Hi all!
I will very soon become the lucky owner of a Mazda 6 wagon petrol 165HP…. Thursday January 3rd 2013 at 3pm cet (yippy)
It’s an European model as I’m living in Denmark, and this middle equipped version is up here in the cold North called: Mazda 6 Vision
Here in the North we tend to favor manually stick over automatic and I have always had “manually” in my previously cars. But this time I ordered the automatic version, mostly for comfort reason, but also because the Mazda 6 is able to perform same acceleration and fuel economy as the manual ! (9.1s to 100km/h and 6L/100km) The gearbox is not a DSG double clutch look-a-like type, I was informed by the salesman, but still with this brand new developed gearbox? the shift was very fast an very smooth and I like it a lot!
The only options I miss on this Mazda 6 configuration is the Xenon light and the Bose sound system, as I had them both in my old Mazda 6 from 2007. The Xenon light package would set me back some 3300€ and to get the Bose system I had to order the top line model with the high power engine, leather suite, 19” alu wheels and all full electric gadget package. NOT an option, I was kindly informed by my wife
I can live without having the Xenon light, but the stock radio – the 5.8inc color screen fitted with 6 speakers, I needed to do look at as the middle tone area was absolutely terrible then turning up the volume just to compensate for road/traffic noise. I searched the CX-5 forum on this site to check for any comments on the stock speaker, as the new 6 probably was equip with the same type – and also asked the dealer to remove one front and one rear speaker from my car. And the speakers did match the one fitted in the CX-5. Comments from others was also indication poor mid tone performance in the CX-5 with these speakers.
As it turned out the dealer offered me to change the stock speakers using his garage, if I did the necessary GOOGLE to locate any suitable speakers. The dealer did contact his regular channels to search for any suitable speaker – but without luck.
So I became an DIY
I noticed many of you has changed the stock speakers on the CX-5 into Polk, with success, but this brand wasn’t available in the DK. Instead I searched for Pioneer as I know they produce quality car speakers, due to previously experience i had with this brand. Pioneer is actually one of the biggest supplier of premium OEM speakers to many car makers. After reading some review I decided to go for the Pioneer 6.5” TS-E1702is for replacing all door speakers.
Main concerns was if the speakers would fit the housing in the door – or if they were too deep (6.5cm) and if the stock radio was able to handle them as the Pioneer speaker probably requires more power compared to the stock speakers, which seems to be extremely easily to handle. I chose to keep the two originally 3.5” dash speakers as they only play high tones and because they seems to be properly crafted. My concern was to swap in to some model introducing to much mid tone as this area are easily covered by the 6.5” door speakers.
The pictures below is mostly from my own workshop back home as I did the modification of the speakers plastic housing here.
Conclusion
So was it worth it? – yes, but also no. While the sound stage, the middle and the top, has been improved a lot the speakers does require more power to give same output as the stock speaker.
I do think the stock radio is capable of handling the new speakers but I noticed 5 problems areas:
Cons
1; The stock speaker does at low level produce much more deep frequencies volume compared to the Pioneer setup. Actually I had the chance to compare with another Mazda 6 with the original speaker installed. At the same level (30 at the volume bar) and with the same CD the original car was far better doing low frequency and the overall level output much higher. The standard speaker is actually not that bad – they are just not capable of playing loud while keeping the sound stage in control. They easily become muddy to listen to.
2; The stock 5.8” radio (not Bose) is clearly programed to match the stock speakers and turning up volume, which is needed to compensate for the Pioneer 88dB level drive, the radio decreases the bass output in favor for the middle tone in order not to break the stock speakers. So the sound stage is changed way too early to compensate for the poorer originally speakers.
3; Rear door speakers does not seems to produce any low end frequency’s. My initially thought was that I messed around polarity on these speakers – but that doesn’t seems to be the case. I’m not sure if the Radio unit is programmed this way or if its due to the smaller / the build of the rear door. The “originally Mazda” has the same issue! I have produced a CD playing 70Hz and pink noise and will use this to double check the polarity, then I get the car from the dealer, as It could be that Mazda hardness is wrong and turning polarity (though I doubt it).
4; FM radio / CD (not tested other inputs) This has nothing to do with the speakers – but the radio unit seems to have a very narrow bandwidth on the FM radio compared to the CD source. This makes the radio sound very flat and you cannot compensate for it via equalizing.
5; Again, this has nothing to do with the speaker setup. But the stock radio does not have any line output to serve an external amplifier / woofer. At least this is my conclusion after reading thru a lot of forums on the net. If external equipment is needed a “speaker line to line output” converter needs to be fitted.
Pros
1; As said, the sound stage has improved a lot – no more muddy middle tone.
2; As you can see on the pictures below, I got the doors isolated with a rubber / aluminum compound. This will hopefully make a difference when on the road.
3; Ready for next step..
Going forward;
I’m not really the audiophile type, but having owned a car with the Bose installed and changing to a car without, makes me think this new purchase was a lesser good deal! Things should at least stay “as is” and hopefully improve. But we knew about the poor sound system then purchasing the car – and I believe I will eventually get the sound I’m aiming for. To me it’s not an option to replace the stock radio as I don’t want to lose built in functions for car control
Next step is definitely to get a subwoofer installed. luckily I’m not the type requiring 2 times 18” woofers in trunk, I’m actually considering to fit in a small active subwoofer underneath the passenger seat. As an alternative, Pioneer has this great 8cm high sub unit that goes in the trunk. This is a proven bass provider by many, and the unit is rock solid so you literally can put any cargo on top on it, without breaking it that is. It’s also easily removable… Either solution I will need the dealer to prepare the speaker cables for the line converter and the power line for the amp, which I will ask him to prepare while he anyway is going to mount the sat nav system and the towbar later on in January (hopefully). The two Pioneer below have both the “speaker line converter” and amplifier built in.
For the trunk http://www.pioneer.eu/eur/products/2...X77A/page.html
For the seat http://www.pioneer.eu/eur/products/2...110A/page.html
An alternative option could be to go for another speaker configuration. The front door can easily fit a 8” woofer but please notice you need to craft your own support frame. This will provide a lot more deep frequency’s. The Bose setup actually uses 8” in the fronts doors as the systems main woofer. An 8” does not produce midrange so replacing the dash tweeter to one also handling midrange would probably be required. I don’t think I will follow this option now, too late in the project to change road
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I will very soon become the lucky owner of a Mazda 6 wagon petrol 165HP…. Thursday January 3rd 2013 at 3pm cet (yippy)
It’s an European model as I’m living in Denmark, and this middle equipped version is up here in the cold North called: Mazda 6 Vision
Here in the North we tend to favor manually stick over automatic and I have always had “manually” in my previously cars. But this time I ordered the automatic version, mostly for comfort reason, but also because the Mazda 6 is able to perform same acceleration and fuel economy as the manual ! (9.1s to 100km/h and 6L/100km) The gearbox is not a DSG double clutch look-a-like type, I was informed by the salesman, but still with this brand new developed gearbox? the shift was very fast an very smooth and I like it a lot!
The only options I miss on this Mazda 6 configuration is the Xenon light and the Bose sound system, as I had them both in my old Mazda 6 from 2007. The Xenon light package would set me back some 3300€ and to get the Bose system I had to order the top line model with the high power engine, leather suite, 19” alu wheels and all full electric gadget package. NOT an option, I was kindly informed by my wife
I can live without having the Xenon light, but the stock radio – the 5.8inc color screen fitted with 6 speakers, I needed to do look at as the middle tone area was absolutely terrible then turning up the volume just to compensate for road/traffic noise. I searched the CX-5 forum on this site to check for any comments on the stock speaker, as the new 6 probably was equip with the same type – and also asked the dealer to remove one front and one rear speaker from my car. And the speakers did match the one fitted in the CX-5. Comments from others was also indication poor mid tone performance in the CX-5 with these speakers.
As it turned out the dealer offered me to change the stock speakers using his garage, if I did the necessary GOOGLE to locate any suitable speakers. The dealer did contact his regular channels to search for any suitable speaker – but without luck.
So I became an DIY
I noticed many of you has changed the stock speakers on the CX-5 into Polk, with success, but this brand wasn’t available in the DK. Instead I searched for Pioneer as I know they produce quality car speakers, due to previously experience i had with this brand. Pioneer is actually one of the biggest supplier of premium OEM speakers to many car makers. After reading some review I decided to go for the Pioneer 6.5” TS-E1702is for replacing all door speakers.
Main concerns was if the speakers would fit the housing in the door – or if they were too deep (6.5cm) and if the stock radio was able to handle them as the Pioneer speaker probably requires more power compared to the stock speakers, which seems to be extremely easily to handle. I chose to keep the two originally 3.5” dash speakers as they only play high tones and because they seems to be properly crafted. My concern was to swap in to some model introducing to much mid tone as this area are easily covered by the 6.5” door speakers.
The pictures below is mostly from my own workshop back home as I did the modification of the speakers plastic housing here.
Conclusion
So was it worth it? – yes, but also no. While the sound stage, the middle and the top, has been improved a lot the speakers does require more power to give same output as the stock speaker.
I do think the stock radio is capable of handling the new speakers but I noticed 5 problems areas:
Cons
1; The stock speaker does at low level produce much more deep frequencies volume compared to the Pioneer setup. Actually I had the chance to compare with another Mazda 6 with the original speaker installed. At the same level (30 at the volume bar) and with the same CD the original car was far better doing low frequency and the overall level output much higher. The standard speaker is actually not that bad – they are just not capable of playing loud while keeping the sound stage in control. They easily become muddy to listen to.
2; The stock 5.8” radio (not Bose) is clearly programed to match the stock speakers and turning up volume, which is needed to compensate for the Pioneer 88dB level drive, the radio decreases the bass output in favor for the middle tone in order not to break the stock speakers. So the sound stage is changed way too early to compensate for the poorer originally speakers.
3; Rear door speakers does not seems to produce any low end frequency’s. My initially thought was that I messed around polarity on these speakers – but that doesn’t seems to be the case. I’m not sure if the Radio unit is programmed this way or if its due to the smaller / the build of the rear door. The “originally Mazda” has the same issue! I have produced a CD playing 70Hz and pink noise and will use this to double check the polarity, then I get the car from the dealer, as It could be that Mazda hardness is wrong and turning polarity (though I doubt it).
4; FM radio / CD (not tested other inputs) This has nothing to do with the speakers – but the radio unit seems to have a very narrow bandwidth on the FM radio compared to the CD source. This makes the radio sound very flat and you cannot compensate for it via equalizing.
5; Again, this has nothing to do with the speaker setup. But the stock radio does not have any line output to serve an external amplifier / woofer. At least this is my conclusion after reading thru a lot of forums on the net. If external equipment is needed a “speaker line to line output” converter needs to be fitted.
Pros
1; As said, the sound stage has improved a lot – no more muddy middle tone.
2; As you can see on the pictures below, I got the doors isolated with a rubber / aluminum compound. This will hopefully make a difference when on the road.
3; Ready for next step..
Going forward;
I’m not really the audiophile type, but having owned a car with the Bose installed and changing to a car without, makes me think this new purchase was a lesser good deal! Things should at least stay “as is” and hopefully improve. But we knew about the poor sound system then purchasing the car – and I believe I will eventually get the sound I’m aiming for. To me it’s not an option to replace the stock radio as I don’t want to lose built in functions for car control
Next step is definitely to get a subwoofer installed. luckily I’m not the type requiring 2 times 18” woofers in trunk, I’m actually considering to fit in a small active subwoofer underneath the passenger seat. As an alternative, Pioneer has this great 8cm high sub unit that goes in the trunk. This is a proven bass provider by many, and the unit is rock solid so you literally can put any cargo on top on it, without breaking it that is. It’s also easily removable… Either solution I will need the dealer to prepare the speaker cables for the line converter and the power line for the amp, which I will ask him to prepare while he anyway is going to mount the sat nav system and the towbar later on in January (hopefully). The two Pioneer below have both the “speaker line converter” and amplifier built in.
For the trunk http://www.pioneer.eu/eur/products/2...X77A/page.html
For the seat http://www.pioneer.eu/eur/products/2...110A/page.html
An alternative option could be to go for another speaker configuration. The front door can easily fit a 8” woofer but please notice you need to craft your own support frame. This will provide a lot more deep frequency’s. The Bose setup actually uses 8” in the fronts doors as the systems main woofer. An 8” does not produce midrange so replacing the dash tweeter to one also handling midrange would probably be required. I don’t think I will follow this option now, too late in the project to change road
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