Powerbass Drop-In Speakers

Hey, all! I did a brief search on the Powerbass speakers in this forum and on YouTube but didn't really see any detailed review on them. I'll try and run through the drop-in process, form and fit, sound, and overall difference between the OEM and the Powerbass speakers.

Drop-in process:
If you've ever replaced speakers before, it's probably a-okay for you to skip through this section. For those that haven't done speakers before (like myself), you might give this a quick read-through to understand the expected challenges. The total install time for me was about 2.5 hours. It will require a 10mm socket and ratchet, a phillip's head screwdriver, and a trim removal tool. I highly recommend a second trim removal tool that is able to pry out plastic trim clips, too.

The tweeters were the easiest to install. A trim removal tool can be pried under the front speaker grills and worked towards the center line of the vehicle, and can then be popped out by hand. Lift up and pull towards the rear of the car. The tweeters will then be revealed, along with four different 10mm bolts. The two bolts furthest away from the tweeters hold the bracket in place, and do not need to be removed. The two closest bolts to the tweeters can be removed and the old tweeters can be disconnected from the harness by pushing the plastic retainer clip on the side of the clip. This process is the same for every speaker. The new tweeters can simply be plugged in and bolted back into place, and the speaker grills can be latched back in.

The front and rear door trim panels will need to be removed to put the new woofers in. There are three screws that need to be removed, each covered by a trim piece which the trim removal tool will be handy for. You can simply YouTube the removal process for these doors, but I had an exceedingly difficult time getting the rear doors back into place properly. My best advice is to have a friend assist by pushing on the opposite side of the door while you push the top-end clips into place where the window sill meets the door trim.

The rear speakers in the hatch were fairly easy to remove and install. There is a single bolt underneath the pull-strap for the hatch. A trim removal tool is needed to get the cover out of place, and I had similar difficulties putting the hatch trim back into place as I did with the rear doors. A YouTube video is also available for those who are experiencing difficulties removing this trim piece.

Form and Fit:
The front door woofers really only allow for two bolts to be secured into place rather than the original three. This is acceptable and hasn't produced any rattles or shakes for me personally. However, I would still recommend finding a way to fit all three bolts into place properly. A drill would easily be able to create a new hole in the Powerbass brackets for the third bolt. All of my other speakers fit just fine.

None of the speakers have any noticeable rattle, and the door trim fits back into place just fine, even though the Powerbass speakers have a thicker profile overall.

Sound:
The moment I turned the car on and pushed the volume to 45, I was thoroughly impressed with the Powerbass speakers. Over the OEM (non-JBL), the mud was pretty much cleared away. There's a slight volume increase, but because I didn't install a new amp, there is little expectation that there would be any more than a few decibels of volume more. Unfortunately I don't have a dB meter to test this empirically. The highs are a lot more crisp, and the sound is much more natural over the OEM. The woofers provide a notable increase in bass level, and the mids allow you to hear with much more clarity over OEM. The woofers don't necessarily provide enough low-end to replace a dedicated subwoofer, but they're enough to shake the side mirrors a tad.

When taking into account the price, the sound quality is really amazing compared to the OEM. I have NOT heard a system with the JBL speakers, or OEM+, but I can definitely say I would never pay $600 when these Powerbass Speakers are on the market for $325. For those on a budget, I would HIGHLY recommend the Powerbass speakers so that the extra savings can go towards an amp, new head unit, or a subwoofer. If you're an audiophile, or you really care about the accuracy of every single note, these are not the speakers for you, but I don't think you needed me to tell you that.

 

What is the sensitivity on these speakers since you running them just of the head unit?
And if you are replacing a tweeter with just a tweeter, it's not going to do anything to your overall sound signature since you are still getting the crappy OEM signal.
I would assume any off the shelf mainstream speaker brand would provide the same auditory improvement.

 

I should specify that my head unit has android auto, so is likely a better performer than the non android auto head unit.

Nothing about a tweeter makes it special compared to the other speakers. The crappy OEM tweeters being replaced by better manufactured tweeters is going to sound better. And you've kinda proven my point: why spend $600 if I'm not going to replace my head unit or add an amp? I can spend $350 and get about the same quality sound. The OEM speakers are just about made of paper, and their sound is truly horrific.