Speakers in a Subie

[DJayG]

I just joined this forum tonight, and i was jumpin' around and noticed there are no threads AT ALL in the car audio section~shocked~ . Me being the owner of Urban Autosports (website under construction, sorry) in Amherst I figured I could get ths section poppin.

I have an 04 STi and I know 2002+ subarus pretty damn well. First off, our door panels are shallow as ****. I mean like more shallow than the plastic kiddy pool in your back yard. Anything with a mounting depth deeper than 2 5/8" gets tricky. How tricky I heard? A 2 5/8" speaker requires a 1 1/4" baffle/mounting plate/speaker adapter/piece of friggin wood~blah.gif~ whatever you want to call it to fit in the door. Anyone, anywhere that tells you they can fit something in your doors bigger than that, with out any major modification or fabrication is......well.....lying. A few reputable mentions for speakers this size is: Morel, Eclipse and Focal, those i have used and they sound great. Morel and focal are expensive as hell, but I can hook up Eclipse for like $250 a set (seperates obviously).

Tweeter location:
THE FACTORY LOCATIONS SUCK!!! Tweeters are directional so if you put them in the factory location then your elbow will get the full effect of you hihat. make sure whoever works on your car puts them in the A pillar or the kick panel, thats it. None of this "they sound fine there" or " i have put them there before" BS. I have done compasrisons in my own car of tweeters in factory location versus the ones I suggest and there is a big difference in sound stage (where music sounds like its coming from) and tweeter presence for those who like 'em screamin'. Trust me on this factory locations suck.

Well that a good start to wake up this dinosaur of a car audio section. Next we will talk alarm/starter and other cool stuff. If anyone wants to talk about there car or ask question or maybe even schedule some work with me cool PM, through this thread or urbanautosports@yahoo.com.

till next time...........

[Bu11dogg2]

can you do anything for the 05+ Legacy's yet?

[Nate8409]

Similar door panels in the Outback Legacy XT?

[DJayG]

The 05 Legacy has a little more room actually. But it is only enough to have a smaller baffle. There are very few speakers with only about .2 to .4 more mounting depth that you can choose from.
It is safe to say that any 02+ subaru (except tribeca) needs a speaker that has a max depth of 2 5/8.

Same goes for Outback.

Did you say "anything for Legacy" wondering if other audio upgrades can be done to it. I know the dash is integrated, but you can put a deck where your clock is. If you want aftermarket deck instead of other options, such as Rockford Fosgate 3SIXTY.2. If you dont know anything about these check 'em out at their website. They allow you to keep factory deck as main source (volume, balance etc.) but it corrects inperfections in the siganl output of it. Then you can go in and tune with 31 band EQ on front and rear each channel so 124 different frequencys can be tuned. Most decks from everyone (except eclipse) have about 2-4V RCA outputs. This processor gives you (5) 5V outputs, so each speaker in the car has its own RCA to go to an amp.

So when you talk about control over your system, this is better than any head unit you could buy that cost $525 shipped to you ($75 less than in any store). They have one that doesnt have 1/3 of the features and control as this one, the 3SIXTY.1, for $300. I would definately reccomend this to your legacy, you should check it out online.

The only problem is you have to add amps to these because they have no internal power to feed your speakers, its only a procesor. So that means amps and **** while your at it might as well do speakers, too. Then you all of a sudden spent $2500, that is how they do it, they make equipment to drive sales on their bread and butter which is speakers and amps.

.....sorry, rambled a little there.

THANKS FOR READING by the way, we brought life to this category.

[banned4life]

JL cleansweep for the win...

[banned4life]

So when you talk about control over your system, this is better than any head unit you could buy that cost $525 shipped to you ($75 less than in any store). They have one that doesnt have 1/3 of the features and control as this one, the 3SIXTY.1, for $300. I would definately reccomend this to your legacy, you should check it out online.

.....sorry, rambled a little there.

THANKS FOR READING by the way, we brought life to this category.


thanks for your knowledge. we are looking into vendor status and that pricing structure we will use, since it sounds like you are selling out of a business, rather than for personal use.

[Bu11dogg2]

you can wire around the AC/heating? You know our radios are connected to our climate control?

[banned4life]

what you do is unplug the amp portion of the stereo and plug it into the aftermarket deck in the cubby. your stock stereo just stays blank all the time, but the climate controls work. looks pretty ghetto to me, which is why i went with CS

[2mprzya]

i've heard awesome things about the cleansweep. we dont sell it here at best buy, but i have a few kids i know running them in si's and they love them.

[DJayG]

The first cleansweep that was released was horrible. I put one in a navigator and the stock stereo shut down because it didnt see a load from the speakers, because the cleansweep "T" tapped all the speakers. It was a friggin nightmare, and guess what JL said......... "oh we have encountered that problem and we have a prototype resistor that makes the deck see a load like speakers were connected. But we dont know if it works on all cars yet, you COULD try hooking up resistors to all the speaker wires but we dont know the correct value for that specific vehicle."
that was the last time I used a cleansweep, but I have read about the new ones and they seem a lot better.
Bump eb50 on leaving the stock headunit plugged in thats the exact remedy for the climate controls. There is another way to make them work but I dont think its worth it considering how easy it is to make them work by leaving the head in.
I still think the 3SIXTY is better, but I might be biased, honestly its the only Rockford product I like.

[Murphy2012]

So what do you recommend for new door speakers in an 06 WRX TR?

[Nate8409]

Sad that my sound system in the Sentra hits harder than the WRX.

[Robk0000]

I have Infinty kappas for speakers but, after one year of putting 125 watts in each, they sound pretty bad, I also have a 8W7 Which is the meanest sounding 8" possible, im sure it can out pound and be clearer than most 10" and few 12" subs!


Anyways, what types of speakers would you recommend, my next choise would be Boston acustics, only because ive heard several installs that sound Unbelievable.

Current setup:
Infinity Kappas, Non component
Diamond Audio Amp, 400/4 for speakers
JL Audio 8W7
JL Audio 500/1 Monoblock
and a 1 farad cap, wired by me as usual.

[fzanetti]

I have Infinty kappas for speakers but, after one year of putting 125 watts in each, they sound pretty bad, I also have a 8W7 Which is the meanest sounding 8" possible, im sure it can out pound and be clearer than most 10" and few 12" subs!


Anyways, what types of speakers would you recommend, my next choise would be Boston acustics, only because ive heard several installs that sound Unbelievable.

Current setup:
Infinity Kappas, Non component
Diamond Audio Amp, 400/4 for speakers
JL Audio 8W7
JL Audio 500/1 Monoblock
and a 1 farad cap, wired by me as usual.

Very good set up!!!!

~ok~


Flavio Zanetti
Boston, MA

[banned4life]

i would recommend CDTs.. i can get excllent pricing on them if ur interested

[Kevin]

I think my stock speakers are dying. I have to pick up something pretty soon.
I think I'am going with alpine type s door speakers. still have a few plastic cutting boards for spacers.

[jonny-rockets]

I think my stock speakers are dying. I have to pick up something pretty soon.
I think I'am going with alpine type s door speakers. still have a few plastic cutting boards for spacers.

has anyone done this yet? i know my stock speakers sound like junk, and the fronts are def blown. i am definitely interested in replacing the speakers, has anyone found any that fit in nicely?:spin:

[2mprzya]

i have alpine type s all around in my car. i have brakets made for a chrysler that i modified.

[jonny-rockets]

cool i'll have to check that out. are you heading to WYW tomorrow?

[Murphy2012]

2mpryza doesnt believe in going to meets. If you are lucky, you MIGHT see him once a year.... :D

[jonny-rockets]

alright i can't even seem to get even the outside plastic thing off the speakers.

http://images.autotrader.com/images/2008/4/7/242/227/6719344156.242227612.IM1.03.565x421_A.565x377.jpg


am i just not being aggresive enough with these door speakers? is there some trick to getting them off i should know about?

i got a set of 6.5" Pioneers im tryin to throw in there.

[Murphy2012]

I THINK, dont know. But think that they just pop off man.

[Robk0000]

The door panels have 1 bolt holding the plastic to the door. Its under the o-****-bar on the door, there might actually be 2 of them but thats where they would be. Besides the two bolts the cover snaps on using the cheap plastic push on snaps.

[jonny-rockets]

I was kinda hoping i wouldn't have to pull the whole door off.

is that necessary?

are the steps basically the same as what this guy describes?

http://users.sisna.com/ignatius/subaru/mods/index.html

[Robk0000]

Yup.

[jonny-rockets]

ahh bummer. i guess i will need to try and get my hands on some spacers first.

the previous link i sent out, the guy found some plastic pieces that come on 1 gal paint jugs, i might stop by teh home depot, or exeter paint to try and find some. ACE didn't have any.

bah. who else has custom speakers installed? did you use MDF board? what are your spacers made out of and where did you get them?

[Robk0000]

i use mdf board. Its easy to work with. What do you need the spaceer for, the speaker? If so, i have 1 maybe 2 for 6.5" speakers, universal.

[jonny-rockets]

i use mdf board. Its easy to work with. What do you need the spaceer for, the speaker? If so, i have 1 maybe 2 for 6.5" speakers, universal.

ya i need two 6.5's. do you have them already made? that would be great! how thick are they?

[Robk0000]

I have 2 pairs of pre made mounts, 1 pair looks like just a universal mounting plate. But the second pair is a 5mm thick spacer also universal mount, i used the other pair for my front speaker in my suby. So im sure these are what you would be looking for.

Also they are 6.5"

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/robsimprza00/IMG_1237.jpg

[jonny-rockets]

ya i definitely want a pair! i'm only doing front speakers right now

i think that set that has the triple mount & quad mount would work perfect.

which set is thicker? i have heard i need to space them out about 1/2" so that the window doesn't catch the magnet end of the speaker, when the window is lowered.

how much do you want? are you going to the next meet?

[Robk0000]

My window doesnt hit, but if you wanted to you could put both pairs together... Yeah, ill come to the next meet, $5 sound reasonable?

[jonny-rockets]

sounds great i'll be there

[Robk0000]

Are we talking about the bbq meet?

[jonny-rockets]

i'll go to any meet, i want to get my hands on those asap! i am dying with these blown stock speakers.

[banned4life]

i have plastic tools if u want to use them. you will need to unhook the door locks too when u remove the door. i bought my spacers from bestbuy and cut them down myself.

[jonny-rockets]

plastic tools to aid in removing the door?

[gtbensley]

Do you have any idea what I need to hook a sub up to my stock stereo head unit? I have a small sub sitting around that I figured I would try to put in but I dont know what I need. Can I even hook one up to the stock one? Thanks

[jonny-rockets]

you can hook a sub up to the stock speakers, you would basically have to split the speaker wire leads from one of your speakers, and hook it up as speaker level input (if your amp supports this). it doesn't really matter what side you take it from.

the connection looks a bit like this, they are spring clips. this is from an indoor powered sub, but the connections should be similar.

http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/ca/reviews/20031007/bass_management2.jpg

to do all of this though, you would need to poke a hole through your firewall and run a fairly heavy gauge wire (10 gauge or so, lower is better/thicker) though to the back of your car (with an inline fuse) to power your amp.

if the subs you want to install are super powerful then you should probably look into getting a capacitor too.

if you are just looking to supplement your current sound with some better lows, and aren't looking for earth shaking bass, you could pull it off without a cap.

is the sub you have a powered sub (built in amp?)

[jonny-rockets]

btw rob,

when do you want to meet up? looks like the bbq is cancelled, and i am not sure if i can make the dragway.

are you going to the dragway?

[gtbensley]

Neither of the subs I have have a built in amp so I would have to buy one....Something cheap though, I am not going for anything fancy. I have a small sub that I will most likely use but I also have two 12 inch 1000+ watt subs that could be kinda cool.

When you say split it off from one of the current speakers does that just mean that I double up the wires that come out already from the back of the head unit? I think that might be some funky tiny wires with some sort of plug on the end....Ill have to go look.

[jonny-rockets]

(2) 12 inch 1000 watt subs would need a cap if you plan on cranking them.

when i say split it off yeah basically just make a parallel circuit.


kinda like this, but with speakers instead of light bulbs.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/science/images/sci_dia_56.gif

its ok if you have the custom wires that have the little metal clips, you can bite into them with wire adapters.

http://images.outdoorinteractive.net/mgen/260054_d.jpg

that isn't the best picture of the adapter, but basically you have a single wire running through, and another wire that gets the same signal transferred to it from the big tooth in the middle.

[gtbensley]

Got it.....Might go get an amp and the other stuff this weekend and give it a try. Thanks for the help.

[jonny-rockets]

ya just make sure the amp can take speaker level input. otherwise its gonna want a set of RCA's or something.

also i'm not sure what kind of music you plan on bumping, but some people like to mix both the L & R channels together to get a mono signal for bass. (that would involve combining the signals, patching from 2 speakers).

i guess some artists like to make stereo bass, but i can't think of a song that uses it.

[gtbensley]

I listen to whatever pretty much....Nothing in particular. I am going to do some research and try to get to the back of my stereo in the next couple of days....Then go see how much money I will have to spend to get it set up.

[Robk0000]

Speaker wires have a positive and a negative, if you take a positive from both sides and a negative from both sides put them together into the amp this will combine both inputs without blowing out the speakers, and since you put them in parallel you wont have to worry about a voltage drop giving you the 1.5v i think that normal amps require. If your amp doesnt have reggular wire inputs only rca, you can get an adapter from radioshack to go from stranded wiring to the rca male connector.

i have a 1 farad cap i would like to get rid of, along with an 8w7 and a JL 500/1 amp in case you were interested...Also, im not going to make it to the dragway this week, we will see what happenming this weekend, something about golf or wiffle ball, i could possibly go there.

[jonny-rockets]

ya golf could definitely work out.

[gtbensley]

Speaker wires have a positive and a negative, if you take a positive from both sides and a negative from both sides put them together into the amp this will combine both inputs without blowing out the speakers, and since you put them in parallel you wont have to worry about a voltage drop giving you the 1.5v i think that normal amps require. If your amp doesnt have reggular wire inputs only rca, you can get an adapter from radioshack to go from stranded wiring to the rca male connector.

i have a 1 farad cap i would like to get rid of, along with an 8w7 and a JL 500/1 amp in case you were interested...Also, im not going to make it to the dragway this week, we will see what happenming this weekend, something about golf or wiffle ball, i could possibly go there.

Could you be a little more specific on what you would like to get rid of? I really no nothing about stereos and such and what things are called. Are they what I would need to hook my sub up? How much you thinking of selling for?

[Robk0000]

8W7 JL Audio woofer
500 watt, single channel JL audio Amp
1 Farad Capacitor

All the stuff is still in my car, but i dont want a sub anymore. excess weight...i havent got any offers so if you want, make one. btw: its an 8" woofer, it pretty much blows away any 10"!

[gtbensley]

Sweet....I would make an offer but honestly I dont even know where to start for something like that....I probably wont be game for buying anything until the beginning of summer also because I need to start working more before I can spend money on stuff for fun.

[Robk0000]

http://seacoastsubarus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2143

Ill se ya at the game if your in.

[gtbensley]

Cant make it, I am going up to the college that I will be attending next year to sign up for classes and work on financial aid and stuff.

[banned4life]

plastic tools to aid in removing the door?

yes.. so u dont scratch anything

[banned4life]

cant u jsut use an LOC with the stock radio for non amped subs?

[jonny-rockets]

like a hilo adapter (speaker level -> RCA)? sure that would def work too.

[jonny-rockets]

hey let me know when your around, so i can borrow those plastic tools.

i've got the spacers from rob now so I can tackle the speaker project

[Robk0000]

If you have a painters spatula, or a grill spatula they will work just as good. Just wash them next time u wanna cook.

[banned4life]

hey let me know when your around, so i can borrow those plastic tools.

i've got the spacers from rob now so I can tackle the speaker project

give me a call any time. i am in dover and get out at 315 every day.

actually, my phone is fuct. just PM me the nite before and tell me what time you are coming.

[jonny-rockets]

If you have a painters spatula, or a grill spatula they will work just as good. Just wash them next time u wanna cook.

hmm a spatula you say... i might have to go and try this.

[Robk0000]

its cheap and you probably have one, i could have given you one but, i forgot... :)

[jonny-rockets]

I have 2 pairs of pre made mounts, 1 pair looks like just a universal mounting plate. But the second pair is a 5mm thick spacer also universal mount, i used the other pair for my front speaker in my suby. So im sure these are what you would be looking for.

Also they are 6.5"

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/robsimprza00/IMG_1237.jpg

rob, when you used these similar spacers, what did your screws "screw" into?

the triple mount screws will obviously just screw into the stock location, but the 4 normal mount screws will need something to bite....is that where you stuck the MDF in?

[Robk0000]

I took self tapping screws and went through the metal, u might be close to hitting the glass though. If you wanna be safte, you could use nut and bolt pre-drill out the holes however you want it to mount. Then use some nut and bolt combo, 8-32 would probbaly be ideal. Also, you dont have to use all 7 mounting slots. if you use the inner set of 4 holes dont use the outer 3 and vise versa.

[jonny-rockets]

this is funny i just came in from installing and i ended up doing the same thing.

i didn't even need the spacers (they didn't fit :-/)! i found the paint rings from ACE (they didn't know they had them, they were in teh backroom). i have a couple of extra if anyone wants them.

i ended up using self tapping screws as well and they just grabbed right into the metal.

[jonny-rockets]

so ya -

also your TR sedans don't come with tweeters! nothin back there.

[banned4life]

so ya -

also your TR sedans don't come with tweeters! nothin back there.


id be surprised if any imprezas came with tweeters