Hi All,
I have a 98 Accord EX with the OEM head and speakers. I'm on a budget so hope to start by upgrading the speakers and possible the head later. If my memory serves from what I've read here, I need to consider "imaging" when choosing my speakers. So, knowing that the Honda engineers have "been-there and done-that" on a couple of cars they pretty much have the placement right but for costs (or else choose the premium sound package) used el-cheapo components on the OEM speakers.

That all said, would it be correct for me to add a Bazooka 6100 powered sub, change the 6X9's on the deck to an upgraded 6X9 coaxial with a crossover so they'll handle the mid and low end for "fill", replace the door speakers with 6.5" component and crossover to handle the mids/lows and place the new tweeters back on the dash?

Any recommendations welcome.
Thanks,
LC

 

The first thing to do is replace the HU, replacing the speakers first will do little other then increase high frequency response, [not a bad thing] but the new speakers will still be driven by the stock HU.
Install an aftermarket HU and you will be very surprised at the sound you get from even the stock speakers.
Next replace the front speakers and power them with an off board amp, leave the stock speakers in the rear, [definitely do not put anything wit a tweeter in the rear] and run them off the HUs internal amp, then add a the Bazooka. 94

 

FCM,
Thanks for the reply...
Was playing around last night and swapped out the OEM's on the deck but can put them back easily. You say to keep them but for the low and mid-range isn't a larger magnet better? I have been looking for a full range speaker for back there but not much luck. It seems everything is either 2,3 or 4 way these days.
A separate amp driving the fronts? I thought the idea of the new HU was the ability to drive the new speakers?
Need to be a little more specific with me, I'm old n slow! lol

 

The HU drives the amp that in turn drives the speakers. The amp gives you better sound quality but is not necessary. You still need a HU if you get the amp because your factory stereo will not put out any kind of good sound, and nothing down the line can compensate for that.

I would do as fcm suggested but put components in the front and nothing in the rear except the sub, OR front components and rear mid range with no tweeter or the tweeter disconnected, driven by an amp with a low pass filter and possibly run at 2 ohms, and no sub.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by lgchristianson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So, knowing that the Honda engineers have "been-there and done-that" on a couple of cars they pretty much have the placement right </TD></TR></TABLE>

sorry to burst your bubble, but honda cares very little about where they put speakers - the oem locations have zero regard for sound quality.

 

It's not the size that maters, it's how you, oops, we are talking about speakers, it's not the size but what the magnet is made of and how its made that maters.

You do not have to use an off board amp, you can run the system off a good "high powered" HU, I do.

I have to agree with rcurley55, [again] speaker locations in cars have very little to do with SQ and more to do with convenience and looks.

If you want to run a system without an off board amp, then make sure you get a high powered HU, look at the spec sheet for RMS power.

I still recommend getting the HU first, then replace the front speakers, I would recommend an Eclipse Point Source... http://www.eclipse-web.com/point/sp6500.html, you may want to use the stock dash tweeters to help bring the image up, [may need to be wired out of phase and add 4 ohm resisters to the pos(+) speaker lead going to them].

You can use aftermarket speakers in the rear just disable the tweeters, or get a set of Eclipse 6x9 Point Source... http://www.eclipse-web.com/point/sp6900.html and remove tweeters and use them in the front stock locations, again you may need to wire them out of phase and install a 4 ohm resister, also playing with the angle of the of the dash speakers, [mounting them off axis will take the "edge" off them, hard dome tweeters can be harsh. 94

 

So,here I go again...
Have my finger on the buy button @ Crutchfield for:
1)Alpine CDA-9883 CD Receiver
2)Polk Audio db6500 (or similar) 6-1/2" Component System:
a: Mount tweeters on dash in place of OEM's.
b: Mount woofers in doors or is there an advantage to going into the kick panel?

That's about wiped out my budget for now although I really want to get a small sub in the near future.

Decent mid power amp with outs for left channel/right channel/sub?
3) Powered or non-powered Sub?
4) Leave the deck speakers out and cover or not their holes or experiment with fill speakers/no speakers? Opinions?
Am I missing anything?
Thanks everyone for your input.
~L

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by lgchristianson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So,here I go again...
Have my finger on the buy button @ Crutchfield for:
1)Alpine CDA-9883 CD Receiver
2)Polk Audio db6500 (or similar) 6-1/2" Component System:
a: Mount tweeters on dash in place of OEM's.
b: Mount woofers in doors or is there an advantage to going into the kick panel?

That's about wiped out my budget for now although I really want to get a small sub in the near future.

Decent mid power amp with outs for left channel/right channel/sub?
3) Powered or non-powered Sub?
4) Leave the deck speakers out and cover or not their holes or experiment with fill speakers/no speakers? Opinions?
Am I missing anything?
Thanks everyone for your input.
~L</TD></TR></TABLE>

2. there is a huge advantage to building kick panels with the midrange and tweeter mounted there. the stock location sucks for the mids and the tweeters.

4. Dont bother putting anything in the back. just put that money into the front stage speakers and amp.

 

FCM/All,
What do you consider to be a high power HU? The Alpine I'm looking at has 18 watts out.
How do I wire a speaker "out of phase"? Is that the same as reversing polarity?
And the 4 ohm resister goes in series with the pos speaker wire/post in order to make the speaker an 8 ohm load thus reducing volume?

Depending upon where ya lQQk, the Bazooka's are either great or trash.

The amp selection still has me a bit baffled....
Do I get a powered or un-powered sub, if un-powered does the added amp drive it or do I need a separate sub amp. How many channel amp do I get to drive my system? I would think I need 3... Left front, right front and sub while leaving (if I use them as fill) the rear deck to be powered by the HU.

I priced kick panels... Maybe in another life!

Ya know, I'm a very technical guy but there is just SOOOOOOO much info out there with everyone trying to sell me theirs I'm just getting buried.

 

The Alpine is "high powered", but if you want to run components, even the point source I mention an amp for the front speakers is a good idea, and all you need is a 2ch amp.

Bazooka makes an OK product, and very convenient if you don't want to use up too much room, again if room is an issue get the amped one, if not you could use a 4ch amp, 2 channels for the front and the other two bridged for sub, unpowered tub. 94

 

FCM,
OK, NOW it's starting to sink in (gawd it sucks getting old).....
The "bridge" portion had me wondering but DUH!

Yeah, room is a bit of an issue since this is only a coupe... Imagine if you will, at my age I've had HUGE American cars and vans with tons of space in the past. I need/want to lighten my load AND have some decent tunes when I want them. I don't need/want LOUD but FULL sound, know what I mean?
Thanks again,
Lemme shop a bit...
I'll be back.
~L

 

I know exactly what you mean, being an old fart myself, and being a car audio installer for over 30 years, I have had the BIG systems in big cars many times, [last one being a 68 Chevelle, many years ago] I know drive a 94 LS that I autocross and a big system was not an option, not just because of weight but also I had lost interest in the big systems.
I now run four Eclipse 6.5" 2ways, [tweeters disabled on the rears] and an Alpine CDA-7893 , [a true high powered HU], all wiring is stock except for the HUs constant power, [fused 12ga directly from batt.].
All the time and energy of the install went into speaker installation, custom MDF speakers in the front and custom MDF and fiberglass cabinets in the rear, both sets are in the stock locations and behind stock grills, extensive Dynamating in the doors and some in the rear.
No subs and no off board amps, and I have very good SQ, including bass response, staging/imaging is excellent, [HU has built in time delay, x-overs and parametric EQ]. 94

 

FCM/All,
What do you consider to be a high power HU? The Alpine I'm looking at has 18 watts out.
How do I wire a speaker "out of phase"? Is that the same as reversing polarity?
And the 4 ohm resister goes in series with the pos speaker wire/post in order to make the speaker an 8 ohm load thus reducing volume?

Depending upon where ya lQQk, the Bazooka's are either great or trash.

The amp selection still has me a bit baffled....
Do I get a powered or un-powered sub, if un-powered does the added amp drive it or do I need a separate sub amp. How many channel amp do I get to drive my system? I would think I need 3... Left front, right front and sub while leaving (if I use them as fill) the rear deck to be powered by the HU.

I priced kick panels... Maybe in another life!

Ya know, I'm a very technical guy but there is just SOOOOOOO much info out there with everyone trying to sell me theirs I'm just getting buried.

 

FCM,
You'll need to tell me about those MDF boxes you made... How did you get them into the door panels? How much difference do they make?
I think I'm going to go with the Polk Audio db6500 from Crutchfield, they simply have ALL 5 star review ratings from 62 people and they're currently marked down. Should I order the dynamat and use it in the doors? Anything else while my trigger finger is shakin?
~L

 

FCM and everyone else who posted...
Got the new HU installed (Pioneer DEH-P3900MP) and must say WOW, what a difference! Absolutely NO comparison to the OEM unit. I missed delivery of my new JBL's on Friday so they'll have to wait but even the OEM's sound pretty good, can't wait!

Question of the day though is: The OEM dash mounted tweeters sound pretty good so far. Should I leave them and add the new JBL's under the dash or will the new ones be a bunch better?

Anyone have any experience with the Kenwood KSC-SW1 small sub? They're a bit pricy but don't take up much room.
Thanks Again Everyone

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by lgchristianson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">FCM,
You'll need to tell me about those MDF boxes you made... How did you get them into the door panels? How much difference do they make?
I think I'm going to go with the Polk Audio db6500 from Crutchfield, they simply have ALL 5 star review ratings from 62 people and they're currently marked down. Should I order the dynamat and use it in the doors? Anything else while my trigger finger is shakin?
~L </TD></TR></TABLE> There are no "boxes" in the doors, I replaced the stock plastic speaker housings with custom MDF housings, the MDF housings are pretty much a copy of the plastic housings, and they make a huge diff., a speaker mounted to wood will sound better then the same speaker mounted to plastic, the plastic vapor barrier for the doors was replaced with a Dynamate sheet, so yes, get the Dynamat.

The rear speakers are in custom MDF and fiberglass cabinets, [boxes] at the stock locations, both sets are behind stock grills. 94

 

Update:
It's installed!
HU: Tweaking and management (learning) will take a while to get it all sunk in but a great unit.

Speakers: These JBL's are marvelous. Hated to think of hacking holes into my door panels so opted to replace the OEM's on the dash. Maybe I just don't realize how much better they'd sound elsewhere but I think they're great right there.
Running them off a 40Watt X 4 Alpine and left the rear deck 6X9 pioneers on the HU. Ran cabling for back channels from the sub outs on the HU. I plan to bridge them and run a small sub at 100 watts. Thinking about a tube but no big rush since it already sounds great.
Bought a pioneer Sirius box and plan to subscribe for at least my summer road trip so I won't need to lug too many CD's along. Also lQQing at an iPod since this HU will operate it....

Again, thanks for everyones input, I'm very pleased with the results.