Replacing front speakers with 6.5's, have questions

[youngmanvr4]

I'm in Houston, Tx right now and my car is in Cali. I'm flying back there on the 11th to pick it up, then I'm driving to here (tx) on the 13th and the trip out I found out that my head unit rocks but matched with stock speakers it makes everything sound so bad. So before I make the trip back I want to replace all 4 speakers. But I'll only have 2 days to pick up the speakers and install them. I wont even be in Cali for 48 hours before I leave for the trip back. So with that little time I want to make sure I got everything down.

My plans are to do the 4x6 to 6.5 conversion in the front.
But my questions with that are

1. Do I need to rewire anything to make that conversion? It should be as simple as just taking off the wires on the stock's and hooking them up with the 6.5's right? Anything else?

2. I know I should by-pass the stock amps but I'll have to use head amp power for now. I also dont totally understand how to do it so please walk me through that one. What wire(s) do I tap into for my head power?

For the rear I'm planning on just getting some nice 4x6's for them for now.

Again, I wont have time for mess up's or tying to figure things out. I need to know most everything before I go back there on the 11th. I've done some searching, but some of my questions I couldn't find. Thanks for your help, Nate

[mjjstang]

wait um i have s13 dont know what you have or if it makes a diff, but i upgraded from ?? i forget front size, i think it was 4x6 tho. and upgraded to 6.5 components and had to do a lot of fab work, cutting and grinding the stock holders but everything fit fine, looks silly tho, but it holds well and is rock solid with the aftermarket grille on. that was front only, i didnt do rear, rear are silly worthless to do.

[FastBack 240]

Yea 4 x 6. Just get some Infinity components.

[youngmanvr4]

I would be getting some 4x6 to 6.5 conversion plates for the swap.

[finesses240]

the front you have to rewire individually and you can find out what wires are what by looking in each speaker location then behind the radio and find the common wires. The rears there is one central amp under the driver side speaker, again find the common wires. By the way this is for a s13 which i am assume you have. Other than the wiring the everything else is pretty basic.
Also what part of California are you going to be in, because if you are going to be near San Diego stop by my shop and I'll give you a good deal and some help if you need it.

[finesses240]

I would be getting some 4x6 to 6.5 conversion plates for the swap.

You can make a 6.5 fit in the 4x6 plate. I have the alpine type s 6.5 in mine and they look and sound really good. I had to trim the factory speaker grill a little on the inside, but other than that looks stock.

[oneighty]

http://www.my240.com/index.php?parent=2003%20Gallery&child=aug27

this site helped me out alot

[youngmanvr4]

I'll be near Modesto so along ways away from you :( And yes its a s13 hatch.

I'm not very good with stereo systems yet, sorry. I dont get what to totally do with the bypass deal.

From what I understand you have your Front right pos. input, Front right pos. output, Front right neg. input, Front right neg. output and Front left pos. input, Front left pos. outout, Front left neg. input, Front left neg. output. What I dont understand is what wires connect to what. What wires go from the speaker to the head? What wires go from the amp to the speaker? What wires connect to what? Since I'm bypassing the factory amp where and which wires do I use to get power from?

Also if I dont have the active on the speakers then I dont have the amps right?

[finesses240]

I'll be near Modesto so along ways away from you :(

I'm not very good with stereo systems yet, sorry. I dont get what to totally do with the bypass deal.

From what I understand you have your Front right pos. input, Front right pos. output, Front right neg. input, Front right neg. output and Front left pos. input, Front left pos. outout, Front left neg. input, Front left neg. output. What I dont understand is what wires connect to what. What wires go from the speaker to the head? What wires go from the amp to the speaker? What wires connect to what? Since I'm bypassing the factory amp where and which wires do I use to get power from?

Here is the thing, there are wires that come from the radio to each of the factory amps, these are signal wires. If I rememeber correctly there are four wires on each of the front amps; power, ground, positive signal, and negative signal. The signal wires on the plug that goes into the amp/speaker are also behind the radio, cut the signal wires on the plug (these colors will also be behind the radio) and there are your speaker wires.

Off the top of my head I think the colors are:
LF +/- brn/wht-brown
RF blu/wht-blu/yel
LR purple-pink
RR red-green

Let me know if you need any help. You can pm or im if you want. good luck

[youngmanvr4]

Ok so I wont be totally be taking out the Amp? I'll still be using it as a power source but the signal wires (pos., neg.) will be cut and then I'll run new wires just for the signal wires? Becuase the colors you gave me are for +/- not for power/ground. Here is a pic from that link above.

http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/2779/img001218vm.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

What else then? Just so you know I'm only going to be doing the fronts for now. The rears will get dont alittle later.

http://www.zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=10025 In this thread the guy talks about neg. inputs and outputs, pos. inputs and outputs. I also dont get what he means when he says splices: 1 to 3. Which are (1) Left Front neg. input and (3) Left Front neg. output. Splice means connect right? So why would you connect a neg. input and neg. output? Plus on top of that I didn't know ever know you had a pos. input/output and neg. input/output. I thought that + was pos. and - was neg. Thats all. Help me out lol.

[MELLO*SOS]

Some 240s have the amps, and some (like mine) don't. It's a very simple job if your 240 doesn't have the amps in the doors, because you can just observe on the oem speaker which wire is + and which wire is -. Then make/buy a 4x6->6.5 adapter plate, drop in your new speaker and wire it up accordingly.

Here are some pictures of when I put in my 6.5s up front. I didn't have to do any wiring or stock-amp-bypassing at all. Just clipped off the connectors for the OEM speakers, crimped on some spade connectors and dropped in the new speakers. GL with your project

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/mello88/DSC05240.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/mello88/DSC05241.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v180/mello88/DSC05242.jpg

The black shit in behind the plexiglass is some kind of foam tape. It helps the plexi seal against the metal door better, and it helps reduce the plexi resonating/vibrating.

[sittinsideways]

mello88 did u make those 6.5 conversion plates? id imagine that it would b possible to get them at an auido store or sumthin. how much time did that take?

also is it possible to do anything to the rears? or is it totaly not worth it? i rather have the deeper notes coming from the rear and keeping the polk 4x6s up front.

[neverlift]

slam 6 by 9's in there call it a day,just my front 2 are louder than four polk audio 4by6's,that were in from previous guy

[finesses240]

Ok so I wont be totally be taking out the Amp? I'll still be using it as a power source but the signal wires (pos., neg.) will be cut and then I'll run new wires just for the signal wires? Becuase the colors you gave me are for +/- not for power/ground. Here is a pic from that link above.

Yes, you will be taking the amp completely out. On your pic see the white plug on the bottom, unplug that from the other side and you wires will be there. The wires that are there will also behind the radio (two of them) these are the wires you will use. I will try to post pics later when i go to work. My car is out of comission currently due to a Hummer ( i hate those things!)

Neverlift 6x9's in the rear location that's crazy. Doesn't it sound like everything is coming from the rear? Just use the rears for rear fill and allow the fronts to do most of the work. Show me some pics of those 6x9s, love to see that.

[MELLO*SOS]

mello88 did u make those 6.5 conversion plates? id imagine that it would b possible to get them at an auido store or sumthin. how much time did that take?

Yes I made them. Bought a sheet of 1/4 or 3/8 plexi, made a cardboard template from the original plastic cup (see above) then transcribed the pattern to the plexi. I used my dremel to get a (very) rough cut (using a spiral bit) then cleaned up the edges with the sanding drum. It took a surprising amount of time due to the slow speed of the dremel. Probably took me 1-2hrs to do each side? A bandsaw and/or drill press with sanding drum would really speed up the process.

also is it possible to do anything to the rears? or is it totaly not worth it? i rather have the deeper notes coming from the rear and keeping the polk 4x6s up front.

Yeah I took off the grill and modified the plastic a little bit and threw some 6x8's back there. You can't really hear them from the front seat, they don't reproduce any bass at all and you'd be better off throwing a pair of tweeters back there. I wouldn't touch the rear channel if I had to do it again. If you want deep notes from the rear, put a 10" or 12" sub with a couple hundred watts... 4x6, 5x7, 6x8 or 6x9 isn't going to get you what you want, IMO... Besides as soon as you yank the carpet out and put on a 3" exhaust it is so fucking loud you can barely make out the bass/midbass of your favorite songs over the exhaust...

[sittinsideways]

:werd:

where did u mount/ what did u do with the crossovers?

[finesses240]

:werd:

where did u mount/ what did u do with the crossovers?

you can mount them in the door, make sure to use etape to cover the crossovers and use some velcro to secure them.

youngmanvr4 my batteries were dead in my camera so i will post the pics tomorrow.

[Rittmeister]

There's a seller on Ebay now selling adapter plates for 6.5" speakers to go in the doors of an S13. They're made from 1/4" thick PVC sheeting. I bought a set, and they pretty much fit perfectly; they exactly mimic the outline of the stock yellow plastic mounts, and have three sets of holes for whatever speakers you get.

They cost about $12, and I highly recommend them, they made my install go very easily.

Here's a pic on the passenger side, with the Alpine speaker I used:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c88/kwstine1/P4040017.jpg

[youngmanvr4]

Yea the Ebay conversion plates where what I was going to buy since I wouldn't have the time to make my own.

I would like to keep it looking stock, another words keep the grill on. Will I be able to do that with the Ebay conversion plates? I would post a link but I'll get in trouble.

I think I have the bypassing the amp thing figured out. Before I was thinking I still need a power and ground for the speakers when removing the amps but the pos. and neg. signal wires from your HU power your speakers just like a normal system without external amps. Your speakers are powered by your HU just by pos. neg. signal wires. Thats the part I wasn't getting. But I got it now lol. Simple stuff, I was just making it harder then it was.

But the good news is I dont think I have the amps. Reasoning is I had my dad go out and look at the speaker cover/grill and if I understand correctly it should say "Active" on it if you have the amps. Mine didn't say that so I shouldn't have them. Can anyone confirm this?

[SimpleSexy180]

i made my own plates. that look exactly like that..damn i should have jumped on ebay selling those a long time ago. But yes, with those plates u can still keep your grill on the doorpanel.

ALSO since those plates dont come with speaker baffles you might want to look up on some 6.5 speaker baffles so water will not damage the speakers when it rains or u wash your car etc. although i dont use baffles but i woudlnt doubt one day my speakers start getting rust and crap out on me.

[youngmanvr4]

Where can I get some baffles? Also what 6.5 front speaker and 4x6 rear speaker combo should I go with. Brand, way, watt, ect.? I just want to make it sound really good. If that comes at alittle more cost I wont mind doing so. Like nice good sounding stuff ;-)

[finesses240]

yeah, if it doesn't say active speaker you are pretty much in the clear. I did have one that didn't say it and it did have amps but that was one out of... a bunch.

As for a good combo, I am running alpine type s components in the front and 4x6's in rear. The fronts are amplified and the rears are off the HU and one 10 inch sub. Sounds great and looks all stock. I did just get a set of the new JL XR 6.5 in components in and plan to put those in. They sounded awsome in one of my customers car.
But the decision is really up to you, I can tell you that this speaker is the best ever but if you don't like then you shouldn't buy it. Best idea would be to listen to some examples at a local shop and whatever sounds the best, buy them.

[youngmanvr4]

Ok, anything to stay away from? Component is a 4 way system right? Or what?

[SoSideways]

Hey Ritt, sup? SoSideways from SR20forum on here as well :D

Anyways, you got the name of that eBay seller that you got those plates off of? I've had a set of 6.5" speakers sitting collecting dust since like, year 2000 that I would like to put on, and these conversion plates are just what the doctor ordered.

[finesses240]

No components are normally a two way, midrange woofer and a tweeter. There are three way components but those are pretty expensive and have modify door panels to get them to fit. As for what brands, it is a good idea to stick to name brands i.e. Alpine, JL Audio, Sony, etc. To be honest I would listen to the JL's and the Alpines and make your decision on those. I have carried plenty of brands and those sound the best for the money. Alpine's go for about $200 and JL's for about $300. Let me know if you need any, I could ship them to you if need be. Once again good luck.

[dorifto-san4o8]

If you want you can stop by circuit city roadshop for speaker install... Il give you a good deal on some speakers and install. we got the new eclipse 6.5 2 way speakers or infinity or polk. Located in san jose, and work at the stevens creek store so its on your way back to texas if your heading south. about 30 min away from modesto. Also ill ask my friend if i can borrow his s13 speaker plate so i can custom you one made out of abs plastic. just let me know when your gonna be in the area ill try and make the plates as soon as you let me know when you coming. Also for bypassing the amp in the stock speaker all you need to do is cut the input wires that go into the amp in each door to bypass the amp.

[dorifto-san4o8]

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/dorifto-san4o8/speaker.jpg

just let me know the exact date you want it done

[jiggidy14]

Ok, anything to stay away from? Component is a 4 way system right? Or what?

its better to have the component so you can place where you want the tweeter so you seperate the highs and the mids. but not too far from the woofer like say around your door handle would be good. use some dynamat and for the door to supress the vibration and deepen the mid bass. and use dynaxorb for the mid bass it makes the mid bass woofer hit deeper and cleaner.

[jiggidy14]

No components are normally a two way, midrange woofer and a tweeter. There are three way components but those are pretty expensive and have modify door panels to get them to fit. As for what brands, it is a good idea to stick to name brands i.e. Alpine, JL Audio, Sony, etc. To be honest I would listen to the JL's and the Alpines and make your decision on those. I have carried plenty of brands and those sound the best for the money. Alpine's go for about $200 and JL's for about $300. Let me know if you need any, I could ship them to you if need be. Once again good luck.

woofers are what jl is good for as for alpine the headunits especially the old school ones are the good ones since they come with monster cable rca outputs in the back. i would say focal or mb quarts are good even the low end focals are incredibly good.

[jiggidy14]

Where can I get some baffles? Also what 6.5 front speaker and 4x6 rear speaker combo should I go with. Brand, way, watt, ect.? I just want to make it sound really good. If that comes at alittle more cost I wont mind doing so. Like nice good sounding stuff ;-)

young, just remember focus on the front of the car not the back. the back is just to fill in the surroundings the front matter most due to the fact that you sit in the front. but heres a really good tip most people dont tell their customers cause they want to make the sale fast.

if you get a really good pair of 6.5's my fav's are focals. now with those speakers if you install them the right way and use dynamat and dynaxorb but also have a good clean 4 channel amp(arc audio) to power them up with a clean head unit like kenwood with a pre out of 4 volts RMS(constant power) so that the amps run cleaner and have a good sub (jl w3. w6. w7 either or) this is what you'll get... when you play the music and you sit in the car and just look straight forward the sound will come from the windsheild and the subwoofer will feel like its at your feet thats why theres the midbass to make that effect. thats why you see some cars having a center channel on top of the dash to make that effect. pretty difficult to do but can be done if the stereo shop is willing to make the clean install.

anymore questions just pm me be more than happy to help out a fellow 240 owner. alarms speakers subs amps headunits etc... ima installer so im not selling you anything juss sharing what i've experienced. good luck

[youngmanvr4]

Ok thanks eveyone, I dont think I'll get a component right away becuase I dont think I'll have the time to do it. But I hope to upgrade a little later with a 5 channel amp and a sub.

I would love to do all that now but I just simply wont have time in less than 2 days to install in all plus get plus pick up my wheels plus everything else I have to get ready.

http://www.mjmautoinnovations.com/sak240sxt65.htm Same thing on ebay only a buck cheaper. Site name and user name are the same. Also you can just type in "240sx speaker" and they'll come up.

Again thanks for everyones help. Now I just hope I can get the conversion plates here in time.