This would officially be my second mod since I bought the car about a month ago (first one was tint the windows).

The stock stereo system was adequate with the windows closed - as long as I wasn't hoping to listen to the radio (crappy reception everywhere). However, driving with the windows open (as I often do), require me to sometimes crank the stereo close to the max, which sounded like garbage.

I just wanted a somewhat better system, without spending too much. At the local Best Buy, I snagged a Sony CDX-GT700HD, a Polk Audio DXi 6500 component speaker system to replace the stock speakers in the doors, and a pair of Polk Audi DXi 650 2 way 6.5" speakers to mount in the factory sub location behind the seats. The stereo has a USB port so I can plug a flash drive in and not worry about CD's skipping over bumps (I just dumped a good chunk of my music collection onto a 16 GB Flash drive). I could also plug in my phone, an iPod, or any other source.

To make the installation extremely easy, I dropped the car off there in the morning, and picked it up and paid them later that day. It went without a hitch.

Got the whole thing done for less than $1,000 (maybe about $800 and change).

I'm going to live with it like this for a while to see how I like it. If it's not quite enough, I'll add an amp and a single 12" sub in the back.

No pics of the door speakers because they don't look any different.

 

Looks good! I think I am doing the same thing.

Question - How do you like the 6.5" speakers instead of the factory rear subs. Does the voice part of the speakers sound muffled behind the seats or good?

I bought kicker 6.5" subs but not liking the bass output and I may sell those for 6.5" std speakers and throw my polk 10" in the trunk.

 

I can not speak from his car, only from my personal experience. I wanted to be able to better image the sound in the car, so I went with a true seperate component set in the rear as well. Probably not necessary for most people, but with the 2 12's in the trunk, I need all the highs I can get. I have the tweets installed directly below the seatbelt holes, but think I may try them a few other places to see if I can do better....

If you are not looking for much out of the rears except muffled highs and a little extra bass, you could probably use 1 piece coax speakers and be fine, if you are more discerning, you will want components....

 

Could a Pair of 6.5 be fited in the stock subwoofer location in the same way as the subwoofers are mounted so you could keep the speakers hidden and have the stock grills

 

It sounds muffled, and good. I wouldn't want that to be the ONLY speaker location. The purpose is to fill out the sound from the fronts. I spent some time today listening to it with front only, back only, different amounts of front and rear. They make a big difference and work best just equal front & rear.

At low volumes, there isn't much punch. Hitting the loudness setting on the stereo works well for taking care of that. Still, just based on driving with it today, I think I'll probably want to add a sub in the future. Probably won't need an amp. Not sure.

The Kicker's look really cool, but, upon listening to them side by side against other speakers, I was surprised at how little kick the kickers had. The Polks definitely blow them away on bass response.

I think a single 10" or 12" sub in the trunk would be more than adequate.

 

Could they be fitted? Most likely. Would you want to? Probably not. Mids & highs are very directional. They would get totally lost in the stock setup. I can't imagine there is a reason they can't be mounted behind the stock grill though.

 

since those speakers are 4 ohms does it still put out as much sound as the oems

 

If you are putting in a sub of any size in an enclosure, you will definitely need an amp.

+1, the stock sub location has the driver sitting on its side not facing forward, so you would not want to locate a tweet or a midbass driver here since they would fire into the side of the carpeted area.

Yes, they will be louder and sound better than OEMs because of the advances in speaker technology, materials, and efficiency gains over the last 6-7 years, not to mention the OEMs were not fantastic speakers back when they were new. This is if you buy a good set....

 

When you installed those 6.5 in the back what did you screw them into i was poking around back there this morning and noticed that theres no really flat surface to mount them. i was thinking maybe you made a backing outta wood or somthing let me know id like to do this as well.

 

I paid Best Buy to do the install, so I actually have no idea. It's nothing to pull up one side and take a look, so I'll check it out and let you know. Maybe I can snap a pic or two as well.

 

When I installed mine, I fabricated brackets to ensure the placement I wanted, not to mention the fact that my base model did not have the OEM subs, or their brackets, so I had to.

In the best buy install above, I would put $100 on it that they used the factory brackets and just mounted them almost sideways the way the factory ones require.

In my opinion to use a 2 way speaker and not a seperate, and then to install them facing into the inside of a covered carpeted area, effectively cancelling everything but the bass, which the OEM subs were producing, is a waste. If you are happy thats all that matters, I would also NEVER let some punk at Best Buy touch my baby (I was MECP certified (Mobile Electronics Certified Professional) and worked at Best Buy many years ago and know how they operate).

If you are happy, which it sounds like you are, that is all that matters, certainly not my opinion.....

 

After looking at it i think you could take the subwoofer out of the bracket and install a 4x6 not in the same area but right where the hole is behind the grill. sure its not ment to go there but it would make a nice encloser for it and would mount in the right location. only problem i see is you might have to cover the hole with carpet since 4x6 normally do not come with grills. or at least kickers dont and i hate mis matching speaker brands

 

Yes, but you are back at having to custom fabricate a bracket (at the least), and if I spend the time to do that, I am going to do it 'right' and install a good set of 6.5" components.

This is the way I did it, as I would much rather have an actively crossed over component set than a set of 4x6s, but do whatever you feel comfortable with.....

EDIT: When I see you at the Dragon, I will show you how I did mine. They are not finished yet, as I do not have a grill over them, so you can see what I am talking about.

 

Ya I have the base model also and it required a lot of custom work to fabricate brackets to be able to mount a 6.5" speaker. Now I am probably going with a good set of components and returning the kicker 6.5" subs due to the weak bass output. (thanks to boilerupxfire for the suggestion)

I agree if you really want a good system then you need to do it right the first time.

 

No. You just need to do it right eventually.

 

Im sure what im going to do is install a set of kapps in the door replace the headunit and leave the oem amp. So far as bass ill get a 1000w kicker amp with 2 10" solo barics

 

No problem bud.

If I am reading this correctly, you are talking about replacing the door speakers with infiniti kappas, replace the HU, leave the OEM amp, and install 2 10" solos. Trust me when I say that this little cabin needs a lot more than the 1 set of components in the factory location to keep up with 2 10" solos on 1000 watts. I think it will sound like crap, no imaging, and no crisp clear highs, but it is your car.....

 

Mine is the base model, so there were no factory brackets where the subs would be. You did make me curious as to how he did mount the rear speakers though. I knew the were right behind the grill, facing forward (the tweeter moves around in the center of the grill so you can aim it a bit).

I went out and pulled up the... whatever, it's a bit more than carpeting, isn't it? He didn't install the speakers into the hole... the speakers are mounting to that cover - the carpet thing. I suppose that physically works, but I would imagine I'm losing some bass response by having them mounted that way. I guess I'll pup them out of there and do something to mount them to the car.

As for putting components back there - firing into the back of the seat is going to kill the high end no matter what you put back there. Mounting the tweets next to the seats, towards the center of the car, would certainly change that, but you'd lose a lot of separation on the highs. Maybe you could put them in the panels on the pillars, towards the back.

The reality is though, once you put a nice set of components in the doors to replace the OEM set, highs and mids are NOT an issue. The last thing I'd really want at this point would be to add any more highs. I would like a little more bass response though, especially at lower volumes.

I wonder what it would sound like to move my speakers from behind the seats to the trunk area somewhere. Maybe on that slant part, pointing back and up - then it would bounce off the back glass.

 

For a stock stereo, or mildly upgraded, the front components (upgraded) are a start, but for anyone who has subs in the trunk (like my 2 12") you need more highs or it sounds like a ghetto blaster.

I have seen some people who have built small pods that put something like a 6x9 in the back corners of the trunk, and as long as they are aimed correctly, really improved stuff.

As far as tweeter location, I mounted mine directly underneath the seatbelt holes, it is a decent location as they are close to your ears, but I am going to move them around a bit and see what I can come up with.....

 

I'll bet your car sounds as good as it looks!

That is one seriously sweet XFire!