richardcwc

I have a 2006 Honda Civic Sedan that uses stock everything. I recently added a subwoofer to the trunk.

I have the stock headunit (not navigation) and it doesn't come with speaker amplifier and I wish to improve the sound quality in my car. My Type-R 10" in the trunk is powered by a dedicated amplifier and that sounds good, but I'm finding that the stock speakers, particularly the front 2 sound a bit shallow and there is very little to no mid-range bass.

Will upgrading the front 2 to Type-S components make a worthwhile improvement? I'm looking for improvements in mid-range bass and sound clarity. They are in my affordable price range. I hear my the stock headunit only outputs 160w? Will I be able to run these speakers from the headunit without an amp? I really don't want to replace my stock head-unit (since it's integrated inside the Civic dashboard) and I can't afford an amp at the moment.

I can stretch budget just a little more and go for the Type-R 6.5" component speakers instead of Type-S. Will the Type-R offer more improvement over the Type-S in terms of mid-range bass and clarity? I will not be replacing my head unit or getting an amp to power these speakers.

My concern is the headunit power. Will it also damage my speakers in anyway? I don't listen to music very loud - only loud enough that you can just barely hear the thumps when you're 5 meters from the car (when all doors shut).

Thanks.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

your stock deck barely outputs 10-15w rms per channel and thats being generous. the alpines need way more power otherwise yes, they will be damaged by low power input. i think if you want to keep the stock deck, you should look into a lower rms handling speaker like the pioneers walmart sells. they are really good speakers for around $40 a pair for 6.5 inch, and they have a 30w rms max input. so the stock deck would provide them with enough power to sound good without damage. speakers with higher power handling like 60w and above will be underpowered and have no bass, since there is so little power input from the factory deck. speakers usually are pretty happy getting 1/2 to 3/4 of their max input power is RMS watts. ignore peak wattage, it means nothing. the biggest mistake people make when upgrading speakers is getting the best brand they can find that has 60-120w rms power handling and feeding them 10w from the factory deck (or even 20w from aftermarket deck). these speakers NEED an external amp to power them, just like subs do.

richardcwc

If I get some lower spec speakers with lower RMS, will I still get enough mid-bass with stock head unit? The current ones sound a bit tinny and shallow.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

plenty yeah. there is no comparison between stock paper speakers and aftermarket rubber/poly speakers, even lower power. you will notice a big difference. i just replaced the speakers in an old accord with the pioneers and it sounds amazing, tons of bass and crisp highs. basically you really only need higher rms handling speakers and amp if you listen to very loud music. if you are just doing normal listening, lower rms speakers off deck power is great. be sure to do the rears too, thats where most of the bass comes from. doors are a terrible place for speakers, bad acoustics.

richardcwc

Actually, the Type-R 10" subwoofer in my trunk is powered by a Kenwood 8104D amplifier. The subwoofer is 500W RMS 4 ohm dual coil wired to 2 ohm, and the amplifier accepts 2 ohm @ 500w RMS stable, so there's harmony there. I'm also running a single 4 gauge power cable from the battery's positive to the trunk.

Here are some specs of my Kenwood amp:
RMS Power Output (Watts x Channels): 300 x 1
Peak Power Output (Watts x Channels): 1000 x 1
Power at 2 Ohms (Watts x Channels): 500 x 1
Input Voltage: 14.4v
Amplifier Class: D
Speaker Level Inputs: Harness
Preamp Outputs: 1 pair
Fuse Rating: 40 x 1
(More info at: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113KAC8...ures_and_specs)

The amplifier has only 4 speaker ouputs (+ + - -) at the back, and I have used the first + and the first - for my subwoofer's positive and negative speaker wire, leaving another + and - left.

Does my amplifier have enough juice to run x2 Type-R 6.5" speakers (I think they're 110w RMS each speaker) in addition to the subwoofer that's already connected or will I need another amplifier? Can I somehow connect 2 of these speakers to the + and - spare available on the amp?

I'm a bit newbie to car audio, but I did learn to do the audio wiring myself.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

you are running a single channel D class mono amp, it can only power a single sub and no speakers. it hs a different power output pattern compared to a speaker amp. and if you have a good sub, why so interested in alot of bass for the speakers?

richardcwc

The subwoofer outputs very nice bass, but it feels very distinct from the sounds coming from my speakers. It feels like my "thump" bass is good (coming from subwoofer), but the music bass (coming from speakers) is not (is this what mid-bass is?), if you know what I mean. When I'm listening to louder and heavy bass music, it sounds pretty good because the subwoofer is there to take care of most of the notes, but when it's music with minimal or some bass in it, like pop music or general music, my front speakers sound very shallow, like they do not have the warmth of bass notes in them. I think the front speakers sound kinda high, and not low enough, if you get what I mean, so I'm after some speakers that will provide some richer low tones.

I was reading about one guy on another forum saying something about the Type-S 6.5" components and how it can run off the Civic's low power head unit and still sound decent, but compared to the Type-R, it will be a much better choice since the Type-R needs a amplifier as a mandatory to sound properly.

Can I just get Type-S and run them at low power without damage and still get some nicer sounding tones? I'm not such of fan of the current shallow tones from my stock speaker.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

ah okay you are lacking the tighter bass notes. try some lower rms speakers first like the pioneers and see how you like it. the type-s are moderately hi power handling speakers at 80w rms. there is no way most aftermarket deck can supply more than 25w and that is not enough. i have infinity speakers (60wrms) and when i first has them installed running off the stock deck, they had no bass at all. the highs were crisper, but it sounded terrible. even after adding a new deck, they were still not sounding good. finally i added external amp for all the speakers, added some tweeters running off deck power, and it sounds very good without a sub. the speakers really pound when you turn the volume up without distorting. kind of a waste tho cause i dont listen loud at all, just enough to hear the music and still hear outside sounds. if you listen loud, you should prolly save time and money and just get the better speakers like type-s and get a small 4 channel amp for them like a 40w x 4 or something (with speaker level inputs to work with the factory radio). but if its just normal listening volume, the pioneers off stock deck would work fine.

richardcwc

I'll consider some low RMS speakers then.

The current stock front speakers are using coaxial I assume, so should I just stay with coaxial since they are easier to install? Should be plug and play right?

I've never replaced front speakers before in a car.

Will a couple of low rms front 6.5" speakers really give me an improvement in speaker bass? If I go to the stores and listen to them there, they will usually have amplifiers and nice headunits hooked up to them, so they're not a very fair way to demo speakers.

Should I just go component ones even for low rms speakers?

There's one here:
http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAu..._TS-C1653.aspx

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

yeah pretty much get a 2-way 6.5 inch speaker, no need for components (they usually need more power anyways, and they have bulky crossovers to install as well, and you need a place for the tweeters). do the rears too. you may also need a spacer for the front door speakers otherwise the basket of the speaker may hit the window when its rolled down. and you need a speaker harness adapter if you want it to be plug and play with the car harness. store displays are never accurate because a car and a store are completely different environments. you will have totally different sound properties.

plastics

I pretty well got the system you want on my 2007 EX.

Alpine Type R component speakers for the front.
Stock speakers for the rear.
10 inch Alpine Type S Subwoofer at the trunk.
Running all this is a 4 channel Alpine Amp putting out about 70 Watts RMS per channel.

The front Alpine R's and the Alpine S subwoofer are powered by the Alpine Amp The rears factory stock speakers are power by the factory head unit.

The factory head unit can power all the front and rears speakers whether you choose the R or S type. But adding a power amp really increase the accuracy and the depth of the speakers.

Alpine R components are better than Alpine S for the front...better vocals and clarty.

I think you pretty well have all the parts..

An audio shop installed all my parts. Took about 2 hours. How, they hook it up, I have no idea.

Plastics
07 EX black.

mattmark94

i have a 2002 ex civic coupe and I just put in a pioneer deh-x6500bt stereo in it does that have enough power to use alpines 6.5 or would it be smarter to get the pioneer ones i like to listen to loud music with alot of bass.