Are JBL car speakers crap or do I just need an amp?

[Jacob07]

I decided to get a pair of door speakers when I bought a new headunit (Panasonic C7303U).

I decided to go with JBL GTO526s. They were on sale and I think JBL is supposed to be a good manufacturer? I may just be thinking that because I know people say good things about JL and they have a similar name.

I should probably mention these are not for my mustang. They are for my old lady style 98 lumina. (5 1/4" door speakers)

To the point - I hooked everything up and the (non-premium) factory speakers sounded just as good, if not better, than the JBL speakers.

My only ideas are that the speakers are either crappy quality or they need more power. They are rated 45W RMS and the head unit only puts out 20W.

So my question is... Does JBL make crappy car speakers (they were marked down to only $35) or will they sound much better with an amp?

I've never put front and rear speakers on an amp so I don't know how much difference it makes. I just don't want to spend the money on an amp and it not sound any better.

Thanks!

 

[ChingonStang]

It makes a hell of a difference when front and rear speakers are powered by a amp provided the speakers are rated to handle increased wattage. Ive never had a system where the front ane rear speakers were not powered by a amp. Throw a four channel amp in the mix.