit: does more watt mean better sound quality? Do I need 300 Watt?

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[2023 LTZ]

Hola
I’d look to replace the speakers from front to back. Those are cavernous vehicles, irregardless depending on how many speakers you replace, look into a multi channel amp to power the speakers. Essentially 1 channel per speaker. If you choose to get subwoofers you’ll want a different amp for that.
I’ve found
Crutchfield.com
To be very helpful in selecting upgrade stuff. Rockford is good stuff. They’re a leader in the industry. Many other companies produce quality stuff as well. It’s like ford v Chevy but w more options, products and decisions. It’s assembling a working system piece by piece.

Sometimes I wish I had kept my original head unit and most of the time I like the features of its replacement. The original hu will power almost any speakers but the sound wouldn’t be much better than what’s in there. You’ll likely want an amplifier.
Crutchfield has a tool which enables you to put your vehicle characteristics in and it knows what size all the replacements are. Customization is extraordinarily expensive should you choose that route. Otherwise just replace using the same size stuff. They know what will fit.
Higher watts doesn’t necessarily mean better sound quality. It translates to loudness. Quality comes from things like an equalizer, digital sound processing 3-4v outputs on a head unit if you go that route which is the beginning of a perceived ability to reproduce the full frequency of the original recording and attempt to make it as close as you believe it can be. Quality gear takes fewer steps. Opinions vary far and wide.
Check out that website and see what you feel like starting your journey with.
I’ve been tweaking, replacing, upgrading for several years now and have found I absolutely love the rolling concert stage.
Enjoy

 

[AudioHobbiest]

Ooooooh ok awesome I will install an amp. How would I wire the amp to the speakers? Would I have re-run wire through the entire car and take the entire panels apart? I have a “Kenwood Excelon” but I think that is for subs. If I were to just install the new speakers, would it stress out the factory speaker wire and would I get better sound? Sorry for all the questions, I am new to the he hobby lol xD
Thank you so much for your help,
Mack

 

[AudioHobbiest]

Ooooooh ok awesome I will install an amp. How would I wire the amp to the speakers? Would I have re-run wire through the entire car and take the entire panels apart? I have a “Kenwood Excelon” but I think that is for subs. If I were to just install the new speakers, would it stress out the factory speaker wire and would I get better sound? Sorry for all the questions, I am new to the he hobby lol xD
Thank you so much for your help,
Mack

 

[2023 LTZ]

So a consideration about watts is their rms value. My jvc head unit boasts 50x4 watts and in small print reads 22wx4 rms. In actuality it has 22 watts per channel. That isn’t bad or enough for a quality speaker to sound its best. You mentioned those Rockford speakers having 300w. 300 is likely it’s “peak” watt capability. This is unrealistic in sssembling a system. If they’re component type speakers they’ll have a 1 or 2 way speaker and a tweeter. This would likely match your frontest speakers. A set of these may draw 75-125w rms. At that rate your original speaker wire is fine. Some choose to upgrade the wire but it’s an added cost and complexity which many choose to do. Many options are available for amps. Look for a 300-600x4 which would power the front stage and the second row speaker replacements. If it has those rear speakers above the rear door, those will add depth to the sound so consider doing those too. In that case look for a 6 channel amp.
Look around this website or google using focused keywords like “hooking up an amp”. You’ll find a lot of info on how to do it.

 

[AudioHobbiest]

Thank you so much I’m going research on installing them and more. In your opinion do you think I really need an amp? If so I will install one today. I’m sorry for all the questions I’m so thankful I can ask you guys about it
Mack

 

[nauc 10+ year member]

RF is not the best at anything

whats your budget?

only front speakers?

id amp them

stock decks usually only put out around 20 watts or so per channel

 

[AudioHobbiest]

Oooooh ok cool I will install an amp right away. I was thinking of doing the drivers speaker, passenger speaker, rear left speaker, and rear right speaker. Do you guys think I should upgrade everything in the car including tweeters? I was wondering if I put nice expensive speakers up front, that I will still have the stock subwoofer and tweeters that might not bring out the full sound “experience”
Mack
Edit: I am looking at purchasing 2 12’s (MTX AUDIO) would that pair nicely?

 

[2023 LTZ]

Take your time. Haste makes waste.

 

[2023 LTZ]

If you like them and they’re in your budget you’d have to decide on your power and how much you’d want to make them bump.
Dual voice coil subs will have a 2 or 4 ohm rating. Single vc subs will have the same. 2 of them complicates the wiring and the end “load” that amp will see. As close to its max is getting the most of the $ spent.
Look at amp/sub wiring diagrams on that Crutchfield site to see if you’ll prefer svc or dvc subs to pair w the amp you’re thinking about. 250-600w or more is common for each sub to draw. Those mtx I have no idea.
If you had two subs drawing 500 each and a 1000w amp it’d be ideal. Ppl like brands for different reasons and to mix and match is fine. Some prefer to have much higher power amp to have headroom to potentially upgrade to higher watt subs in the future.
All up to you and your budget.
If you’ve ever bought stuff used it’s the same market. You buy an amp for $500 and use it, it’s then worth 1/2. Make it count. Or start a collection like I have lol. Maybe i just need a second vehicle to out that stuff in.

 

[2023 LTZ]

Yup replace them all. Amp them and rock out!!