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Mazda 3 stock speaker upgrade?!

34K views 42 replies 7 participants last post by  highbird 
#1 ·
I have a 2008 Mazda 3 s Sport and wanted to upgrade the stock speakers. I know nothing about car audio. I went and got a set of Sony XS-R5744 5" x 7" 4-way Coaxial speakers and put them in the rear doors. I'm pretty sure I'm not crazy but it seems like the bass produced from the speakers dropped off considerably and that those high-tech stock paper speakers blew the Sony ones away (bass wise that is). Though the Sony speakers did sound insanely clear compared to the stock ones. But I definitely prefer to have more bass.

Should I upgrade all 4 speakers to those to get the full effect since I still have the stock speakers in the front? Or would the bass really drop off that much? Is there some better setup I can use to maintain or improve the little amount of bump I did have from the stock speakers? And no, getting a sub is not an option, its a family car! Any help would be great!
 
#2 ·
The Sony speakers you got probably expect more power in order to sound their best. When upgrading speakers without also either replacing the headunit or adding an amp, you should stick to speakers with a really high efficiency level. Replacing the fronts with more of the same aftermarket speakers won't help, it might make it sound even worse. Unless you also add an amp inline to power the aftermarket speakers... then they should sound a ton better. This is how my system is setup (stock headunit, into Eclipse amp, into aftermarket Pioneer speakers in stock locations). Sounds great.
 
#4 ·
Something like this would be perfect:

http://cgi.ebay.com/KENWOOD-4-CH-600W-AMPLIFIER-NEW-KAC-8404-KAC8404-/330491035877?pt=Car_Amplifiers&hash=item4cf2cd00e5#ht_4122wt_1141

The wiring is all straightforward, but there's a lot of it you'll have to do. You need to run a fused 4-gauge wire from the battery to the amp (either under the passenger seat or in the trunk, whichever location you prefer). Then you have to cut several of the speaker wires behind the headunit, to send each channel's signal to the amp instead of directly to the door speakers... then send the amped signals to the door speakers instead. It can look a little ugly. Your other option would be to convert the high-level signals from the headunit to line-level, and send those RCA outputs to the amp instead of the speaker level inputs, and splice the amped output back into the speaker wires (a little cleaner but more expensive).
 
#5 ·
Thank you very much for the info.

So is there a specific way to setup the speakers? Like should I have a set of one kind in the back and a set of another in the front? I read a lot about how 6.5 speakers sound a lot better than using 5x7s. I'm really not too hardcore about it, I just would like as much bump as I can get without a sub.
 
#8 ·
to amp the door speakers you would have to run new speaker wires from the speakers to the amp?
 
#9 ·
[quote author=Carowen link=topic=182033.msg3853508#msg3853508 date=1289273828]
to amp the door speakers you would have to run new speaker wires from the speakers to the amp?
[/quote]

not necessarily. lots of people use the stock wiring.
if you install components with a x-over, you'll need to wire at least that much once inside the doors.
 
#10 ·
yeah me personally im lookign for built in cross overs... less pain in the ass work. could just be me im so tierd from work today, but going with a 4channel amp how would you get the speakers to get powered from the amp? youd have to run wires to the door? im going with an aftermarket HU
 
#11 ·
i ran wires, but you can tap back into the oem harness that the stock HU plugs into to send a signal to the doors.
 
#12 ·
aah just like running a LOC off the stock HU?
 
#13 ·
[quote author=cali_axela link=topic=182033.msg3853285#msg3853285 date=1289258784]
I personally went with Pioneer Premier 6.75" round component speakers all the way around. I'm not a huge audiophile, but it sounds amazing to me and I have no complaints at all.
[/quote]

Which model? I'm seeing quite a few Pioneer Premier 6.75" speakers. What about Alpine S type? I was reading about those from the other thread.
 
#14 ·
#15 ·
[quote author=John_in_the_LBC link=topic=182033.msg3853827#msg3853827 date=1289315398]
i am using these co-axials in the rear doors and they pump out bass pretty well, but you need to amp these
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_8549_Alpine+SPR-17C.html
[/quote]

So I'm a little confused. All the component speakers come with a separate tweeter? Why do some of them come with a little box thing too? If you get components for the back and front, do you put the tweeters in the back AND front?! Like I said, I'm a total newb to car audio.
 
#16 ·
most component separates come with a x-over that filters the highs and lows and sends the highs only to the tweeter and lows and mids to the "woofer". coaxials prolly have a built in x-over.

most people would prefer separates up front for better imaging. most would also not bother with components in the rear and use coaxials if anything at all (some audiophiles think rear speakers moves the soundstage towards the rear and degrades "imaging").
 
#18 ·
[quote author=John_in_the_LBC link=topic=182033.msg3854000#msg3854000 date=1289324120]
most component separates come with a x-over that filters the highs and lows and sends the highs only to the tweeter and lows and mids to the "woofer". coaxials prolly have a built in x-over.

most people would prefer separates up front for better imaging. most would also not bother with components in the rear and use coaxials if anything at all (some audiophiles think rear speakers moves the soundstage towards the rear and degrades "imaging").
[/quote]

So I'm looking at either the Alpine S type or R type for the front. Any recommendation for some coaxial ones in the rear? Bump is what I'm looking for!
 
#20 ·
[quote author=cali_axela link=topic=182033.msg3854306#msg3854306 date=1289339189]
I have these components in the front (tweeters are mounted above stock tweeter location in cups provided w/ the kit): http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-TS-D1720C-6-75-Inch-280-Watt-Speaker/dp/B0015NRQ5S/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1289339062&sr=1-1

And, I have these coax in the rear doors: http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-TS-A1673R-6-5-Inch-220-Watt-Speakers/dp/B001NFFYY8/ref=pd_cp_e_2
[/quote]

How do you know if the tweeters will fit in the stock spot?
 
#21 ·
I opted to get a pair of base model sail panels without a hole for the stock tweeters, and put my own there for the new tweeters. These ones did not fit in the stock tweeter spots. There are a bunch of tweeters that do fit in the stock tweeter location, such as some Focals, but I'm not sure how to tell which ones will.
 
#24 ·
I'm reading about the Pioneers you have in the back and a lot of people say they don't put out much bass and that you can't get good sound out them with a headunit that doesn't have an equalizer. Is there a way around that or is that just totally untrue?
 
#25 ·
They are right, the rear speakers don't have much bass output. But I actually like that, because I have two 10" JL subs in the trunk with really tight bass output and the sound stage remains in the front, with very clear highs and nice blended subtle bass from the subs.
 
#26 ·
dang, all this sounding like I really need to get a sub!

So you still have the stock headunit? Are you powering everything through 1 amp or do you have a separate one for speakers and one for the sub? Not really sure how thats all suppose to work. This is quite a learning experience!
 
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