Left and right dash speakers replaced with components.

Toneb210 · Oct 3, 2016

Components used are as follows:
1. Dayton Audio rs75-4 for the woofer in stock dash location. I cut out a bracket for it and it fits just fine

2. Crossovers and tweeters come from a pioneer component set (ts-d1730c). I used the woofers on another install and was left with crossovers and tweeters so I figured I'd put them to use here. Crossover point is @4800hz, which works great in this case because that about where the Daytons begin to roll off their upper frequency response anyways.

The crossover has 3 tweeter settings. -3db, 0db and +3db. I ended up using -3db setting

The location I chose for the tweeter is where I thought it would be easiest to install. Before making any cuts I played around with a few different locations for the tweeters and this one was the best in my opinion for sound and ease of installation.

Also keep in mind, you can do this project while using the stock dash speakers if you want. You just need the passive crossovers and tweeters. Parts express has a good selection.

Toneb210 · Oct 3, 2016

More pics

Toneb210 · Oct 3, 2016

And a few more

yrwei52 · Oct 3, 2016

Toneb210 said:
Components used are as follows:
1. Dayton Audio rs75-4 for the woofer in stock dash location. I cut out a bracket for it and it fits just fine

2. Crossovers and tweeters come from a pioneer component set (ts-d1730c). I used the woofers on another install and was left with crossovers and tweeters so I figured I'd put them to use here. Crossover point is @4800hz, which works great in this case because that about where the Daytons begin to roll off their upper frequency response anyways.

The crossover has 3 tweeter settings. -3db, 0db and +3db. I ended up using -3db setting

The location I chose for the tweeter is where I thought it would be easiest to install. Before making any cuts I played around with a few different locations for the tweeters and this one was the best in my opinion for sound and ease of installation.

Also keep in mind, you can do this project while using the stock dash speakers if you want. You just need the passive crossovers and tweeters. Parts express has a good selection.

Ha, the tweeter location is the same as the new 2nd-gen CX-5...

Sorry I can't help to re-post your pictures as I hate to click and see your pictures one by one.

Toneb210 · Oct 3, 2016

yrwei52 said:
Ha, the tweeter location is the same as the new 2nd-gen CX-5...

Really? Interesting. Lol. Well i can see why they chose that spot. Looks and sounds good. Thanks for making all the pics viewable. I dont have photo bucket to post pics like that.

yrwei52 · Oct 3, 2016

Toneb210 said:
Really? Interesting. Lol. Well i can see why they chose that spot. Looks and sounds good. Thanks for making all the pics viewable. I dont have photo bucket to post pics like that.

Tweeters are supposed to face the listeners as the high notes are directional. Putting the missing tweeters on the A-pillars is the least the Mazda should do for the new CX-5! The most ideal location for tweeters is like my BMW 528i, on the triangle area inside of the outside rearview mirrors.

Actually you don't need photo bucket to post pictures embedded inside of your post. Just click the "tree" image icon in the tool list next to the "film" video icon, copy and paste your jpg file URL location and you're done.

Toneb210 · Oct 3, 2016

yrwei52 said:
Tweeters are supposed to face the listeners as the high notes are directional. Putting the missing tweeters on the A-pillars is the least the Mazda should do for the new CX-5! The most ideal location for tweeters is like my BMW 528i, on the triangle area inside of the outside rearview mirrors.

Actually you don't need photo bucket to post pictures embedded inside of your post. Just click the "tree" image icon in the tool list next to the "film" video icon, copy and paste your jpg file URL location and you're done.

In car audio it's a little different though. With home audio yes, you want tweeters facing you. But in a car, where your surrounded by glass, plastic and metal, there is so many reflections, not to mention you are sitting on one side of the vehicle, as opposed to a "money seat" in a home theater being dead center between left and right channels. The same rules just don't apply in car audio. Trial and error is all you can do, and every car is different. Even if both tweeters where aimed at me, there would still be issues. Without time delay and active gain control you can't fix it. And even then it would only fix the driver seat position. There's going to be pros and cons no matter where you put them. That being said, Bmw premium sound systems are pretty good. Oh, and I'll try that method the next time I post photos. Thanks.

yrwei52 · Oct 3, 2016

Toneb210 said:
In car audio it's a little different though.

Yeah I agree. I just raised a general idea that the tweeters are more effective and less complicated when they're facing the driver like those high-end cars, not in the dash facing the windshield like Mazda6 and CX-3, and worse, without tweeters like CX-5 in their Bose system!

BTW, I always get confused when people say "component" speaker. What does that really mean?

Toneb210 · Oct 3, 2016

yrwei52 said:
Yeah I agree. I just raised a general idea that the tweeters are more effective and less complicated when they're facing the driver like those high-end cars, not in the dash facing the windshield like Mazda6 and CX-3, and worse, without tweeters like CX-5 in their Bose system!

BTW, I always get confused when people say "component" speaker. What does that really mean?

True true. Basically there is two types of speaker systems for car audio. Component, or coaxial. Component set just means there is separate components that make up the 2 or even sometimes 3 way system, and those components tie into a passive crossover. And of course are placed in separate locations. Coax speakers would be your 2 or 3 way drivers basically stacked on top of each other. When you see a speaker that consists of a woofer and a tweeter mounted in the middle, or mid and tweeters mounted in the middle. That would be a coax speaker. Coax is easier to implement, components will get you much better sound quality, much better bass, usually can get louder and can handle more power. But of course a little bit more in depth install most of the time. Not to mention an external amp is almost always needed to get the full potential of a component set up

yrwei52 · Oct 3, 2016

^^^

So component speakers basically like a speaker box in the home audio system but without the wood box, only speakers and crossover. Thanks for the explanation! (drinks)

Toneb210 · Oct 3, 2016

Exactly! (2thumbs)

tibimakai · Oct 4, 2016

Somewhere I have read, that the tweeters should be like in a X, what I mean is that, the driver's tweeter should point at the passenger's seat and the passenger's tweeter, should point at the driver's seat.
Pointing them toward the windshield, is bad.
Soon, I will replace my front speakers, I will install my new Focal speakers and I will use the cone pods for the tweeters. I will play with there position and I will see which position sounds the best. I can time align mine, with my Kenwood as well. I'm not sure, if I like that feature, tough.

Toneb210 · Oct 4, 2016

tibimakai said:
Somewhere I have read, that the tweeters should be like in a X, what I mean is that, the driver's tweeter should point at the passenger's seat and the passenger's tweeter, should point at the driver's seat.
Pointing them toward the windshield, is bad.
Soon, I will replace my front speakers, I will install my new Focal speakers and I will use the cone pods for the tweeters. I will play with there position and I will see which position sounds the best. I can time align mine, with my Kenwood as well. I'm not sure, if I like that feature, tough.

Yes I've read about configuring like that also. There really is no 1 way of doing it. It's all trial and error and what is appealing to your eye and especially your ears. Time alignment is a great feature. It's basically just adding delay in milliseconds. Also, in this case, making a component set out of the dash speaker, mounting a tweeter in the pillar was just way easier. If your component set involves a door speakers, we'll then it would be easier to install in the little plastic triangular trim piece at the top of the door. At the end of the day it's whatever makes you happy

SayNoToPistons · Oct 4, 2016

I'm assuming this was not installed in a CX-5 equipped without the Bose package?

Toneb210 · Oct 5, 2016

SayNoToPistons said:
I'm assuming this was not installed in a CX-5 equipped without the Bose package?

Yes it was installed in a cx5 WITH the Bose system

SayNoToPistons · Oct 8, 2016

Interesting, now you definitely have my attention. Curious how you set everything up using the Bose amp (if that still remains).

Toneb210 · Oct 9, 2016

SayNoToPistons said:
Interesting, now you definitely have my attention. Curious how you set everything up using the Bose amp (if that still remains).

Yes bose amp is still powering the dash speakers, rear door speakers and the 2 small speakers in the cargo area. I'm running 2 added amps. 1 for the front doors and 1 for subs. For the dash speakers, you have to remove the plug that goes to the speaker. Once you have just the speaker wire, that will be sent to your passive crossover. Coming out of the crossover you will have a wire that goes to the woofer (dash speaker), and a wire that goes to the tweeter. If you elect to do this with the factory dash speakers, you would just re attach the factory plug that was removed to the wire that goes from the crossover to the woofer. That way it would plug right back in to the factory speaker.That's about it.

alexeyga · Feb 22, 2017

yrwei52 said:
Tweeters are supposed to face the listeners as the high notes are directional. Putting the missing tweeters on the A-pillars is the least the Mazda should do for the new CX-5!

Not always true, back when I was seriously interested in auto-SQ general wisdom was saying that installing tweeters to be reflected of the windshield helps to reduce the harshness of metallic and lower end tweeter models - without greatly affecting the staging.

tibimakai · Feb 22, 2017

...but disperses the sound, no? Which is not really good.

alexeyga · Feb 22, 2017

All largely depends on what you're looking for and how much you're spending. If you're a true audiophile and throwing more than 500$ on a set of tweeters - it would require a lot more tweaking and experimenting with tweeter's placement to get perfect staging - than a simple "must face the listener".

But if you're simply looking to make the stock head-unit sound more or less sane with a minimal budget - it will probably make absolutely no difference whether your low/mid-budget tweeters are in the stock locations or on the pillars / mirror triangles.

As a side note, my CX-5 replaced a 2nd gen Mazda6 and as bad as stock system was in the 6 in comparaison to my previous full-blown installs - it was acceptable. In the CX-5 however - stock speakers are just pure rubbish. I'm starting to regret not having gotten the base model which has an easily-replaceable head-unit.

Left and right dash speakers replaced with components.

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