Sound System Upgrade

[Icehawk]

Do people swap the subs like the FK8? I did it when I got mine a few years ago.

Do you mean just swap the driver in the OEM enclosure and no additional amping? If so I think I'm the only person to do that so far and I don't really recommend it unless you can find a very inexpensive driver.

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[Ultimateone]

Do you mean just swap the driver in the OEM enclosure and no additional amping? If so I think I'm the only person to do that so far and I don't really recommend it unless you can find a very inexpensive driver.

yes, swapping the actual subwoofer, it was a super popular thing that actually made a difference in the fk8

 

[Icehawk]

yes, swapping the actual subwoofer, it was a super popular thing that actually made a difference in the fk8

I used the RF driver most FK8 folks did and yes, it is better but that driver is now $170 and it doesn't deliver that much improvement. Money is much better spent on, IMO, this order:

Front doors
Front tweeters
Center (if you use it for music)
Rear doors
Rear tweeters
Center

Way down subwoofer
Way farther down, like don't do it, the C pillars

I have a thread were I'm detailing my replacement of all the drivers, you can read more about the sub there. I'm hoping to get this completed sometime before the end of the year or early January.

 

[Ultimateone]

I used the RF driver most FK8 folks did and yes, it is better but that driver is now $170 and it doesn't deliver that much improvement. Money is much better spent on, IMO, this order:

Front doors
Front tweeters
Center (if you use it for music)
Rear doors
Rear tweeters
Center

Way down subwoofer
Way farther down, like don't do it, the C pillars

I have a thread were I'm detailing my replacement of all the drivers, you can read more about the sub there. I'm hoping to get this completed sometime before the end of the year or early January.

Thanks, I will be doing something similar whenever I can find the car!

 

[randyespo]

CDT 2ohm driver replacement in the doors, better tweeters of your preference.

That's the cheapest & easiest IMO and what I'll do eventually - the Bose system is fine at moderate volume but these will give a bit more overhead and sound much better IME (I did this upgrade in my ND Miata) even without replacing amplification. Anything else and the price and complexity of the install rapidly goes up.

Icehawk, I'm an audio upgrade novice....I'm thinking of doing my front doors as you suggest. My local shop is recommending BLAM. Any experience with these? Would you expect a nice upgrade in sound quality? Thanks.

 

[Icehawk]

I'm not familiar with that brand - I took a look and they do offer 2ohm options. I'd ask if they can demo something with their drivers so you can get a sense of what they might sound like - bear in mind the Bose amp isn't going to give you their best sound. I would recommend doing the tweeters as well particularly if you are going to be paying for an installation - the front doors are very simple and require no special tools as you can buy a correct plug adapter and mounting bracket, it's the tweeter that needs a more skilled touch. It's a bit of a rabbit hole tbh because next you'll notice how you can hear the audio from the rear doors and they sound terrible

My expectation is that any quality driver is going to sound noticeably better, folks have reported good results with brands other than CDT on the Miata.net forum where I did the same thing when I had a ND Miata w/Bose. I would love to hear someone's system who went the other way though - amp/processer upgrade and stock drivers.



Also to update my recommendations now that I've completed my setup - I think most people can skip the dash speaker, I do notice the improvement but it's small and most people probably don't use Bose Centerpoint. OTOH, it's not expensive and one you can mount it yourself with a little creativity. I've got 3 spare upgrades if anyone is looking!

SQ improvement source:
64% front door
15% f tweet
15% rears (combined), haven't sat in the back really this is just perception from driver's seat
5% center
1% sub
0% c pillars

I recommend skipping the sub and c-pillars, I didn't get much ROI on the sub and c-pillars are pointless. I may trying amping the sub at some point but I also don't want toss more money down a hole.

 

[Ricerocketeer0]

Decided to go through with adding a little more bass.

Custom Enclosure

Rockford Fosgate R2-500X1 Prime

Rockford Fosgate Punch P3D4-12

She hits now.

@RazgrizOne where did you tap into? the rear speakers or sub? would love to know more about your wiring setup

 

[RazgrizOne]

Tapped directly into the sub line from the factory

There's a whole bunch of videos and posts on YouTube/Forums showing the process pretty in-depth on the FK8 and it's very similar on the FL5.

 

[Ricerocketeer0]

Tapped directly into the sub line from the factory

There's a whole bunch of videos and posts on YouTube/Forums showing the process pretty in-depth on the FK8 and it's very similar on the FL5.

Thank you! I have been reading/watching those as well. I did notitce that there were some comments saying that the sub didn't have the full frequency spectrum on the sub line (although i am not sure if that really matters at the end of the day since we only need the lower frequencies)

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