My Rear Speaker Upgrade Solution

[mptoledo]

I thought I would start a new thread as the other one got long and occasionally off topic.

My set up so far:
Head unit- JVC KD-HDR50 (Bestbuy $159.00)
Front speakers- Infinity Kappa 4" (Amazon $cheap)
Door- Left Stock (for now)
Rear- Infinity 3 1/2" reference (Bestbuy $59.00)
Amp- Stock for now (actually sounds nice

Fronts intall was pretty easy, I just had to use a rotozip and cut out some plastic from the stock housing and the Kappa's fit perfectly.

Rears http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8211302&type=product&id=1166236336445
If you followed the other thread, you know it took awhile to figure out what to do with the rear speakers. I had some Infinity kappas plate speakers just sitting in my storage area in the back, but couldn't get wild on the twisties cause they would end up damaged.
Solution: 3 1/2" Infinity ref from BB. I used the stock brakets that the original speakers came in and cut the hole a little bigger. The original bracket had two speakers on each side, but still sounded like crap. Hint if you do this, the speakers were not marked as pos or neg, and the directions were no help. The fat post on the speaker =pos and the skinny post = neg. Make sure to mark your wires when you take them off of the stock speakers. Second hint. try to just pull existing metal connectors off of stock speaker to use on new speaker. I had to crimp them as they were of a different size.


Sound quality= Not the exact sound reproduction I would have loved to have or that I am use to in my home Marantz/Klipsch, but it sure sounds a whole lot better than stock!!


http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9252426&type=product&id=1218068797157

[blinkwatt]

Dude is that JVC HU the same one that you can make the color illumination match the OEM interior lights?

[mptoledo]

Originally Posted by blinkwatt

Dude is that JVC HU the same one that you can make the color illumination match the OEM interior lights?

Yeah man it is. It also has the highest rating of fm/am reception as the boxster antenna sucks majorly. Love the jvc, except changing presets. you have to hit menu and then toggle the wheel and then push the wheel. Its alright but preset buttons would really make this a 9.5/10 instead an 8/10.

[chaudanova]

Did you add two pairs of these to the rears? Or did you just remove the two pairs of stock rear speakers, and just add the one pair of Infinity's... (one on each side?)

[mptoledo]

Originally Posted by chaudanova

Did you add two pairs of these to the rears? Or did you just remove the two pairs of stock rear speakers, and just add the one pair of Infinity's... (one on each side?)

Since I replaced the stock with 3 1/2 i only put 1 pair in the back. I probably could have squeezed 2 pair in but the stereo install guy replied when I asked him about him " You could but I doubt it makes any difference."

[chaudanova]

Originally Posted by mptoledo

Since I replaced the stock with 3 1/2 i only put 1 pair in the back. I probably could have squeezed 2 pair in but the stereo install guy replied when I asked him about him " You could but I doubt it makes any difference."

Oh okay, gotcha, I didn't realize that the stock rears were smaller than 3.5"... I just took a look and saw that they're about 3"... So in place of the two side by side 3" stocks on each side, u went with a single 3.5" Infinity... Do you have pictures of how you modified the oem bracket to fit that larger 3.5"?

Also, was there something different about the 3.5" Reference compared to the 3.5" Kappa you had that made you choose to go with the Reference instead?

Thanks!

[mptoledo]

Originally Posted by chaudanova

Oh okay, gotcha, I didn't realize that the stock rears were smaller than 3.5"... I just took a look and saw that they're about 3"... So in place of the two side by side 3" stocks on each side, u went with a single 3.5" Infinity... Do you have pictures of how you modified the oem bracket to fit that larger 3.5"?

Also, was there something different about the 3.5" Reference compared to the 3.5" Kappa you had that made you choose to go with the Reference instead?

Thanks!

Ya know, I should have snapped some pics. But all I did was hold the new speaker up and mark on the plastic holder where the new ones should be, I had to re-cut it once but they fit right in. Just make sure the screws for the speaker have some plastic to attach to. It was rather easy, took like 10 minutes each side. it took 2 months of frustration to figure out what to do. Again This was simple, but I was trying to find a way to mount 4" plate speakers back there.

UPDATE: After having put some miles on this past weekend, I am very pleased with the sound quality. It mixes well and creates a fantastic "Bubble" of Harmony. I still should have gotten the Kappas rather than the Reference series but it sounds fine.