Dash Speaker Replacement

[tim281]

Does anyone know of some good replacements for the 3.5" dash speakers?

Do any off the shelf 3.5" speakers fit off the shelf, I was hoping to retain the OEM grill.

 

[LaserSVT]

There are allot of decent 3.5s out there and they all fit under the stock grill.

I would suggest Infinity, Eclipse Point Source, Alpine Type S or R, Boston Acoustics.

Stay away from the Pioneers, Sony, JVC, Pyle, Clarion, Rockford, Audiovox, Dual, MTX because in that size they sound like crap and have a lousy tweeter.

 

[85SVOGUY]

There are allot of decent 3.5s out there and they all fit under the stock grill.

I would suggest Infinity, Eclipse Point Source, Alpine Type S or R, Boston Acoustics.

Stay away from the Pioneers, Sony, JVC, Pyle, Clarion, Rockford, Audiovox, Dual, MTX because in that size they sound like crap and have a lousy tweeter.

+1 on the infinitys. They sound good in all sizes, super clean sound.

 

[S&B]

dont listen to these monkeys ( well just laszer) a 3.5 is a tiny speacker way to small to have bass come from it. I would do one of two things, the cheap way woudl be to buy an inline bass blocker and wire up a set of 3.5 speakers. The correct way would be to buy a component set in (try Clif Design search it on ebay) for a cheap set that sound great. Put them in and be done with it and be happy. WIll sound 10000000% better then a crappy 3.5" speaker, most people have a setup like this.

 

[LaserSVT]

Cliff Design hasnt been good in 10 years.
I forgot, on the side of the factory 3.5"s is a capacitor. Remove it and put it inline on the + side of the new speaker. Its a 300hz high pass cap.

S&B did hve a good idea though. If you get a good set of 6.5" components you can put the tweeters in the dash openings. You will need to angle them slightly inward though and attenuate them so your sound stage is not messed up but I have done it on a few Mustangs and sounded great

 

[S&B]

he doesnt even have a mustang

 

[strtrcr50]

I ran this set in my last mustang. JL Audio: Products IIRC, it took some work to get the 3.5 mid drivers to fit properly, and I know it took some work to build sealed pods for the 6.5's on the doors.

 

[LaserSVT]

he doesnt even have a mustang

I ran this set in my last mustang. JL Audio: Products IIRC, it took some work to get the 3.5 mid drivers to fit properly, and I know it took some work to build sealed pods for the 6.5's on the doors.

The JLs are quite excellent but if you want something that sounds just as good (but with better midbass) and is allot easier to install then I would reccomend these: http://cgi.ebay.com/ECLIPSE-6-5-3-W...39190627QQptZCarQ5fSpeakersQQsalenotsupported
You can put the tweeters on the mirror covers and I believe the older 3 series BMWs have a tweeter pod that fits perfectly (5.0Droptop knows) and the mids in the factory openings. You would have a stellar front stage and a nice accurate sound.
Problem with great speakers though is you need a good amp and source unit cause they will show you your weak spots right away.

 

[tim281]

I already have some infinity reference 6.5" for the door that I need to put in. I think I will just try the inifinity 3.5" reference dash speakers but crutchfield showed they wouldn't fit. I think I should just get them anyway and do whatever mods are required to fit them in the dash. If they don't come with a bass filter, then i will have to get one from the local shop as I don't even have dash speakers at the moment ;-)

 

[LaserSVT]

I already have some infinity reference 6.5" for the door that I need to put in. I think I will just try the inifinity 3.5" reference dash speakers but crutchfield showed they wouldn't fit. I think I should just get them anyway and do whatever mods are required to fit them in the dash. If they don't come with a bass filter, then i will have to get one from the local shop as I don't even have dash speakers at the moment ;-)

Get 300-500hz blockers then. You only want mids/highs coming out of them and that will allow you to crank it without blowing them.

The Infinitys will fit fine. They touch the vent on the drivers side but when you screw them down they are fine.
Oh, and get the Kappas. Much nicer sounding tweeter Here is a set for $54 shipped!
http://cgi.ebay.com/INFINITY-KAPPA-...31740961QQptZCarQ5fSpeakersQQsalenotsupported



EDIT: I just did some reserch and see the new Infinitys have their tweeter sticking out way more then they used too. They wont fit, they will hit the grill.
The Bostons will fit just fine though.
http://cgi.ebay.com/BOSTON-ACOUSTIC...53527591QQptZCarQ5fSpeakersQQsalenotsupported

 

[S&B]

sounds like a good deal you should be able to make anything fit back there, its alot of room

 

[tim281]

Thanks for the info, I will go with the Bostons. I just put the Boston 5X7 in the rear deck and they work great with the kenwood internal deck amplifier.

 

[S&B]

how are you going to run your door speakers and the 3.5" speakers in the dash off your factory deck?

You only have 4 speaker outputs on the deck and 6 Speakers. If you wire the fronts in parralle your ohms will be to low for the deck. You can try wiring the front speaker in series but I feel the 12-15watt rms your deck puts out will not sound great.

 

[strtrcr50]

The JLs are quite excellent but if you want something that sounds just as good (but with better midbass) and is allot easier to install then I would reccomend these: http://cgi.ebay.com/ECLIPSE-6-5-3-W...39190627QQptZCarQ5fSpeakersQQsalenotsupported
You can put the tweeters on the mirror covers and I believe the older 3 series BMWs have a tweeter pod that fits perfectly (5.0Droptop knows) and the mids in the factory openings. You would have a stellar front stage and a nice accurate sound.
Problem with great speakers though is you need a good amp and source unit cause they will show you your weak spots right away.

I am quite the fan of eclipse audio. I used to run one of their head units(forget the model number. CD H/U, 8v pre outs, no onboard amp, etc). My midbass was insane with that setup. I was running it off an xtant 302a, and I had the 6.5's in fully sealed enclosures.

 

[LaserSVT]

sounds like a good deal you should be able to make anything fit back there, its alot of room

The problem with the Infinitys is their tweeter sits so high up that they would press against the factory grills. The older series JUST fit under the grill and the new ones are a good 1/2" higher.

how are you going to run your door speakers and the 3.5" speakers in the dash off your factory deck?

You only have 4 speaker outputs on the deck and 6 Speakers. If you wire the fronts in parralle your ohms will be to low for the deck. You can try wiring the front speaker in series but I feel the 12-15watt rms your deck puts out will not sound great.

Because of the frequency range that they will play the final load will still be close to 4 ohms (assuming he didnt buy the 2 ohm Infinitys). Final load is really only important at frequencies below 200hz. I have run 8 speakers off a two channel amp and the load never dropped below 4 ohms because 6 of the speakers were running above 300hz

I am quite the fan of eclipse audio. I used to run one of their head units(forget the model number. CD H/U, 8v pre outs, no onboard amp, etc). My midbass was insane with that setup. I was running it off an xtant 302a, and I had the 6.5's in fully sealed enclosures.

Yes, Eclipse and JL audio are two of my favorites. I prefer Boston because they are very studio quality and although allot of people say "My system is studio quality" really they are not. Most people when they hear what studio quality is they dont like it. They are used to having more bass and bright highs.
And a big +1 on the Xtant!
Right now my system consits of an Eclipse DVD/Nav/touchscreen deck with Boston Pro 6.5s in the front and a Boston G5 sub, Boston SX 5x7s in the rear all powered off a first gen Xtant 3300c
Over $4000 worth of stuff I scored for $700 by shopping for a couple months on ebay.

 

[strtrcr50]

The Boston Pros are a kickass speaker, but a little too bright for me.

 

[Darkwriter77]

My immediate suggestion was going to be to just get a pair of those little 1.5" or 2" tweeters, rig up a little bracket to hang them in place underneath the stock speaker cover, and then focus on your in-door and rear shelf/hatch speakers for your mid-range and a pair of subs for your bass. Getting picky about speakers that small seems kinda ridiculous because, as mentioned, they'll never put out any kind of significantly audible mid-range sound, much less ANY kind of bass.

Then again, I've never spent more than $200 total on a whole stereo setup in my entire life (including the head unit), so I tend to settle for sound that y'all would probably consider beyond sub-par.

 

[LaserSVT]

The Boston Pros are a kickass speaker, but a little too bright for me.

Yeah, I had to fully attenuate them and switch their on board EQ to "off axis" to smoothen it out. My decks eq curve is very conservative too. At 16K its flat and at 10K I am only boosting 2db and 6k is 1 db with 4K at 2db as well. Very smooth and accurate sound.

I just noticed (thanks to this thread) that my bass was really missing ... something. So I was listening to the system and while it was cranked I popd the trunk and the bass became quite powerful. I was gettin cancelation cause the damn trunk is so big. I had to pull the sub out from under the rear deck fireing at the rear to the drivers side corner pointing at the passenger side. Never had a trunk large enough to cause that before but man, I was impressed with that little 10" sub before but now its just amazing! If space is a concern but you want ALLOT of output and deep smooth bass that has a great kick too then I would reccomend the Boston G5 10" sub.

 

[strtrcr50]

When I worked for a car stereo store, the boston rep came in telling me that there was NO way I could blow up one of his pro subs. To prove his point, he stood in the cone. enter a xtant 1001dx and a bass mechanic cd. Minutes later, he was on the way back to his car with a burned up sub.
I always liked and sold the eclipse aluminums in as small a box as we could make them. Those bad boys POUND and are clean and tight. Never got to try the titaniums though. I quit before they came out.

 

[S&B]

i have been wanting to get a JL W7 for a while now, but i dont have the room under my seats in the f150, so i put 2 of my old skool pioneer premiers in there and it pounds, but not like a w7