I have a Clarion aftermarket head unit in my Crossfire right now, and I did the capacitor mod with it (still have all the stock speakers).
As someone who's kind of into car audio and upgraded pretty much every vehicle I've owned? My personal opinion is that the capacitor mod is a great "work around" (very inexpensive and easy to do/undo) to force the rear speakers (subs, basically) to fire loudly enough so they're noticeable with a stock system playing at a normal listening volume.
That said, if you go to the effort of rewiring an aftermarket head unit so it actually controls the front and rear speakers independently of each other (the Crossfire factory stereo configuration is odd in the sense that the fronts and rears are tied together using just 2 channels for left and right) -- you really have no need for the capacitor mod. You'll be able to use the fader control to send more volume to the rear speakers than the fronts instead.
Additionally? If you upgraded the door speakers and not the rear speakers? I wouldn't be at all surprised if the new door speakers need a little more wattage - meaning they're going to play more quietly at a given volume level than the stock ones. That might accomplish pretty much the same thing as the capacitor mod for you too. even if you keep everything wired so it only uses 2 channels like the factory setup.
Personally, I'd love to hear how some of the door speaker upgrades sound in the car.... I really don't want to make a big investment in audio upgrades on my Crossfire, but I've never been that happy with the stock door speakers. (I think the 7 speaker Bose system in my Cadillac spoils me.) The Crossfire speakers, even with the Clarion head-unit, get plenty loud enough -- but they sound a little "harsh" to me. I have to do a lot of playing with the EQ to get them to sound more pleasing to my ears, and then I play certain types of music and realize I've got whole "chunks" of the frequency range that are much quieter than the rest of it. I think it's a portion of the lower midrange that's lacking -- but I can't bring it all back the way I like with the EQ controls I'm given.
Originally Posted by
gp1200x
Questions.... I just read all 27 pages and didn't see any examples comparable to what I did. I need to know if I should do this mod even with the changes I am making.
I am installing an Alpine CDE-HD137BT and will be using the HU speaker out cables to the stock amp to to wire up the fronts to the door speakers and the rears to the speakers. (My original HD skipped CDs over bumps.) I have also replaced my door speakers with a set of 609CS Infinity speakers - I had a blown passenger speaker. The new 609CS 6 inch are heavier and larger than the stock and the tweeters are also larger and much heavier. My new Apline has an equilizer built in.
So my doors (6 inch and tweeters with the new Inifinity Crossover connected) will be controller by the front speaker HU settings and the subs will be controlled by the rear speaker HU settings. I have wired everything up as shown in other threads on this site - separating the inputs into the amp from two channels to four channels. Getting ready to test everything on NYears day.
Should I still install this mod for my front speakers? I realize that my subs (rear) will only produce low bass frequencies based on the amp design and the fact that I am using hte original subs still.
Thanks