Audio Upgrade Recommendations for 2015 Cx-5

I am looking for recommendations for an audio upgrade from the stock audio for my vehicle, the following are my current specs.

Car: 2015 Mazda CX-5
Model: 6 speaker(Non-bose)
Installed Equipment: Kenwood Excelon 9904s
Budget: $1000
Music genres: Pop/Pop Rock, RnB, EDM

Items in consideration:

Front and Rear Door:Infinity Reference REF-6532ex
In dash: Infinity Reference REF-3032cfx(Not sure if this fits, previous model 3002cfx fit).

Just for your fiy, I have installed the 3.5" Polk speakers in the dash, and after installing amps, one of those has acted up and blew my 4 channel amp. Luckily I have repaired it myself.
I have components(Focal in the front doors and Infinity at the back) now and all is OK.
I have a 4 channel Polk amp under the passenger seat, another Polk amp for the sub under the driver seat, 0 gauge wire from the battery to a junction box. From there, two 4 gauge wires going to the two amps.
I have a 10" JL Audio shallow sub, in my spare tire. Installed it on a 3/4" MDF and strapped it down, with tie down straps.
Course I had to seal the holes of the spare wheel, with a 6" rubber seal and a 6" aluminum washer. Bolted everything down, to the bottom of the car. Also added a wrench to the tool kit, in case if I need to use the spare.

see what Crutchfield has - not the highest fidelity but it isn't a Rolls or Lexus either

tibimakai said:

Just for your fiy, I have installed the 3.5" Polk speakers in the dash, and after installing amps, one of those has acted up and blew my 4 channel amp. Luckily I have repaired it myself.
I have components(Focal in the front doors and Infinity at the back) now and all is OK.
I have a 4 channel Polk amp under the passenger seat, another Polk amp for the sub under the driver seat, 0 gauge wire from the battery to a junction box. From there, two 4 gauge wires going to the two amps.
I have a 10" JL Audio shallow sub, in my spare tire. Installed it on a 3/4" MDF and strapped it down, with tie down straps.
Course I had to seal the holes of the spare wheel, with a 6" rubber seal and a 6" aluminum washer. Bolted everything down, to the bottom of the car. Also added a wrench to the tool kit, in case if I need to use the spare.

Click to expand...

Sounds like a sweet setup! Do you have pics of he sub setup in the spare wheel? Would love to see it!

It is ugly, but it works great.
If I had to do it again, I would use a 1" MDF. It starts to bend, after a few years.
Picked up the MDF from the Depot for $12. $200 was the brand new speaker, from Craigslist. $40 broken amp(Polk Audio PA880), that I have repaired. Same for the 4 channel, got it from the Bay, for $40, repaired and it is working great. Polk Audio PA660.
This setup, raised the floor, by 1-1/2-2". I have the grill for the speaker, but I ended not installing it, because that was taller, than the 2x4.
Front speakers, are Focal:
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_091PS165FX/Focal-Performance-PS-165FX.html
I have got them from the Bay- Polland seller - brand new, at half that price.
Rears are Infinity components, nothing special.

Tweeter's spots.
Kenwood DNN991HD

tibimakai said:

Tweeter's spots.
Kenwood DNN991HD

Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing your setup! Quick question - does that head unit integrate with steering wheel controls and backup camera? The OEM unit on mine drives me crazy with its slowness and poor iPod integration and Ive been looking to swap it out

It does, but this unit is slow to startup as well. I have installed a newer 6.1" screen Kenwood, for my wife (DNX573S) and that is much faster unit.
The DNN units are Android based units(no Google Play store in these).

ralf11 said:

see what Crutchfield has - not the highest fidelity but it isn't a Rolls or Lexus either

Click to expand...

Crutchfield will only list tweeters as a direct fit the the dash location of the non-bose CX-5. This is due to the mounting depth limitation(s) present in those locations.

Any 3.5" speaker is going to be (too) deep and you will hit stuff/things when mounting a 3.5" in the stock location. The tweeters that reside there are only like 3/4" mounting depth, if that, and most 3.5" are twice that and a bit more.

I recently installed some Kicker 3.5s in my dash and my post is in this forum.


Since you have a budget, what is you overall plan? What do you want the sound to be, or how do you want the sound stage to behave.


Modest speakers with modest input power should deliver a nice boost in overall sonic volume and possibly clarity. The mounting locations will be your biggest achilles heal unless you have plans to do custom a-pillar or sail panel (tweeter) installations with a set of separates.


Best of luck with your project.