dre

hey guys,

well this forum has been more than helpful, over the past week or so i've been scouring past threads and looking online into any information i could get my hands on.

anyway, for the first part of my project, i want to replace the headunit and all the internal speakers in my '02 sedan.
for the headunit i am thinking kenwood kdc-mpv7019, a friend
of mine just got this and said that he is very impressed with it. plus online research yielded some good results. are there any other good mp3 decks in the similar price range (i can get it for around $220)?
for the speakers i am thinking about going with:
in the front - JBL GTO7225s (5x7)
rear deck - JBL GTO 935s (6x9)

now i know some have said that the back deck can be kinda tight and i have checked crutchfield and they have only 3 speakers that they have listed as being able to fit. would i be able to fit the 6x9s in the back?

ok finally, this is probably the dumbest question. i've looked online but nowhere could i find an answer to this (maybe this is too simple, hehe)
when i buy aftermarket speakers, do they come with loose wires that are already attached to the speaker and i splice or solder those to the wires from the car? this is a leased car so i would like to be able to keep the harness or would i need to take it off to get to the wires?

similar question for the headunit. i know there i would have to get a wire harness that is specific to mazda, and then i solder those wires to the ones from the headunit, and plug all of that into the harness that is coming out of the car? correct?

sheesh, that was a crazy barrage of questions, haha.
thanks again for all the help!

hihoslva

The Kenwood decks are okay, IMO. I have the previous "generation" of the one you're looking at - I have the MP8017. It's a decent deck, and a great value - but I think the one yu are considering uses the same power section/internal amp as the 8017, and it's kinda weak. It'll definitely be a huge improvement over stock, but it's not a very powerful deck in and of itself. But again - a good value, and the new Kenny's look nice for the price. Plus, I've owned tons of Kenwood stuff (used to be a Kenny freak), and I find the reliability is excellent. My 8017 has never skipped, does great with road-bumps, and even plays scratched discs pretty well. Plus, I believe the Kenwoods have some of the fastest "spool-up" time for MP3 play (reading the info takes a few seconds, and different makes have been known to take a long time - Kenwood's are pretty damn fast - I have no complaints). It could use a better EQ, sub outputs, and a better button layout/user interface - but for the money, it's very solid.

Speakers - no idea about the rear fit - I have a P5. But for the connections on a leased vehicle, I have a good idea for you:

The stock speakers have a plastic wiring harness that fits onto the speaker to make the connections. Once you remove the speaker and disconnect the harness, you'll see that the harness has female "spade" type connectors inside. Look at any normal speaker, and you'll see the tabs that are used to make the wire connections. Generally, the best way is to get the "female" end of the spade connector, and slide it over the tab. The stock harness has the female type inside. So your best bet is to make "jumper" wires about 6 inches long; make one end with a male spade, and the other with a female. Slide the male spade into the female side in the stock harness, and slide the female end over the speaker connection tab. Do both + and - and: Presto! - new speakers, solid wiring, and totally able to be returned to stock with no modifications.

dre

thanks for the reply. yea i read somewhere that the unit itself is not that powerful, i think someone actually rated it at 16 watts rms, but then again i read somewhere (too many websites, i can't remember where i read what anymore) that the stock hu only puts out 8 watts rms, without distortion. so i figure twice the wattage isn't that bad. i do want it to be loud, but i don't have enough money for an amp. i have to make sure that i've got enough for the second half of my project, amp and subs.

and i think im def gonna go with your suggestion on the speakers, i don't want to cut the harness and this seems like a quick and pretty easy way of doing it.

hihoslva

Just remember not to spend mucho bux on speakers. When running speakers from deck power, you don't want to get ones that NEED a lot of power to sound good - the distortion you will get (from the HU overdriving it's internal amp) will fry your expensive speakers.

Look for speakers with a modest RMS power handling - the max is unimportant when not running amps. And look for the highest sensitivity rating you can find - this will yield more output from deck power - something rated over 90dB should be good.

Look into Kenwoods, JBL, and other mid-level brands. A good set of speakers shouldn't cost much more than $100 a pair for ones that run well from deck power. The whole scene changes if you run an amp to them, as does the price range. Don't waste money on some crazy high-power models - it's not worth it, and the cheaper ones will perform better in your situation.

~HH

sunbyrne

I have JBL GTO series speakers, though I have rounds, not ovals, and I'm very happy with them. They'll be fine if not ear-shattering without an amp, as I had mine sans amp for a while until I got around to having the amp installed. You can get a modest JBL P80.4 4-channel amp for very little money these days, though, and it'll make those speakers really sing...