It is time to upgrade my factory door speakers. I have done some research, but I am not completely sold on a set-up yet. I am curious to what kind of upgraded speakers locals have chosen. Did you run an amp / change anything else out?

Thanks in advance!

 

I have always used the component speakers which need an amp. I have had audiobahn, Hiphonics, and heard several others. I really liked the hiphonic speakers that I have in my civic as they were pretty easy to install and sounded great. You can get away with a fairly small amp as well. Something like a 75watt RMS x2 at 4ohm will do just fine and be much louder and clearer than stock. Don't go cheap but you don't need to break the bank. The speakers can run about $80 for the set and the amp around $150-250. 4 guage wiring kit will be more than you ever need. They make some crazy tiny amps that are super easy to hide. Let me know if you want more help. I am no expert but I have done a few installs and always gone the route of good every day use but not breaking the bank.

 

I had Boston pro components and an alpine pdx 4.150 4 channel on two channels. Haven't heard a better sound yet.

 

Oh and should have mentioned you will need a aftermarket headunit. I love alpine but pioneer and kenwood are both fine.

 

I have Kicker components now, but I think I prefer my old Kenwood components that I replaced. Come out to a meet and you're more than welcome to hear them.

 

Oh yeah, headunit makes a lot of difference. Even with factory speakers.

 

I upgraded the head unit to a pioneer deck with Bluetooth. Surprising the hands-free bluetooth works really good. I also did the metra aswc to retain the dash controls. I did look at a kicker speaker component set-up. I was looking at the kicker ds65.2 or the ks65.2 series. Do you know what series you have? Also what amp are you using to run them? If I only plan on powering the door speakers with the amp, I would only need a 2 channel amp, correct? The kicker speakers were rated at 120watts and 150watts each side for peak powering. So I really wouldn't need an amp bigger than 300watts,right?

 

Sound system was one of my first upgrades. Pioneer deck with Bluetooth, a 4x50 watt amp, MB Quart component speakers (no longer available), and the Modifry interface. Boston Acoustics makes great component speakers. I was never impressed with Kickers.

Find an actual store where you can do some comparison listening before you buy, since speakers are the most subjective piece of any sound system. Bring a wide sampling of well-recorded music with you.

Your main issue will be trying to seal up the doors to get the best sound out of them. The doors are designed to be light, not soundproof. Dynamat helps.

The deck install is very straightforward. The speakers are a bit trickier, and the amp add is the bitch. Trying to thread all the wiring for power and speakers in a car that small and that tightly wrapped was an adventure, but the end result is well worth it.

Still dreaming of a place for a small sub to augment the low end, but not willing to give up trunk space to do it.

Find a smallish amp and you can mount it on a board between the top of the gas tank and the bottom of the well for the convertible top and not lose any trunk space. There are several good install writeups with pictures on the forums here, which is where that idea came from.