How many speakers do YOU have?

I found the Alpine 9 speaker+sub in my old Durango to be mediocre at best. The No name but otherwise the same system in the van sounds marginally better. Just something about the midrange in that system isn’t right.

My truck has 6 speakers, 2 in the dash then one in each door. It sounds pretty good.

I had the 9 speaker Alpine in my 2021 JGC and it wasn't bad, but the HK systems I had in my 2015 and 2018 Challenger blew it away and were by far the best sounding systems I've heard in a car.

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More speakers give more flexibility in creating a better soundstage.

An automotive interior is an absolutely terrible place to listen to music. There are hard surfaces, soft surfaces, external noises, and the listeners are all sitting offset in the soundstage. Whoever is designing the audio system can't do a darn thing about any of these problems.

What they can do is place the speakers (even there they are constrained by hundreds of other consideration needed to package things in the interior) and apply audio processing. More speakers isn't about more sound, it's about better placement of the sound. Physical placement is the first layer and processing is the second.

Cadillac CT6 had an available Bose Panaray system with 34 speakers in 19 locations. It was a very nice sounding system.

My truck has seven speakers and it sounds alright. I added a vehicle-specific Kicker setup that added a DSP amp for the primary channels and a powered underseat sub. I can nit-pick it how it sounds but I don't regret the addition.
Finally someone that understands a vehicle soundstage!
 
The Tesla Model 3 Premium interior (some struggle with the term premium) has 10 speakers in the front, 4 in the back plus an 80w subwoofer. Powered by 2 amps. This is the best car stereo I have ever heard.The Mark Levinson audio in our 2 Lexi is very good, but the mid range in the Tesla is simply amazing.

By the way, the number of speakers does not determine sound quality. The system has to be designed for the room (in this case cabin) it is in. Plus, quality is all over the map. Finally, it all starts with the signal. If the amplifiaction is sub par, the best speakers in the world cannot perform well.
 
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Honestly more speakers can absolutely add more problems if they it is not done correctly. Phase problems will be huge. More speakers they the manufacturers are installing isn’t for more out out or more bass. It’s for a 3D surround sound effect that isn’t natural or how the music was recorded in a studio. It’s some marketing and a lot of perception of what the masses of people want and they think is cool.
 
Base model 2015 Honda Pilot has 7 speakers including subwoofer. It sounds decent enough

I desire Apple Car play over an incredible car audio system without it .
 
The Tesla Model 3 Premium interior (some struggle with the term premium) has 10 speakers in the front, 4 in the back plus an 80w subwoofer. Powered by 2 amps. This is the best car stereo I have ever heard.The Mark Levinson audio in our 2 Lexi is very good, but the mid range in the Tesla is simply amazing.
I know the designer/engineer or the Lexus system. Very nice Japanese man that I compete with and he kicks my butt.
 
I know the designer/engineer or the Lexus system. Very nice Japanese man that I compete with and he kicks my butt.
Do you have any comment or review of the Lexus ML audio? Our GS is a 2013; it is pretty good; perhaps the 2021 RX450h is different? Different cabins, for sure.
 
I think a car is absolutely terrible place for a sound system and number of speakers and a known name they license is for marketing purposes mainly. Car audio is a complete afterthought in vehicle design.
 
Do you have any comment or review of the Lexus ML audio? Our GS is a 2013; it is pretty good; perhaps the 2021 RX450h is different? Different cabins, for sure.
The 2021 should be very good. The LC 500 is the flagship car and is excellent. His competition car is mind blowing because he car do what ever he wants and no bean counters to say no.
 
Bluetooth on a smartphone with one of the sound processor apps can make silk out of a sow's ear. Surprisingly, an aftermarket powered subwoofer mounted in the spare tire well is a great yet simple augmentation also. Cerwin-Vega makes the best one.
 
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18 in my Raptor but I don’t think the headrest or headliner speakers do much for the overall sound.
 
'22Forester 9 speaker Harmon Kardon system. Sounds better than my 6 Polk speakers in my entertainment area. Disclaimer-not an audio "expert"
 
In addition to sound stage positioning, multiple speakers split up the frequency range.

An ideal stereo system would have 2 speakers equal distance from the listener. These speakers would perfectly handle the entire frequency range and enough power to be loud enough without distortion. The many many speakers is to make up for lack of those 2 and always at the expense of soundstage.

My car stereo has 7 speakers now, 11 if you count the tweeters on 4 coaxes. It adds a 12" subwoofer to the 6 speakers in the stock locations. It handles frequencies up to 80hz while the 8" go up to 300 and the 6x8 to the top. Around 1000w in amps.
 
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My wife’s XC90 has the Bowers and Wilkins system. It has 19 speakers and 1400W. It’s the best car stereo I’ve ever heard. It’s amazing! I always feel disappointed when I get back in my truck with my 6 lowly speakers LOL
 
I have the cheaper 19 speaker akg system in my escalade. Didn't feel like paying the several thousands more for the 30 something whatever speaker system. All the same crap anyway.
 
2017 Regal GS, Bose 8 speaker system, terrible, no bottom end.
2008 Malibu LTZ, factory 8 speaker system, good, plenty of bottom end.
2015 GMC Terrain DENALI, Pioneer system, 6 speaker system with 8" woofer, kick butt.
1983 Silverado, Kenwood system, 2 speaker, been dead for the last 25 yrs.
Like atikovi Flowmaster is my cruising tunes. :D
Bose varies wildly from manufacturer/model. I've had/own four Bose systems. First was a 2005 GMC Sierra Z71 crew. That was pretty good. The next was a 2007 GMC Envoy. That had faster, smaller drivers. Better midrange, but lacked bottom end. Wife had a 2012 Mazda 3 with Bose. That was better than the Envoy, but not as good overall as the Sierra. The current Bose is my wife's 2022 Hyundai Tucson limited. The sound is pleasing, and smooth, but lacks detail. No Bose system we've ever owned sounds as good as what I have in my 2021 Ram. When I plug in my phone, and run Tidal as a source, I am amazed at how good it sounds.
 
Good thread! I’ve had anything from 550 W and 13 speakers in the Kia optima SXL to 4 Paper cone speakers with a tape player in a Saturn SL.
My current Hyundai/kia vehicles usually have pretty good sound even in base form.
As of right now I have six speakers and 178 Watts in the forte, (two tweeters on door mid range on the bottom front doors to Wolfer-ish speakers in the back ) It sounds very acceptable and even has a little kick surprisingly 🤯 the sonata also has about 175 watts and six speakers(one speaker on each door and tweeters on the dash ) it doesn’t have the boom of the premium infinity JBL Harmon or whatever they’re using now but for base sound is not bad at all
The Elantra has the upgraded premium sound almost 200 W but still six speakers and for being a elantra sounded better then most jbl system in Toyotas .
In my opinion most base ford systems sound absolutely atrocious. They usually have four 6 x 8 speakers and that’s about it, no tweeters, no subwoofers , no highs or lows… just four 6 x 8 cheap speakers 😭
 
The new Jeep Grand Wagoneer has the option of a McIntosh sound system with 23 speakers. I don't know if that's the most in a factory system, but it sure sounds like a lot!

It's easy to get a lot of "speakers" in the aftermarket if you install 3-way coaxes. But how many speakers does your factory system have? And how does it sound? More speakers = more better?

Most of my cars have been six speaker setups: door speakers + tweeters up front and pair of full range drivers in the rear. And I think mostly they sound pretty good, except my Volvo S40 which was dismal.

In the car audio world, the accepted wisdom was a set of good two or three way components up front plus a sub...

10 speakers in the giulietta:

speakers + tweeters in 4 doors, a sub in the boot and centre fill speaker in the dash. I'm quite happy with that, especially that I can't tell the sub is there unless it's not.. totally blends in and that's often an issue I found
 
The new Jeep Grand Wagoneer has the option of a McIntosh sound system with 23 speakers. I don't know if that's the most in a factory system, but it sure sounds like a lot!
Those speaker numbers are a little misleading. There aren't 23 separate speakers installed in 23 separate locations in the vehicle. If a speaker location in the car has a 2 way speaker mounted there, it adds 2 to that speaker count for these applications. 3 way speakers add 3 to the speaker count, and so on.

So that 23 speaker stock system in the JGW is probably more like a 9 or 10 speaker system as we would normally think about them. That's still a lot of speakers for a factory system, but it's not 23 speakers for sure.
 
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