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Hello,

My girlfriend has a 2003 EX sedan and has blown a front speaker. She's pretty cool with replacing it with another stock one, but I was thinking of upgrading, (and eventually talking her into an aftermarket head-unit this summer). But after reading Crutchfield and the DIY threads here, (very awesome btw!), I'm still a little confused.

It looks like the speaker replacement size is 6 1/2 but has a shallow mounting depth. Some speakers might or might not need spacers. Well after I found what I thought was a nice pair on eBay, I cross-referenced with Crutchfield and they're basically listing the car as a 5 1/2.

I was wondering if I bought 6 1/2 speakers, is is possible/easy to just use the stock spacers? If not, is there some sort of guide that would help with just how big of spacers I'd need if I went with aftermarket 6 1/2s?

Thanks!

 
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click the DIY in my sig. 6.5's will fit. you'll need a spacer though.

 
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make sure the speakers u are upgrading to isnt TOO POWER HUNGRY. ur stock radio is like 15w (something like that)

and to be honest, stock speakers are more than enough for aftermarket radios/kits.

 
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Thanks for the replies! Glad to hear the 6.5s are the way to go! I was thinking of just replacing OEM, but I figured since she might get a little head unit capable of mp3 playback, I might just upgrade to a slightly better speaker set. I was actually looking at these Rockfords:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ROCKF...item27b1beff46

Also, I just reread the DIY, and you specified the depth, (whoops). I hate to be so green, but if I were to get those with a mounting depth of 2", I'd just have to pick up some .5 spacers, right?

Thanks again!

 
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yep.

 
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Thank you! I just noticed Crutchfield is listing those speakers as 6 3/4 which explains why it says it won't fit. Not to drag this out, but one last question just for clarification: Does the 2 inches wiggle room mean that's maximum amount of depth before the speaker collides with the door or does that mean I can get a speaker with up 2" mounting depth, (and 0.50 spacer), and not worry about it colliding with the window?

Thanks again!

 
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the depth with no spacer is ~1.75" a 3/4" spacer will fit without any door panel fitment issues. so your easy clearance is 2.5" deep. you can get a 1" spacer in there by trimming the door panel for 2.75" depth.

 
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I'm able to fit 6.5" Alpine type-r speakers in the fronts without a spacer (spr-17c). Mounting depth is 2.5" according to their website..

I think.. lol.. I'd have to double check.

 
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the measurements i took in my DIY were with the window down. if you don't roll the window all the way down, you can fit deeper speakers.

 
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disregard my last post.. just pulled the door panel back to take a gander and I have a .5-.75" spacer..

But, I did have to dremel out a bit of the door panel to fit various parts of the speaker into the door.. just a heads up to the OP

 
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good point. the infinity reference components i had fit without opening up the door, but the magnet just barely fit. speakers with larger diameter magnets will need to cut the door some.

 
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Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

This is seriously helpful info! Ideally, since it's her car and she may give it to a family member in a year or two, I'd like to avoid having to cut anything. Plus, I think she'd be cool with just an OEM replacement. I figure for the money and the fact that I might buy her a head unit this summer, this would be a nice time to get a decent/cheap pair.

Right now, I think I'm cool with the following:
Sony XS-GTX1641 6.5"

Sound compatible?
Scosche SAH6 Speaker Adapter, (I think it's a 0.5" spacer)
Metra 727800 Speaker Harness x 2

 
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I was able to use the stock mounting hole. I just trimmed part of non-structural sheet metal lining the door.

 
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that was the spacer crutchfield gave me with my infinity reference components. i can't remember what was wrong with it, but something didn't fit. that's why i made my own in my DIY thread.

 
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Those are the speaker adapters and wiring harness I used. The only thing I ran into was I had to modify the speaker rings a little. The Alpine 6.5" speakers had the mounting holes line up at the very outer edge of the speaker adapter. I ended up finding the spots where the speaker and adapter holes lined up and used a file to remove material from the adapter until I could get screws in straight. Also I used machine screws with washers, lock washers and Locktight to mount the speakers to the adapter.