Pinky:

The radio on the '02 sucks compared to what I had in my '00. Of course that was modified. . .

What should I do to my new '02? I want to keep the head unit the same for right now. Any suggestions on speakers and amps?

Thanks,

-Raul

 

Just get Lucids panels... They make a huge difference for little $s. He has a new amp harness too.

 

Ok here is my take on things and not to be out to bash Lucid on his mods.

The rear speakers do very little for me. I listened to them and they totally threw off the sound staging though did make the sound louder. Though louder isn't always better.

I have not said Jack about his wiring harnesses or anything like that. What his harnesses are is a set of harnesses that give wires out to hook up for speakers without cutting any wires.(things I have done for 8 years) As for the mute switch it was very cool he thought of it to turn the radio off.........though I have done that for 2 years with my mod for radio's that had no mute switch. He just did it for the stock unit.

The cutting of the rear plates is cool but the wiring up front is nothing special! I just catch to much shit if I try to sell anything other than my mod and even then I catch hell!!!!!!!

Airgate: As for keeping the stock radio......listen to a car with the rear speakers and see if you like them. For front speakers.......I really need to know the type of music you listen to. Though Cadence/Momentum/Kenwood/Pioneer all have some good speakers that I can hook you up with. Though the stock head puts out jack squot for power and doing an amp just amplifies shitty sound quality. So it will definitly be louder but a new head will give much cleaner signal!(as well as better highs and better lows)

If you have to go with a stock head to power an amp at least let me wire up the harness and get the Hi-Low converter for it as well as the amp. It will make your life much easier! Then later on if you want to swap out to a new radio its cake!!!!!!

Any more questions.

 

Didn't mean to offend you Pinky...

I agree with you about the soundstage a little, but that was easily corrected. I guess I'm just happy with Lucids panels as I've never been into doing car audio. I spend the bulk of my audio $s on home theater stuff.

 

I agree sound staging will never be perfect in this car its noisy and its an open air roadster. Couple that to the fact your legs muffle the sound from the door speakers. The stock radio has 2 unused channels. Why not use them?

I've made an inexpensive solution that most owners can install themselves in under an hour. And from the number of people I've dealt with (close to 50 now) who have done this have agreed that it is worthwhile and does make a difference.

To advanced installers like Pinky and EE's my harnesses would be "nothing special." But for $60 for a stock harness thats been custom built for this car, soldered, off circuit added (diode protected), double insulated AND tested in an S2000 (before shipping) is very reasonable. All people need to do is plug one end into the car, the other into the radio and you're done. The amping harness keith referred to I sell for around $80 - same features but I work in a line converter to yield RCA preamps and an remote amp trigger.

Cutting the rear panels to exact specs and mounting their speakers helps owners out as well. Could someone do this themselves? Sure, but make a mistake and you could be waiting well over a month to order in new ones (I know this!).

I agree that the stock radio isn't very good. But not all people people want to spend $400 for a head unit and a PAC SWI to save dash controls, plus amp, new wiring etc. They just want a easy inexpensive upgrade to hear their radio better.

I don't mean to be long-winded and I respect Pinky's derision. I just wanted to let it be know that I have been fair with people and they have been happy with the results of my mod.

 

A lot of people say the stock radio ('00 & '01) is crap. I don't mind it at all and the Lucid rear speaker thing was the icing on the cake. It was my understanding that the '02 stereo was a step up from the previous models (more amperage, tweeters, better main speakers) and yet you say it's crap. Geez, I guess some people aren't happy till they can rattle windows or irritate the hell out of others with that "thumpa, thumpa" when you drive by. Or maybe I'm just happy with the simpler things in life.

 

Well said Lucid. Like I've told you I think the rear panels are the best thing I've gotten for my car. Why Honda didnt put two speakers back there is beyond me.

I'm one of those folks who couldn't be bothered changing head units. I just want my music loud enough in my car to hear it, which with the rear speakers it is.

With the rears and my Sony 1621s in the fronts you need to fade to the front to even things out. Soundstage is always piss poor to me in a car, whether its a factory system, or a $2000 professionally installed system. When I really want to "listen" to music I just sit on my couch and fire up my 7-channel Yamaha DSP, Velodyne sub, and 7 B&W speakers.