Ryan's Car Stereo Thread

R

renglish

Member
:
2012 Mazda 2
Recently picked up a 2012 Mazda 2 and will be upgrading the stereo next week. I plan to keep the OEM head unit, but will be installing the following:

Cerwin Vega Stealth 800.1 amplifier
Hybrid Audio Imagine 6.5" Components
Hybrid Audio Imagine 8" subs

The components will be installed in the front doors, and the subs will be in a Miata JL Stealthbox that I had lying around....and it just happens to fit perfectly in the trunk of the 2.

Once it is all, set up, I'll report back how it sounds.

Cheers,
Ryan
 
If you got the touring the speakers are great, I reccomend upgrading the head unit and it will make all the difference in the world for you. I installed a 12" rockford fosgate in a ported box and it sounds great.
 
I have the Sport model, and the speakers are really horrible. If I'm going to be sitting in traffic everyday in this car I'm going to need some better tunes.
 
I have the touring and stock speakers suck. They have no dynamic range sounds like im wearing ear plugs while listening to music. Of course this is USA cheap ass OE.
 
I honestly feel these are the best sounding stock speakers in the price range. They also sound significantly better than my sister's '10 civic.
 
I agree, the speakers are actually pretty excellent for a b-class car. You definitely have to sit in the car for a while and dial in the rear/front fade, treble, bass, boost, etc. to get the sound profile a bit richer, but I was surprised at how acceptable I found it. I found the Fiestas system to be louder, but actually more dull sounding - the Fit was even more tinny. The biggest demerit is the excessive road noise in the 2, it kills the most dynamic parts of the sound range over any speed over 25mph. Especially here in the NW, where most of the roads are very noisy, rough aggregate. It's pretty horrible actually. If I new of any reasonable way to reduce road noise in the cabin, I'd be all over it.
 
tenglish, after you get your new speakers installed, I'd be interested in buying your factory ones if you don't want them.
 
Looks like the install will have to move out to next week.

DrWebster - I'll let you know if I get the OEM speakers back to see if we can work out a deal. It will only be the front door speakers though. I definitely don't plan on using them again and would he happy to help another forum member.
 
Why not get an aftermarket head unit? I've never been a fan of using a stock unit when adding subs or even a 4ch amp. I don't like having to tap into rear speakers with line outputs to send signal to the sub amp. Either way, much luck on the upcoming install and will be looking to see how it turns out.
inspekt - have you looked into dynamat for sound deadening? I know it's expensive or you could go to your local hardware store and pick up some stuff called Peel and Seal. A lot of people on other forums are using this as a cheap alternative to dynamat. I checked Lowes and it's $18 for a 6" x 25' roll of the stuff. If you Google search some you'll seen people that lined their car with it and can't complain, especially with the savings over real Dynamat.
 
kcdirtbro54 said:
Why not get an aftermarket head unit? I've never been a fan of using a stock unit when adding subs or even a 4ch amp. I don't like having to tap into rear speakers with line outputs to send signal to the sub amp. Either way, much luck on the upcoming install and will be looking to see how it turns out.
Click to expand...

I did change the head unit in my other cars, but this time I opted to try the OEM unit with a signal processor to convert the speaker level to RCA's. I will have a 2-ch RCA leading into the 5-ch amp which will separate the low freqs to the subwoofers. If I don't like the sound quality or the lack of EQ settings, then I will add a head unit later. For now I like the stealthy look.
 
renglish said:
DrWebster - I'll let you know if I get the OEM speakers back to see if we can work out a deal. It will only be the front door speakers though. I definitely don't plan on using them again and would he happy to help another forum member.
Click to expand...

Sounds good, let me know!

Also, it sounds like you're going to use a CleanSweep or similar with the headunit? FWIW, Mazda's factory headunits don't need a ton of signal processing...the front channels should be pretty flat, and the rears have a low-end roll-off as the volume increases (to keep the drivers from distorting). (On Bose-equipped Mazdas, the headunits output a perfectly flat, line-level signal to feed the Bose amp.) Mazda's headunits as of the last several years have been kind of a building-block design, where they all have the same main board and the CD player/changer is modular, so they all have similar performance characteristics. They're actually pretty decent as far as factory headunits go; my only complaint is that the FM tuner could sound a bit better.
 
I'll be getting the car back on Friday, and will post up my impression over the weekend. Can't wait!

Dr. Webster - the installer used parts of the OEM speakers to install the new speakers, so I won't have the originals to give you. Sorry.
 
I've had the stereo for about 2 weeks now, and it's simply awesome. The only change from what I listed in the original post was that we switched the amplifier to a Kenwood Excelon x700.5. The amp is mounted under the passenger seat so as not to use up valuable storage space. As others have noted, some door speakers are tricky to mount, so my installer had to tweak things a bit, but the end result looks stock. I was originally concerned about keeping the factory head unit. However I found that it works great for my needs. I can control the bass/treble with the head unit and have a separate bass control knob installed down low on the console. Highly recommend this setup.
 
renglish said:
Dr. Webster - the installer used parts of the OEM speakers to install the new speakers, so I won't have the originals to give you. Sorry.
Click to expand...

No worries, but now you have me curious as to what they did. I kind of suspect they may have done what I plan to do -- pull the connectors off the sides of the speakers and use them to make wiring harnesses for the new speakers. If so, then you have a GOOD installer, as most will just cut the factory wiring and splice.
 
I'm thinking of adding a subwoofer. I'm not an audiophile or a bass-head, but I've been really disappointed with the bass lately. I have to set the bass to -6 sometimes. I just want to pump up the bass without distortions or my speakers sounding like they're going to blow. But I don't want to replace the factory stereo. I've never had a subwoofer installed in a car. It looks like I need a Line Output Converter, an amplifier and a subwoofer box, or I could go with a powered sub. Anyway, I'm new at this, so any advice is welcome!
 
Hatchy Zoom said:
I'm thinking of adding a subwoofer. I'm not an audiophile or a bass-head, but I've been really disappointed with the bass lately. I have to set the bass to -6 sometimes. I just want to pump up the bass without distortions or my speakers sounding like they're going to blow. But I don't want to replace the factory stereo. I've never had a subwoofer installed in a car. It looks like I need a Line Output Converter, an amplifier and a subwoofer box, or I could go with a powered sub. Anyway, I'm new at this, so any advice is welcome!
Click to expand...

You might start by just upgrading all the door speakers, as that is relatively inexpensive and would be recommended anyway if you are going to add a Subwoofer in the future. The factory speakers in the 2 are just miserable (IMHO) and simply adding only a sub is not likely to sound good. Try upgrading with something the same size as the factory speakers from Crutchfield in the $75-125 range like an Infinity, Polk, or Alpine coaxial speaker. If you are reasonably handy you can probably install them yourself.

If you do want to go with a sub and keep the original stereo head unit, you will need a line out converter of some kind, an amp and a sub. I've never used a powered sub, but that might be simple if you run it from the line level outs.
 
Replacing speakers/adding a sub is pointless without replacing the headunit. The headunit has been tuned to work with those speakers, adding just speakers will give you little more than a lighter wallet. You need a headunit that's capable of outputting a cleaner signal, as well as capable of more EQ settings. The stock speakers aren't as bad as some people think, at least in this car. I was able to install a new radio and heard a dramatic improvement with even the OEM speakers. I replaced the speakers anyway with 4 Hertz basic 6.5 coaxials and that seems sufficient to me with how much road noise is in the 2. As far as a sub, don't get the all-in-one units, I have never heard one that doesn't start to rattle after a few months of use. For the size of the car you'd probably be good with either a single 10" or dual 8" depending on how much room you want to sacrifice.
 
renglish said:
You might start by just upgrading all the door speakers, as that is relatively inexpensive and would be recommended anyway if you are going to add a Subwoofer in the future. The factory speakers in the 2 are just miserable (IMHO) and simply adding only a sub is not likely to sound good. Try upgrading with something the same size as the factory speakers from Crutchfield in the $75-125 range like an Infinity, Polk, or Alpine coaxial speaker. If you are reasonably handy you can probably install them yourself.

If you do want to go with a sub and keep the original stereo head unit, you will need a line out converter of some kind, an amp and a sub. I've never used a powered sub, but that might be simple if you run it from the line level outs.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about the speakers, too, though its mainly a little more bass that I want. As far as being handy, I'm not quick or experienced, but I can learn and get the job done. :)


utmorpheus said:
Replacing speakers/adding a sub is pointless without replacing the headunit. The headunit has been tuned to work with those speakers, adding just speakers will give you little more than a lighter wallet. You need a headunit that's capable of outputting a cleaner signal, as well as capable of more EQ settings. The stock speakers aren't as bad as some people think, at least in this car. I was able to install a new radio and heard a dramatic improvement with even the OEM speakers. I replaced the speakers anyway with 4 Hertz basic 6.5 coaxials and that seems sufficient to me with how much road noise is in the 2. As far as a sub, don't get the all-in-one units, I have never heard one that doesn't start to rattle after a few months of use. For the size of the car you'd probably be good with either a single 10" or dual 8" depending on how much room you want to sacrifice.
Click to expand...

I was also looking at some aftermarket head units for sound quality and easier updatability. But I really like the look and general design of the OEM radio, and I'm not sure I want to replace it, especially with this still being a new car. It seems like such a waste. On my old car I had no problem replacing the antiquated stock radio, but I'm more hesitant with replacing this new radio. I really dislike that the car manufacturers make it so difficult to upgrade stock equipment without just replacing the whole damn thing.

I really just want a little more bass and quality, and I don't want to sacrifice too much space or weigh down the car much. I was thinking of getting a small under-the-seat subwoofer like this: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-NieZDqqeKVt/p_777B8PTD/Sound-Ordnance-B-8PTD.html

I would still consider a separate and "proper" sub setup as long as it didn't weigh much or take up much space. I regularly fill up the trunk and back seats on long trips, so I can't have a huge sub taking up loads of space back there.
 
I'm designing a 8" infinity powered sub for my 2 and may offer them for sale. Will keep the forum aware of any offering.
 
Please log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
2012 CX-9 Bose Subwoofer Aftermarket Replacement
Replies
2
Views
2K
acidbug
acidbug
S
2021 CX-5 W/ Bose Flat Signal Output?
Replies
14
Views
3K
chlronald
C
H
    • Like
CX-60 Audio System
Replies
3
Views
6K
hoodlum
H

Latest posts

Back