alkemyst

My son just got his first car, they installed a Kenwood BMM-BT325U a while ago and some 5 1/2" Pioneer speakers I believe front and rear. I didn't get a chance to measure since he is driving around all the time.

Would 6x9's work better in the rear? The back speakers have a huge hole with a metal plate filling up the top with a machined cut out for the smaller speaker.

Not sure if ready to add a sub as we need to tackle the timing belt (his car just turned 89k miles).

Also if there is a great bang for buck upgrade over that head unit I may do that for him. He can't use his iPhone 11 as a "ipod" with that unit, it's more Android focused. Bluetooth works fine and it seems to have good power.

Aradin

The standard speakers are 6 1/2 front and rear. I am unsure but I think some EX/Special edition models may have come with 6x9s in the rear. There are speaker plates available that allow 6x9s to be used in the rear.

If it's worth the change...probably not. The 6 1/2 vs 6x9 speaker debate has been going on for decades now. The money spent changing would be better spent on a sub/amp setup or towards a better head unit with a built in amplifier. Sony makes head units with a built in Class D amp. I have one in my turbo car with 6 1/2s all around and it's phenomenal. Here is a link to the latest model. You can have the built in amp power a subwoofer, or send the extra power to the front/rear speakers.

There may be other options for the head unit or that may not have the features you want. Maybe someone else will chime in if that's the case. I'm more of an Android guy myself so all I need is bluetooth.

99stockcivic

If you want the deeper sound, you will have to spring for a sub. How big will be up to you.

I have a very simple setup and very affordable.

I replaced the front speaker with Kenwood 6" with a tweeter (so a two way).
I replaced the back speaker with a Kenwood 6x9 but with only 1 speaker in it (a one way) so that it would bring some mid-frequencies but no more higher end sounds since I didn't want the soundstage to feel like it was behind me.

Then I bought a Kenwood powered subwoofer and ran that to the new kenwood headunit. Being powered simply made it easier to put together. I also didn't want anyone to see anything special with my car so it can't get stolen so I tucked it down in the spare tire well.

Front speakers were $80 for the pair, rear were about the same, the powered subwoofer was $125.

Has Airplay, bluetooth, hands free, Pandora, Spotify.

A sony setup would also be affordable and a nice upgrade.

As was said above, some people simply disable the rear speakers and run the sub, I presume they run 3 way speakers in the front so they have the range of sound. I tried that for an experiment, but it wasn't quite what I wanted, although I see how it could work. For me, the rear 6x9 makes it easer to add in just above the 80Hz or so the sub is set at and complements it up to about 300 or 400 hertz (I put a filter on mine so it's only adding to the lower frequencies and not trying to perform anything else which might distort the speaker and ruin the soundstage.

Speakers/amps/etc or just so little money for the performance you can get. An aficionado with more money can always go much further upscale that this, but for my car, this works well, and no one will notice it's aftermarket (it seems like if a thief sees you have a subwoofer, it makes you a target, but that's my perspective after having a some break-ins in the past and my friends cars as well.

99stockcivic

One last item:

The other thing that made a nice difference (if you and your son have the time) was to also put down some sound isolation. I put some Kilmat I got from Amazon around the speakers, a little on the doors, some on the rear speakers, and some in the tire well. Each bit definitely improved the sound quality and reduced vibration. Depending on how crazy, some people pull the interior and do the floors, ceiling, etc. which really brings down the outside noise as well, depending on what you are isolating and with what materials. Again I wanted and improvement, but didn't want to spend a ton on isolation, so it was good balance for me.


Just food for thought.

alkemyst

Thanks, that Sony with the D class amp is interesting but I dont think it has a tuner.

In my 1998 240SX I ran a set up with a 10" IDQ sub in each side panel and separates up front and it was great (4x200W) I used a lot to RAAMat at the time to help create the enclosures and quiet the panels.

99stockcivic

This might sound a little silly but the reason I also don't like really heavy power in the Accord is it will rattle itself to pieces after awhile. My neighbor had the same year (1999( and went for some pretty powerful apps and it was like every plastic piece and screw loosened after a very short while. I didn't want that happening

So, it sounds like you know what you are doing, that's great being a help to your son.