Replaced and upgraded my door speakers. (not another Monsoon thread)

[PiotrC70]

After doing a lot of research & tossing the idea back and forth on going with BSW Stage1 or doing my own thing, the feedback on the former didn't push me over the edge, especially at the $350 cost without knowing a single spec on the speakers with regards to frequency & wattage rating. It seems that those that already had somewhat faulty systems that went with BSW were happy with the noticeable improvement while those with perfectly working factory speakers didn't notice a major improvement. That being said, I decided after much research in going with the Pioneer TS-D1330C 5.25" speakers so there is the least amount of modification possible.

Specs are:
Size: 5.25
Depth 2.25 (this is 1/8 deeper than the factory speaker so I decided on heating the box to stretch out the back a little to make more room. This only took about 5 minutes per box)
RMS rating 35w (This should be low enough to provide a perfect balance with using the DSP amp without grossly under powering the components.
Frequency: 37hz-44khz (Frequency range was a big factor for me as I wanted to power everything off of the DSP which is already filtered as opposed to using the included Pioneer crossovers. By doing this, there won't be a gap in frequency and will allow full control just like the factory speakers... but 16 year newer technology)









After getting the speaker boxes out, I proceeded with cutting off the existing mounting tabs with a chisel. The factory mounting holes and screws will be reused. The factory insulation in the box will also be reused but of course was removed for the heating and expansion so it didn't melt.



Reusing the factory speaker surround, it makes for a good gasket. I trimmed some of them along the top & bottom where the gasket was smashed as I was worried that during bass notes, it would hit and cause an annoying rattle.



Onto the tweeters. Here's a comparison of the front door tweeters.



And here's the tweeter installed in the doors. I found out that some of my occasional rattle was from the 2" mid where the glue came apart. I chose to use hot glue in securing the new tweeter which is the same process that BSW uses and held quite well.



For searching purposes so people don't get flustered like I did with the lack of answers out there, if you are reusing the factory circuit board on the speaker box as I did (it is not a crossover), those German's yet again did things differently than anyone else... For reference, the woofers use 2 colors and the connections are plug & play. Green/Black is Positive, Green is Negative. This was obvious on the factory speaker along with the spade connectors being different sized as one would expect. On the tweeters however, there is ZERO "+" indication and you're left with tracing wires back from the main connector at the box, through to the circuit board. We didn't think the 9V battery test would work on a tweeter to cause it to push out when you have the polarity correct but it did indeed work as a last confirmation. SO... for those curious... BLACK is POSITIVE and GREEN is NEGATIVE!!!. The only indicator on both the tweeters and mids was that they colored the positive side which was also black. There is no +/- stamped anywhere.



Here's the indicator for positive I was referring to.



Although I won't show pictures of the speakers installed, I wanted to share something that I was a little surprised to see. Since the rear doors only have traditional components and not a 3-way setup like the fronts, they actually used a bigger tweeter in the rear doors. The PN# is different than the front mids. For those curious, the front mids are 20 watts where as the rear tweeters are 10 watts. The front factory tweeters are 5 watts.




So, all in all, both sets of speakers set me back $164 shipped. Although I'm still wrapping up my install on the rears, I tested the fronts already to the factory speakers via fade/balance control prior to doing the rears and my observations are that the tweeters are a little brighter and clearer which is a plus, and in terms of the voice and presence of the speaker, they sound very close to factory... Matter of fact, I couldn't distinguish a major enough difference to where I needed to adjust the DSP EQ. The difference now however is that I feel much more confident in pushing the speakers without worry of blowing them. All in all, I'm actually very happy with this setup knowing I saved about $190 over the BSW speakers and in the future if I decide to install and amp, I can always tap everything in the rear and install the crossovers in that location as well. I'm not an audiophile by any means but I like good balanced sound for as little as I drive the car.

[thrawn5499]

That's some great information! Very detailed I am sure it will help out a lot! I thought before about those naw stage one speakers but most reviews I read said they were not much better then stock, better but not a lot. Good to know you found another good option


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[xboss]

VN, I'm going to do this. TY!

[PiotrC70]

VN, I'm going to do this. TY!

Glad to help! After listening to songs ranging from Rap, Pop, to my trusty Yanni orchestra songs which have a lot of violins with the rear door speakers installed, I think you'll be quite pleased with the results. Looking forward to your feedback!