2018 CX-5: Speaker upgrade help and what's under the dash grill

I have a 2019 gtr, and the PAC oem maz2 adapter does not fit....I am hoping it does fit a sport or touring non Bose as I will be installing it in a coworkers 18 sport. I have been searching for a plug and play adapter that will plug into the TAU so I do not have to splice into the factory wiring. If anyone knows of one I would love to hear! Also.....JBL makes a sub that fits into the spare tire location like the Bose....but it has an 11" woofer and the amp is built in....and it does not take up trunk space....wondering if anyone has tried it yet?
 
Just added a Kicker Hideaway speaker/amp underneath my passenger seat. Solid adjustable bass makes stock speakers sound much better.
 
have a 2108 cx5 4 speaker sport. do you think the speaker upgrade was sufficient and added significant depth and sonic separation from the stock speakers? I listen to mostly rock and the stock speakers are very echoy and geared to bass and treble. looking for more warmth and mid tones.
 
*I copied the below message from my original post on a different thread, this thread has more views and can help more people :)

**Edit:
As far as the less bass on the new speakers, I didn't describe it correctly. After I went for a ride now and listened to more music, i realized that the bass is there, but a lot cleaner and punchier, it doesn't "drag" as long as the factory speakers.

Hey guys,

So i went ahead and bought 2x Focal RCX-165 for the front and 2x Hertz DCX 165.3 for the rear. I know it's not optimal, but i couldn't decide between the 2.

I am crafty enough, so I did dremel the original speakers and used the frame for the new speakers. Everything went almost perfect until the last door, I broke the panel in the inside corner(yeah I'm stupid), you'll see it in the pictures, I put some electrical tape for now until i put some black adhesive.
I also broke a few of the clips but i had extras.

I also added an adhesive foam strip between the speaker and the frame to seal the connection a bit better, instead of putting the speaker straight on the plastic.

Now, the speakers are much better than the factory ones, especially highs and mids, the base even went down a little, but it's much cleaner and punchier, but anyway it was already too much.

In general, the clarity is way better and quality wise you hear the difference.

If anyone has any questions i'll try my best to answer them.
 

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Not sure if combining the two brands is a great idea. Did they have the same dB sensitivity figures. I wonder why you did not get better base. The hertz are great in producing base imho.
 
Not sure if combining the two brands is a great idea. Did they have the same dB sensitivity figures. I wonder why you did not get better base. The hertz are great in producing base imho.
Hi raj55,
I edited my post, added the below comment:
"As far as the less bass on the new speakers, I didn't describe it correctly. After I went for a ride now and listened to more music, i realized that the bass is there, but a lot cleaner and punchier, it doesn't "drag" as long as the factory speakers."
Regarding the different brand, I know it's not optimal, the Focal are indeed a little better, even with the lower sensitivity of 91.5 vs 93 of the Hertz. The Hertz where almost half the price though and didn't want to invest that much for now, since I'm sure that at some point I'm going to be upgrading to a full Amp/speakers/subwoofer system.
Thanks for your input though, appreciate it!
 
So I have to start with something and the "easiest" should be to upgrade the speakers. I haven't found much info on the 2017+ so I decided to start a new post on this.

Then there's Kicker 43CSC654, also 2-way 6.5" (although maybe 6.75" will fit too-webpages vary on which actually fit)
Alternatively I've found the KS series of the Kicker for about the same price online. It may be an older version though, but the Frequency Range about the same. That's the 41KSC654 at $55/pair at VMInnovations. Or the current version for $80 44KSC6504.

If I remember correctly from when I put DSC series speakers in my 2016, the CSC series was a replacement for the DSC series, which had lower minimum RMS requirements and were better matches to stock head unit power levels (non-BOSE units), i.e. the stock speaker replacement/upgrade. The KSC series seemed to have higher RMS values and I thought were marketed to people running external amplifiers, i.e. more power.

Price wise, the CSC were comparable to the DSC and the KSC were a bit more for the same sizes. I could be wrong as Kicker's webpage really doesn't go into too much detail on what series is for which application. I mainly looked at minimum RMS value as these were only going to be driven by the factory radio (10W/ch of earth shaking nothing...)

So far, I am happy with the DSC3504s I put in the dash of my 2016. I added 600Hz high-pass filters so the 3.5s wouldn't work as hard and to minimize bass wave cancelation phenomenons.
 
Just a heads up for anyone with a 17-20 Mazda Cx5 in Australia, the TAU is on the driver's side door kick panel. I ended up having to use a tone generator to track the cabling and found a connector on the passenger side and drivers side kick panels which then tracks to the TAU and it hasn't got the old style connector that the pacoem-maz2 use to connect in to. It's a new style 20 pin 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️
 
Found it easier for me when upgrading to sacrifice the existing speakers front and back by cutting cones and frames out and reusing the existing 3 bolt frame and remounting 6.5,s within - my personal choice was JBL GTO 629,s 2 way - approx 3 ohm - but decided later to upgrade with 4 channel amp , DSP and sub - DSP on upgrade made a night and day difference once I got system tuned - in fact I also added back pillar tweeters ( JL,s) and lowered frequency down a little with DSP so that they weren’t spitting at higher volumes - very happy now……
 
Does anyone know the stock wattage and impedance of the door speakers on non Bose 2018? I’m trying to get louder vocals without installing a second amp (my subwoofers are drowning out the vocals, and I don’t think electrical would like a second amp to power more speakers.
 
Little to nothing. 20 watts? 30 max? The magnet assemblies are the size of about 3 York Peppermint Patties stacked on top of one another, and I'm not making that up.
 
Rockford Fosgate Prime 6.5's, which don't have larger magnets at all, as they are $40/pr entry level speakers, vs stock.
 

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Rockford Fosgate Prime 6.5's, which don't have larger magnets at all, as they are $40/pr entry level speakers, vs stock.
Perfect Ty. That shows me exactly what I was looking for. 25w @ 4ohm stock. So figuratively I should be able to double my power by going with a 50w+ 2ohm speaker.
 
I wouldn't run a deck at 2 ohms unless it's *specifically* allowed in the owner's manual (and while extremely rare, this does exist. Sony does this mostly). The 2 ohm speaker will draw too much current, and you are risking burning it up.

And, on top of that, just because you are doubling the current draw, doesn't mean mean you are getting double the *useable* power. The deck is still only going to cleanly put out what ever it can.
 
Heard that. I just went on crutchfield and put in my Mazda and “no amp” and went with the suggested kickers. Just trying to get some louder highs out of the stock system and avoid having to run a second amp for the highs.
 
I fitted jbl fro 629’s in my cx5 originally before upgrading to amp and dsp as being 3 ohm they allow the stock head unit to run them a little easier using factory wiring - also although they are full range the tweeters can actually be moved - ie angled and turned to suit - they are suitable for amping up to 60W at a later date and will give you a good starting point and they are quite a powerful speaker and you sub shouldn’t drown them out if set up right - Bose speakers are c—p regarding range - cheap paper cones - ps I sacrificed the stock speakers by cutting cones out to use as mounts for the 6.5” jbl,s 😊
 
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