ICE upgrade
 

My son is driving soon and I want him to drive the S2K his brother drives a 2016 Mx5 Club Sport which has a decent sound system being a newer car. We were discussing this and the only request he asked for is a better sound system with the capability of playing his phone thru the radio. I can see that replacing the head unit would accomplish this which we did but the sound was awful so I put back the stock one. If I can get decent sound and have bluetooth while keeping the stock head unit that would be perfect. What other upgrades would we need to do to make the sound decent. Speakers, amplifier, better head unit? I would like to keep the remote audio controls.

I am just trying to shorten the mix and match time and also avoid buying the wrong combination. Thanks

Which aftermarket head unit did you try? I've found the cheaper models can sound pretty horrible especially with stock speakers - I had a Kenwood KDC-BT755HD that sounded it it was playing from the bottom of a well.

It won't be easy getting decent sound out of the stock head unit and speakers. Bluetooth can sort of be added to a stock setup using an Bluetooth to FM adapter in the cigarette lighter socket but that probably won't do unless you're not looking for much audio quality.

How much you upgrade depends on how much time, money, and effort you want to spend on it. First step would be a head unit and shallow 6.5" coaxial speakers which would be a direct swap and reuse the stock wiring.

The S2000 is a noisy cabin so you may want a bit more power, and Sony sells 2 head units that have a better amp built into the head unit but will require you to run a separate power wire from the battery through the firewall to the head unit. Above that there are compact amps like the Alpine KTP-445U but you will need to run power/ground wires and your own speaker wiring, as well as finding places to tuck it out of sight. Of course, if you're willing to go beyond that the sky's the limit.

Easiest way to do that and keep the dash radio controls is to get the Modifry DCI and a pre-made PnP harness - he has them for Alpine, Kenwood, and Pioneer head units.

A minimal speaker upgrade would be a pair of shallow 6.5" coaxial speakers. I know the Polk db651s fit the OEM Honda speaker baskets but I don't know if their replacements, the db652, have the exact same fitment. If you buy from a place like Crutchfield they'll also provide speaker harnesses (e.g. Metra 72-7800) to connect the original speaker plug in the doors to the terminals on the new speakers.

That said, I don't know if a head unit and speaker upgrade alone would be enough. I started with a minimal upgrade using a Kenwood head unit and Polk speakers and was disappointed until I added the compact Alpine amp to the mix.

I'll add a few things:

• many people have run the roughly 45 watts RMS from an Alpine mini-amp or similar through the factory speaker wires without problems
• the headunit fuse is 15A which appears to be the minimum for both the Alpine amp and the Sony high-power headunits, so you may not have to run a separate power wire.
• if you do need to run a separate power wire fused in the range of 15-20 amps, you can connect it to an accessory terminal in the under-dash fuse box rather than directly to the battery (much easier)
• look for the most efficient speakers possible (highest "sensitivity") - every 3dB increase equates to 1/2 the power required for the same output!
• the Modifry DCI is great - if you buy a headunit that he doesn't make a plug&play harness for, get his universal harness and you'll have no trouble splicing it to the new headunit's harness

Great Input's. This maybe stupid but I beg your pardon guys, what is Modifry DCI?

This is a 45 watt Sony head unit, from Crutchfield. They have a disclaimer that if the head unit face stick out the door would not close. Will this do that?
Sony MEX-GS820BT

Now Speakers, based on Crutchfield this shoud work Polk Audio DB 652

In addition will this fit under the seat? Sound Ordnance B-8PTD

What do you guys think?

Modifry DCI:
DCIs (Dash Control Interface)

I don't know if there are really any head units that have problems with the front door closing. I'm using a Kenwood KIV-701 with a huge front knob and the door still closes without issue.

As for that under seat sub, it may fit but then you'll obviously need to run power, ground, and audio cables for it.

From what I understand and have seen from taking apart the interior, I think you will have better luck trying to fit a sub behind the passenger seat rather than under. there is not much room (like 3 inches max) below them. As for everything else, I have an alpine marine amp in another car that has built in bluetooth and works well but It will be a pain to wire up to the S2k. I bought a pioneer x8800 and it seemed to sound pretty good through the stock speakers, maybe look into it? I will warn you that if you do upgrade the stock speakers, it will probably mean adding an amp. All the modern headunits ive seen lately have really pitiful amplifiers built in. gone are the 45wx4 days.

thanks

10-17-2020.

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I hadn't planned on spending my weekend in a bathroom with three cats but I'm so glad I can! I arrived at my son's house just after midnight on Saturday morning. We're waiting out the fire here. I know it's getting scary right now at the house because they just made another mandatory evacuation about four miles north of my house. The fire's coming from the west and the north but I still have confidence that my house won't burn. My next door neighbors did not evacuate and the last time I talked to him he said it's really gotten windy as predicted.