I've been given a Christmas present of $200 toward upgrading my 2006 TSX speakers from stock. I'd like to get half decent stuff, without going overboard....so obviously $200 isn't enough to do everything. I'll probably kick in some of my own money too, but I'd like to know what people recommend I do first if I can't upgrade the whole system at once.

Dash
Front Doors
Rear Doors
Trunk

My listening tastes are pretty varied. I listen to various types of rock/alternative/garage/punk/etc. as well as some hip hop. I'd say I care more about crispness than bass, but I'd like to have both.

Specific speaker recommendations are also welcome, but I know there's plenty of threads already about them, so that's not the main question in this thread.

 

On a small budget, I'd suggest inquiring about the replacement speakers from avincar.com.

 

A seller on Amazon.com called Discountjungle sells Alpine Type S speakers for really cheap. I got all of my door 6.5"s (2 sets) and my rear deck 6x9"s (1 set) from him shipped at around $160 total! I haven't gotten new tweeters yet for the dash but I think I might leave them for now since the Alpines do a great job with the door speakers already. I installed the speakers myself - first time ever doing any kind of speaker install or ever taking the door panels off of a car, so it took me a nice long time since I wanted it perfect. It comes with spacers that make them fit perfectly. Look around on here and you'll see the reviews have been pretty good for them.

 

I would second this recommendation (unless you want a lot more volume out of your system at which point you'd have to go with an aftermarket amp). The Avincar speakers will go a long way to improving the sound quality using the OEM amp. At a minimum go with the front door/tweeters to get a crisper, more detailed sound and the rear deck 6x9 for a tighter, more accurate, bass.

 

Thanks for the replies so far. I'm definitely considering the avincar package. I was reading through the review threads yesterday and everyone seems happy with them.

 

^^ The nice thing about Avincar is that Ken (elduderino here on Azine) is a sound pro and owns a TSX so you're getting the benefit of his knowledge/experience in selecting the components specific to the TSX application.

 

For $200 I would suggest getting a good set of front door speakers for about $100-120 a set and then all you need to replace the 6x9's in the rear deck is a good $60-80 set of 6x9s. I used Infintiy's for the the doors because they sounded the best in that $100 a set range. And then went with some JBL 6x9's because they fit well and were fairly cheap ($100). The $200 will only get you the speakers though. You're gonna have to build your own door mounts for that proce. As far as the rear 6x9's go, Any $40 pair on the market will out perform the stockies by far. stockies fart way too easy.

 

^^ CJams, did you keep your OEM tweeters?

 

I haven't looked at the individual speaker prices recently, but $200 won't buy much from them (not a complaint; quality costs). You'd need double that money (and then some) to replace all the speakers.

If you could only do some, my guess is that replacing the front doors might make the most difference, with the dash tweeters next, then rear deck speakers, and finally rear door.

Jeff

 

After all the positive avincar response in this thread and others I had pretty much decided on going that route. The TSX system is no longer on his website, so I sent him a few emails with no response for a few weeks. Finally about 2 weeks ago I received a response that he had 1 kit left. We exchanged a few emails and I gave him my paypal info for him to send a request for payment...then he vanished again. Stopped replying to my emails...didn't return my phone calls. Now I'm good and frustrated. I guess there's nothing else I can do but give up and buy something else. If Ken doesn't want my money I won't give it to him.

That said, new budget is the $450 I was going to spend with avincar. Any more advice/suggestions?

 

I got some DLS components in the front and I think they do pretty decent with the stock amp. I got the C6 which I think is one of the the lower models. For ~$130 shipped, I think they are better than anything you can get out there off the shelf in that price range.

The sound is much, much improved although you'll find midbass to be more quiet, which is probably because the OEM over-emphasizes them, and probably also because the OEM amp is used. The magnets on these things are huge... so big that they barely clear the holes in the door.

I also purchased the CDT 6x9's which a lot of people from e46 forums recommended. Those I think should be amped, but for me, it works ok with the OEM amp if you turn up the volume a bit (anything above 12), but that's just me. It still sounds much better than stock, I would say

 

I was wondering what happened to the guy selling the Avincar's...I was about to get a set, but couldn't find a good link on his website for them. Might just go for the Alpine Type S's instead, seeing that you can get the speakers for roughtly $50 a pair. (so the whole set for about $150 + shipping costs). A heck of a lot cheaper than $450...

 

^^ and great sound too! I love my Alpine Type-S speakers!

 

I dunno about the other brands, but the Avincar 6x9s really work well. I really have no desire for a sub, with these. I'm not saying that they're the equal of a sub, mind you, just that I don't think a sub is necessary to hit all of the lows that I want. This includes bass-heavy music.

Elduderino seems to get really busy and is hard to reach, sometimes more than others....

 

I think this is the likely explanation. If you read any of his TSX audio posts, you can tell he's done extensive research both on the factory system, and also in quality replacement drivers. I can't imagine he would just discontinue this.

Jeff

 

I'm in the same boat as ri0tnerrrrrd. I'm just looking for more crispness/clarity out of the stock. I have a Bazooka bass tube sitting in the garage right now that I considered putting in, but probably not going to since I'm sure the stock will be more than enough bass for me.

I'll try PM Elduderino and see if he's still offering them. If not, I'll go put the money towards some Type S speakers.

I'm just wondering how they (the Type S's) compare with the Avincars, especially from a price/performance point of view. Is it worth throwing 2x as much money into the Avincars, seeing you can get a set of 6.5" Type S speakers on Ebay for $50, and a set of 6x9 Type S's for roughly the same amount (so 2x 6.5's and 1 6x9 set for $100+$50+shipping) That runs up to about half the cost of a set of Avincar's.

Buying the TSX in cash has made me car poor. Gotta try save money wherever I can.

 

^^ The difference is that the Avincar system also includes the dash tweeter replacements and the door speaker is a dedicated midrange/midbass woofer.

That being said, there are several members who have used Alpine Type S speakers with good results. One member, and I can't recall who at the moment, had an Alpine SPS-171 component system installed and he was also very happy with the results.

 

Ok everyone. How's this for overall sound quality, fit, and ease of installation?

Tweeters and Front Doors - Alpine SPS-171A (not using the crossover, just hoping I can drop the speakers in. Tell me if I'm wrong).
Rear deck - Alpine SPS-69C2
Rear Doors - Either leave stock, or Alpine SPS-17C2.

Thoughts?

 

That's what I was thinking of doing too...or get the C3's at the front? Did the 171's have a seperate tweeter?

ri0tnerrrrrd - if you do get it, let me know how it works out. Sounds like a good budget setup that's better than stock.

 

Just ordered the SPS-171a and SPS-69C2. I'm going to see how that sounds and probably pass on the rear door.

 

Hey ri0tnerrrrrd - how did the new speakers turn out? Did the seperate tweeters fit in the place of the OEM ones with no problems? How does it sound?

 

Hey syee. The installation didn't go that smoothly, and I ended up paying a shop to finish/fix what I had done. I think this is more due to my incompetence than the speakers being any more difficult to install than the C3s. If I had a little more time to troubleshoot, it wasn't starting to rain, and I wasn't doing the installation in the parking lot of my apartment complex, I probably would have been able to do it fine. Everything fit fine and all the necessary harnesses were included. My problem was with poor wiring.

As far as the sound, I'm more than happy with it. Definitely a big improvement over the stock. The bass gets lower and the highs are a lot more crisp.

 

^^ glad those worked out for you. I'd love to hear them some day to compare the sound to the Avincar speakers.

 

U going to replace the POS stock amp now that you have good speakers?

 

Nah. I'm happy with the system as is considering what I spent. I could always spend more money and improve the sound further, but it's not in the budget anytime soon.

 

Speaker replacement is a relatively simply process. As long as you don't damage any panels getting to the speakers, from what I've read it not a big deal.

Amp replacement, on the other hand, sounds a lot more complicated. Unlike speakers, a replacement amp isn't "plug-in" - I believe you'd need to find a new mounting location for it, run power and speaker wires, tap into the harness, etc. Also, from what I've read, there's a better than average chance that you'll run into some noise or interference. I don't think it's nearly as easy a replacement.

Lastly, as others have pointed out, the choice of speakers if you are replacing the amp (where you can provide more power, so can go with a less-efficient speaker) are different then if you are keeping the amp.

Jeff

 

Chances are that no matter what aftermarket speakers were purchased, they can take at least 100W. Yes, certain component speakers that are less efficient and sound way better, but the stock amp can really only do 36W peak 18W RMS per channel. If you're wanting to drop a few bucks on upgrading speakers, then an amp upgrade is a logical next step. Why not hear what they can really do?

Why would you even think that if someone is going to spend $25-30k on a car and join this forum that they are going to strictly adhere to a $200 mod budget???

 

Reviving an old thread. Has anyone been able to drop in matching brands of front 6.5's and tweeters to replace the stock door 6.5's and stock tweeters? I'd hope that the factory amp/HU crossover would match a brand of speakers like the Alpine S. I'm looking for the easiest install. (of course Everyone seems to have no problem putting in new door speakers, but very few on here have found drop in replacement tweeters to match (w/out much cutting)

 

I was able to drop in phoenix gold RSD 6.5" component tweeters into our stock tweeter holder thing without any mods. it fit perfectly.

but, i've already upgraded systems since then
They're a great budget component system, though

 

Did you use the same factory amp crossover? I mean, did you just connect them up w/out the component crossover

 

oh sorry i missed that part of the question. when I upgraded my speakers, i got an aftermarket amp to power them, along with mercman's harness.

 

That's a good question. I know I've seen a lot of posts from people who used the Alpine S, but I have wondered if they used the included crossover and ran separate wires for the tweeters.

The stock crossover might not be what you want, as you suspect, but I have no idea what speakers might work well with no modifications. In the Avincar system, he shipped a capacitor to change the crossover point. I modified it further to dampen the overall loudness. (If you knew what crossover point you wanted and a 1st order crossover was OK, you could calculate the desired value to modify the stock system.)

The easy way would be to drop in door speakers that have coaxial tweeters... except you'd have to decide if the dash tweeters were too loud, I suppose, so you might disconnect them. That'd be easy, though.

I know there have been a lot of posts on this in the past, so I'd definitely search.

Oh, and why use the stock amp? Because it's Good Enough, and I don't want to deal with the wires and external amp. Been there, done that.

 

Did a search. People keep talking about replacing the tweeters (probably with components/crossover to match), but I've been looking for a drop in tweeter replacement that doesn't require a lot of extra work. Most people never say if they're using a new crossover or not, or if it fits like the stock tweeter. I just want to put in new front 6.5'' and new tweeters to match. I don't want to mess with using a crossover and finding a place to mount the sucker. Still searching....

 

usually if you get a tweeter with a mounting cup, it should sit snugly in the stock hole. you might have to cut a little bit of the plastic in the hole to have it fit all the way though.

 

I'm not sure at what freq the OEM amp crosses over between the door woofer and the tweeter. Ideally you want to look at the freq. response curves of the tweeter and woofer to make sure they are linear and relatively flat on their respective sides of the crossover point. Then you want to match as much as possible the sensitivities. If not possible to match sensitivities then you may need an L-pad to reduce the output of the tweeter. My

 

It's not just a matter of having the tweeter physically fit -- although, that is nice too -- it's making sure that you get the crossover set right. The stock amp has a small cap that functions as a crossover, but it may not be a suitable setting for other tweeters. In theory, you can work the numbers and calculate the value of an additional cap if necessary.

Even with the Avincar set, which I'm sure was carefully matched, the tweets were too bright for my tastes, so I added an L-pad anyway. Oh well. Anyways, if you want to make use of the stock amp, you can do it, but it may take some tweaking and some careful selection of parts.

Like another thing -- if you're going to use the stock amp, you also want speakers with a relatively high sensitivity rating. The higher the sensitivity, the louder it will be for the same wattage input.

 

now, im no pro with audio, but if the stock HU only puts out 18w at RMS, wont the type S (or any other comparable speaker) be overkill? The Type S is rated at 50w RMS. The speakers would be underpowered no?

 

If the Type S wants 50WRMS max power, then you should be fine with 18W. Usually speakers rated at 100WRMS are happy with anything even as low as 20W. However, a lot is also dependent on the quality of the power the speakers are getting, and we know the factory amp isn't very high quality power.

 

Usually power ratings (Watts) for speakers list the maximum power they can safely handle, not a minimum. To gauge the effectively minimum wattage, you'd want to look at the efficiency (usually listed as a sound level reading). If the stock speaker was 90db, and a replacement was 87db, then you'll need twice as much power for the new speaker to get the same loudness.

Jeff

 

isnt RMS the lowest power the speaker should be getting? on the type S, the RMS is something like 60w but the max power is 240w...