R56 speaker replacement how-to

[paul_voorn]

Hi Corey,
I'm going to be doing the same when I get back from vacation... How about posting some pictures (or even a YouTube video ;) ... I'm especially curious about
a) door panel removal
b) the wiring
let us know how it goes!

[Robin Casady]

It has been too long since I installed the Kappa tweeters in the A-pillars, but I don't recall it being difficult.

[coreygo]

Originally Posted by Robin Casady

It has been too long since I installed the Kappa tweeters in the A-pillars, but I don't recall it being difficult.

Unfortunately I think I might have messed up the drivers A-pillar holding bracket. I used the Dremel to remove the excess bits but I think perhaps I didn't remind the right portions of it to get the tweeter to sit correctly and tightly to the plastic.

It'd be really awesome if someone that's done this could take a few pics and highlight the bits that were cut and removed to make the tweeter fit.

I'm going to see if I can work something out with mine but most likely will have to pop for the left side replacement. Holding off on the right side till I can get it figured out.

I had thought I could use the bracket that came with the tweeter itself. To do this I literally cut out everything holding the OEM tweeter in place. It was super secure. There's that little pillar that can be seen once you remove stuff. I used this as a peg and a screw hole for the mount. I then used two pieces of the plastic as supports and glued it. Great, secure, looked good. Worked for me.

I got it down to the A-pillar and went to install. I think its butt is just way too big with that Infinity bracket, there's just no way I could get that plastic at the back near the window to stay, plus get the white pegs in place.

Oops

So tips or ideas are definitely appreciated at this point. I think maybe I could just use some hot glue and take the plastic body from the tweeter to best fitting edit of the A-pillar plastic. But I don't know.

It's almost a shame there's not an aftermarket replacement plastic solution to allow for more widely used tweeters.

[Robin Casady]

Originally Posted by coreygo

It'd be really awesome if someone that's done this could take a few pics and highlight the bits that were cut and removed to make the tweeter fit.

I'll be opening mine up soon to remove the Kappa tweeters. I'll try to take some photos, or at least describe what I did.

I haven't decided whether I'll put the new Image Dynamics tweeters in there, or in the door.

My CXS64 V.2 - Image Dynamics 6.5" 4 ohm Component System is supposed to ship today, and should only take two or three days to get here.

[coreygo]

Originally Posted by toolazyforalogin

there is absolutely no way that any of the infinity brackets will fit back there.

I may have just figured something out, basically I took the weird I-mount thing from the tweeter, cut everything off of it, cut it in half. This lets the tweeter still mount inside it and hold it securely. The butt of the tweeter sticks out a bit. What I plan on doing is gluing the mount to the pillar near that little peg that sticks up. I've basically gutted the pillar and there's no mounting plastic left. It's a shame I can't get a complete custom A-pillar made from this. But whatever.

Originally Posted by Robin Casady

I'll be opening mine up soon to remove the Kappa tweeters. I'll try to take some photos, or at least describe what I did.

I haven't decided whether I'll put the new Image Dynamics tweeters in there, or in the door.

Thanks, I'm tempted to wait and do the other one unless my hack works out.

If everything I've remembered in this thread is right, then don't the upper speakers get the complete unfiltered signal? If that's the case then shouldn't a 4" two-way like the 42.9i's I bought actually have a good signal to both the woofer and tweeter?

If that's the case then wouldn't your ID's have the same deal. There's still something nice about seeing nice tweeters in the A-pillars though.

One major issue I've just run in to with the 42.9i's is that Infinity has started using this "direct connect crossover" cabling.

http://www.myharman.com/images/products/KAPPA42_9I.jpg

There's just no way for the 42.9i to fit directly in there, I can't seem to get the housing apart on the stupid thing either to route it through the hole where the OEM speaker cable gets through there, there's a nice little spot for it to rest if I could.

I've cut the crossover off, if the upper speaker gets the full signal then I'd imagine I actually still need it right? I'm going to just butt connect the cable back together after I actually get the speaker mounted. This is really the only way I see to use the speaker. If I'm mistaken feel free to let me know.

[MotorMouth]

Originally Posted by Robin Casady

I'll be opening mine up soon to remove the Kappa tweeters. I'll try to take some photos, or at least describe what I did.

I haven't decided whether I'll put the new Image Dynamics tweeters in there, or in the door.

My CXS64 V.2 - Image Dynamics 6.5" 4 ohm Component System is supposed to ship today, and should only take two or three days to get here.

you are gonna love those ID speakers! I wish I could afford to get thier horns.

[Robin Casady]

Originally Posted by MotorMouth

you are gonna love those ID speakers! I wish I could afford to get thier horns.

Prices aren't bad at woofersetc.com. I ordered the lower price CTX65CS for $180, but they called and offered the CXS64 V.2 for $250.

The CTX69 6 x 9" 2 Way are $160, and the 4" CTX4 2-way are $100.

[MotorMouth]

Originally Posted by Robin Casady

Prices aren't bad at woofersetc.com. I ordered the lower price CTX65CS for $180, but they called and offered the CXS64 V.2 for $250.

The CTX69 6 x 9" 2 Way are $160, and the 4" CTX4 2-way are $100.

their round speakers aren't too expensive but I said horns.

http://www.woofersetc.com/p5007/CD2C...loy-Driver.htm

Actually the horns have come down in price but still a bit pricey.

The horns can get extremely loud with very little power. The ones i linked to have a recommended power of just 30 watts - and they'll be louder than any round speaker with 400 watts.

[toolazyforalogin]

Originally Posted by coreygo

One major issue I've just run in to with the 42.9i's is that Infinity has started using this "direct connect crossover" cabling.

http://www.myharman.com/images/products/KAPPA42_9I.jpg

There's just no way for the 42.9i to fit directly in there, I can't seem to get the housing apart on the stupid thing either to route it through the hole where the OEM speaker cable gets through there, there's a nice little spot for it to rest if I could.

I've cut the crossover off, if the upper speaker gets the full signal then I'd imagine I actually still need it right? I'm going to just butt connect the cable back together after I actually get the speaker mounted. This is really the only way I see to use the speaker. If I'm mistaken feel free to let me know.

This is why I went with the 42.7i rather than the 42.9i - but I do remember thinking to myself that there was plenty of room behind the OEM 4" to use the 42.9i when I was putting in the 42.7i - you sure you can't wrap it in concentric circles to make it fit?

[coreygo]

Originally Posted by toolazyforalogin

you sure you can't wrap it in concentric circles to make it fit?

Yeah, unfortunately I tried that but the outboard crossover is huge, shame since it doesn't need to be. I tried wrapping it and pushing it in there every which way but no go.

I would've totally gone for the .7's but Infinity didn't have them available anymore. I would've probably gone with something else entirely except I bought everything for less than $300 shipped. Hard to complain about that

[toolazyforalogin]

there is absolutely no way that any of the infinity brackets will fit back there.

[Robin Casady]

Some people have reported putting the crossovers in the door armrest. Here is a DIY on putting a Redline leather cover on the armrest to help you with removing it.

[toolazyforalogin]

Wait don't you have the HiFi? So you can cut the crossovers off and only connect the midrange and leave the tweeters unconnected. Doesn't that speaker has two sets of inputs (one for tweeter / one for midrange ) ?

[coreygo]

Originally Posted by Robin Casady

Some people have reported putting the crossovers in the door armrest.

Thought about this but the wiring isn't long enough so I'd have to cut anyway. I'll post pics up when I get it mounted in there.

Originally Posted by toolazyforalogin

Wait don't you have the HiFi? So you can cut the crossovers off and only connect the midrange and leave the tweeters unconnected. Doesn't that speaker has two sets of inputs (one for tweeter / one for midrange ) ?

Yeah I've got the HiFi. The .9's no longer have multiple inputs they've got some weird funky outboard crossover for my 4" speakers as well as the 6x9's I bought. It definitely seems like Infinity made things more complicated for people by trying to simplify things with their crossover and integrated wiring in the speaker.

I guess I need to examine the speaker a bit more closely since I'm not sure how they could have this outboard crossover yet only have 3 wires going to the speaker. There appears to be a board of some sort that the woofer and tweeters are soldered to. It definitely would've just been a whole lot simpler if they had just gone with two inputs... Leave the crossovers in the amps and outside of the speaker.

[coreygo]

Okay makes sense now. From the outboard crossover they've got a single wire for the signal for the tweeter and one for the woofer. There's a shared ground wire. Simple enough. I guess that makes modifying the 6x9 later a bit easier, I'll cut the wires going to the woofer and butt connect those to the wires from the amp directly. Then I'll plug the tweeter signal to the outboard crossover of the 3-way 6x9.

[Robin Casady]

Originally Posted by MotorMouth

their round speakers aren't too expensive but I said horns.

Oh.

Originally Posted by coreygo

Okay makes sense now. From the outboard crossover they've got a single wire for the signal for the tweeter and one for the woofer. There's a shared ground wire. Simple enough. I guess that makes modifying the 6x9 later a bit easier, I'll cut the wires going to the woofer and butt connect those to the wires from the amp directly. Then I'll plug the tweeter signal to the outboard crossover of the 3-way 6x9.

That might not be necessary. IIRC, the woofer wires for the 6x9 were only filtered at the bass (oddly enough) and otherwise had full range. Try connecting the crossover to the woofer wires and drop the tweeter wires.

[coreygo]

Well good news. The mod I did for the Infinity tweeter mount worked, literally I cut everything off of it and cut it in half depth wise. The little nubs remain to lock it in place and it's secure. I then just hot glue gunned the mount to the curved bit furthest away from seats. It's totally secure and fits well. It doesn't appear to be quite as angled back though, not sure it'll really matter tbh.


Anyway, I've also managed to mount the 4" as well as the 6.5". The 4" was a total PITA thanks to butt crimping the outboard crossover and such. There's barely any room to do it. It doesn't help I messed up the wire lengths either and so on. The 6.5" was super easy. It's kind of hard to tell if the tweeter and woofer are both getting the right signal in the 4"...

So all of that is done on the drivers side. The passenger side is still stock everything and remains untouched.

I probably spent the past hour just sitting with my head in the middle listening to stuff as I panned left and right comparing.

So far... I'm unimpressed I must admit. Unless I have the wiring wrong (though I did check the +/- twice) there's really no discernable difference between the left Infinity's and right stock. In fact the stock almost seem to have a tighter punch. What's really amusing is that when I set everything to 0 the sound just blends together and you really can't tell anything has changed at all. I would've thought there'd be a bigger difference between the two sides much like mis-matched speakers in a home theater. There's not though.

I'm hoping that getting the other side in will make me appreciate it more or somehow make it sound different. I think it'd be more of a placebo though since it'll be hard to compare once the stock is completely out.

Right now I'm wishing I had just fixed the rattles in my doors from when I bought the car and stuck with the stock speakers. I got a great deal, but even then, this seems like a lot of work for barely any return.

[Robin Casady]

When I installed the Infinity Kappas I noticed a significant improvement in clarity. I'm surprised that you can't tell the difference. The stock speakers were very muddy compared to the Kappas. However, I'm finding the Kappas too bright and will replace them.

[coreygo]

Originally Posted by Robin Casady

When I installed the Infinity Kappas I noticed a significant improvement in clarity. I'm surprised that you can't tell the difference.

Listened to them a bit more on my way to work. I can definitely tell a difference in clarity with some more material. I guess I just wish it was a bigger jump.

The biggest improvement has definitely been in the mid range there's no more muddy mess.

[blinkboy1491]

I know nothing about speakers, most of what's posted in this thread sounds like a foreign language. Could someone please just tell me what some good sounding, not to expensive speakers would be, and also where I can buy them. Also, I defiantly will not be installing so if anyone is in the St. Louis area and know of a place that would do a good job let me know. Thanks.

09 MC no HIFI

[Robin Casady]

This thread is supposed to be about how to install speakers. Probably best if you add to a another speaker recommendation thread, or start a new thread.

[coreygo]

With the left side done and sounding good finally did the right side. Wired everything up but the right lower wire coloring doesn't seem to match up with what's posted... unless I'm missing a post, keeping in mind this is for a HiFi system.

Was basing it on this:
Right front lower: yellow/brownstripe +, yellow/blackstripe -
Right front upper: blue/blackstripe +, blue/brownstripe -

But my lower has yellow/gray stripe and yellow/purple stripe. It doesn't help the OEM connector doesn't have any indications either.

Any ideas?

[Robin Casady]

Originally Posted by coreygo

But my lower has yellow/gray stripe and yellow/purple stripe. It doesn't help the OEM connector doesn't have any indications either.

My iData 3 records have:
Front Right Woofer (6 1/2")
39 - Yellow/Purple (+)
40 - Yellow/Gray (-)

Black and white stripes seem to be positive. Gray and brown stripes seem to be negative.

[coreygo]

Originally Posted by Robin Casady

Black and white stripes seem to be positive. Gray and brown stripes seem to be negative.

Awesome, thanks for the confirmation. That's pretty much what I guessed from doing the left side. Wired it that way, sounded good, but just wanted to be sure.

[JohnJohn]

Originally Posted by Robin Casady

My iData 3 records have:
Front Right Woofer (6 1/2")
39 - Yellow/Purple (+)
40 - Yellow/Gray (-)

Black and white stripes seem to be positive. Gray and brown stripes seem to be negative.

Any further confirmation on + vs - color? I just replaced the front uppers and lowers on my Clubman with Boost only stereo. They sound a little better, but not much. I used (4) Infinity Kappas with boost blockers on the uppers.

I am beginning to wonder if I got the +/- correct. Replacing the rears in a few days, so lower, upper and rear + colors would be a huge help.

Thanks,