Door dampening/front speaker change

Blue20Sport

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I was going to sound dampen my front doors and put foam on behind the cables. Is it worth changing out the front lower 6.5 with aftermarket on the factory unit? I don’t want to put components or anything in. I thought since I would already have the door panel off I might change them. I’ve read almost unnoticeable gains in some reviews over the factory unless you put them on an amp.
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'sound quality' is subjective. but you can just eyeball the difference in the size of the magnets. the ability to handle the power is increased.

it wouldn't be worth it to me to do any acoustic treatments without upgrading the speakers. if anything; i'd upgrade first.

good luck.

p.s.: do yourself a favor and buy a few extra of those green plastic pins for the door panels. not all of them survive.
 

ExVTEC

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I swapped them all in my CTR and not worth it imo. Maybe a 10-15% improvement. My girlfriends stock WRX speakers with no sub still sound better. The stock HU is a joke.
 

NHCivicGuy

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For me, subwoofer, sound deadening, tweeters and upgraded center speaker were the biggest noticeable differences. I did end up doing the lower door speakers too, all with JL, and it did make a decent difference IMO.
 


jayy_swish

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Look into NVX speakers at Sonic Electronix, for the value it’s the best speakers I ever bought. I beat them often and had zero issues in the 3 years of having them in. Not even static or a blow out. Had it in my old wrx before selling it
 

blackie X

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no way a WRX stock has better speakers than our hondas, those speakers in the WRXs are trash. i added a 12" SUB and amp in the trunk that has made a huge difference in the way things sound.
 

Fountainhead

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Keep in mind that weight is a premium item in automobiles. The speakers that are in the Honda currently are built to weigh the least possible. The frame is plastic and the magnet (although small) is neodymium, which is much more powerful in a smaller amount that a large ferrite/nickel magnet. That being said, an aftermarket speaker with a less expensive large ferrite/alnico magnet may "Look" more powerful/loud but it's probably not-although it can handle more power because it has to due to its lower sensitivity. However, putting an aftermarket speaker in there and expecting the built-in power amp (it's power output and equalization-such as it is) is matched to the OE speakers and adding a raw aftermarket driver to the system without an LCI and extra amplifiers won't make a huge difference. And, the high power handling aftermarket speakers are usually less sensitive. If the OE speaker is say, 90 dB putting an aftermarket speaker in there that's say 87 dB sensitivity, means that the 3 dB difference is significant. A speaker that's 3 dB less sensitive is half as loud-given the same power, hence most people add an amplifier and LCI to get the aftermarket speakers really loud.
 

quality_sound

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Before you change the speakers, get a new radio or processor with time alignment. It will make a HUGE difference in how they sound. Just time alignment, no EQ, in my Sport HB made the base system actually livable. I'd do that before I changed the speakers.
 


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Blue20Sport

Blue20Sport

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The only reason I was going to do speakers is because I would have the door panels off already. My cables guides are rattling so I was going to foam them and dampen the door. If it’s not worth it oh well. I’m not changing out the head unit.
 

quality_sound

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The door panels come off in like a minute. Hell, I took mine off every day for almost a week
I’d change the head unit simply because the OEM one is trash but if you won’t, under any circumstance, change it, get a processor. The low end improvement you get by time aligning the speakers is far and away better than the improvement you’ll get by changing the speakers.
 

gatorcivic

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I'll give you a review of my sound system in my hatchback sport (stock speaker system is 4- 6.5" speakers mounted towards the bottom of each door :thumbsdown:). I mostly listen to hip-hop and pop music, was looking to spend under $400 and I certainly like my bass. Even down the line if I had more money to upgrade I am not planning to spend it on audio, I will spend it elsewhere. I believe I got the best value sound system for my money for how I like listening to music. For my sound system I changed out the front speakers with JBL GTO609C component speakers (high sensitivity to make the most of the limited power from the stock head unit), added a dual 10" sub in the trunk, and placed sound deadening material on the doors and in the trunk. If you budget is significantly bigger/smaller than mine take everything with a grain of salt.
My reviews:

Dual 10" ported subwoofer + amp $230 - Complete game changer, highly highly highly recomend a subwoofer if you like listening to hip-hop, rap, electronic, or any type of music that has any type of bass. A small cheap dedicated subwoofer can easily compete with very high end speakers in terms of bass. It took a little bit of work to wire the sub up but not too bad. You can't hear my car shaking from a block away, but I can shake rearview mirror so much I can barely see out of it if I turn the bass up, that's good enough for me.

Front component speakers $80- Huge upgrade. I think the biggest part of this is the staging. I mounted the tweeters on the sail panels and now the music sounds like its coming from in front of me and closer to ear level rather than the speaker aiming at my shin. Very crisp high's and they are right at ear level which is great.

Door sound deadening material $30 - Does it actually do anything sound wise? idk, I am not totally convinced. The one thing I can say for sure is now the door has solid clunk when you close it vs a little clink sound before. If you have a couple extra bucks and are going for a higer-end over all system go for it, but if you are trying to save money I think you could skip it.

Headunit- OEM. I know I will probably get some angry replies for this but I stuck with it because I really like the functionality of it. It has a physical button for everything, and I like the interface. I didnt want a touchscreen where I had to look through 3 menus and take my eyes off the road for multiple seconds to get what I want. Also did not want to deal with any potential bluetooth connection issues or rear view camera issues I have seen pop up from time to time with aftermarket systems.
Other assorted wiring bits and connectors- $50

Overall I am very happy with my system. Could I make it sound better by adding an aftermarket headunit and a dsp for the subwoofer? Sure. Is there a better sounding system out there for sub $400? I doubt it.
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