Speaker upgrade.
 

I have an 02 S. I wanna upgrade speakers my audio guy said its impossible without rewiring my car but online I found out its just a 5 1\4 inch speaker this is what I picked as a replacement anyone have any other suggestions?

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_8826_Alpine+SPR-13S.html

I have a kenwood in dash 7inch with navi receiver touchscreen (always got lossed best upgrade ever) lol.

Some points about car audio in general :)

- Speakers are very personal. I have Dynaudio in my car, because I love the Dynaudio sound.
- You WILL NEED AN AMP if sound quality is important to you.
- You haven't said whether your Boxster has the door pods for speakers or not :)

if you have bose you will need to rewire the car to change the speakers as they use fiber optic cabling, bose also have there own amp aswell

if you dont have bose you can change the dash speakers but there is not a lot to choose from as they something stupid like 3 1/4'' in size. depending on the headunit that comes with the car some have a built in amp. you can get speaker pods that go behind the seats though, pretty crappy place to put speakers i think

correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that the 5 1/4 speakers in the door are woofers and just for bass. Even if you install full range speakers the Becker will only send low range to the doors.

correct - door speakers are only 5 1/4" mounted in a "tuned port" to make them act (using the term loosely ;) ) like a "woofer".

The factory amp indeed has a crossover built in which only sends lows to the door speakers (which incidentally is a combined signal from the front and rear channels of the head unit). I don't know the cut-off point of the factory amp, but it doesn't much matter w/ the factory speakers. It's nearly impossible to get good bass from 5 1/4" speakers when driving them w/ 40W max.

If you install full range speakers in the door and want full range from, you will have to replace the amp. Otherwise, just run the factory leads into the crossover (optional) and/or only connect to the woofer leads.

Having BTDT, don't waste your time trying to replace the factory speakers w/ other 5-1/4 to improve the low end unless you also upgrade the amp. I tried that route w/ 3 sets.... 2 sounded worse than stock, 1 was as good as (which ain't sayin' much). Instead, make a custom wood baffle (to bolt in the OEM holes) and mount either 6-1/2, 6-3/4 or 6x9 super efficient (2ohm, at least 92dB sensitivity, and below 45kHz) speakers.

Here's a template for the baffle

I used 6.75" but if I were to do it again, I'd probably go to 6x9 (yes they will still fit - just need to turn/adjust them a bit on the baffle) to get even lower freq responses.

Yes I have speakers on my doors, I presume that is what you mean by doorpod speakers?

Am I correct in thinking that the fiber optics is only between the Bose head unit and amp and that all speakers are connected to the amp via standard wire?

That certainly seems right...... but I haven't worked on any Bose systems in a Boxster. Logically thinking though, if they used fiber optics through out, then there would be a separate amp at each speaker location. A separate amp at each speaker would necessitate running a separate power supply to each location as well. Thus complicating/doubling the wiring (fiber optic + power supply to each location as opposed to just running powered copper lines to the speakers from a central amp).

Know w/ any Bose car system, unless you replace w/ like Bose speakers, it's best to replace the amp as Bose does some funky things w/ impedance and matches their speakers to it accordingly.

Nice template. Any tips on removing the door panels. What speakers did you end up installing? Do you happen to know the maximum depth that the speaker baskets can be? Thanks

I ended up using Infinity Reference 6.75" drivers. I only wired the woofers b/c I have 996 6x40 amp which too has the filter for the door speakers like the stock 4x40. I was amazed at the low end I now get - even top down on the highway (mostly due to the response and sensitivity of the speakers). Not sure of the max available depth but I think the Crutchfield guide will be accurate. Know with using a baffle (as the one I posted above) you'll actually gain a little more available depth b/c the speaker moves out about 1/2" further than where the stock tuned port mounts the speaker.

Here's a guide to upgrading the entire sound system by Andy M over on renntech which has instructions on how to safely remove the door panels (especially if your MY is 98 or newer which has side airbags).

Andy's Guide

Good luck!

I just ordered the Inifinity Kappa 42.7i 2-ways to replace my dash speakers. Do I have to use the included crossover for them to work correctly? I wanted them to just be plug and play (with the exception of hacking up the old speaker basket.)

I talked to folks at an audio shop when I replaced mine and that's what they recommended. They sound good with the crossovers installed. I didn't try it without the crossovers, so I can't say for sure what difference it makes.

Kevin, did you just junk the stock tweeters that were in the enclosure?

Yes. I have the PNP rear speaker kit, so it didn't seem necessary to have two tweeters in the dash.