Non Bose Audio Upgrade Plans and Questions

[Jayeock216]

Does the 2023 CX-9 have wires in place for the speakers that are missing in the dash? With there only being 2 tweeters in the dash per crutchfield, I was wondering if wire harnesses were ran to those locations even if the speakers weren’t installed on the factory.

I’m trying to upgrade the factory system and was just trying to wrap my head around what’s in front of me. I will be running 2 amps and sub with an output line converter (audio control LC7i ) along with replacing all factory speakers. I would like to add the 3 3.5 speakers in the dash but don’t know if it’s worth the hassle.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Attached cart from cruthcfield for reference on what I’m trying to do.

 

[theblooms]

The wires are there, the are in parallel with the tweeters and door speakers. You'll have to pop the cover up, and you'll see the tweeter and a blank block off plate.

The size of the daah speakers are 3.5". 4's *will not* fit, I tried. I wound up getting some JL Audio C2 3½'s, and they fit perfectly. I also replaced the factory tweeters with JL C2 ¾" tweets. To wire them, I simply tapped into the tweeter wires as they are indeed full range. (The factory tweeters have built in bass blocker capacitors).

I see that you choose an Audio Control LCi. What amp are you going to be running?

One final point, the factory amp is under the front passenger seat. You'll see three plugs going into it. The speaker outputs are on the center plug, the white squarish one. That's where you'll want to grab your signal for the amp. And if you're going to be bi-amping the front stage, running fresh speaker wires up the the dash is trivial. Just get a long zip tie (one of those big bastards) and fish it down from the top. It will go straight through on both sides.

 

[Jayeock216]

Thanks i am running a set of pioneer 3.5s just to keep it budget friendly also running all kicker through out the rest of the vehicle, sub included.

 

[theblooms]

Thanks i am running a set of pioneer 3.5s just to keep it budget friendly also running all kicker through out the rest of the vehicle, sub included.

I'm in the process of doing my install now, and with luck I'll have it finished up tomorrow.

I told you about the JL's in the dash, iny front doors I have Linear Power LP8.0's (iny opinion the very best 8" speakers in the world), in the rear doors Kenwood Excelon 6.5's because they're inexpensive and sound good. The subwoofer is a factory Bose box I grabbed off of eBay and modified. I bypassed the internal amp, stuffed it with polyfill, and put sound deadening all over it.

Talking about sound deadener, I did the doors while I was changing the speakers. Killmat is inexpensive and works a treat! I also did some acoustic coupling rings around the door speakers. They're very inexpensive, and I highly recommend using them.

For the line output converter, I went eot with the Kicker Keyloc, and my amp is an Alpine PXE-C80-88 8 channel that has a built-in DSP.

One last thing, I measured the output of the factory stereo, and at least in my exact car, the signal is clean and distortion free up to "52" on the dial. 53 starts having distortion at 1kHz.

This is the coupling rings https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)

 

[Jayeock216]

The 8”s fit without modification?

 

[Jayeock216]

Also just ordered 2 sets of 6.5” rings thanks for the tip

 

[theblooms]

The 8”s fit without modification?

Yes. I used a pair of the Bose mounting brackets part number KD45-66-A61. The factory Bose door speakers are 9's, so the 8's were a natural match.
I used a sheet of ⅛" aluminum that I cut out with a jigsaw to mount the 8" Linears to the 9" Bose brackets.

 

[Jayeock216]

The wires are there, the are in parallel with the tweeters and door speakers. You'll have to pop the cover up, and you'll see the tweeter and a blank block off plate.

The size of the daah speakers are 3.5". 4's *will not* fit, I tried. I wound up getting some JL Audio C2 3½'s, and they fit perfectly. I also replaced the factory tweeters with JL C2 ¾" tweets. To wire them, I simply tapped into the tweeter wires as they are indeed full range. (The factory tweeters have built in bass blocker capacitors).

I see that you choose an Audio Control LCi. What amp are you going to be running?

One final point, the factory amp is under the front passenger seat. You'll see three plugs going into it. The speaker outputs are on the center plug, the white squarish one. That's where you'll want to grab your signal for the amp. And if you're going to be bi-amping the front stage, running fresh speaker wires up the the dash is trivial. Just get a long zip tie (one of those big bastards) and fish it down from the top. It will go straight through on both sides.

The kicker sub has a 500 watt mono block built into the enclosure. The amp for the mids and highs is an AUDIO CONTROL EPICFOUR
is there a diagram of the Piin out anywhere?

 

[theblooms]

The kicker sub has a 500 watt mono block built into the enclosure. The amp for the mids and highs is an AUDIO CONTROL EPICFOUR
is there a diagram of the Piin out anywhere?

Yeah, I made one. This is looking at the pin side of the harness, not the wire side. You'll see what I'm talking about with the wire colors and all when you get in there.

LF: white and green
RF gray and pink
LR green and light green
RR white with black stripe and purple

As far as which is + and -, I haven't gotten that far yet. But to verify this, you should always, ALWAY do a polarity check with a very inexpensive meter. These are good for home audio, too!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/ (commissions earned)