S13 Speaker nightmare

[240sleeper]

Hi everybody, I just bought a 93' 240 hatchback and i couldn't stand the horrible sound system anymore so i decided to replace it. I started by putting 2 generic royal red 6.5 speakers in the front door then replaced the 2 rears with 4x6 pioneers. I also added an Sony xplode deck. After everything was hooked up I was sorely dissapointed to realize the back speakers did nothing but vibrate and sounded horrible and the front were not up to par as well. Anyway I took everything apart and checked the polarity and it was all good. I have heard that the 2 rear speakers have factory amps. Would bypassing these amps and wiring through the in-deck amp fix the problem? If so please give me some info on how to do this. :help

[1991240xs]

just run new wires to the back through the center console and carpet then under back seat....you should test thought to see if that is your problem by hook one of the speakers straight up to the cd player by a short wire...not mounted anywhere..that will tell you what your problem is-

[240sleeper]

Good idea, by the way are the front speakers powered by any factory amp as well or should i just leave them hooked up the way they are?

[Silvia007]

Yep fronts are also powered by factory amps.

[Cyberkreig]

Someone correct me if i'm wrong.. but the S13 only has one amp, that powers all 4 speakers.. it is in the rear drivers fender, mounted forward of the Antenna..

[Silvia007]

I don't believe so. The active speaker system has a individual amp to each speaker, I'm not sure about the rear ones but definately the front. I've replaced the front ones and saw the units for each speaker. I've disconnected the rear ones.

[1991240xs]

who knows what nissan threw in on speakers..plus mine didn't have active speaker system..but i ran new wires anyway ..just to have new wires..lol...i never saw an amp but i didn't trace the factor wires...plus i had to run the wires for my amp so i thought i might as well run new speakerwire-

[MaineExport]

s13 has 4 amps.. 1 for each speaker.s14 has 1 amp for all 4.

This is the generic version of the truth... as in this is what the Nissan history at the Nismo boards told me.. but I'm sure variations exist.

[skydragoness]

hey, this concerns me too, since i am going to buy new speakers and a cd deck, (i'm not interested in getting subs or new amps, i just want my stereo to not rattle and sound decent):D

all my stock speakers vibrate,and when i turn the volume dial, there's a fuzzy crackle, like the contacts are going bad or something

let me know, 240sleeper, when you get your stereo sounding good, and how...you went about doing it

thanx

[240sleeper]

I'm just going to rewire everything with high quality stereo wire. I just bought a cheap amp on ebay so it would probably be best to wait, then install everything at once. Skydragon, definately try to fit 6.5's in the front because 4x6's are so crappy all you have to do is drill 2 small holes and fit screws through both to secure the speaker like i did. Peace

[HachiRoku]

is it better to use the factory amps or should i bypass them? I assume that without using an amp, I would get no sound?

[R240NA]

s13 has 4 amps.. 1 for each speaker.s14 has 1 amp for all 4.

This is the generic version of the truth... as in this is what the Nissan history at the Nismo boards told me.. but I'm sure variations exist.

Nope. S13s have 3 amps, S14s have 2. The S13 rear amp runs both speakers. The S14 amps sit right beside each other, and maybe look like one single unit, but they're not.

[float_6969]

I'm not sure about the s14 system but the s13 system has 2 different setups. In the s13 you have the 3 amps (2 up front, 1 in the rear, drivers side) if the front speaker covers say "Active Speaker". If they don't say this, then you don't have the amps, and I would reccommend thanking your lucky starts, cuz the factory amps are crap. With the non-active speaker setup, the amp is in the head unit. I'm kinda anal, so I ended up running brand new wires to each speaker, then I didn't have to worry about it. It is possible to take out the factory amps and use the stock input wires, but they are a really small diameter (16gauge) and I didn't trust them with 20watts RMS.

[S13Drifter]

I just got done replacing my rear speakers about 2 hours ago. And I must not have amps, becuase I replaced the head unit months ago and then when i cranked that the speakers sucked, so i bought 6.5" inifinty (sp?). I bought the 4x6 too, but they were out so they are on order. It wasn't hard at all, I just popped the clips in the trunk and the whole rear deck comes off (you do have to take of the light in the coupe). I just crimpped the wires to the new speakers. I used the infinty covers and now you can see the old holes for the old cover oh well, they sound so much better.