My speaker upgrade

[so26]

I just wanted to share with you guys the speaker upgrade I did on my FR-S. I (like many of you) didn't like sound of the stock stereo system in the FR-S; the highs sounded too harsh and the lower did not sound clean. It was so bad that I didn't enjoy listen to music on my +1hr commute to work; so I decided to change out the stock speakers.

I went with 6.5" Polk DB651s units in the doors and used Phenryiv1's spacers to mount them. I did not want to cut any of the original wiring so I used Metra 72-8104 speaker wiring plugs to connect them to the factory female plugs.

I used Frost King vinyl foam weatherseal tape from Lowes to form the gaskets between the spacer and the door and the speaker and the panel; and all the screws are stainless-steel.


I replaced the front speakers with 3.5" Infinity Reference X REF-3002cfx units.

As you can see spacing between the mounting holes on the new speakers was to short so I cheated and used oversized washers to hold the speakers down. I know I know some of you just cringed and I would have liked to have done it differently but it works for now and they are secure. 4" units might fit better in the space.




If you didn't like that then you are probably not going to like the jumper wires I used in the tweeter plugs to bypass them. Again, I did not want to cut the original wiring however I did desolder the male plugs from the factory 3.5" speakers and reattached them the new speakers because I couldn't find anything like Metra adapters for the front speakers.

In the end the upgrade cost me $170 in total and the system does sounds better now. Not as good as the Bose system I had in my Mazda3 but to get to that level would have cost $$$ and I was working on a tight budget.

[mashal]

How do you like the spacers?
Im thinking of buying

[Blake]

Do the doors rattle when their is bass with these new speakers? Mine currently do and I can't stand it!

[michaelahess]

The doors on these rattle bad, all the wires and cables that don't have enough foam on them. Get some sound deadening mat and line both inside and out on the door panel, and also put a bit on the inside of the door card itself, you don't need to do the entire panel, just behind the speaker and anywhere that sounds..uh..dingy when you tap it. I did it all just for extra quite. Made a night and day difference.

[civicdrivr]

Did you do anything for the rear speakers?

[so26]

Originally Posted by mashal

How do you like the spacers?
Im thinking of buying

They worked perfectly ...btw make sure to use #12x1.5" screws with them.

[so26]

Originally Posted by Blake

Do the doors rattle when their is bass with these new speakers? Mine currently do and I can't stand it!

Yes somewhat but I don't play my music very load so it's not much of an issue for me however michaelahess made some good suggestions for improving the situation.

[so26]

Originally Posted by civicdrivr

Did you do anything for the rear speakers?

Not yet but I'd like to put the 4" version of the infinity speakers in the rear.

[mashal]

Why did you go coaxial? Just curious I have personally never used them , I'll all about the components.

[vignesh]

Why did u replace the stock tweeters that were on the dash. i am not good with speakers, but my question is can u install a coaxial 4 inch speaker on the dash without removing the stock tweeter. Would that affect anything, i am assuming it would sound better now that u have 4 tweeters in total.

[JoeBoxer]

More tweeters isn't better, if he had the factory tweeters running he would have 6 in the front stage that's way too much.

[so26]

Originally Posted by vignesh

Why did u replace the stock tweeters that were on the dash. i am not good with speakers, but my question is can u install a coaxial 4 inch speaker on the dash without removing the stock tweeter. Would that affect anything, i am assuming it would sound better now that u have 4 tweeters in total.

Originally Posted by JoeBoxer

More tweeters isn't better, if he had the factory tweeters running he would have 6 in the front stage that's way too much.

Yup and I found the stock tweeters too harsh.

[Whos2sayJay]

If you didn't like that then you are probably not going to like the jumper wires I used in the tweeter plugs to bypass them.

Can you explain how you did this? I want to do the same thing, but I'm not sure I understand the concept. I know the 3.5 inch speaker won't receive a signal if the stock tweeter harness is not connected, how do you bypass that?

[onefitz]

Originally Posted by Blake

Do the doors rattle when their is bass with these new speakers? Mine currently do and I can't stand it!

Originally Posted by michaelahess

The doors on these rattle bad, all the wires and cables that don't have enough foam on them. Get some sound deadening mat and line both inside and out on the door panel, and also put a bit on the inside of the door card itself, you don't need to do the entire panel, just behind the speaker and anywhere that sounds..uh..dingy when you tap it. I did it all just for extra quite. Made a night and day difference.

Found a lot of that rattling is actually coming from the window/door lock control boxes. A little sound deadening stuck to them to keep it from rattling made a world of difference.