'19 Si Coupe Speaker Upgrade (worth the money?)

Dharmaboy

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So was looking to upgrade my speakers and I walked into one of my local high end Car Audio stores. As you can imagine the guy told me that upgrading the stock Si Coup's speakers on my 10th Gen. He said the stock speakers are decent enough given what we have because of the sound dampening being done by the stock Head Unit. He said best thing to do is get more bass in there with an LC2i.

If I wanted to improve the bass in my car, I would imagine rear subwoofer wires to the LC2i, then that goes an amp to an upgraded woofer.

If I wanted to improve the front component speakers like the one in the doors and the rear of the hatch, am I just wasting money as the sound is really muted because of this stock Head Unit? The guy at the store said I am looking at like $2k to 3K to upgrade the sound properly ( I know he might be talking to get me to buy their stuff ) but how much truth in what he is saying?

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REBELXSi

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The guys full of shit. He clearly is a salesman. You could definitely do this for 1/3 the cost, I'm sure.

Now that's for the average person. I'm sure some self-proclaimed "audiophile" will come in here and say it costs thousands for the right system but only the most pretentious snobs will say that.
 

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kperalta

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Most car audio places will typically start @ a high end gear upgrade suggestion route and work their way down unless you go in there specifically asking for lower tier stuff. Especially if you went into a high end place. It's more than likely what their typical customers are looking for, so their mindset is always "audiophile" level.

Upgrading the speakers will help, but it won't affect the factory tuning. I don't ever recommend spending more than 150 per set of speakers if you're not adding a multi channel amp to the plan. Some speakers simply aren't worth amplifying, and some speakers are under powered/ not reaching their full potential without an aftermarket amplifier. Considering the guys suggestion mentioned thousands of dollars required I'm gonna assume he had a DSP setup in mind. You don't need that if you're not crazy about audio quality. It's sort of a what you don't know you want won't affect you type of thing. Sure, it's badass, but unless you're willing to drop a couple thousand (my favorite DSP amps cost 1000+ on their own) you don't need it. Get yourself some decent components for the front, decent coaxials for the rear, speaker baffles for sure and spend no more than 600 on a sub amp setup. Any speakers are better than stock but in regards to aftermarket some speakers are better than others. Always hear them for yourself. There's truth in what he's saying, but whether or not a "proper" upgrade applies to you is where he falls flat.

Also if he literally said "sound dampening" from the head unit never go back lol. Last time I checked sound dampening involves reducing the noise floor of a car not the existence of bass roll off :confused:

Your head unit will reduce lower bass frequencies at higher levels to protect your speakers regardless. The only thing to fix that is a dsp/signal corrector or head unit software workarounds. its not as bad on premium sound system civics. Especially since we don't have ANC in the amp.

You don't need an lc2i if you don't wanna spend the money on it simple as that. I've personally ran high level input from the fronts in a 2016 civic LX into a mid tier JL powered sub and it sounds awesome. I mean, well I personally only love upper tier subs, but for the price the thing sounds amazing.

I will say the lx has a serious lack of midbass though and I'm still trying to convince my friend to get an aftermarket head unito_O
 

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If you want to add a sub in your car I would suggest getting a powered sub like this one.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_575P30012T/Rockford-Fosgate-P300-12T.html?search=powered_subwoofer

I have one if each of my cars and it really hits hard. Plus it wasn’t hard to install at all. Just tap into the rear speaker wires, no need mess with LC2i.

Then just upgrade the 4 main speakers with something a better and you will be set.
100% this OP. If you don't wanna do it yourself (which I always recommend even though I'm an installer because I want everybody to experience the beauty of installing :p) this puts you at about 450 installed for the sub and I'd say at max spend equal for speakers (including install). I guarantee you'll be more than satisfied.

If you do it yourself you either up the ante of the products you get or save yourself some money. Sounds like a good exchange to me for some hours of your day.
 


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I installed a tuned slapbox with a 6.5 inch sub, and a Rockford Fosgate amp with built in high level inputs tapped from the rear speakers and I had ZERO previous experience upgrading any car audio equipment.
With a bit of patience and youtube, I got it installed in a couple of afternoons and couldn't be happier. I also replaced the front speakers with inexpensive polks and installed some sound deadening in the front doors. The stock speakers are quite cheap btw. The driver magnet is pathetic to say the least.

DIY is the way to go if you are willing to take your time!
 

SirVicksDeep

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I just bought my 2019 SI last Thursday and spent Saturday putting a Alpine Type R12 subwoofer and insulated the rear deck and doors. I used an old Alpine MVR-500 I had and ran directly to the high level inputs. I took out the useless 8inch and tapped into those wires leaving the hole for sound and preserving the factory's SW control. After a little bit of gain matching and messing around with settings I got it to sound decent. There is a lot of roll off at higher volume but nothing that can't be compensated for with the factory subwoofer control. I might add a LC2 in the future.

As far as the rest of the speakers the only ones that really need to be replaced are the tweeters. They aren't as crisp as they should be. You can pick up a good set of Alpine SPS tweeters for about $65 each $130 for 2 sets.(Should arrive today) The 6" woofer in the doors are OK but they need insulation and I added Fast Rings for maximum sound control. If you wanted to replace the factory speakers I'd recommend just buying the Alpine SPS 610C because it will work with well enough with the factory Amplifiers ~38 RMS/ channel.

I had most of this stuff in the garage from old system and vehicles but I'll put a break down of materials and approximate prices below.

Alpine Type R 12 4ohm $180
Alpine MVR-500 $120
12 inch ported box $65
Amp Kit $40
60/SF Insulation/Road Kill $72
Fast Rings $15
Alpine SPS tweeters $130

If you are competent enough to install it yourself it should only take about 6hrs but if you have a shop do it they'll probably say it'll take 8 to 10 hrs @ $75 to $100/hr. The stuff I put in is Mid/Mid-High components but well worth the cost. You can probably save $100 bucks by getting lower quality products but that's up to you.

Fix it yourself about $650
Have a shop do it... $650 + 450-$1000

Hope this helps....
 

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So was looking to upgrade my speakers and I walked into one of my local high end Car Audio stores. As you can imagine the guy told me that upgrading the stock Si Coup's speakers on my 10th Gen. He said the stock speakers are decent enough given what we have because of the sound dampening being done by the stock Head Unit. He said best thing to do is get more bass in there with an LC2i.

If I wanted to improve the bass in my car, I would imagine rear subwoofer wires to the LC2i, then that goes an amp to an upgraded woofer.

If I wanted to improve the front component speakers like the one in the doors and the rear of the hatch, am I just wasting money as the sound is really muted because of this stock Head Unit? The guy at the store said I am looking at like $2k to 3K to upgrade the sound properly ( I know he might be talking to get me to buy their stuff ) but how much truth in what he is saying?

Thanks
It really depends on what sound you are looking for. Yes these guys are always thinking audiophile level because they want to give the best sound possible to make sure you’re happy and then maybe your friends and family will go to them to. They don’t want to take your money and you get a mediocre system and you leave not impressed. That would only make you unhappy and make them look like they failed you. Besides that they are 100% right about the head unit. It is the weak link in that system. The sound processor in that factory unit is never gonna give you the sound that a quality aftermarket unit will. It is like night and day. A system can get expensive. Just depends and how important music is to you and how clear and powerful you want your sound. I tried to keep my head unit stock but just couldn’t get that sound I was looking for. So I upgraded to a kenwood excelon and it brought my system to life. Yes it was expensive but it was worth it. Mine cost over $4000. But It sounds amazing! I got Audio Frog components in the doors and coaxials in the back dash, and two JL tw1 10’s in the trunk and a Rockford fosgate t1000x5ad amp pushing everything from the kenwood excellent head unit. I also had sound dampening put in the door and back dash. Not everybody cares to have their car sound like a concert, but I do lol. But I’ve always been that way with my music
 
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David Harper

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IMO a sub will make your sound boomy. If what you want is better sound QUALITY, which is different, you want to get better tweeters. Really good tweeters will make an amazing difference in the quality of sound. Just like in home stereo.I switched from the standard cone tweeters to ribbon tweeters in my home system and the difference was breathtaking. most of the distortion is in the high frequencies.
 


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So was looking to upgrade my speakers and I walked into one of my local high end Car Audio stores. As you can imagine the guy told me that upgrading the stock Si Coup's speakers on my 10th Gen. He said the stock speakers are decent enough given what we have because of the sound dampening being done by the stock Head Unit. He said best thing to do is get more bass in there with an LC2i.

If I wanted to improve the bass in my car, I would imagine rear subwoofer wires to the LC2i, then that goes an amp to an upgraded woofer.

If I wanted to improve the front component speakers like the one in the doors and the rear of the hatch, am I just wasting money as the sound is really muted because of this stock Head Unit? The guy at the store said I am looking at like $2k to 3K to upgrade the sound properly ( I know he might be talking to get me to buy their stuff ) but how much truth in what he is saying?

Thanks
I don’t think of myself as an audiophile at all. But I needed to upgrade the sound. I did it for just over $1kish. I don’t want to hear any boom outside of the car, so this was a great upgrade for me. Plus everything is hidden and I don’t lose any trunk space. And, still some tweaks for sound with the amp/audiocontrol/sub adjustment knobs. Here’s my setup:

Audiocontrol LC7i $130
Cerwin Vega VPAS10 $180
Alpine SPS610C components $90
Alpine SPS610 Coax $90
Alpine MRVF300 4 channel Amp $160
Install $500

Just another option.
 

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I walked into a audio shop and quoted $520 for sub and installation. If I were to buy the sub and amps stuff myself, it's about $250. A $60 or so markup plus two hours installation.
Since all the wires are in place, I'm thinking of getting a free-floating sub and just dug a hole in the trunk space and remove the spare tire on my hatch.
 

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I have the Hatch Sport and I added an under seat power Cerwin Vega subwoofer and JBL tweeters to the front. My car did not come with tweeters so I ordered the front tweeter housings from the higher trim levels, sanded the inside of the tweeter housing to fit the JBL tweeters. Just doing those two things made a substantial difference in the quality of sound and added a bit more boom to the music. It was about $200 in audio equipment and I had the subwoofer professionally installed since it needed to be wired to the battery.
 
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Dharmaboy

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Thanks for all the suggestions. I am really looking to improve the sound than to go Audiophile. I was thinking of doing the upgrade via the LC2i as I have an old Alpine Mono block amp from my Mazda 07 Mazda 3 and I have done amp and deck installs myself.

So would you guys suggest a upgrading the front speakers (tweeter and door speakers) with a good 2 way set low rms (keeping in mind i have the deck powering them) and bumping up the bass with the Crutchfield unit? The main reason for going to the LC2i was to save trunk space ( for hockey gear lol) and utilizing the space of the stock 8inch sub woofer placement.

On my Mazda 3 I had an AVH 4000NEX (astounding unit for its time) with upgraded Pioneer Rear speakers (nothing High End) with some Decent Alpine speakers in the front doors. That with an old junky Alpine mono amp with a Rockford 12 inch sub. All low end but it sounded amazing to me.
 
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kperalta

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IMO a sub will make your sound boomy. If what you want is better sound QUALITY, which is different, you want to get better tweeters. Really good tweeters will make an amazing difference in the quality of sound. Just like in home stereo.I switched from the standard cone tweeters to ribbon tweeters in my home system and the difference was breathtaking. most of the distortion is in the high frequencies.
Acting like SQ subs don't exist how dare you :mad:
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