adilude

hey fellow luders,
i have been lurking around a lot and have been going through a lot of pages and have decided to upgrade my speakers.
i currently dont have a lot of cash so i am gonna start slow...

i have got a sony hu which has 4X 52 watts and 2 rca outs ,
i have read about the afbs and removin it etc.

I have 3 concerns ,

1. Will just changing all the speakers make a lot of difference to the sound without using an amp?
2. will these speakers fit without any mods to the cars (drilling new mounting holes etc.) i am looking at the 6X9 and the splits
Sony - Speakers - JB Hi-Fi

3. is it really hard to install the speakers , i am fairly handy with diy , but just worried because i havent done car audio before

regards ,
Andy

Tee-Dot

Prelude Audio FAQ (got a question, check here first!!)

indylude18

1) That depends. Most aftermarket speakers are not designed to run off a HU, and therefore will be underpowered. That creates distortion. The most important thing to look for is a high sensitivity rating if you are going to power the new speakers with the HU amp.

2)Yes, pretty much any 6x9 speaker is just a straight drop in. However, you could do much better than those speakers for the price. The front door speakers require some modification to replace, but the rear's don't.

3)It's not hard at all if you can operate a screwdriver and interpret wiring diagrams.

__________________


Bluetop H23a Vtec Swapped NHBP '99 Base

Rodmunch

With the rears, you will have to worry about the trunk lid springs interfering with the speaker magnets. Check the depths before you buy.

__________________

adilude

thanks a lot for tht link tee-dot ...cleared up a fair bit of confusion

@indylude i had a look at the sensitivity rating and compared it to a chart on the net , so i think it should be alright.
i am not too bad with diagram thank you physics at high school ...lol .

@rodmunch do u know any measurement thts the max it will go to .. if i can measure them in store before buying?

i am gonna buy thm tomm and do this over the weekend so i will keep u guys updated on how it goes , if u guys want to know

thanks a lot for all your help

Rodmunch

Look at the speaker's specs for Top Mount Depth before you buy, then compare it to the stock speakers, or to a measurement you have taken from inside the car between the rear deck and the trunk springs. I don't have any numbers for you, you'll just have to measure it and compare.

If they do interfere a bit, it's not a big deal. Mine interfere but the trunk closes and opens just fine. You'll hear the spring hit the magnet every time you shut the trunk though.

__________________

indylude18

99% of 6x9's are going to fit, the really big ones will just rub on the springs and cause annoying buzzing/rattling noises. Even the WAY bigger than stock magnets on my aftermarket speakers did fit with the springs. I later got rid of my springs anyway because of the buzzing, but now I have gas shocks in there which work just a well.

__________________


Bluetop H23a Vtec Swapped NHBP '99 Base

adilude

alright so i am done with the rear speakers , easy install....but havent done the afbs thing dont know if it will make much of a difference...wht do u guys think...

gonna do the front ones tomm....this is gonna be a bit challenging ...so any suggetions or tips for the wiring of the crossovers and placement etc....??

Rodmunch

Did you even bother looking at Tee-Dot's link? It's in the second post.

For the rears and AFBS:
There is plenty of info regarding the AFBS here. People have different opinions about it. I think it's safe to keep it, but I personally decided to disable it when I installed my aftermarket speakers. I never bothered to listen to my aftermarket speakers with the AFBS enabled. Keep in mind that with AFBS enabled, the rear speakers are in mono not stereo.

For the fronts:
1. You will probably have to cut away the baskets behind the woofers for clearance. The basket is plastic and easy to cut. The woofers might be a tight fit in the panels so you might have to trim a bit of plastic around the hole's perimeter.
2. If the woofers have 3 and 4 hole mount options, you can use the 3 hole. If they only have 4 holes, then you will need to drill some new ones.
3. Mounting the tweeters will be tricky. You can modify the existing tweeter brackets to support your tweeters. Some double sided tape will work well here if you can't use screws. I bent my tweeter brackets so they cradled the new tweeters and also used double sided tape. It's holding well. Removing the tweeter/door-handle assembly is a bit tricky. I hope you have a Helms. Or check Tee-Dot's link.
4. In each door panel, there is a plastic "pocket" that works great for locating the crossovers. I drilled a couple holes in the pocket and permanently mounted the crossovers there. The pocket helps protect the crossovers from any water that might leak in past the window seals.
5. I assume you are using the headunit's amp, so you can use the stock speaker wiring. The wires split in the door: one group goes to the tweeter and one group to the woofer. Just splice into one or the other and connect to the crossover.

__________________

adilude

thnx for tht rod i am gonna start installing them in about 5 mins...yeah i read tht link thts why i am was like leave it till later ....hahaha

thnx for the other tips lets hope its a smooth job ...

will let u guys know how it went....

adilude

alright all done......wasnt that hard took about 2 hrs ...yeah rod u were spot on about the plastic cutting ....not hard.....tweeters were a straight swap but damn the factory are pretty good ..haha had second thoughts about changing them...
the sound is clear and loud but i am not pumpin it too high as i dont have an amp and dont want anything blowing up....
thnx for all ur help :-D

toysareforboys

Ummm, lol? Maybe someone should edit that!

This thread (and the FAQ thread) were the first ones that came up in a google search and I used it as a guide to order and replace my girlfriends door speakers so figured I would post some updated info in it.

We found a smokin deal on some MB Quartz DCF 116 6.5" speakers to replace the blown factory ones:



They did NOT fit in the doors of my girlfriends 2001 Honda Prelude SE



Well, I think I found your problem



The factory stock speaker specs (measured with a micrometer):



Diameter: 6.2"
Mounting depth: 1.75"
Magnet diameter: 3"

You would probably be able to squeeze in a speaker with a 6.25" outside diameter, but no way was our MB Quartz 6.5" outside diameter speakers going to fit

We just screwed them to the face of the door pod and didn't hook in the one side of the factory grill covers (so the grills sat about 1/4" away from the face of the pod and new speaker) and put a small screw in the not hooked in side (the other side was held in by the two push clips no problem).

They sound absolutely amazing

-Jamie M.