euroborn1

I just recently got a 96 integra LS and i really need to upgrade my sound. I hate when my speakers sound like ****, so this is definitely the first thing that's getting an upgrade on the car. I was wondering what size of speakers are in the front and what size are the ones in the back... I was thinking about getting components, is that a complicated install or no? Would it be best to amp them or would the deck be just fine? I'd need to drill holes for the tweeters in the panels if I got components right? sorry for all the questions, I just wanna do everything right, and I don't have any previous experience with component speakers..

thanks

schmiddr2

6 1/2" both front and back. There is probably a maximum depth on the front speakers and a preferred mounting procedure in that case. The front speakers will change the sound of your stereo more than the rears will. So if you have a spending limit then spend more on the front components and then get some decent rear fill coaxial speakers.

What headunit do you have? It probably has about 4x20watts of rms power. Each component set usually need 50watts rms minimum. And therefore you need an amp. The amp makes them an moderately complicated install.

For the tweets you can drill holes in the a-b pillars easily enough or if you want them to be flush it takes a little more work.

Crutchfield has good learning tools made for most any installers experience. Could come in handy.

fcm

As mentioned the front and rear speakers are 6.5", however, they are standard 6.5" not to be confused with the over-sized 6.5", the diff. is the mounting hole diameter, a standard 6.5" speaker, [like your stock ones] use a 5" diameter mounting hole, over-sized 6.5" speakers use a bigger then 5" diameter mounting hole and the size will depend on the brand and even model of speaker.

Also as mentioned you should be concentrating your time and money on the front speakers, to keep things simple, [installation] and still get good SQ I would recommend the Eclipse SP6510 2way "point source" speaker... http://www.eclipse-web.com/point/sp6910_6510.html it is a standard 6.5" speakers it will have mounting screw holes that will line up with the holes in the stock plastic speaker housing so all you need to do is cut a hole in the back of the stock housing big enough for the speakers magnet to fit through, [mounting depth is about 1/4" deeper then stock] the other option is to use a 1/4" MDF spacer/depth reducer/gasket between the speaker and the plastic speaker housing.

Keep in mind the SQ you get from whatever speaker you install is very dependent on the speakers install, it must be done properly, the 3 basic rules for speaker install are...

1- Speaker must be mounted to a flat surface, [to prevent warping of speaker
basket and misaligning the VC].

2- Speaker must have an airtight seal around it's mounting surface, [to prevent
interaction between the front and back waves of the speaker].

3- Mass, the more mass a speaker is mounted to the better, [to prevent
cancellation].

There is also a 4th rule, a speaker mounted to wood will sound better then that same speaker mounted to pretty much any other material.

So to get the absolute best performance from a speaker, ideally, you would replace the stock plastic speaker housings with custom MDF housings, to add mass, have an absolutely flat surface, to insure an airtight seal and mount speaker to wood, Dynamating, [or the like] the doors will also help a lot, even with at least a "speaker kit", [about 1 square foot per side].

I would also recommend "amping" at least the front speakers, the Eclipse SP6510 are 60W continuous.

I would recommend a 4x75W RMS into 4 ohms amp, use the front two channels to drive the front speakers on high-pass, [set x-over point as low as possible], use the rear two channels to drive the rear speakers, ideally you would be using a mid-range/mid-bass speaker in the rear, NO tweeters, you would wire the rear speakers in series and connect them to the "bridged" rear channels of the amp for a mono rear fill, and if the amps rear channels can be set to low-pass with a high, [up to about 5000Hz] x-over point, even better.
As long as there is nothing wrong with the stock rear speakers you can even use them, gain for rear speakers will be set pretty low, [relative to front speakers] as they are only there for rear fill. 94

euroborn1

thanks for all the detailed replies, helped out a lot....
+
if I want to AMP all 4 speakers in the car, can I use a 2ch amp, and bridge it into 4? or would 4ch be best?

schmiddr2

You can use the 2-channel amp for the front or the rear but not both. You can use 2 2-channel amps. Or just use a 4-channel amp.

Do you already have an amp? Depending on the speakers you choose you must account for the RMS wattage for them to sound great. So, 60 watt RMS speaker should have a about 75 watts RMS amp attached to it. The more expensive component speakers can handle 100 watts RMS or more; that in turn causes the amp to be more expensive. Just keep that in when shopping.

fcm

Yes you could but it would not sound very good as both the front and rear speakers would be getting the same power so the staging, [where you perceive the sound coming from] would be off, instead of a front stage you would have a center stage which would in turn play havoc with the imaging, [where you perceive the sounds from the diff. instruments and vocals coming from "stereo imaging"], also having tweeters behind you will also effect staging and imaging and produce the undesirable effect called left/right bias, [you hear the sound comming from the left and right speaker instead of in front of you.

If you get it right it should sound like you are in a concert hall sitting "5th row center" band in front of you, percussion behind the band, lead guitar to the left and rhythm guitar to the right and vocals in the center front, maybe moving back and forth across the stage, positions and instruments would obviously depend on the band as would the number and type of instruments and backup singers and so on, the point is that if you get it right you should be able to close your eyes and have it sound like you are listening to the band live from "good" seats.

The above can be hard to do in a car, so anything that can be done to make it work should be done and conversely anything that will have a negative effect should not be done. 94