kenji4861

Word on the street is that the 4 speakers that come with the Protege5 is very weak.

I test drove the car, but the radio sound was very bad, that I couldn't tell if it was the reception or the speaker that was bad. Does anyone know about the speakers? I can not find any specs. If it is bad, what are you guys doing about it?

ToMaC

I just bought new everything when it came to the stereo

Shawn

I'm running a good aftermarket deck and some subs. My speakers are still stock. They sound good as long as I don't turn it up too loud. Even with the small amp in the deck they begin to distort. I'll be replacing the speakers and getting a 4-channel amp in the spring. Until then I guess I don't really know how much better it will be.

naki831

yeah the speakers are pretty sh*tty. Plus they are located by your feet so the sound doesn't project well over the sounds of the road. If good sound is important to you, definitely upgrade to component speakers.

JJB

an upgrade to the head unit is the first step... that helped a lot. Once I can afford some better speakers that will be the next trick.

As Shawn said... as long as you do not try go too loud the speakers are passable... not good... just passable.

MP5autox

Stock dual cone paper speakers! yuk

deejayspinz

Stock speakers are the bottom of the barrel - (rear pictured)

hihoslva

Well, I'm not changing the deck just yet, but the stock speakers have got to go.

The fronts are 5x7, and the rears are 6-1/2. I'm going with 6-1/2 all around - the conversion of the fronts should be easily done. The larger 6-1/2s will fit, with minor modification (drilling new holes for the mounting screws, or using an adapter plate made for mounting 6-1/2s in a 5x7 hole - not sure which way I'll go just yet.

I'm also going to TRY to angle the speakers in the mounting position - to face them upward a bit for beter imaging.

Oh yeah - pay attention to that "sensitivity rating" listed for whatever speakers you might look at. The higher the number, the more output you can get with modest amplification. The Kenwoods I purchased have a reasonably high rating (91, I think) so they should be good and loud, even when powered by the somewhat weak stock head unit. Check out this page at Crutchfield - it's a good glossary of terms: .http://www.crutchfield.com/infolib/S...akers-glossary

I'm also going with a modest sub in the hatch (pickup truck-style narrow wedge box - I need the room in the hatch, so this is very space-minded) and tweeters in the front window corners by the mirrors.

Sounds like a lot, but my system will be modest and should sound MUCH better than stock. I'm just waiting to get the time to do the install. I haven't spent a ton of money either:

12" Kenwood Sub, box, and mid-level amp: $200 (nice deal)
Two pair Kenwood 6-1/2" door speakers: $50 (eBay!)
Kenwood tweeters: $35 (also eBay!)

Plus various wiring and other crap, my total is way less than $350, and should kick just fine for me. I've put together budget-minded systems before, and always been pleased with the results.

PS - I'm posting a wiring question - looking fo sound answers!! Please look at the board. Thanks

nightowl

hehe me too, got rid of the stock stereo after 2 weeks of owning the car

naki831

"12" Kenwood Sub, box, and mid-level amp: $200 (nice deal)"

Just wondering, which sub and amp did u get? Amp + box + sub for $200 sounds unreal unless it's used.

hihoslva

The sub is a Kenwood W3003- 160 Watts RMS, 600 peak. Made to work well in small volume enclosures. Crutchfield sells it for $129.

The box is your standard pickup truck-style wedge box. Nice and compact, un-ported, nothing fancy at all. A lot of places like to rip you off for $50 or more for a simple box like this - don't let 'em.

The amp is a Koiiler - not a real big-name brand, and I'm sure not the highest quality you can buy, but it's got a two year warranty and will suit my purposes just fine. I think it's 140-160 watts RMS, 420 peak. Should be decent match for the sub. I think it retails for under a hundred bucks.

So it seems like I paid just about full price for the sub and amp, and got a simple box for free - not too bad. I'm not expecting thunder from this amp, but the Kenwood speaker is a nice unit, and can handle a better amp if I choose to do that later.

I also mounted the amp to the back of the sub box, and plan to make the whole unit competely removeable. The power and ground wires will have quick-disconnect terminals, and the rest of the wires (I'm using speaker-level inputs)....well, I'll be going to the junkyard to pull any old stereo wiring harness out of some car, then I can get the corresponding harness from a stereo shop. That way the amp and sub come out in one easy step - don't want to sacrifice my hatch.

naki831

Man, you're lucky you got the wedge box for free. Those things aren't cheap.

"The amp is a Koiiler - not a real big-name brand, and I'm sure not the highest quality you can buy, but it's got a two year warranty and will suit my purposes just fine. I think it's 140-160 watts RMS, 420 peak."

I don't know how many channels your amp is but what do u mean 140-160 RMS? Is that what it's stable at when bridged?

hihoslva

Okay, so you got me to dig out the instruction manual....

The amp can run in two-channel (stereo), tri-power (stereo plus bridged for sub) or mono (only bridged). I'll be using it bridged - just to run a sub.

According to the manual, the amp runs 85Wx2 (170w) with 2 Ohm speakers, 60wx2 (120w) with 4 Ohm speakers, and 170wx1 when bridged mono with a 4 Ohm speaker (subwoofer)

So it looks like I'll be running 170 watts RMS. I forget what those damn letters stand for, but basically it means "normal operating power". Much more important than the 420 watts "peak" the amp can put out - that's only in short bursts. It will maintain 170w continuously.

The sub is rated for 160w RMS, with a 600w peak - I should never have a problem with overpowering the speaker.

Matching the RMS wattage of the amp and sub is the way to get the best sound out of whatever you buy. Over- or underpowering your sub will only lead to distortion, either from the speaker or from the amp. And you are pretty safe if your speaker(s)' max is higher than your amp's max. That should safeguard against blowing anything out.

If I'm saying anything incorrectly here, I hope someone will set me straight - I'm not a pro, I've just done more than a few installs in my time.

zoomzoom21

hmm those are some no-name speakers in that picture.

the stock speakers in my car have been stamped with the pioneer logo but are still only 25watts. i have a 2002 protege sedan es.

mazda really needs to have a premium audio package i would have sprung for that. and metra needs to hurry up on the wiring harness i dont know how long my jerry-rigging will hold. this must be a government project if its taking this long to do a harness.