DSmith1178

Im thinking of replacing my soundbar and dash speakers in my infinity equipped rubicon. Since I have a bad dash speaker from the factory, im just going to replace them now while crutchfield is running a buy one get 1/2 off one sale on the polk speakers. Im looking at the Polk DB6501 component set for front and just the 6 1/2 Polk DB speakers for the soundbar. I would like to hear opinions on these speakers while using the stock infinity amp (search doesnt tell me much). Im using stock headunit (730 nav) and wont replace because of what it cost me and the fact that I really like it too. Also, how are the fitment of the polk tweeters in the factory pods. How is the bass response from the midranges? The front infinitys now dont sound too bad. I just dont want to take a step backwards! Thanks
Dave

zfortna

This is the exact Speaker setup I run and I think it sounds great. I had the non-infinity system so I can't compare to the infinity setup, but it was night and day difference over the stock system. The tweeters did take some modification to the tombstones but once done, it looked stock. The base response was very good for the speakers but the infinity amp may lower that as I know it drives the rear speakers less then the front ones.

DSmith1178

Thanks Z! What kind of modification are you describing regarding the tweeters. Im reading about trimming the housing with a utility knife which is fine, im just not looking to do major work to get em to fit. Did you use your stock tweeter covers or wont they work with the polks?

Dave

MonsterJoe

I just got done replacing my speakers in my 2012 Sahara w/Infinity using the polk db651 & db6501

It took me about 3.5 hours total and it came out perfect. It took a little longer for me because I had to look up the speaker polarity colors since I didn't get a harness. I also took my sweet time cutting the tweeter tombstones. I used polyfill in the front speaker pods and the rear sound bar too. Try not to get any of that on your carpet, its really hard to get off, and it doesn't stick to lint rollers.

I had to use a razor knife to trim about 1/4 inch around the tweeter pods to get the polk mounts to fit. Just keep trimming around while test-fitting the tweeter mount periodically. The Polk mounts are flexible, so you have a good amount of play to work with, just don't cut the holes too big. Once you have the hole cut to size, press the tweeter into the mount, connect the wires, then press the mount into the tombstone. I just pressed the Polk mounts in place, didn't have to use the metal bracket, friction held it in tight enough for me.

The biggest difference I hear is from the tweeters, much cleaner defined sound now. The woofers and coaxials don't sound much different than stock - but with bass turned to -4 and the volume tuned to MAX there is NO distortion - that's where you'll hear the difference. I have a 10" 200w powered Bazooka filling in the bass and I'm very happy with the setup now.

Don't expect them to sound louder or give more bass, but do expect them to sound much clearer at high volumes, and the tweeters are a huge difference. I was thinking about getting the Alpine pdx-4 to push them further, but IMO its not necessary right now.

MonsterJoe

A couple pics of what the tweeters look like after mounting, driver side. Sorry no pics of the cut opening before I mounted them.

DSmith1178

Thats a great write up. Exactly what I was looking for. Im really not looking or bass from them, its just that the infinity sub well....sucks. Im going to get the jl stealthbox but it wont be for awhile so Im hoping the bass is at least equal to stock dash infinity speakers. I did polyfill the sub and soundbar today. I noticed the soundbar definatley sounded better but again those infinitys suck. I didnt notice the sub much different from before except maybe a little smoother. I ended up removing a little poly as I think I overstuffed the 1st time. Looks like im definatley going with the Polks. Thanks again!

Dave

DSmith1178

MonsterJoe....forgot to ask cause im still a little confused. How did you hook up the speaker crossovers. Did you just run the tweeters and dash speakers off the polk crossover using the factory dash speaker wire and then just block off the original tweeter wires? Im still confused because it sounds like the factory amp is allready crossed over. I was thinking of just hooking up the polk dash speaker to the factory wires and not use crossover. I would then use the polk components crossover for the tweeters. I would run factory tweeter wires into polk crossover then just use the tweeter out lines to the new tweeters. Again the dash speaker would be crossed over from the infinity amp. Not sure how to do this. Ive hooked up components from aftermarket amps but never tried to integrate into a factory amp which channels could allready be crossed over.

MonsterJoe

I didn't use the Polk crossover at all, woofer and tweeter wired directly to original wires. The Infinity amp already has the crossovers built in. I have a feeling the Infinity amp has both a high and low output filter for the front woofers, it's probably cutting out some lower frequencies the stock speakers can't handle, with the Polk woofers rated down to 35Hz, it will be safe either way - I'm sure the stock speakers don't have that range. Adding the Polk crossovers in as well won't do anything since you'll only be trying to increase the range, which is already filtered out. That's all just my opinion, I don't know the specs of the Infinity amp to be sure - but my setup sounds great, no distortion, so I'm satisfied I did it right - YMMV.

I also forgot to mention, the soundbar speakers are apparantly low-pass filtered, no bass from them, and low volume - same as the stock speakers but the tweets on the coaxials add some highs in the rear.

I may end up getting the PAC harness and replace the stock amp with the Alpine PDX-4 because I'm pretty sure I can push more power to the Polks now - albeit probably unnecessary, but mainly because want the ability to manage the crossover frequencies myself and send some full range back to the soundbar. I'll use the Polk crossovers at that point.

DSmith1178

Sounds good. I just wasnt sure on tweeters because the factory tweeters have that little green capacitor on them that appears to be a bass blocker. Which suggests that the highs are actually full range that gets the bass blocked at the tweeter. Has anybody cut off the tweeter wires and hooked them up to a full range speaker to see if they are full range signals that are just bass blocked by the factory tweeters?

Dave

MikeTHIS

Just an FYI - Polk sale still going on over at CF.

Picked up these speakers, 50% off second pair and free shipping. Plus the extras they throw in.

This was on my list for a while.