03types

can someone please tell what size are speakers in the 2003 tl types

thanks

Southbound

I have just been on an extensive project to attempt to upgrade my door speakers without going to extreme measures to accomplish it. The speaker options suck, because the Bose system sucks!

If you really want a GOOD system, it really does require changing out the head unit and adding an amplifier and changing out all of the speakers and doing serious mods to the door frame and door panels etc.

However, I have finally found a significant improvement by only replacing the stock door speakers, and leaving everything else alone.

I am too exhausted to post the saga... but I will plan to present a LONG post hopefully tomorrow regarding my findings for options available to upgrade the speakers in the TLS.

NOW, to answer your question... The stock Bose speakers are 4ohm 6-1/2 inch full range pieces of sh!t! (Yes, they are 4ohm, NOT 2ohm or 1ohm as some BOSE speakers are) However, NOT EVERY 6-1/2 inch speaker will fit without doing a major butcher job to the door frame and door panel. Also, what you hear in the Car Audio store, will NOT be what you hear by simply replacing the stock speakers with the speaker that sounds good in the store.

I am a BSEE and have designed professional audio amplifiers for a living. I HATE THESE KIDS and general losers at Car audio stores that come off smug trying to sell you crap that they have no idea about what they are talking about. Unfortunately, Our Bose system has many fundamental deficiencies which they haven't made easy to work around.

If you can stand to read a long winded technical paper on the subject, just stay tuned... I have been on a mission from He!! to research the options. I've been reading message boards and researching speaker specs, etc. on the internet for weeks, and have visited dozens of car audio shops... I'll post my opinions in the next couple of days as I wrap up my compromised attempt at improving the sound quality by simply replacing the door speakers.

03TLTYPES, I'll have plenty of info for you to absorb soon. Some of the car audio shops know what they are talking about and some definately do not!

2007AcuraRL

i put in a pair of Polk Momos 6.5". The woofer magnets are huge so you have to make spacer rings otherwise the windows wont clear when you try to put em down! The spacers i ended up needing were 1" 3/16ths. The door panels will fit back on (just barely) but you have to change out the plastic clip that hold it on near the speaker. The ones that come with the panel dont grab very well given the panel just barely will go back on. Instead, get yourself some GM panel clips which grab much better. Also, if you install just replacement speakers without replacing the head unit, the sound will not be all that natural because the factory head unit loops through a Bose eq thats hidden away behind the dash. The eq is set up with some crazy boosting at certain frequencies to compensate for the lousy bose speakers that come with the car.

ModMyTLSBaby

Southbound:
"The stock Bose speakers are 4ohm 6-1/2 inch full range pieces of sh!t! "

The 03 models are 6.5"? I didn't know that

Austin519

03types

thanks alot southbound for the research and the answer , i appreiciate your efforts, i dont think , im up for all that work right now , but i'd like to read about it and learn more about my TL-S

thanks again

03types

thanks for the description 2002acuratl

i guess the speakers sux if u say so , but the sound is decent for stock speakers , at least thats what i think

thanks again

2007AcuraRL

03Types, The system is certainly ok for a factory install. There is a way to by-pass the eq, incidentally, and its been posted several times on these boards. My understanding however is that the eq also boosts the signal level before going back into the head for amplification, and when you remove the eq (you just bypass it by wiring around it - its stashed inside the dash behind the climate controls on the non-nav type, and behind the Nav on the rest) the volume of the head wont be loud enough. So if you wanted to get the replacement speakers to sound right, you would bypass the eq AND install a line signal cooker in its place to compensate and get the levels back up. I think for most people on these boards, once they are inclined to go and do all that, they just replace the head altogether, or add amps to the factory head. As for me, i am just waiting til mid-April when the Pioneer DEH-P940 head unit comes out. Its a real nice piece and even plays MP3's and WMA audio files.

Southbound

Thanks for the input 2002acuraTL,
Does anyone else know if the factory equalizer actually does has gain associated with it other than the horrendous boost at high frequencies?

I am thinking about bypassing it to get a flatter response and to get around its obvious blaring smear. It would be customary to have unity gain at line level in and line level out of a flat equalizer. obviously their will be increased gain from unity when boosting a frequency and decreased gain when rolling it off. I was hoping that I would achieve near unity gain back into the head unit when bypassing the EQ. If there is indeed a loss of enough gain that it would require a line level amp to get the signal back up to where the final speaker amp stage of the Head unit can reach clipping... then you are absolutely right that you might as well go ahead and add a REAL power amp while you're at it.

However, somebody was kind enough to post a nice "Bode plot" of the frequency response in one of the threads awhile back, before and after the Eq bypass. I assume that this was created by feeding pink noise into the system... The graph showed essentially unity gain throughout the band except at the low and high end. (except for that ugly notch at around 1Khz) With good speakers we want LESS of the high end. The low frequency rolloff may actually be a good thing for the 6-1/2 inch speakers. The subwoofer should take care of the low bass and the rolloff shown below 50hz down to subsonic would actually help to keep from blowing up and distorting the small 6-1/2 inch speakers. I would suggest that anyone who bypasses the EQ, that they might want to also add a highpass bass blocker cap in series with the speakers. I'd do it in place of the simple wire jumper used to bypass the EQ, except that who knows what the impedance of the head unit EQ return input is? It's probably HI-Z on the order of 10K ohm, but it would take test equipment to find out.

Sorry for drifting... back to my question... Can anyone who has bypassed the factory EQ actually confirm that they had a signal gain loss that the factory head unit final output stage couldn't make up??? THANKS!

Iggy

Southbound,
I (we) eagerly await your conclusions on the speaker upgrade.
I'm getting soooo close killing myself everytime I turn on the stereo. Perhaps I better do some shopping this week

Iggy

Southbound

OK Iggy et al, you asked for it... Sorry for the delay, but work has been too busy to post and then the forum was down all weekend.

Glad we're back up and clacking.

MY OPINIONS on the audio upgrade scenarios..

1. If you really want good audiophile sound, you have no choice but to gut the system and replace EVERYTHING. Some people have gone that route and I applaud them... However, I just can't bring myself to gut the car after only owning it for a couple of weeks. I'm also the kind of guy who likes to do things myself and I really don't want a bunch of monkeys climbing around all over my car and scratching it up, etc. So I have not researched that route yet.

2. You can replace the speakers (either with components or with coaxials), bypass the EQ and add another speaker amp to drive the new speakers. This would probably provide some very good and acceptable results, but again it is a bit extensive for a "do it yourself" job, and I haven't found any shops that relate to the new 2002 Bose system yet to trust them tearing apart my system. I also haven't done enough research on aftermarket amps yet. I have just been concentrating on speakers.

3. You can simply replace the door speakers and achieve a significant improvement albeit a definite compromised solution. This was my goal at this point in time. If you simply go this route and stop, the problem is finding replacement speakers that are:

A. efficient enough to be driven by the stock HU/amp.

B. a 6-1/2 inch speaker that is of a size that it will fit into the existing factory space without butchering the door frame and/or door panel.

C. have the sound that you are looking for without bypassing the stock EQ, yet will still sound good if and when you do bypass the EQ and add another power amp.

D. is compatible and simple enough to be installed by yourself.

Some of you have no problem with letting shops take your car apart and then give it back to you in "who knows what condition"? I'm not saying that all shops are going to screw up your car, but a lot will end up screwing up something. It's not their car, it's not their $33K, so they just do whatever it takes to get it done in the smallest amount of time, etc. Never mind about causing rattles down the road, or moisture problems, or scratches, etc. etc. I guess I'm anal about these things... so I have spent a LOT of time searching for replacement speakers that met my above criteria. If some of you guys have shops that you trust than you are lucky and have a lot more options available to you.

A. Searching for a speaker that is efficient enough to be driven by the stock HU/amp... A lot of speaker manufacturers specify their efficiencies differently. This drives me nuts! Be careful here, you can easily be fooled. In fact I am generally turned off by makers who use misleading specs... THE STANDARD FOR SPL (sound pressure level) EXPRESSED IN DB, SHOULD BE MEASURED AT 1WATT/1METER. Some makers use a spec of 1 Watt at .5 Meter, and some use 2.83V at 1 Meter.

Sound dissipates at the square of the distance, so when you read a spec of 90DB/.5 meter, it will have fallen off by 6db at 1 meter. THIS MEANS THAT THE TRUE EFFICIENCY OF THIS SPEAKER IS ONLY 84DB when measured at 1Watt/1meter!

The spec of 2.83V/1 meter is meant to be 1Watt into 8 ohms. Since all car audio speakers are typically 4ohms, the power at this spec would actually be 2Watts into 4 ohms making the true efficiency of this speaker only 87Db at 1Watt/1meter! (Remember halving or doubling power changes SPL 3db, halving or doubling voltage changes the SPL 6db)

Be careful out there, they try to fool you! To get a replacement speaker that has somewhere near the factory sound level, you need at least 90db MEASURED AT 1WATT/1METER.

B. Getting a 6-1/2" speaker that is of a size that it can fit into the existing door frame and/ or let the door panel be put back on is somewhat of a challenge also. You are working with some pretty tight dimension specs here. The stock speaker basket extends exactly 1-1/2" into the door frame. It is mounted on a 3/4" spacer (which is part of the basket) and has a 1/4" lip on the top of the speaker. This makes the TOTAL height of the factory speaker, including the cone suspension protective lip, to be only 2-1/2" deep! The factory door frame cutout is a sort of oblong shape which measures about 4-1/8" across by 4-1/2" up and down. With the speaker out and the window rolled down, I measured just a hair greater than 1-7/8" from the door frame until I hit the window. (I wouldn't want to protrude inside of the door frame anymore than 1-3/4" max). I also found that 1" is the max that you can have the speaker spaced away from the door frame and still get the door panel to fit back on with all of its snaps. Also, in this case, if the speaker doesn't have a protective lip protruding above the cone suspension, the door panel will rest on the suspension and cause distortion, vibrations or mis-damping of the speaker. SO, THE MAXIMUM TOTAL DEPTH OF A SPEAKER THAT WILL FIT INTO THE EXISTING LOCATION IS 2-3/4". Even then, it's basket may not fit into the door frame cutout. If you're hip to sawing your door frame out to a 5 inch diameter, then you have more options to fit, but I didn't want to buzz/rattle the door to death possibly causing future door rattles, and have metal filings fill up my door frame... I wanted a speaker that would fit the existing hole. Also you really only have a 6 inch diameter space on the door frame to mount a speaker spacer. So with most speakers that are a true 6-1/2" or larger, you will have to build a custom spacer that is beveled to fit the 6 inch door space. UNLESS YOU GET LUCKY... I GOT LUCKY! Bear with me and keep on reading...

C. Finding a speaker that sounds good with the factory EQ in circuit yet will still have good power handling capability and good high frequency response if and when you bypass the factory EQ and add another speaker amp is also a challenge. Everything that you do will be a compromise, but that's not to say it's not worth doing. A speaker that meets all of my criteria here would NOT be the speaker of choice if you were to upgrade the entire system in the future. But it would allow for you to bypass the EQ and add a decent powered new headunit or additional amplifier. Obviously, components will sound best, but again I just wanted to find the best coaxial replacement speakers that I could find that would sound good with the current factory HU with EQ and yet still allow for some electronic upgrades in the future. The factory "automatic EQ" circuit puts a gigantic high frequency boost into the speaker above 5Khz. This is done to make the factory speaker have some kind of a high end response, although it is obvious to most of us, that all it does is blare! You must remember that energy is energy... Watts are Watts, and a Watt is a measure of energy power. There is a finite amount of Watts that the factory unit can produce from the car's 12volt system without going to the expense of adding a highgrade switching step-up power supply with expensive toroidal transformers, etc. Obviously BOSE and Acura chose NOT to go that route. Instead, they designed a speaker that is very efficient at midrange frequencies. This would be a great speaker for AM Radio (300-3Khz) where fidelity is not a factor. I could show you the Integral Calculus transforms, but suffice it to say that from a given source of power there is a given envelope of energy that you can transform. (in this case into soundwaves) It is basically the area under the volt/amp curve that determines the amount of energy that you can produce. You can either squeeze this envelope to produce a lot of energy in one area (a narrow range of frequencies) or you can spread it out (broadband it) to produce lesser volume levels over a broader bandwidth of frequencies. You can't have both without adding more power... SOOOOO we end up with compromises. This is why speakers that sound REALLY SWEET in the car audio stores while being driven by powerful amps will sound like sibilant splashes when driven by our over EQ'd factory BOSE system. I drove a LOT of car audio stores crazy by asking them to let me take a pair of their speakers out of the box and go listen to them in the car. I took the door panels off of my car and taped a one inch spacer to the door frame, and made a clip lead adapter to the factory harness. I could have never permanently mounted half of the speakers that I tried out in this manner, but it provided me with a way to listen to them while properly sealed inside of the door frame. What I found out was EVERY speaker that sounded anywhere near too bright in the store sounded hideous in the car. All I could hear was bass and extreme high frequency splashes, even with the treble all the way down. It also gave me a chance to see if the speaker would come close to fitting the physical dimensions, etc. My conclusion was that the speakers made with metallic tweeters sounded waaaaay too bright in the car and that even the silk dome tweeters had a tendency to be too bright. So for my intentions and purposes, I narrowed my search to the best silk dome tweeter coaxial speaker that I could find.

D. To find a speaker that is compatible and simple enough to mount yourself means that it would have to fit the cars existing door frame cut-out as well as its hole pattern. It would also have to be of a depth that would let it rest on the factory 3/4" spacer and not protrude further than 1-3/4" into the door frame.

Southbound

Ok, so my original post was too long to fit in one message. I warned you all that it was going to be a technical "white paper"... Here goes PART 2.

I GOT LUCKY!

I SETTLED ON THE POLK DX-6 6-1/2" COAXIAL SPEAKER.

A. It has a true efficiency of 90db measured at 1Watt/1meter and comes close to the overall volume of the factory speaker

B. THIS SPEAKER FITS THE FACTORY SPACER, DOOR FRAME CUT-OUT AND DOOR FRAME HOLE PATTERN PERFECTLY! All you have to do to mount this speaker is to cut the end out of the factory plastic basket! (to accommodate its larger magnet) Also, the terminal lugs do tend to hit the bottom of the door frame cutout, so you have to bend the lugs up and put some insulating tape on the bottom of the door frame hole and that's it! This speaker is EXACTLY the same diamater as the factory basket, and when mounted on the factory 3/4" spacer, The magnet extends EXACTLY 1-1/2" into the door frame. This is EXACTLY the same as the factory mounting basket depth before you cut the back of it off for the magnet. This speaker also has a 1/4" cone suspension lip just like the factory speaker did, so when you put the door panel back on, there is no worries about resting against the speaker's suspension material. BEST OF ALL, this speaker comes with a variety of hole patterns, and when aligned straight up and down, three of the holes line up EXACTLY with the factory hole pattern! I put some dynamat around the door frame cutout and mounted this speaker with the factory spacer/basket (basket end cutout) and screwed back into the original three holes. I could have used the orignal factory screws, but I found the oversized heads on them came awful close to touching the speaker cone suspension. I was afraid that they might cut into the suspension after time and cause a tear that might grow and cause grief later. I decided to go to Home Depot and buy some #8 x 1-1/4 sheet metal screws. These had a slightly smaller head which fit the speaker and holes just perfectly! I could now replace a set of these in a couple of hours...

D. These speakers are the best 6-1/2" COAXIALS that Polk Audio makes.

The Polk DX-6 are 6-1/2 inch 4 ohm Coaxial speakers with a true 90db SPL (1watt/1meter).

They have a MSRP of $169.00/pair.

They produce output close to the factory volume level and are rated for 50Hz-20KHz.

They are rated for 40watts continuous, 130watts peak.

They have a smooth yet crisp sounding full sized 1-inch silk dome tweeter.

They have an integral crossover mounted on the speaker terminal block that would be easy to modify for future fine-tuning.

They fit the factory mounting holes and spacers with the only mod needed being to cut the back out of the factory plastic basket with a utility knife, and bending the terminal lugs up 90 degrees.

Other speakers that were tried and listened to in the car and then rejected because they were either too inefficient, or wouldn't fit without major mods or sounded WAY too over emphasized and WAY too bright WITH the factory HU/EQ included:

MB Quart, RKC116
JL Audio, VR600
Boston Acoustics, RM6
Diamond Audio, M351i
Diamond Audio, M361i
Infinity, 552i
Infinity, 652i
JBL, P632

Could not locate to try the Infinity Kappa series, but suspect that they would be too inefficient with the factory head unit and would require custom spacers and other mounting modifications.

Could not locate to try the A/D/S, 336i, but suspect that they would require mounting modifications.

Whew! Almost done with my journal...

So far I have only replaced the front door speakers with these POLK DX-6 Coaxials. I have left everything else stock, and find that I am able to keep the brightness tamed down with the stock head unit/EQ treble control. THEY MAKE A NOTICEABLE DIFFERENCE! THEY ARE A GREAT IMPROVEMENT! There is a bit of a midrange notch, but again I think that is due to the factory EQ (I've seen the "Bode plot" that someone else was nice enough to post showing the factory EQ response). Therefore, I am unsure as to whether or not I plan to change out the rears as well. I find that the factory Bose speakers are loaded with midrange, and as rear fill, they almost seem to complement the Polks up front. IF I end up bypassing the factory EQ, I'll probably find that I'll then want to replace the rear speakers, as they will be really dull then.

THERE YOU HAVE IT!

If you want to gain an appreciable improvement to your TLS BOSE audio system with a minimum of hassle. Go out and put a pair of these Polk DX-6s into your front doors! It's a piece of cake to do, and well worth the effort. For those not inclined to do it yourself. These puppies swap out so easy, that I don't see an installer screwing things up. Is it the ultimate upgrade? OF COURSE NOT! Would new amps and components sound better? I'm sure that they would. But, Are there other speakers out there that are easier to install and sound better WITHOUT changing out the HU/EQ and adding an amp? I doubt it... Has anybody out there had great success with any other speaker replacement WITHOUT also changing electronics??? Or without serious mods to the doors??? If so, pass on your input. I'm not saying I have the only solution... BUT IT IS A GOOD ONE, IMHO... IT's made me drive around the block a couple of times to finish a song before pulling into the driveway... SO YOU KNOW WHAT I'M FINALLY TALKING ABOUT! It's now an acceptable system. It's not super-system or anything, but it's now acceptable. It's made me a happier TLS camper!

NOW HERE'S THE BUMMER! You knew everything is always too good to be true... THE POLK DX-6 COAXIAL SPEAKERS ARE BEING DISCONTIUED... They say it's because they are now only making them in component form, and they are using the same technology in their new component "MoMo" series...??? Their best coaxials are now their EX365 series. It looks like they would fit, but they only have a 3/4inch tweeter and a lesser grade midrange cone material. I think by the pictures, they would need one hole drilled into their rim also in order to fit the factory hole pattern.


I stumbled onto the last pair on a closeout sale at Frys for $59.00! They still show them on the www.polkaudio.com website but they are going going gone... SO get them while and where you can. I have ordered a second pair online... I shouldn't even post this until I have them in my hand... hehehehe

Thanks for reading, Keep in mind that these are all my own opinions, and many of you may have valid arguments or may not agree with my findings or recommendations, but I have been a BSEE engineer for 30 years, and used to design professional soundstage audio amps for a living... At times, I listen in the car and realize that it's a hopeless situation to try and call it a true audiophile environment, and at other times, I can say that it's good enough to JUSTS CRANK IT and "KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD... YOUR HANDS UPON THE WHEEL"... "GOIN TO A ROADHOUSE"...

I hope I've helped a few of you to an easy solution as well. GOOD LUCK!

drcookie

Hey Southbound,
Great write up dude ! This could probably my next project. I just need to do it so that my lady won't know about it since she does not like me to spend too much time and money on car stuff.

Thanks for sharing your research.

Cheers !!!

Iggy

Southbound,
Excellent post, you obviously did some homework on this one!
I was doing some looking around last night and I should be able to find a set of Dx6's on the net for about 100$ + SHIPPING. Based on your info I should probably get in gear and order them soon.

After doing research for over a month now I think I may go a little different route than you did. Basically I 'm planning on:

-the DX6 speakers in the rear doors
-set of seperates in front (not sure which ones yet)
-Byass equalizer
-4 channel amp to drive them

I still have some questions on the whole thing which I will post later(junior is screamming for a new diaper)

Thanks again
Loren

03TLTYPES

Found a pair, $80. Goin to get em now.

Iggy

03TLTYPES,

Do tell.

eCo

Thanks for the research Southbound! I picked up a pair on ebay, and there was another pair there for $99. I suspect more will turn up there in the future.

Link

eCo

03TLTYPES

Just picked up a brand new pair for $80, there's 2 pair left if anyone wants them they are at ABC Warehouse in Southfield, MI. I will buy and ship if anyone is having a hard time finding them.

They are asking $149.00 but I talked them down to $80 + tax.


Oh and by the way, Southbound, YOU DA MAN!!!

Southbound

Iggy,
It sounds like you have a good plan going. When you are finished, your system will definitely sound better than the simple modified front speaker replacement that I am advocating.

I'm sure I'll end up bypassing the EQ someday and then probably add some extra power amp for the door speakers as well. But for the time being, the POLK DX-6s are a simple install with a noticeable improvement. JUST BE CAREFUL TO FULLY CHECK TERMINAL CLEARANCES AND MAKE SMALL APPROPRIATE ADJUSTMENTS WHILE MAKING SURE TO INSULATE THINGS WELL (don't follow 03TLTYPES lead, sorry about that 03) I can at least listen to the system now... It's not so great that I will be inviting people over to show off my car stereo, but if I'm driving them around, I don't think they will bring up how crappy it sounds. My wife thinks it sounds just great now...

Good luck on your front door research. There are better component speakers out there, but you will have to do some substantial mods to your doors and bypass the stock EQ and add an additional amp to benefit from them. BUT IT SHOULD BE WORTH IT IN THE END!

Good luck!

TLluver

Southbound how did you connect the speakers to the stock wiring?, did you use wire taps? I know very little about car audio and would like to get these speakers for the front doors...they seem easy to install except I am not clear on how to wire them...also is there a real noticeable difference or is it a subtle difference that only I would be able to detect, cuz I listen to the stock Bose every day?...any info would be appreciated...thanks

heyrandy

Southbound -

I've read your post with great interest. I have an '03 TLS and am getting ready to have my old '88 Integra hauled off by the Salvation Army.

But I upgraded the Integra's speakers with Kenwood's KFC-1675 and KFC-1676 speakers 3 or 4 years ago.

See Kenwoods website for info on the similar KFC-1677 speakers (tweeter= 1-3/16" PEI film balanced dome):

http://www.kenwoodusa.com/product/pr...&productId=577

My plan was to swap out the Blows with the Kenwoods before the tow truck comes. Any thoughts before I take off the door panels?

If too bright, any way to add a resistor to the tweeter leads?

Thanks for all of your help!

Southbound

Hey TLuver and Randy,

There IS a SIGNIFICANT improvement by replacing the front door speakers with the POLK DX-6. speakers. It doesn't blow you away, or make you want to go brag the system up or anything... But you will no longer be embarassed by it. It doesn't allow you to play the system any louder than before, but it is MUCH cleaner with a very noticably improvement in the highs. It gives you back that crisp edge that has been missing with the stock system. It would also be good enough to allow for some future electronic upgrades if you decide to go further with the system. You could bypass the EQ and add a 100 watt per channel amp and these speakers would still not fall apart. If you want to do more than that, then you would probably want to go the whole nine yards and buy components and a super amp and replace the sub as well, etc. But like I have said, that is a lot more work.

These speakers really do just fit exactly with the factory cutout and spacer and hole pattern. I couldn't find any other speakers that would fit this easily. Also most of the other speakers that I tried sounded really good in the store, (I almost bought some Diamond 361i) but they sounded waaaaaaaay too bright in the car and would have required me to saw the door frame. So I can't tell you whether or not the Kenwoods would fit easily or if they would sound decent with the factory EQ in circuit or not. You would have to take the door panels off and make up a temporary harness adapter to connect to the speaker and come up with some sort of temporary spacer just to hear them first and then decide if you liked them enough to go through the hassle of mounting them. JUST BE CAREFUL TO INSULATE ANY TEMPORARY SPEAKER LEADS THAT YOU JURY RIG FOR TESTING PURPOSES. (See the post by 03TLTYPES about the door speakers not working after he somehow mismounted these speakers) (I'm not flaming you, 03TLTYPES, so don't take offense, I'm just trying to help us all learn from your experience)

Most every speaker that I tried until I stumbled onto the POLK DX-6s just sounded horrible in the stock system. I was at a point that I ALMOST gave up and decided that there wasn't any speaker out there that would help me unless I went to the extra effort of swapping out the electronics as well. That's what most or all of the car audio shops will tell you as well.

Yeah, you could adjust the high frequency level of a speaker by adding a power resisitor in series with the tweeter to cut it down. It would be a trial and error type of thing. That is also why I ended up buying the POLK DX-6s. They have a terminal strip mounted on the back of the speaker with the crossover cap soldered across it and the tweeter leads soldered there too. This would allow me to easily change the crossover point and tweeter level by changing values of the crossover cap and by addding a suitable 5W power resistor in series with the tweeter. In fact, I bought a bag full of differenct sized NON-POLARIZED caps and 5Watt resistors with that intention in mind. Again, I got lucky with this speaker. It has a nice silk dome tweeter that is not so bright that you can't bring it down to a nice crisp but smooth level with the stock head unit treble control. So I ended up leaving the stock crossover caps that came with it alone. (4.7uf/50volt NON-POLARIZED). I bought a range of caps from 1uf to 10uf along with a range of 5Watt resistors ranging from 2ohms to 10ohms for trial and error purposes, but ended up not needing to use them. You might want to try this with your KENWOODS. Remember that as you add a resistor in series with the tweeter, you will also change the crossover point. So you would probably have to go down in value of the crossover cap as you increased the value of the series resistor to cut its level. Again, it would take a LOT of trial and error time. But for around $100 bucks you can find these POLK DX-6s on the internet and be done with it. I can guarantee you that they will fit and sound enough better than the stock speakers to be well worth the effort!

Southbound

The moderators are going to ban me for my extreme posts. I know that I ramble, But I'm just trying to be informative and cover every base...

Now back to TLuvers question...

BE CAREFUL NOT TO SHORT OUT ANY OF THE SPEAKER LEADS TOGETHER OR TO THE CHASSIS!!!!! You could fry the amp... If you take a bit of time and caution these speakers will fit with no problems. After you remove the door panels, FIRST MAKE SURE THAT YOU INSULATE THE BOTTOM OF THE HOLE CUTOUT!!! I put several layers of duct tape smoothly around the bottom third of the hole cutout to be safe. Start with the passenger door first. It is the easiest to get off becasue it has less connectors involved. A TIP HERE WOULD BE TO PUT SOME PROTECTIVE TAPE ON THE TRIANGLE SHAPED SAIL PANELS BY THE FRONT OF THE WINDOW BEFORE REMOVING THE DOOR PANEL! This will protect you from scratching up the plastic as you pull the door panel on and off. The doors really are fairly simple to take off and put back on if you take your time. Start by taking the two screws out, One is under a little hinged cover where the chrome door latch handle is and the other is in the arm rest. Then start by prying the door panel apart from the bottom and then go up both sides uniformaly. Lay on the ground underneath the door and use a flashlight to look up and disconnect the harnesses as you keep working your way up. The only tricky part is removing the chrome door latch handle assembly. After the screw is removed it is held into the door frame with some plastic tabs that are slotted. You have to "SLIDE" the assembly either forward or backwards (forgot which already) before you can pull it out. Then there is a metal rod attached that goes to the door latch mechanism. There is a plastic swivel lock type of thing that keeps the rod inserted into a hole on the back of the door handle. Simply snap the plastic gag off of the horizontal portion of the rod and it will swivel around out of the way and you can then lift the rod out of the hole. The door panel will now just come off of the top of the door frame. This is where you have to be careful not to scratch the plastic sail panels. It just rests over the top of the door frame with a lip that is part of the door panel.

Sorry if this is redundant information, but again, I'm here to help. Now you have the door panel off and the speaker you will see is an obvious POS... It is held on by three screws.

I would suggest four possible ways to connect these new speakers.

1. Either cut the wires off at the factory connector, and re-crimp new female terminal lugs onto the wires that will then connect to the new speakers. The positive terminal is a standard .187 inch lug, the negative is a standard .110 inch lug. I WOULD THEN INSULATE THESE NEW LUGS WITH SHRINK TUBING SO THAT THERE IS NO WAY THAT THEY CAN COME IN CONTACT WITH THE DOOR FRAME!!! This is what I did... You may have to take a small file and slightly file down the width of the positive speaker terminal in order for the .187" lug to fit.

2. The new POLK DX-6 speakers come with lengths of wire that have bare ends on one end and the proper INSULATED terminal lugs already crimped on the other end. The overall best thing to do might be to cut the factory wires off at the connector again, and then splice an appropriate length of the new speaker wire to the old factory speaker wire. It would have the correct insulated terminal lugs already attached at the speaker end. MAKE SURE YOU INSULATE THE SPLICE VERY WELL ALSO! Don't make it so long that it might flop around inside of the door frame and end up getting jammed in the window rollers, etc. I like to use the in-line crimp type of splices. The insulated tubular crimps that are about an inch long where you insert a wire into each end and make two crimps to make the splice. I would still wrap this with tape just in case your crimper goes too deep and cuts the plastic insulation. I know this sounds really anal, but after what happened to O3TLTYPES, you can't be too careful. The only reason that I didn't go this route was that I wanted to keep the leads short, and I didn't want the plastic crimp joints to rattle around inside of the door. So be sure to insulate them with something that will also make them quiet if they bang around inside the door frame. Also use some tie wraps to tie the excess wire down to the existing harness so that it doesn't work its way into the window rollers or track, etc.

3. You could also just solder everything and insulate it with shrink tubing if you so desire. But this would make it harder to remove.

4. If you're really anal and don't want to destroy the factory harness, you could do what I did for my temporary listening test setup. You could leave the factory connector intack. Then take the new speaker wire from the POLK DX-6s and cut an approriate length to connect between the factory connector and the new speaker. All you would have to do here is to crimp two standard .187 inch MALE crimp lugs to the bare ends of the new speaker wire and insert them into the factory connector. (Make sure to have the polarity correct and then really tape it up so that it doesn't pull apart or rattle in the bottom of the door frame. Then connect the other end of the POLK insulated speaker wire terminals to the new POLK speaker.

The speaker itself needs just a LITTLE bit of prep work... You will notice that the terminal strip on the back of the speaker hangs down to where it just barely clears the door cutout. This is what got 03TLTYPES in trouble. So again be sure to put some heavy tape smoothly around the bottom of the door cutout. You will need to bend the new speaker terminals up 90 degrees so that they point straight back instead of down. DO THIS TO ALL OF THE TERMINALS! There is a terminal that sticks out to the side that the crossover cap is soldered to. I unsoldered the cap and cut off this terminal and then re-soldered the cap back to the rivet point on the positive speaker lead. That way there was no way that this terminal could short to the door. Also bend up the other little terminal where the other side of the crossover cap and tweeter lead are soldered. THEN, if the speaker wire terminals are insulated, you should be safe. Even if they hit the door frame... first, you have the door frame insulated with heavy duct tape, and second, the lugs are insulated as well. Wrap the whole works in some more tape around the magnet if you want to... like I say you can't be too safe and you don't want these leads to ever touch metal!!!

The only other mod that you have to do is to cut the back basket off of the factory plastic mounting spacer. It will cut like butter with a new sharp razor blade type utility knife. I would advise cutting off the entire back of the basket up to the rubber mounting gasket. This will allow for maximum porting into the door frame and provide you with tighter bass. The speaker will now line up over the cutout factory spacer and fit the three factory holes. You could use the factory screws, but again, I'm anal... I felt that the factory screws had oversized heads on them and they looked like they might end up cutting into the speaker suspension material, so I went to HOME DEPOT and bought some #8 x 1-1/4 sheet metal screws. (The ones in the red packages) They had a smaller head on them and fit just perfectly. 1-1/2 inch screws would be too long and would probably protrude through the back of the factory plastic mounting hole inserts. This may or may not destroy them. (You will see what I mean when you get into the situation). Therefore, if all you can find are 1-1/2 inch screws, I would cut them off to 1-1/4 inch.

The factory speaker has the same .187inch terminals for both lugs. They don't want to give away which terminal is positive and negative. You can always put the factory speaker back in by crimping two .187inch terminals onto the wires. Or if you went with option #4, you could just put the factory connector back on.

Oh yeah, which color wire is which polarity on the stock speakers? A tip for you in the future, if you don't know the polarity of a speaker. Take a small AAA, AA, C-cell or D-cell 1.5volt battery and connect wires across it to a speaker. When the positive wire of the battery is connected to the positive terminal of the speaker, it should move OUTWARDS. IF the leads are reversed, the speaker will suck inward. Don't leave the battery connnected but for just a quick second to see which way things move. If you leave the DC connected for too long you could over-heat the voice coil and burn out the speaker. Also DON'T use a higher voltage battery, or you could overshoot the voice coil and move it too far. A quick pulse will tell you which polarity is which and won't damage the speaker. I'll save you the work and give you the color code below. I'm sure you know how important it is to get the polarity correct. You wont smoke anything, but if the polarities are out of phase, the speakers will acoustically cancel each other, and you will lose your center sound stage.

Driver's front door speaker
+ Red/Grn
- Brn/Blk

Passenger's front door speaker
+ Blu/Grn
- Gry/Blk


GO FOR IT! IT'S THE BEST $100 BUCKS THAT YOU CAN SPEND ON A $33K CAR AND GET ENJOYABLE RESULTS...

YES, BOTH YOU AND YOUR PASSENGERS WILL NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE... Just remember, it's only a $100 dollar upgrade, NOT a complete $3,000 dollar competition system overhaul... So don't expect super miracles, but expect a nice improvement.

GOOD LUCK and keep me posted as to your results. I'll help where ever I can. I'll be out of town and out of touch all of next week, so Friday will be my last day to try and help out, if anybody else has more questions.
...Goin' Southbound, now baby...

TLluver

Southbound thanks for the detailed description...I think I'm gonna go with option #4 since it seems the easiest and least likey for me to screw up, plus it will make it easier for me in the future to put the stock speakers back in...I will probably order the DX6 speakers this weekend and install next Saturday...thanks a bunch, I will keep you updated and post pics...Oh I almost forgot to ask you about the rears...could I use the same installation procedure for the rears if I wanted to replace them?...and would I then need an amp?...thanks again!!

Southbound

TLluver,
Yes, you could mount the same speakers in the rear the same way as in the front. I ordered a second pair of the POLK DX-6s from the internet for my rears, and they came in yesterday.

You wouldn't need another amp to drive these. The stock amp would drive them much like the stock speakers. Replacing the rears shouldn't make you need an addtional amp anymore than just replacing the fronts would. That's why I looked for some fairly efficient speakers as replacements.

That's not to say that you might not want to add an extra more powerful amp, but that would be an additional mod. The stock speakers are VERY efficient at the midrange frequencies. Therefore you might find that you get more overall car volume with the stock amp by leaving them installed in the rear. Distortion and volume have a relationship. When an audio signal has over a few percent distortion, it will sound fatiguing to the ears when turned up loud. That is why cheap systems sound LOUD but not good. When I turned up the stock TLS system, I would find that after a few minutes I would want to turn it down because it just blared and sounded too loud. As soon as you clean up some of the distortion you will find that your ears crave more volume. Its like cheap booze and good booze... You want more of the good.... With my new Polks up front, I find that I keep wanting to now turn it up! I'm not sure how the overall system would sound without bypassing the EQ and swapping out all four speakers? I find that the Polks up front finally give me some "snap" with a snare drum as well as clean cymbals, especially high-hats, etc. The vocals will also be much cleaner to the point that you might actually understand the lyrics! I am old enough that I listen to Classic Rock type of music. I don't listen to hiphop or rap, so I am not looking for the exaggerated bass that those listeners are probably searching for. I find that the stock system bass has plenty of presence for me... its just muddy and will distort when turned up too loud. If you're searching for really punched out bass, you will definitely need to upgrade the amp situation and subwoofer.

I would order two pairs of these POLK DX-6s while you can, since they are discontinued and pretty much only available through the internet. I called an audio shop in town before ordering my second set, and they said that I could buy their demo pair out of the listening room for ten dollars off... They were asking $149/pr. but said I could yank out the demos for $139. I'd hate to have to resort to that, but it might come to it if you don't act fast. Try out the fronts first and see what you think. If you change out the rears let me know how it sounds then. I'm not quite sure if it would then be better to bypass the EQ and add an amp to get the punch that these speakers are capable of delivering.??? Right now, I find the stock rear midrange volume helps to fill the car while the new POLKS up front give me my crisp snap... I'm not sure whether to change the rears or not??? I'd definitely change them out though, if I ever bypass the equalizer and/or add another amp. That's why I bought an extra pair, I want to have that option available.

I'd love to know how the car sounds with all four changed out and the rest of the system left stock. So if you go that far, let me know how the second set changed things. Right now I'm a bit burned out and need to back off of the project for a few weeks.

If you do change out the rears as well, you will need the color code of the rear wires, since the BOSE speakers aren't labeled. You can find out which color is which by comparing the speaker from the front. Mark the + and - on the front speakers as you take them out. You can just put a piece of tape on them and write on that if you want to keep everything pristine stock. The rear speakers are identical to the fronts, so you can then tell which color of wire goes to which terminal in the rear and then make note of it. If you forget to mark them, do the battery test gag that I outlined in previous posts to help you determine the proper polarity. I haven't actually opened up the rear door panels yet, but according to a schematic that I have, I think the color code should be as follows... Yet, I would confirm that the colors I give you here do indeed go to what you have identified as the positive and negative sides of the speaker from the front side work that you/I have done. You definitely want the phase correct. Also if you don't have any kind of crimp tools, you could use wire nuts as a splice between the factory wire and the new speaker wire. But crimping on male .187inch terminals and plugging them into the stock connector and then wrapping that up good with tape, would be a good way to go... (Option 4)

Left Rear Speaker
+ Blu/Yel
- Gry/Wht

Right Rear Speaker
+ Red/Yel
- Brn/Wht

You can do it, and you'll dig the results. Think of a snare drum that actually gives you some snap! and vocals that you want to turn up louder instead of just turning off the stereo! This is what you should expect from this mod. The problem is... like others have said, it may be habit forming and you may find youself wanting to go further and further with the mod process. But these speakers will allow for a decent level of further upgrades.

I'll be out of town and off of the web for the next week, so good luck and let me know what you end up doing... I'm off on a road trip, just finally hit 950 miles today... So It should be ready to open up on the highway. I hope I have a good report to come back with... NO TRANNY GRIEF, AND NO TICKETS!

TLluver

Hey Southbound, I orderd the last pair of POLK DX6 speakers for $95 shipped from a store in N.J. off the web and they should be here by Monday and I was wondering where I can pick up some of these .187 male crimp lugs you stated that I will need for option #4 and do I need a crimping tool or will pliers work?...thanks for everything!!

Southbound

TLluver,
Glad to hear that you are going to tackle the project. I think you'll be pleased with the results for the money and effort involved. When you get the old speakers out, just looking at the two compared will convince you that you have done the right thing!

.187" terminal spade lugs are a fairly common standard. They are really 3/16 inch. You may find 1/4 inch spade lugs more readily available, but they will be too wide to fit into the factory connector. (you could file them down, if that was your only option) I'm an engineer, so I have these things all over the place. I'm not sure if Radio Shack does carry them or not. I would suspect that they should. REMEMBER, you are looking for the "Male" terminals that will insert into the factory connector. (although you could buy some of each for future uses) The factory connector has "female" terminals mounted inside of it. The stock speaker terminals themselves are male. If you have any kind of other "Electronic supply" store around you, they would be sure to have them. FRYs would probably have them. They are typically made by "Walden/molex". Another cheaper brand is made by "Noble". Also, you might try any Car audio installation store, they would have to have them in common stock. You may have to talk your way into buying some from them, by saying that you might buy an amp from them in the future or some such BS....

Just make sure they fit snug into the factory connector, or you will end up with an intermittent connection that may cut in and out on you over bumps or over time, etc. Also KEEP YOUR LEAD DRESS SHORT AND buy some tiewraps and tie the excess wire to the factory speaker harness. Make sure the wires bend DOWN after they come out of the back of the speaker! You have to bend the new POLK speaker terminals up so that the wire comes straight out from the back in order for the terminal block to fit inside of the door frame. BUT make sure you bend the wires back down after they are connected to the speaker terminals or they may protrude too far back and catch the window as it rolls down. Just don't bend the terminals down or they may short out on the door frame. BEND THE WIRES AT THE BACK OF THE CRIMP SO THAT THEY TEND TO ROUTE STRAIGHT DOWN. You don't want anything to protrude deeper than the magnet or it might catch the window. This is apparantely what happened to 03TLTYPES. His wiring got caught up in the window and was yanked off of the speaker when the window came down. This caused the termninals to fall to the bottom of the door frame and short the amplifier out. FORTUNATELY it appears that the amp has a current limit foldback circuit in it that went into protection mode and kept the output stage from blowing up..... However, it is best NOT to test these circuits or to leave them shorted for extended periods. Just cut the back off of the factory plastic mounting spacer and make sure that you cut enough of it away so that the NEW speaker will fit flush into it without the metal basket of the speaker touching the plasting moungint spacer. This will allow the new speaker to properly port into the door frame and avoid any possible "buzz" from speaker vibrations on the plastic molding. Be careful to really insulate everything well, including the door frame hole cutout, and bend the terminals out of the way and you will be fine!

Somebody was asking about where to buy Dynamat... I found some at FRYS, but I also saw some in a Car audio install shop. It is a damping compound that has a peel off backing and is about 1/16" thick. It comes in packs of two sheets 1 foot square for $15-20 dollars. You can cut it to size and stick it on the door frame before you mount the speaker. Then use a utility knife or exacto knife to cut the inside of the door hole out. It helps keep the speakers from rattling the door and tightens up the bass response a bit. JUST BE SURE TO PEEL BACK THE METAL FOIL ON THE FRONT SURFACE AROUND THE BOTTOM OF THE DOOR FRAME if you use it. BUT it's NOT essential to use it in this level of mod. (Although I did) Peel and stick Weather striping around the speaker and mounting spacer would probably do about as good a job of keeping the door from rattling with loud bass.

As far as a crimp tool for these terminals. You really should have one to do it right. I've used pliers before, but they usually cut up the insulation or just smash the connector without making a true "gastight" crimp. This will end up working loose later or oxidize and cause an intermittent connection. Where ever you buy the connectors, they should have crimp tools also. If you can't afford a crimp tool... Practice on a few pieces of scrap wire first until you find a pair of pliers that really crimps correctly. What you need is a tool that is about 1/16" wide and has a slightly "oval" shape to bite down on the connector. You shouldn't be able to pull the wire back out of the connector without breaking the wire instead. If you can, the crimp is not sufficient. You also shouldn't be able to wiggle the wire and see the bare wire at the other end of the crimp move. If you can't find the terminal lugs or buy/make a proper crimp tool... another option would be to cut off the wires at the factory connector and use a wire nut to "twist" the splice together. The other end of the POLK wires will already have the correct "female" terminals mounted to fit the speaker. This method wouldn't require any special tools, but would ruin the factory connector. Cut it off with at least 1/4"-1/2" of wire left at the connector so that you could "solder splice" back the original wiring in case you ever wanted to go back to the stock speakers.

Hope this helps... Did you have to look hard to find the POLKS? I'm even thinking about buying a backup pair for if and when these might ever go bad. I really tried out a lot of speakers, and I really think these are the easiest to drop in and sound the best with the STOCK system. Yes, there are better speakers out there, but they really require a lot more mods to fit or require another amp and the EQ bypassed for sure... or else some of them that will fit this easily are only 5-1/4" speakers. I did buy a pair for the back, but haven't put them in yet. I'm still not sure how they would sound without bypassing the EQ? Swapping ALL four speakers might make the system too sibilant without bypassing the EQ???

Good luck! Let me know how it goes.

Southbound

Oh yeah, TLluver, Or anybody else going for this POLK DX-6 speaker replacement mod.

Get the .187 (3/16") lugs made for AWG 22-18. They are typcially sold as RED. The stock speaker wire and the POLK wire is 20 guage and 18 gauge, respectively. The next lug size up is typcially BLUE and is made for larger wire sizes of 18-14GA.
While it would be nice to have larger wire installed. You aren't going to gain anything by adding larger wire on a 6 inch splice. Unless you are replacing the ENTIRE speaker wire run... just stick with the stock wire size and use the smaller crimp lugs. This if fine anyway for the power involved with the stock HU. IF you use the wrong larger lug, it will be harder to achieve a "gastight" crimp... especially if you are using pliers or some other makeshift tool.

TLluver

Southbound, thanks for that very detailed response...qick question, would I be able to buy the .187 male lugs from you? instead of me searching for them, since you just have them laying around...I know absolutely nothing about car audio and didn't even know what these things were called until you mentioned them...I am trying to make this project as easy and correct as possible...let me know, thanks!!

zotl

03TLTYPES, Do you still have the deal on those Polk-DX6 speakers ?
I need the pair for my car.

Email me at mikk1719@yahoo.com

Southbound

TLluver,
From a personal standpoint, I would love to help you out. I wouldn't even think of charging you for these .99cent connectors. In fact, since I didn't use my POLK wires that came with the new speakers, I would be happy to go ahead and crimp the male terminals onto a length of the wire and send them to you. That way it would be simply plug and play... I'm not sure as to the optimum length that would be needed, so I would probably make them a bit long and send along some tie wraps as well, so that you could tie the wires up to the existing harness. You don't want excess wire flopping around and getting caught by the window. I would also send you some spare lugs, so that if the wire length was way off, you could make up some new ones of your own.

HOWEVER, I have unfortunately learned the hard way to keep my identity anonymous over the internet. While I have a feeling of trust with you, there are thousands of people reading these posts, and one can't be too careful as to where they give their personal information out. I also can't get into the situation of having others asking for the same favor. It's obvious that I enjoy helping others, or my posts wouldn't be so long and detailed... BUT, unless you can come up with some way to get me your mailing address that isn't against the rules of this forum or that doesn't make you feel uncomfortable knowing that thousands of people now know where you live... I won't be able to help you out. I don't trust the private message routine on this board and I just don't give my email address out to places where the world is free to get it while also knowing way too much about my life. I KNOW I"M PARANOID... but I've been burned with losers trying to take my identity before. (Not that I'm worried about you, of course)

If you've got a fake name and address or P.O. Box that works for you, and a way to get it to me over this forum... I'd be glad to send you a complete pre-crimped kit for free... Otherwise, I'm sorry that I have to say I'm sorry.

You can find these connectors at any electronic supply store. A ham radio supply type store that sells misc electronic parts and electronic hardware, resistors, capacitors, etc. You could probably talk one of the counter people at these type of stores to put the crimp on for you without buying the tool. Most of these people are nerds of a sort but love to tinker and help out other electronic enthusiasts. If you're not sure what you're looking for, take the POLK speaker wires into one of these store and show them what you want to "mate" to. Like I also said, you could cut the factory wires off a bit back from the connector and buy some wire twist nuts at ANY Home Depot or hardware store in the electrical department and use them to splice the new speaker wire bare ends with the factory wires. You would have to strip back about a half inch of insulation on both sets of wire and twist the bare wires together with one of these twist lock wire nuts. That would be another way to go. JUST GET THE RIGHT SIZE OF WIRE NUT... ones made for the range of two 18Ga wires. Remember that the larger the AWG number, the smaller the diameter the wire is... Ask somebody for the right size if you're totally confused.

I'm here to help, but I'd like to keep my anonymity. I hope you can understand.
GOOD LUCK!

Southbound

I just made up a set of wire jumpers to connect from the factory connector to the new POLK DX-6 speaker terminals.

.187" male spade lugs on the factory connector end.

.187" female spade lug for the positive terminal of the Polk speaker.

.110" female spade lug for the negative terminal of the Polk speaker.

I found that the male spade lugs had a bit of a "shoulder" on them that didn't allow them to fit completely down into the stock factory connector. Therefore, I had to slightly file down these shoulders so that the entire length of the metal spade was the same .187" width. Then it fully seated into the stock factory connector. I could have also just used some stiff wire cutters to snip off the widened shoulder... Once inserted, I would still tape all of this up so that the wires couldn't pull themselves out of the connector and also keep it from rattling around in the bottom of the door frame.

There's several EASY ways to hook up these speakers...

TLluver

Southbound, of course I appreciate your concern, so what if I gave you my e-mail address and then you could reply with your e-mail address and then i could give you my work address and you could send them....that way only I know your e-mail address and my home address is not used at all...let me know, thanks!!

sssick

Southbound, thanks for the detailed info you really did your homework. But I think you might need a new keyboard from all the abuse you just put it through!! Good job though!!

Southbound

OK TLluver,
It seems that you are a bit timid about taking on this project all by yourself. I don't want to see you give up on it, So I've made up some extension cables that will connect directly from the stock connector to the new speakers. I can send them to you at no charge...

Give me your email address and we can talk about it. Moderators, I hope this isn't against the rules.

TL drivers were born to watch each other's back... Southbound

TLluver

Thanks Southbound you are really helping me out and I really appreciate it...email me at ESSTLH@NETSCAPE.NET, thanks!!

heyrandy

I put in a pair of Polk DX6's on Friday night and things sound quite a bit better. I'll post some installation details later when I have more time. But for now I'll share the wiring splice technique that I used:

I cut the Acura speaker connector off and spliced the wires to a 6-7" piece of the Polk wire (end that includes the gold connectors).

First, I pushed in the white wiring harness holder clip directly below the speaker to give more slack to work with. Then I striped about a half inch of insulation from each wire end, twisted them together and soldered them. Next I trimmed each splice to about 3/8" and placed a 1" piece of narrow diameter shrink tubing (Radio Shack should have) over each splice. Next I used a heat gun to shrink (a lighter will work if careful - practice first). Then I placed a 1.5" piece of bigger diameter shrink tubing over the pair of splices and applied heat again. I then placed the splice down along the wiring harness and wrapped electrical tape around everthing to hold it secure. Then I popped the harness holder clip back in the hole.

The end result is a short piece of wire (with gold contacts) with about the same slack as the stock connector had.

After you see the POS Blows speakers, you won't worry about saving the stock connectors!

One other thing, instead of going to HD to buy new screws, I just used my grinder to reduce the head diameter of the stock screws. I didn't feel like going any further than my beer fridge for the project.

Anyway, thanks to Southbound, I now have a much better sounding ride!

Southbound

Thanks for the update Randy...
It sounds like your method will work just fine! I thought long and hard about keeping the stock connector. But soon came to your same conclusion. I'm NEVER going back to the POS BLOWS speakers. Even if I sold the car, I'm not going through the work of taking the POLKS back out for $100 bucks. And if for some insane reason I went back to the BLOWS, I could always recrimp connectors to fit them or since I left about a half inch of wire from where I hacked it off, I can always make a solder splice to put it back. I"ve actually taken the factory connnector apart... down to the .187 female terminals that reside iside of it. Not that there's any real point, but the connector can be carefully taken apart if you look close enough to see the little clips and snaps that hold it together. I ended up just cutting off the factory connector and then recrimped insulated female terminals onto the end of the factory wire to fit the POLK speakers. (one .187" and one .110 inch) SO I never did end up using any of the Polk wiring at all. I thought about your method, but decided against not to bring my heatgun into the inside of the car... I'd probably end up melting the carpet or something... You can also shrink shrink tubing by carefully rubbing a clean soldering iron over and around it. AGAIN be careful or you will melt through it... Best way is to use a Heat gun or else go with solderless crimp connectors.

Thanks for re-mentioning the harness plug snap that holds the wiring to the inside of the door frame. Yes, you will want to pop this snap out of the door to give you more reach and room to work with the splices, etc. Then snap it back in when everything is done.

There are a lot of EASY ways that these POLKS can be put into the factory slot. You way works as good as any. Glad to hear that you did notice the screw head clearance that I was talking about though. It made me a bit nervous that it might cut into the speaker suspension down the road and cause grief later. You'll notice that the POLK screws have a smaller head, same size as the Home Depot jobs, but they are longer. They are 1-1/2 inch instead of the factory 1-1/4 inch. So I didn't use them either, because I didn't want to bust out the back of the hobby plastic screw insert on the door frame.

BUT a beer and a grinder.... NOW that's innovation! Glad you think it was worth the effort... Everybody has his own style, and this is not a hard job to figure out how to do.

Unless you have never tinkered with anything electrical or electronic before. In which case, I've never performed brain surgery before either:p

I'll be in touch TLluver...
Southbound

TLluver

Southbound, glad to see you responded...I received the speakers today via UPS and am really excited to tackle this project and I am looking foward to receiving an e-mail from you so we can discuss the installtion and give you my address...thanks!!

heyrandy

Southbound or others -

How do you have your radio set now?

I currently have my bass centered, my treble down 2 notches, and my fader to the right (favoring front) 2 notches but am still experimenting.



Another thing on the installation. On the plastic stock speaker basket, I only cut off the back (left the top and sides on) and the bottom part to the rubber gasket. I felt that the top part protected the speaker from water/rain. Other door speakers that I've used had similar rain shields. Southbound, I know that you felt that cutting the top/sides off would give better bass. Any thoughts?

Southbound

I found that after I replaced my stock Bose speakers with the new Polk DX-6 speakers that I was turning the treble down as well. Since then I have found that I have notched it back up to center. I think that the complete lack of highend from the stock speakers had our ears and brain trained not to listen for any highs. And once we started to hear some actual high frequencies, it overloaded the brain at first, like when you get a new pair of glasses. After listening for a while I have found that I now like the treble control turned up higher than I did the first day that I installed the speakers.

I find that each CD is different. In the beginning, I had the treble turned down two or three notches from center and the bass up one or two notches. Now I find that I typically have them both centered again. You will definitely find yourself playing with it for awhile. With the EQ still in circuit, we are fighting some strange response characteristics. However, I have found that I usually adjust EACH CD to its best overall setting. Like I say, I sometimes have the treble down a couple of clicks with the bass up a couple of clicks. Yet sometimes, (usually on older CDs) I have actually moved the treble back up a couple of clicks from center. At first, I was overwhelmed by the highend presence and found that I set the fader a couple of clicks to favor the rear speakers which provided more midrange fill. I have since quit doing that, because they just blare. I think the more you listen to the Polks the more you will like them, and the closer to center you will end up coming back to. BUT IT'S DEFINITELY SUBJECTIVE... Adjust them to what you think is best. It will change from CD to CD and it will change for a couple of weeks as your ears and brain get used to the higher frequencies.

I have found that 90% of the time, I am driving alone in the car with the seats all the way back. I'm 6'2". I found that if I moved the passenger seat up about six inches that I could get a lot more volume into the car because the right rear door speaker was no longer blocked by the back of the passenger seat. Open the sunroof and the sound will get a lot brighter as well. You will get better defined low-end midrange with the cloth covered slider closed. Glass is not the best acoustical environment to be listening in.

As far as the mounting basket... I hear you talking about having some sort of rain shield to protect the speaker. I started out like you by only cutting out the louvered back part of the stock basket. THIS HAS TO BE DONE FOR THE BIGGER MAGNET TO FIT. Once I did that, I looked inside of the basket from the rear and saw that the new speaker cone mounting frame was hitting on the plastic. I was afraid that this might start buzzing or making vibration sounds, since there were no real screws or anything holding this part of the basket in a really SOLID position. I also saw that there wasn't a lot of air space around the back of the speaker for it to port properly. Yet with the louvers removed the backend was still essentially wide open for water to splash in anyway. The door cutout is only slightly over 4 inches and the speaker really calls for a 5 inch cutout. When I brought this weather protection subject up to the various car audio shops that I went to... they all told me that that was only needed for the CHEAP CARDBOARD cone...All of the speakers with composite or polypropolene type material cones (including the Polks) supposedly are not that suseptable to moisture damage. All of the car shops that wanted to install speakers into my door frame for me said that they WOULD NOT be using any kind of weather basket to mount the speaker. They would just be sticking the raw speaker on a spacer and let it breath inside of the door frame. And if you think about it, The Polks didn't come shipped with any kind of protective basket did they? SO, I decided that if the louvers were already cut out... rain could splash in anyway if it really wanted to get in there. I am also counting on the Acura door to NOT leak. With the complete basket cut off, there is still only a 4inch port hole instead of an optimum 5 inch hole. I decided that I didn't want to restrict the back of the speaker any further to the 3 to 3-1/2 inch basket diameter. So I cut it off in favor of better bass and midrange, ESPECIALLY at higher volumes. How much better bass... who knows? But I figured that for $100bucks a pair, I'd risk water damage for a good fit and function. I really think that it would take driving through a flood to soak the speaker where it is located... and even then it's not supposed to really damage it??? BUT in a perfect world. YES, I'd like to see a bigger hole cut out of the door frame and a bigger basket around the speaker... just in case. If you don't have any vibrating noises, and your're concerned about water, I'd leave your mount the way you have it. Who knows if you'd notice any difference after cutting it out further? Theoretically you would, so maybe in your head it would be worth it. At least that was my line of thinking.

If you're thinking about doing your rears the same way, I'd be buying the speakers soon. I can only find a few places left online that have them in stock. I got mine for $80bucks at carstereoworld.com But their out of stock now. These Polk DX-6 EASY to install speakers are going , going, gone. I am thinking about buying a backup pair just in case I should blow up a pair or water should somehow get inside there and do something nasty.

I have noticed that the volume control has 30 clicks from the bottom to the top. When I'm cruisin', I find I've got the volume up at around 22-25 clicks. It seems to hang fine at that level. Above about 25 clicks you can hear the amp go into limiting and the soft clip circuit kicks in with moderate distortion. So I find that 25 clicks is that max that I can listen to the system and not cringe. At least it should help keep square waves off of the speakers, so it might be a good circuit for a cheap amp to have. You'll also notice that at higher volumes you might readjust your tone controls. How many clicks do you crank your music up to? and what kind of music do you listen to? I'm a classic rock kind of guy...