I am thinking of getting MB Quarts Seperates "Premium Series" to replace the Front OEM 6.5's and OEM Tweeters. My question is for the people who has replace the OEM's have also bought an aftermkt amp just to run the aftermkt speakers for the fronts. Is it neccessary or the OEM amp should be enough power to run the MB Quarts???

 

I'd get an amp for MB Quartz seperates. Factory only has 20 watts/channel or something and that's for tweet and mids. If you're going to stick with factory you might want to get something with a higher sensitivity. I've got the MB Quartz 6.5 seperates bi-amped through the passive xover with 75w x 4 to the fronts. Sounds really good, great imaging. A little dynomat in there goes a long way too.

 

I guess I will look for an amp just to run the MB Quarts then. My other question is did you have to do any mods to the front 6.5 OEM brackets?? My understanding is the MB Quartz has a bigger magnet over the OEM's? From a scale of 1-10 being the best, how would you rate the sound compare to OEM?? Just want to see if doing this is worth the money spent on new speakers and an additional amp?? Thanks

 

I'm just curious, but why didn't you replace the rear OEM speakers too? I'm thinking of replacing my stock spearks, but don't know where to start.

 

It is important to have a nice front stage. But changing the rears could be a plan down the road.

 

Usually it's considered cleaner to do a front sound stage and a sub and leave the rears out. The stereo channel for the front is just duplicated to the rear and it doesn't really improve the sound (unless you make use of the DVD-A).

 

Not sure about the brakets, I had it installed. Seems to fit just fine. Sound is better, but I had lots of dynomat and a sub installed too which makes a big difference.

If I had to do it over again, instead of going all out, I would dynomat the front doors, rear deck, and trunk, and put a sub in the rear side of the trunk off speaker level inputs from the factory sub.

I think they did a pretty good job of tuning the factory system, and if you're not looking to crank it all the way up and have totally clean sound when it's cranked all the way up, I think the dynomat can get you the cleaner, louder, tighter sound you may be looking for. With an upgraded sub you'll get the extra low end.

Could even do it in phases, 1) dynomat the front doors, rear deck, and trunk, then 2) upgrade the sub if you need more bass.

I think the dynomat is the best bang for the buck, and if you upgrade your system you should do it anyways.

 

Recently, I talked to a car audio place and they suggested to do kick pods for the MB Quarts. But that would cost me $500 cdn just for the kick pods. I am still wondering if it is worth the extra $500. I just want clean sound and some mid base. At the same time, I don't want to waist $500 for something that is not worth spending. Anyone here think Kick Pods are worth spending $500 for?

 

As far as was it worth it? Yeah, no regrets at all. But only because I often crank it all the way up and get annoyed if it doesn't sound totally tight, without any distortion. I can crank it up to 30-40 and the sound it totally clean. Factory system doesn't get close to this at 30-40. If you're not 30-40 then I think dynomat and a sub should do the trick, no need to spend the extra $$$.

If you're looking for super clean sound at 30-40, you'll definitely need to get amps for the front, dynomat the hell out of everything, and make sure you xover the system so the fronts aren't responsible for too much low end. If you're picky, I'd get an EQ to smooth out the response. The MB 6.5s are good at mid bass, but if you're going to crank them all the way up you don't want to drive too much bass through them. I've got a 10" sub with a sealed enclosure that helps pickup where the 6.5s leave off.

Good luck with the system.

 

Thanks for your help buddy!!! I just have to find a good amp that will power the 6.5's. I was thinking of going with a 2ch amp like Pheonix Gold either R252 or R402.

 

ed,

I recently installed Boston Z6s in the doors and stock tweeter location. I removed the white plastic shell that houses the stock speaker, then I had to cut out the hole in the steel with tin snips. I then used one of the spacers the Z6s came with to mount the speaker on the door. Worked perfectly. I also dynamatted while I was in there.

I JUST recently did all this, and I'm still having hissing issues... noise in the background. I'm using David Navone LOCs to convert the stock signal to line level. They are supposed to work, I must have a bad connection or something.

I've done tons of work on the car now in this department, so if you need help with anything, lemme know.

 

So how do you l like the Boston Z6s?? How much do those speakers go for?? So did you dynomat the whole door or just around the speaker location??

Thanks

ed

 

Well, I'm having a problem with either my front channel amp, or the crossover from one of my Z6s. I'm not getting any sound out the left side. They were working for a few days. I think the amp may be blown cuz left channel info is leaking to the right side. I'm using a JL Audio 300/4 that I got on eBay, but I'm thinking more and more that it's a refurb. Pretty upset about that. The Z6s sounded amazing when they were working, except I have some hiss leaking into the system. It might be the JL amp. I just got this installed a few days ago, so I'm still tweaking everything.

I have a Boston Acoustics G510 10" sub in the back in a sealed enclosure. It provides TONS of bass. I have a Boston GT22 amp bridged to about 400watts for the sub.

I got the Z6s really cheaply from a Boston dealer at cost - 70%, so I paid something like $300 for them. They are worth quite a bit more than that. Crutchfield has the Pro60s (which is what I used in my rears) for $600 and they are the lower model. The Pro60s sound awesome though.

Here's a pic of my trunk as it is now. I am building a false floor on top of all this equipment so it will be hidden:



It looks good, but there's still some components that aren't working. I really hope I don't have to replace the 300/4... it's a great amp.

I put dynamat only around the speakers, not the whole door. I get no vibration sounds from the door though. I dynamatted the whole rear deck however, and there's also no vibration from back there.

Once I finish the whole project and everything's working, I'll be posting up a whole thread with all the details and tons of pics which I took throughout the whole project.

Rob

 

Thanks for the info. Wow your system is coming along fine. All the equipment you have are awesome well known brands. Hope all your probs will be fixed. Do post some more pics and info once you get everything completed.

 

I just got enough time to put in one speaker yesterday. the OEM are 6.5" ones, not 6-1/4, maybe they changed for 2006? I could just put my new 6.5" on and tighten the screws.

however, the stock were 2 Ohms ones. my new speaker sounds quite weak comparing to the stock (it likely also has lower sensitivity).

 

Cary,

You definitely need aftermarket amps to drive aftermarket speakers because the impedance on the stock is just way too low... Aftermarket speakers generally have a MINIMUM impedance of 3ohms, but generally are around 4.

Your 6.5s fit right in there? I had to modify my door quite a bit to get mine to fit nicely... Maybe the Bostons are a bit bigger.

 

zax123, I definitely will upgrade the amps. I'm kind of slow the polk DB6500 was drop-in fit. only need to cut off three small plastic tabs for OEM speaker.