Genom

So I finally got tired of the crappy stock speakers in the base stereo (horrible bass since any kind of volume results in cutoff sound and rattling). I was out looking aropund and talking with some buddies when a friend let me have some infinity reference speakers for dirt cheap. I got the 6x9 9603i for the rear and the 6000CS (component 6.5 with crossover box and 1 inch silk domed tweater) for the front. Similar to Tamas's setup. I paid very little for them and from what I have seen review wise they seem to be decent enough. Certainly better than the stock ones I would think.

Anyway, I paid all of 120 bucks for all of them. I havent found any kinda similar setup for anywhere near that price. Any suggestions before I throw those in this week? Dont feel like going through it all twice, so if anybody has had a bad experience with these, let me know.

Danke!

OverLOAD

I've got the infinity reference 6x9's on my rear decklid..

The speakers won't fir in the factory location on top of the decklid, but they fit just fine if you screw them up from the bottom. I ended up cutting the screws shorter then they originally were, and screwed them up from the bottom, with the speaker hanging below the decklid. It worked for me, and still is. Kind of an awkward fit, but it's worked well so far with no rattles. and if I want to change them out again, I don't have to go crazy ripping the seats out again.

see my replace the rear-6x9's thread in the DIY forum

Regards,

OverLOAD

Genom

Man, I just spent an hour going through all that. Fortunately the little amp I am looking at for the new rears has speaker level inputs, so I dont have to worry much about that. Still undecided how I am going to power the fronts though. Probably just plug right into the stock head output and hope it's got enoughh juice for the speakers. Otherwise might have to get a couple of small mono amps or another 2 channel for the front.

Thanks for the heads up man.

rotarygod

Definitely throw them in. It's good equipment. As long as you don't wire any speakers backwards, it will sound much better than stock.

Tamas

iTrader: (1)

Just put them in - as rotarygod said, they will sound much better than the stock speakers, even when powered with just the stock head unit.

Actually, using two small mono amps for the doors and one two-channel amp in the rear might be an interesting solution. I believe that's exactly what the Bose setup is doing, correct?
In that case, you'd have to find a good mounting spot in the doors for the mono amps. I used the location in the doors to mount my crossovers... I'm not sure if there are such very smalll size mono amps readily available that are of good quality.

If someone would do this setup, then maybe this could avoid replacing the stock speaker wiring since then the amplified signal could be lead very easily with much better cable to the speakers. I'm seriously considering adding a four-channel amp to power my new speakers but one thing that worries me is rewiring the car, especially getting new wires into the doors. Maybe this is not that big of a deal, but I'm still not happy about doing this. However, with a good amp, the stock wiring must go...

The other thing is where to mount the new (4-channel) amp - using the rear deck location where the Bose amp usually is would be good except it's too small. Certainly there are many other alternatives (like using the indentation in the trunk floor, for instance) but it'd be nice to keep it pretty stealth and out of the way.

Come to think of this, if we have the three small(er) amps, then we need to deal with power and ground feed for them, so it might be another tradeoff...

Can we get the opinion of the resident audio gurus about trying to go the three separate amps route? Is it too much hassle?

Genom

I cant use a mono amp in the crossover location since I will be using it from my new fronts crossover box

The main reason why I was thinking of 2 mono amps was ease of installation but upon thinking about it some more, I might have ot bite the bullet and actually go for a beefy 4 channel amp. Re-wiring the cars speakers isnt a big deal I dont think (from seeing the cable runs under the side sills and behind the stereo when I put in my XM). Another option would be 2 smaller amps installed in front and in back. Need to read up on what might happen with this setup though as I had never even though about the grounding issues.

So much fun to be had, yet I must work. Argh.

Oh well, maybe someone during the day will offer some more info in the meantime.

OverLOAD

By the way, I got an o-scope on the outputs directly form my head unit that's on my table.

The Bose Head unit doesn't have an integrated amplifier (It's got a de-populated IC). It can handle about a standard line level output for it's level. If you want to power speakers directly from it, it'll be very close to silent.

The bose outputs are differential, as previously mentioned, and aren't very powerful. However, I thought that they were also powred by the rear decklid amp? I need to check my wiring schematics and see where the wires go..

Regards,

OverLOAD

Genom

Got the rears installed tonight! Yay! Hardest part was getting the screws back in to hold the speaker down properly, but taking the seats out was a snap. The new speakers fit in the slot perfectly. And even just swapping those 2 bad boys in vs the stock peice of crap paper speaker, is a good improvement. Especially bass, and this is from a 3 way 6x9! Imagine if one was to put in some real subs :D

Anyway, sunday the component fronts go in. Thanks again for the DIY overload.

Omicron

Can't wait to hear about the results, Genom! I'm thinking of replacing my speakers too with either the Infiniti's or with Boston Acoustics.

Tamas

iTrader: (1)

So Genom, any news? Could you install the front speakers as planned?
I'm curious how did things work out for you

Genom

I did eventually manage to get the fronts in. I used Lexan to make my mounting bracket as well. What a difference! NOw the only thing holding me back is my XM input is pretty low so I need to crank to 18 or so for the volume to be where I like it. But a true sign of how much bteter these speakers are is that now I do hear the compression artifacts in the XM stream. CD's sound amazingly better.

It's an easy and inexpensive change and it really really improves the sound of the car vs to OEM crappy speakers. I just cant beleive in a car worth 30K they would put that junk. If I said I thought they where worth 20 bucks each I'd be lying.