I have kenwoods hooked up to the 8000 - not entirely happy with the quality of sound.  What speakers do you have and how happy/unhappy are you with the sound quality?

sound really gonna be a function of a lot of things - i swapped out the stock speakers in my wrangler unlimited rubicon and upgraded to morel separates and a pioneer sub (which i love and am very happy with) - however, i also upgraded the amp to an alpine unit, and my guess is without doing that, the sound improvement wouldn't be quite as good. so' it's really a combo approach in my opinion with new amp, new speakers, new sub etc. to really fine tune the sound you want. swapping out speakers is a start for sure and there are probably a host of aftermarket options you'd prefer, but don't expect miracles...

Hertz HSK165XL's and a JL 10W3. Frankly, they're amazing but spendy. Having said that, I'm not sure I would bother hooking up any aftermarket speakers without an appropriate amplifier. Sure, you might get some marginal benefit out of aftermarket speakers over whatever cheap factory speakers came preinstalled in your car, but it's asking a lot of a head unit to be able to drive any aftermarket speakers efficiently.

So my setup is already:  8000NEX, 600w JL Audio amp, JL audio sub.

speakers are kenwood.  2 in the door, 2 in the rear deck and 2 tweeters on the dash.  my comparison is that my BMW has 9 speakers and 2-6in subs, all harmon pardon, and the sound is clear, crisp and rich.  In comparison, the honda sound is flat and tinny.  Sure, there's 6 speakers and a sub in the honda, so I get the unequal comparison.  I'm looking for a fuller, richer sound.  I'm also considering custom made door panels that would house another pair of speakers to improve the sound.  I guess I'm not sure if expensive focal speakers are worth the cash - or what.

If you're only interested in 8000 owners, feel free to ignore this, but I have a 4000NEX with the following setup:

Hybrid Audio Imagine 6.5" components up front

JL Audio 8W3-v3 8" sub in a sealed enclosure

JL XD/700/5 amp

I absolutely love my Hybrid Audio speakers, but I am tempted by the new Focal PS165FX components with the flax surround. Has anyone used these (or any other Focals)?

Pjrm68 - You bring up a good point - I should not have directed the title towards any specific head unit.  

+1 on the Hertz 165XL's and the 10W3, but you need amplification to make it worth it on the Hertz

+1 on the Hertz 165XL's and the 10W3, but you need amplification to make it worth it on the Hertz

I absolutely agree. They're running on an Arc Audio XDi 1100.5 and sound beautiful.

7000nex.rockford fosgate amp boston acoustic components jl 10" single sub. Very happy w sound. I agree that you will need an amp to get the most out of new speakers. Remember that underpowering speakers is as bad if not worse that overpowrring. You can turn down amp but if underpowered distortion will kill aftrrmarket speakers.

... I agree that you will need an amp to get the most out of new speakers. Remember that underpowering speakers is as bad if not worse that overpowrring. You can turn down amp but if underpowered distortion will kill aftrrmarket speakers.

Absolutely correct.

My A/V system components:

For you guys with an external amp, are you using the high and low bypass filters on the amp, on the NEX or both? I currently am using the NEX8000 with replacement speakers, without an external amp, but with a powered sub.

I use the HP/LP filters on my amp and disabled the ones on my NEX. I also tried it the other way around, but it sounds a lot better to me this way.

I use my 360.2.

FWIW, multiple filters (e.g. "both") compounds the roll off area(s) of the spectrum.  I advise against it unless absolutely necessary.

My current system in a 2 door 2014 Jeep Wrangler:

8000NEX

Rockford Fosgate T3's in front.

Rockford Fosgate P300-10 sub.

Illusion Luccent L6 CX in rear.

Mosconi Gladen AS 100.4 amp

I replaced the standard GM / Delco Bose in my 07 Vette with the 8000, aside from the obvious (BT, Camera Input, MP3 and everything else that the Delco can't do) it's just a solid unit but I've not replaced the speakers YET! I smell Infinity Reference door speakers in my extremely near future. 

My current system in a 2 door 2014 Jeep Wrangler:

 

8000NEX

 

Rockford Fosgate T3's in front.

 

Rockford Fosgate P300-10 sub.

 

Illusion Luccent L6 CX in rear.

 

Mosconi Gladen AS 100.4 amp

Hey buddy. I have a '14 Wrangler and it has Connect in it and I am using the Stock Speakers. No SUB YET...

Bill, How do you have your 8000NEX setup too? Steering wheel controls? what harness are you using?

I have a 8000NEX and I'm using (trying to use) the iDataLink RR Maestro Harness