Neil W

Anyone changed the rear speakers in MY03. If so what did you change to and was it worth it.

Also any tips when changing much appreciated.

CHeers.

GaryCat

From my website @ http://www.connec2.co.uk/subaru/subaru.htm

The speakers provided as standard in the rear doors are the crappiest I’ve ever seen in a car. To replace these I purchased some Infinity 552i’s off Ebay but as they are 5 ¼” models, they were slightly too big for the aperture left by the 4” originals. So I took the jigsaw to my 1 week old car, and cut about 5mm around the hole to make it big enough for the 552i’s to fit. The speaker grills supplied with the new speakers provided a template which could be used to accurately trace the size of the hole. The bare metal was smoothed and given a coat of lacquer as that side of the inner panel is open to the moisture that can collect inside the door.

To make things even more difficult the original speakers had three mounting holes and the Infinity’s had four, so I had to drill the panel and fit the new speakers using self-tapping screws into the fixing clips provided with the speakers.

Fortunately, the rear doors don’t suffer from the same problem with lack of mounting depth that the front doors have as the windows do not wind down enough for fouling to occur. However, the door card comes very close to the front of the speaker so if the tweeter component stands out, as it does on the Infinity 552i, then it can touch the rear of the door speaker grill.

Having gone through the hassle of sawing the panels I would recommend to anyone doing the same, that they should use 4” replacements instead and ensure that the mounting height is small enough not to touch the door card

Neil W

Gary, / Anyone,

Any Idea what speakers are a direct replacement?

GaryCat

4inch / 10 cm will fit the existing hole. The standard speakers have 3 mounting screws so you will need to match those if you don't want to do any drilling.

All I can suggest it take out one of the speakers and take it along to your local ICE shop / halfords.

BAH

Great info just what i was looking for, ive just removed my Infinity 6500CS's and Infinity 552i's out of my classic so they should just pop right in an 03 Car....I hope.

Neil W

BAH,

When will you be fitting these? I would like confirmation that the 552i's drop straight in and then I will go get some.

Cheers.

Fangoria

iTrader: (1)

Cripes didnt realise the rear door ones were only 4inches - that really sucks.....

With 4 inches they wont really be able to handle much power at all....

I was gonna put in some spare front focals and something reasonble in the rear doors but now I know that the rears are bad I dont think I'll bother.

I was gonna put £300 Focals in the front and hopefully focals in the rear and run them off a decent amp....... but now theres no point - might as well stick with the tinny Infinity variaties and run off a head unit - that way I dont have to bother with Dynamat in the front doors or the wiring for the Amp..........

This really does suck - I went to look at an sti the other day and I see that the set up is just the same....... simply awful

At least with the classics you could opt for reasonable 6*9' if you werent that bothered about much bass.....

Rant over

Neil W

I would still use Dynamat if I was you!

Fangoria

iTrader: (1)

Hmmm - I'm only gonna be pumping about 50-60watts - read about 25wrms through the fronts if I run off a decent Alpine head unit.. so I should be ok as the door builds are so much better than the crappy classics... so they should not rattle as much

I probably spent about £6-£7k on a system for the sti5 and I want to keep it as simple as possible - I'm running about 175wrms through each front speaker in the sti5 - so yes Dyamat is a must (and yes they aint boggo standard speakers, £300 Poly... Focals can only take a max of about half this power)

I have heard the system in the Legacy's, which have some nice bass (without a sub) and dont use Dynamat - probably running at about 4*40wrms.... and no rattles at all

Nathan L

You can put 6x9's in but it isn't a 5 minute job.

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=300427

Fangoria

iTrader: (1)

Nathan

Just read the other thread.... not a route I will be taking... some shocking comments about someone asking why you dont just cut the metal thats already there........

4 cheapo speakers running off a headunit is the easiest option and I wish that Subaru had at least put something decent in. That said at least they have a system - my Evo8 in the States had no system at all - and you'd have to cut the holes in the doors to put in speakers!!

BAH

Ive just put Infinity 605CS's in the front with MDF spacer and Infinity 4002i's in the rear...

Sound 110% better than the crap OE ones

Fangoria

iTrader: (1)

Bah

So the speakers pretty much fitted straight in then?

What size are the front speakers

Are you running off the head unit or amp?

Steve

Fangoria

iTrader: (1)

and how much did you pay for the speakers/where is cheap?

Rgds

Steve

BAH

Infinity 605CS's are 6.5" with seperate tweeters and will go right in but you need a spacer so they dont catch on the window, you can make an MDF one or i think you can get a plastic one from halfords for a corsa which fits also.....

Infinity 4002i's in the rear are 4" speaker and they go in with no mods at all.

Still running of standard head unit with no amps, not one for huge sounds just wanted a decent speeker upgrade that didint vibrate....

You can get them here

http://www.mcs-direct.co.uk/acatalog...eakers_30.html

Or here.

http://www.planetaudio.co.uk/

I got mine from a local dealer for a similar price..

I will post some pics later of how i did the install and were i fitted the tweeters and crossovers.

Fangoria

iTrader: (1)

Bah

The rears look ok for £40 and are 35wrms

But the fronts are 90wrms

Do you think the fronts will run off a head unit - or would you need a simple amp for the fronts? - dont really want to be amping up the front and not the rears at all..................

BAH

They would all probably work better on an AMP but thats not the route i want to take, they all run fine for my needs at the moment...

Lets face it anything is better then OE rubbish..

Fangoria

iTrader: (1)

Bah - what head unit do you have? - is it a 4*60w?

BAH

Its the standard fit in the MY03 STI

Fangoria

iTrader: (1)

The same horrible silver thing thats in my wrx04 then I guess - it doesnt pump out much wattage - so when I put in a reasonable after market head unit it should be fine!!

SirFozzalot

BAH - I notice you have upgraded the speakers, but not the head-unit in your MY03 STi.

I have the same model of car and was thinking of upgrading the speakers but not the headunit yet and was wondering, how much better is the sound with just the speaker upgrade?

Any idea of the power output of the standard headunit?

Thanks for any info.

BAH

Im happy with it, better quality less distortion, and as i said i didnt what to bother with amps and new headunits, id rather wind down the window and listen to the engine.

SirFozzalot

Cool, thanks. Think I might go for it.

Now......what speakers to purchase? Decisions, decisions.

toigye

hi can anyone tell me what size the speakers are in my 04 sti i want to upgrade them but dont want to take the door panel off to many times in case of damage and if anyone as done this can you recomend any good speakers direct fit if poss plz help. also would i have to upgrade tweeters as well.