Focal speaker replacement with the base stereo
 

As the first step in improving the stock base stereo system, I replaced all speakers with good quality ones. I selected the Focal Polyglass 165V2 6.5" component speakers for the front location and Focal Access 690CA coaxial 6x9s for the rear. The Access is Focal's least expensive line and the Polyglass is the next step up, so I didn't break the bank on these albeit they were more expensive than other sets I was looking at (Infinity, Polk etc). All the speakers did cost me about $380 which is bearable for stuff from a top-of-the-line manufacturer :D
The rears are exact drop-in size but the front stock speaker is a 6x8 so I needed to do some plastic panel trimming to get the 6.5" midrange speakers in. Also, I had to cut out the stock tweeter location (with a hole saw) to install the Focal tweeters.

As mentioned, in the front I had to trim these holes a bit first:

Then I needed some adapter plates for the woofers. I used lexan which is very easy to cut with a jigsaw, and together with the black plastic panel behind the door trim, it holds the speaker reasonably well. My plates are only 1/8", but it's probably better to use 1/4" thickness. Nevertheless, even with the thinner lexan, the speaker is sitting very securely. That's because the original hole was only for a 6x8, and the new speaker has two mouting screws (top and bottom) that are driven into the inner door panel as well.
When replacing the 9" Bose midbass driver, I'd definitely want to go with the 1/4" thickness.

Here is the crossover, installed in place of the Bose door amp. The base stereo has nothing here:

The installed woofer and crossover:

Finally, the tweeter in the door sail panel:

As for sound improvement, there is of course a huge difference. It's so much better than stock... in every way. Now, I will probably continue with an amp installation in the future because the stock head unit's amp is now the limiting factor, even though it sounds decent. However, a good amp would probably make the system sound much better - and these speakers can handle 75W RMS and 150W peak power, so they should be fine. I was too lazy to rewire the whole car and wanted to see how much will the new speakers help.

Also, the next step will definitely be a subwoofer (with it's separate amp) - and when OverLOAD is done with his plug-in module, an MP3 player. Then I should be set :D

That's pretty badass Tamas. I live here in the Bay Area too, and will have my Black 1SP coming in a month and a half or so. I've never heard the stock stereo. I testdrove only the GT cars, and the Bose did not impress me at all, so I didn't care so much that I would be giving that up. I didn't test it on a wide range of music, but I think my Saturn SL2 with stock stereo sounds better.

Have you been doing this sort of thing for a while? I'm not exactly super-handy (I'm more into theory than practice except when it comes to music), and I lack the patience to really do something like this, but supposing I did one day I do have a couple questions

1) Did you use the stock wiring? I imagine it would be nearly impossible to replace that, but just asking anyway.

2) How hard is it to take off the door panels?

Thanks

Nice job! I've been thinking of doing something similar...

No, I'm rather amateur at this stuff. I mean, I did replace my speakers and add a Bazooka in my Probe GT before, and installed a new head unit plus an MP3 player too, but these things are pretty basic. I never did anything that's even remotely audiophile :D

Yes, I left the stock wiring in place (for now). I'm sure this is not the best solution, and the Focal description was calling for wires that have at least 1 square millimeter diameter which the stock wires are far from. So if I'll want to install an amp, the wiring will have to be replaced to achieve optimal result. With the stock head unit, perhaps the wires are not that critical... maybe someone who knows more about this stuff will chime in and let us know.
It is not impossible to replace the stock wiring, but certainly is a lot more work than just replacing the speakers - and as I said, I was lazy. :D

It's not hard if you know where the fasteners are. That way, you can take them off without damaging them. The pain was that many of the white plastic plugs got stuck to the door instead of the panel and I had to pry them out and re-attach. But that was just annoying, not too hard to do.
I have the stock service manual, so knowing the location of the fasteners and screws came in handy, of course.

Oh, one more thing: if you don't feel like messing with making adapter plates and trimming the plastic, Infinity has a 6x8 component speaker set in their Reference line (model name is 6800cs). That is a drop-in size in the front, and you only need to see what is the best way to install the tweeters (whether you want to flush- or surface-mount them).
Together with some decent 6x9s in the rear, I'm sure there would be a big improvement in sound compared with stock. Nothing really excellent of course - but still better than the stock paper crap.

What size are the front speakers on a Bose setup? I remember hearing something before about 9" speakers in the doors????


-andy-

Yes, 9". If you look at my pictures of the door, you will see the size of the Bose woofers. They mount to the same screw holes I used for my adapter plate. It's HUGE for a door speaker. With the Bose, the oval 6x8 hole is enlarged to accept the 9" speaker.
The mounting depth is no more than maybe 3" however. Then, it'll interfere with the window glass. But 3" is more than enough for regular 6.5" speakers.

Nice idea using the lexan. Where did you get it?

Home Depot 'Audio Superstore' rulez, man :D

Where you not able to do a drop-in replacement of the sail panel tweeters because the focal tweeters were of a different size? Or is the housing of the focal tweeter to able to be taken apart?

What is the size of the sail panel tweeters? 1/2" 1"?

The Focal tweeters are such that they could be flush- or surface-mounted. I wanted them flush and there was no way to install them behind the sail panel like the stock tweeters were. They have a unique mounting bracket molded into the back of the sail panel and those are only compatible with the stock tweeters.

I don't remember - already gave them away. But I think they were at least 1.5".

great job on the install..looks great...if only i wasn't all thumbs

"thumbs" :confused:

Hey Tamas,
Do the Tweets still point at your knees, or are more aimed at your head?

"Thumbs" = Limited skills

The tweeters still point in the same direction like the stockers did, unfortunately. The Focal tweeters did not have a mount that would allow them to swiwel.
It still sounds good though.

Thanks :)
There is still a lot in English that I need to learn ;)

From the factory, are the tweeter and midrange wired in parallel without any type of passive crossover?

I'm not sure what you're trying to ask, as this is barely a sentence. If you're asking if these speakers can be swapped into an RX8 with the Bose system, I suggest you read the sticky at the topic of this forum.

Damn it. Getting tired of saying that. Seriously. Look at the first 5-6 threads on this page.http://cdn.pimpmyspace.org/media/pms...l/d34fc96f.gif

hey look im sorry im not trying to make you mad i just couldn't find it, and thanks to you i did ;) im sorry.

haha It's all good. The entire top half of the thread list was just me telling new users that their answer is in the FAQ. That's why it's there.:icon_tup: