Speaker install questions

[93jdirty']

I already have an Kenwood double din deck installed along with 2 12 inch subs and a 800 watt amp. Im now replacing all the interiors with polk audios 4 inch front and 6x9's rear. now i now i need a differnt adaptor to replace the one for the bose. The question is do i need to rewire the whole system to bybass all the bose or can i use the exsiting wires? also any tips for the best sound will be appreciated. THanks in advance- Gary

[misfit6794]

Polks are good, jl components are better if you are really looking for exceptional sound. In fact, any component is better than a coaxial speaker, especially if you plan on amping the speakers. Since you have a sub, you could run bass blockers for the speakers, essentially turning them into mid-high range speakers, and letting the sub take care of the bass. If you plan on sticking with coaxials, bass blockers are a really good option. I just tore my interior apart, and couldn't find the bose amps anywhere, i think they maybe part of the speaker housing. Try plugging in the speakers, and see if they work. On the rears, you can just pop off the speaker grill, its a REALLY easy install, the fronts you have to remove the whole door panel, its not too hard.

[brandonjustice93J30]

the amps are on each speaker.

IMO if you're going to take the time to replace the speakers and the time to install a new head unit, subs and amp...take the extra 30-60 mins and run new wire to the speakers. Especially if you ever plan on running them from an amp vs the internal power of the head unit. Less headaches if you ever have to troubleshoot a speaker not working. And IMO also go with a beefier gauge than stock(14-12 gauge) if you're going to take the time to rewire.

[93jdirty']

Well the 6x9s in the back will be powered by a 200 watt amp so the rcas will take care of the wiring. So i guess i will only have to wire the fronts. Im going to need a distributor block to run two amps in the car, also how good do capacitors work.

[brandonjustice93J30]

still going to need to run wire from the amp to the 6x9's.....

Caps are a bandaid....upgrade your alternator and battery if you have any issues with dimming.

[misfit6794]

the amps are on each speaker

That's what I was thinking. I wouldn't worry about your alternator for now, I've run way bigger systems before without a cap, I did upgrade to an optima battery. You may just want to wait until you get components to amp the speakers, there won't be that dramatic a difference in sound with coaxials between an amp and the headunit.

[fogged306]

I also wouldn't stick with the 4" speakers in the fronts and like stated before, go with components. These cars are front component from the factory anyway, at least mine is so I'm just assuming they are all the same.

I removed the enclosure from the front doors in my car, cut out the bose amp and the puny 4" and made the hole big enough to accept a 6 1/2" speaker. It took a little grinding and I had to remake the back of the enclosure (used dynamat and it worked great) but I got it done and used JL components in the front and it sounds incredible, mainly because the enclosure is designed to give you a lot of midbass. I'm not using the factory head unit, thats why I was able to cut out the amp. I also mounted the crossovers in the doors and used the factory wiring for my input to the crossover and for the wiring to the tweeter in the pillar.

Another note: you want all of your sound staging to come from your front and use your rear as filler. If you use a 200 watt amp on your rears and leave the fronts as is, it wont sound the best. You want the power to come from the front and the rear to be there just enough so that you can tell they're there.

[brandonjustice93J30]

I dont think they have the tweets until 95 or 97..I know my 93 doesnt

And if you're going to spend the time to hack and grind....why not upgrade the cable? I wouldnt want to use 10+ year old speaker cable on my home theatre system.

[fogged306]

unless it got wet or looks black from being burned the stock wiring is fine. I actually amped my speakers for a long time through the factory wiring and it worked perfectly. I do stereos for a living and I can tell you, a lot of people spend money on speaker wiring that they don't need to. Yea its better to be safe than sorry, but that only applies if you are pushing a LOT of wattage through those speaker wires, and generally, unless they're subwoofers, they arent going to require that much power. And sound quality isn't going to degrade enough for the human ear to pick up, if at all.

Plus its a major pain in the *** running wires through the door boot of these cars

[gr8scott72]

I dont think they have the tweets until 95 or 97..I know my 93 doesnt

And if you're going to spend the time to hack and grind....why not upgrade the cable? I wouldnt want to use 10+ year old speaker cable on my home theatre system.

93 was the only year without tweeters. 93 was also the only year without heated seats.

[brandonjustice93J30]

yeah, yeah...so what if my butt freezes to the seat during winter ...lol

[93jdirty']

You guys convinced me to go with component speakers so im going to soon order polk audio db5251 componet system. i guss ill get some decent 6x9s to throw in the read deck. Ill be running 200 watts throught this system via a Rockford-Fosgate amp. The 6x9s will be ran off the deck(kenwod dpx 302). Now after i hook all this up is it going to sound good with the subs in the trunk of will i need to tune it.? again tips are appreciated.

[misfit6794]

Good move going with components. It should sound good right out of the box, but you will definetly want to make sure the amp is running the right frequency and you can play with the gain as well. Usually the way I do it, is to tune each setting up individually until you hear distortion, and then back it down a little until there isn't any.

[naladude911]

93 was the only year without tweeters. 93 was also the only year without heated seats.

Your right with the tweeters, but wrong with the heated seats. Ive got a 93, but mabey its because its purchased in Canada, but I have heated seats...

[gr8scott72]

Your right with the tweeters, but wrong with the heated seats. Ive got a 93, but mabey its because its purchased in Canada, but I have heated seats...

What is your manufacture's date on your car?

[NegusJT]

hey fogged306, or anyone else who has cut out those four inches.........

can you give me a lil more detail on that process. what do you mean about the enclosure? i want to upgrade my sound system soooooo freakin bad. whoever had the car before me didnt do a great job. i have an old *** pioneer headunit, old 4" pioneers and stock 6x9's. yea i was shocked to see those stocks in the rear. it actually sounds decent, except for the bass rattles the tweeters when u turn it up. but anywayz.......i wanna change to a pioneer premier headunit found on ebay, boston acoustic SL 6x9 in the rear (side question, how much better are the SL's vs the SX or NX that boston acoustics had?), but i am not sure as to what i want to do with the fronts. i was hella pissed when i saw those 4" in the fronts. judging by the size of the grill i thought it was atleast a 5.25" speaker in there. i wasnt plannin on puttin an amp or sub in there but i do want to leave that open for later on. basically what i was goin to do is cut out the 4" and replace with some polk 5x7's that i have. i had them in the rear of my last car and they were nice. nice bass and clear highs. what are your thoughts on that? what do i need to use in order to grind out that whole? are there any lil things i need to look out for, like wires or such?

thankz.......any help would be appreciated

and ya, i am a bit jelious of the heated seats but i will surely get some sheepskins as soon as i can.

[fogged306]

I'll be honest, its been almost 5 yrs since I actually did that so my memory may be a little fuzzy. I do know that the 6 1/2" just barely fit so you may have some troubles with a 5x7, I'm not sure. The factory Bose amp was built into the enclosure on mine, I removed it and just used the input signal wires to the amp as my speaker input because I had the aftermarket radio and no longer needed the Bose amp. I used a die-grinder and an airsaw, I believe, to remove the material. If I remember right, the speakers were too deep for the enclosure, so I had to cut out a hole in the back of it for the magnet to fit. If you do that, make sure you seal up the hole with something waterproof so your speakers dont get wet.

You don't HAVE to use the enclosure. You can remove it completely and install the speaker on a plate cut to fit where the enclosure went. The whole purpose of that enclosure was to enhance the mid-bass of the 4" speaker, effectively making it sound like a larger speaker. I only used this enclosure because I know Bose knows what he's doing, and I knew that the enclosure would amplify any speakers mid-bass range... and it does. If you use the enclosure, make sure there are no air leaks in it (meaning, no holes that aren't sealed, dynamat works wonders) If you aren't someone who is really picky about how their stereo sounds, then going through all the work of re-using the enclosure is probably going to be a waste of your time, and you can just make a plate out of ABS plastic and mount your speaker to fit. It will be much easier, but at the sacrifice of some mid-bass.