I'd like to replace the stock speakers with something that fits without modding the holes. What are my choices for the different speaker locations? Thanks

 

I think the speakers are riveted in.

So either way your gonna have to drill the holes.

Might as well go aftermarket. Not sure on the size.

Most people get speaker baffles.

Here is one recommendation.

http://www.doctorisotope.com/plates_and_panels

Scroll down, you should see them.

 

The speakers are directly mounted into their brackets which means you will need some sort of adapter to mount aftermarket speakers in the stock locations. You can purchase these adapter plates from many different vendors online (i.e. elementaldesigns.com, crutchfield.com, etc., etc.) or you can just make your own if you have the tools handy. All you really need is some wood (particleboard, MDF), a jigsaw, and a drill. Simply remove the door panels, drill out the rivets that hold in the stock speakers in place, unplug the stock speakers, remove them from the car, and then trace their outline onto your material of choice. Then, all you have to do is cut the shape out, cut out the hole for your choice of speaker, then drill the mounting holes. Mount the speakers into your new brackets, then mount the brackets into the car. You can hold the brackets in place using a few nuts, bolts, and washers.
With that being said, you can fit 6.5"s in the front doors, 5"s in the rear, and the dash locations can take up to a 4" with minimal effort. You will have to make some sort of bracket for the dash locations as well. If you get creative, you can fit larger speakers in these locations, but it will require some additional modification.

 

Thanks for the info.

=)

 

Front and rear speakers both hold a 6 1/2" speaker according to crutchfield. I've replaced the front with an adapter ring I had from an older Alpine set, but didn't use the stock rear location so i can't confirm. Rear are bolted in, front are riveted and need to be drilled out. Since they both have the speaker molded into the trim ring, you'll need an adapter. Here's the xB one from Elemental Designs. I'm not sure if the tC one from Dr. isotope is the same or not.

http://www.edesignaudio.com/product_...products_id=77

 

You can, however, drop a 4" 2-way directly into the dash. It's an inexpensive mod and it drastically changes the the sound for the better.

 

remember Jeff the the higher the sensitivity the more efficient they will be

 

Sensitivity and all this other audio lingo confuses me. I can swap out the parts no problem if need be. My prob. is figuring out what works and what doesn't. If I can't use speakers that are know to work well with the stock HU. I might as well just leave the system alone till I'm ready to change out the HU and speakers together.
It seems like the door speakers are the most blown and rattle the most but it's hard to tell with all the plastic parts vibrating when the bass hits.

 

Always a good idea to swap out the factory stereo if it's not the upgraded HU. Even with upgraded speakers and a new stereo you still won't have massive bass, but sound quality will improve a lot. Most aftermarket head units can't put out more than 23-25 Watts RMS, while most aftermarket speakers are going to want 35-50 Watts RMS. The best solution is to go with a 4 channel amplifier, a stereo that has seperate front and rear RCA jacks, and speakers matched to the amplifier power rating. A seperate sub and amp fill in the bass but will eat up cargo space.

For now, if you want to keep the stock head unit, go with a lower power 6 1/2". Crutchfield lists a few. The Sony's are the only ones listed though as fitting front and rear with a power rating under 50 watts RMS. Shop around, you can probably find them cheaper other places. Crutchfield does have wiring adapter harnesses so you can plug these into the factory speaker harness, I would suggest you at least get the harness adapters from them. The baffles aren't a bad idea either, the wiring on mine in the front door actually rusted off before I got a set, water does get down there past the window.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-6TsvgEH...6A.html?tp=105

 

Jeff,
sentivity is is how many decibals a speaker puts with one watt rms in measure at one meter. In order to get 3db's louder you need to double power using the same speaker. So if you your stock speakers put out 87db's @ 1w/1m and you changed them to a speaker rated @ 90db @ 1w/1m it play twice as loud, and if you went 93db or 96db even more so.....
the higher the number the more efficient they will be and louder...find you balance between loud and sq.... if you need advice pm me

 

here are some suggestions doors
http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAu...ce_6032si.aspx
http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAu...nce_6022i.aspx
http://onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/...io_MA6529.aspx
rear
http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAu...nce_5022i.aspx
dashhttp://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/p_18362_Infinity_Reference_5022i.aspx
more on a budget
http://onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/...&ShowAll=True&

 

Thanks for all the great info vettereddie and Sciond. I didn't want to get just any speakers and hope they worked with the stock HU.

 

The only problem is that different manufacturers don't all use the same parameters when determining the specs they publish, so it's often difficult for the shopper to determine which speaker they're comparing would have the best efficiency. Some brands use the expected standard of 1w/1m, but others have used one-half meter instead, some consider 2v as 1w, others use 2.83v, etc. What's worse is that hardly any of them specify the sensitivity spec along with their frequency response and tolerance (i.e.; 60Hz-18kHz @ +/-3dB), such that the sensitivity/efficiency spec is often worthless. This is especially true because practically every speaker's output amplitude will vary with frequency, and they don't usually publish frequency response graphs that show how flat (or not) the output is.

You could compare one spec'd as 87dB 1w/1m with another spec'd as 92dB 1w/1m, but if bought only on that spec a person might be very disappointed, because the latter speaker might only do 92dB from 1.6kHz to 2.8kHz and average 87dB at all other frequencies, which wouldn't sound good at all (without correction via RTA & EQ, when such can resolve it, as isn't always the case) compared to one of lesser sensitivity with a smoother response average.

Of course I'm all for higher efficiency when possible, all else being equal, just saying that it's often difficult to determine if you're comparing apples-to-apples specs when trying to decide which speakers to buy.

 

same thing with amps
rms
pmpo
EIA
etc....
same for all other equipment....however you have to use a common measuring stick and hope for the best......no substitutes for listening and bench testing