Radio / Speakers on CX-5 SPORT model

[milkyxj]

Well just an update for my audio upgrade.

Items installed/used:

stock CX-5 manual Sport radio (non 5.8" display)
Fronts: C2-650 JL Audio C2-650 6.5" Component Car Speakers w/ Adjustable Crossovers
Rears: C2-650X Pair JL Audio C2-650X 6.5" 200 Watt Car Stereo Speakers with Silk Dome Tweeters
(2) PAC SNI-35 ADJUSTABLE LINE OUTPUT CONVERTER W/ VARIABLE LOC LEVEL RCA SNI35
(1) PAC TR-4 (tr4) Amplifier/Amp Remote Turn-on Module
Audio Technix B-Stock 50 sq ft 60 mil (Sound_Deadener)
Under layment Whisper Quiet sound proofing material
Rockford Fosgate 360.6 AMP 6 channel
Kicker Solobaric 8" self contained sub

Things done:

- The sound deadener was put on the 4 door panels, both outer and inner parts, the tailgate, rear corner panels and truck floor... even the gas cap and the back of the rear license plate. The panels really feel solid now. The sound deadener took about the longest of all the things! I mean it took about 3hrs per front door, 2hrs per rear door, 2hrs for tailgate, 3hrs for truck. I removed plastic panels rear seats back, thats were a bit of time went too. For the door panels, I removed the inside black panel piece that holds the window motor and glass. The process cut up my hands quite abit with this stuff, the edges are thin aluminum and most metal framing in the car has sharp edging. The stuff did make a big difference in reducing metal resonance and giving more luxury feel.

- installed the under layment in the tailgate and around the truck floor/rear fenders/spare tire. There is actually noise sound proofing material under the spare tire, but it really should have been over the entire truck area. This was quick 2 hrs using 3M 90 Hi adhesive spray to places that were already accessible. When going over rail tracks or large bumps, it is near silent. Overall highway noise has been way reduced

- Decided on using 2 way components in the fronts, 6.5" in the front doors and tweeters in stock dash location. The speakers were too wide in diameter to use stock speaker brackets as is, so had to remove the outer plastic flange and used some of the sound deadener to make it air tight. In the dash, I used the stock speaker plastic templates to install JL audio tweeater in flush position. For the rears, just JLs co-axials and modded the rear stock brackets as well.

- I decided not to run new 16 gauge speaker wire from amp to door panels, the door boot were so tight it wasnt worth the extra time to do it.

So this is how the audio is running for say Front Left side:

Stock Radio ==> Cut in wire next to inside fuse box ==> (Front) PAC SNI-35 ADJUSTABLE LINE OUTPUT CONVERTER ==> AMP ===> JL Front Left crossover ==> Splits back to stock wire next to inside fuse box for door 6.5" speaker and the straight to the dash tweeters.

If you break a door trim fastener, no big deal the mazda part number is GJ6A-68-AB1 their about $1/each, just broke 3 in the whole install.

Things not finished:

-mount the amp under driver seat (not on the floor)
-route the rear sub wire to the amp under the carpet
-install PAC ground loop 3.5mm filter (just ordered it) - getting some electric feedback noise from my cellphone being plugged into the 12V outlet
-adjust the gains on speakers, amp crossover, etc
-put back the plastic panels

In the middle of the install, I got a double ear infection so its been taking a bit longer then expected to finish.

Still have some clean up work but here are some pictures.

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Nice write up, thanks for sharing! I have to do my upgrades in phases so the wife doesn't notice but I will be adding an amp to the factory speakers as my first step later this week (Have a 5 channel amp on the way now). I'll share pictures when I do so. Next I will do dynamat and upgrade the OEM speakers, then the subwoofer will be last, still trying to decide how I want to do it. I should be done by September if I do one thing a month so the wife doesn't catch me

 

[mclark999]

Any news on doing the 8" speakers in the front doors?

I installed 8" speakers in the doors. Only modification needed was to cut a spacer out of 3/4" mdf. I used the original speaker mounts for the pattern. I'll post pics later. I also added sound deadening in the door.

I had already installed a comparable 6.5"speaker in the passenger side and the 8" speaker sounds so much better. The bass is much deeper and more efficient.

I highly recommend the 8" over the 6.5".

And the sound deadening is a cheap fairly easy way to make the car much quieter all the time.

 

[Peskeguy]

Nice Hollis thanks for sharing the awesome writeup.

How does the component setup sound with the tweeters and speakers separated that far?

 

[hollis]

Nice Hollis thanks for sharing the awesome writeup.

How does the component setup sound with the tweeters and speakers separated that far?

thanks. I will post couple more pictures I took later on

I went to couple real audio shops and everyone highly suggested to mount the tweeters in the dash stock locations, yes the imaging is very slightly off. So unless your a pure audiophile then you wont notice it at all. When I close my eyes while listening to music, I dont feel like sound is coming from two locations. It truly feels like its coming from in front of me. I did adjust the front 2 way crossovers tweeters down -3 dB and now it sounds perfect.

I do highly notice the vast sound quality difference of the 2 way components in the front vs the rear co-axials. the 2 ways sound much natural and easy on the ear.

As for 6.5" or 8" for front door speaker sizes, I would suggest going to a focal dealer and listening to them for yourself before buying.
I can tell you from my experience that 8" speakers should NOT be used to reproduce vocals without properly crossover. By nature 8" produces too much mid-bass and bass frequencies while trying to reproduce frequencies in the 1-2.5Khz range, they simply dont do both at the same time correctly. Alternatively, can use them in 3-way component setup but your much better off using 5 1/4 or 6 1/2 speakers for vocals and mid bass (use crossover with High Pass 80Hz and up) then a separate sub rolling off 80Hz down. Hence why there are so few 8" 2 way components or co-axials on the market.

 

[hollis]

Front Left side corner, speaker wires going to high->low adapter then to amp and back to crossover
Tweeter wiring, I did put some electrical tape to keep + and - separated
Rear High->low adapter and rca patch cables
Sound deadener on rear tailgate without the soundproofing attached
Before picture of the front passenger door without the panel on it.

 

[Jonesey]

This is such a GOOD thread I just wanted to bump it up and also see if anyone knows or found a part # or link to plug-in speaker connectors for the dash speakers.

 

[sixspeed]

After living with the stock speakers and a Pioneer AVH-P8400 double din deck with a Kicker Hideaway subwoofer under the passenger seat for 6 months I am now ready to upgrade the lousy door speakers. The Pioneer puts off 50W 4 channel, so I hope I do not need an amp, and with the Kicker sub I have plenty bass.

Suggestions to bring my sound to a new level building on what I have? Possibly as good as the Bose OEM?

Can I fit 6x9's in the doors without modifications?

 

[milkyxj]

Your aftermarket head unit puts off 50w x 4 max, probably about 18 RMS. Still alot more than factory but I wouldn't buy speakers based on the 50w advertisement. The low end Pioneer speakers would run good off of that wattage but to put nice speakers in you should add an amplifier. It's not too hard and you could get a fairly cheap 4 channel amp for about 150 dollars, then match that up with some speakers. I really like my Focal speakers and would recommend them in a heartbeat.

 

[mclark999]

Ok so I'm all done. I spliced the wires, used a butt connector and installed the speakers. The passenger side was the side I test fit the speakers on last week and that one went in fine. However when I did the driver side I noticed much more plastic underneath the space where the speaker magnet sits. With much force i was able to get the speaker screwed down.

The sound improvement is night and day. So much louder and i can actually hear the music when driving with the windows down at 45 mph.

]

I just soldered the connection and added about 6" of speaker wire to make it easy to get the speakers in.

 

[V8toilet]

I just soldered the connection and added about 6" of speaker wire to make it easy to get the speakers in.

I want to do this but just can't bring myself to cut the wires on a brand new car. I hope there is a wire connector available soon.

 

[Jonesey]

I want to do this but just can't bring myself to cut the wires on a brand new car. I hope there is a wire connector available soon.

Bumpy bump - I know! I can solder a new length of wire but connectors are so clean - c'mon Crutchfield..... I just know I'm going to end up soldering....

 

[nosbusa]

just cut them. make sure to leave about an inch on the speaker side so you can reconnect later if you want. but most car audio shops cut them and either solder or butt connect an extension on them. dont worry about it so much.

 

[Mistersix]

Ya no big deal. Just hack em and get it done. You won't regret it.

 

[V8toilet]

Just ordered some Pioneer TS-T110 Hard-Dome Tweeters to install in the dash, going to tee-splice in the wires instead of cutting them. Will update when I get them installed. After much research I decided that what the system really needs is a boost in the highs for better stereo separation and imaging. Its got plenty of mid bass. I was seriously considering JBL or Polk 3.5" coaxial s for the dash or Polk 6.5" components for the front doors and dash.

 

[BranCKY3]

Does anyone know where exactly the tweeters connect into the door speaker wiring? I'm going to wire an amp in soon and want to reuse stock wiring wherever possible, I just need to know where to connect everything into my crossovers. Do most people tap into the wires by the fusebox in the driver's footwell? If so, does this have passenger speaker wiring too?

So far All I put in are Polk db6501 tweeters, going to install the door speakers this week.

 

[hollis]

have a look at the first post, if have the wiring diagram for speaker routings.

for +12V source, I would suggest going directly from your battery (with fuse within 12inches of the battery of course) and use a (1) PAC TR-4 (tr4) Amplifier/Amp Remote Turn-on Module for turning the amp on/off

have fun and take pix to share!

 

[BranCKY3]

Yea I have all the diagrams, thanks. I know that the tweeter is fed from the front speaker wire, I just was looking to know exactly where in the car - is it by the footwell? Behind the radio? My amp has high level inputs, so I need to tap into the speaker wires anyway.... I just don't want to run new tweeter cables. As far as the remote turn on, I think I'm just going to use the ignition wire that goes to the radio. I never leave my car on 'Accessory' or anything, it's either running or it's turned off.

 

[inblack]

After living with the stock speakers and a Pioneer AVH-P8400 double din deck with a Kicker Hideaway subwoofer under the passenger seat for 6 months I am now ready to upgrade the lousy door speakers. The Pioneer puts off 50W 4 channel, so I hope I do not need an amp, and with the Kicker sub I have plenty bass.

Suggestions to bring my sound to a new level building on what I have? Possibly as good as the Bose OEM?

Can I fit 6x9's in the doors without modifications?

I have loaded mine up with 6 Infinity Reference series speakers. No external amps.

The four in the doors are Reference 6502ix and they are just mounted in the OEM speaker housings.
I modified those slightly by cutting the OEM cardboard junk cone and miniscule magnets out of the assembly, and leaving the braided leads attached to the OEM harness plug.
Then once I confirmed polarity in each door I ran short leads from the speaker contacts to the braided OEM leads, and soldered them together.
Yes; done this way there is no turning back - no putting the stock stuff back in there, but frankly it is JUNK in the first place, and by the time I am done with this car ... do I really want to tear the doors apart to pull out 5-6 year old very well used components to replace it with the junk that has been taking up space in my basement getting buried in dust ....?
If you do not add any of the foam sealing/cushioning tape that comes in the box the assembly will fit perfectly in behind the door panel using the OEM electrical connectors and the factory bolts.
Best part - you can operate the +/-3db Treble Coil switch through the door grille with a paper clip.

Dash speakers - Reference 3032cf I soldered in the 1000mf caps that came with the speakers and then soldered directly to the OEM leads. Again no additional foam tapes and they fit perfectly under the OEM grilles. Here however I did have to reach in to the dash and trim off just a little bit of excess molded plastic (less than 3/8") on each side to make room for the magnets.

I still need some more bass but I am torn between the Kicker that many here have talked about (fits under the seat, never needs to be removed and is out of sight/mind - less vulnerable to thieves) 150w and 8" cone, and the Infinity Basslink (larger would probably have to be cargo area mounted, thus I would have to remove it occasionally to be able to use the cargo area that I bought the CX-5 for) with a little more at power 200w and a larger 10" cone. I would love to be able to compare the two some how.

 

[kin0kin]

Did anybody try to replace the center speaker? Any clue how to open up the grill without damage?

 

[V8toilet]

Did anybody try to replace the center speaker? Any clue how to open up the grill without damage?

I opened up the center grill and there is a plate there just like the ones for the left and right that is the same size. I removed the plate and there was no wiring there. I have the sport model. The grill pops open just like the left and right ones do.