Dotay

I am looking to upgrade the stereo in my S2000 in large part due to the fact that the sound is so largely determined by where I rest my left leg while I'm driving. It really is amazing to me how much treble is lost by a small move in the leg in this car. I think I'd like to go with a relatively inexpensive coax <$100 like maybe the Alpine SPR-17LP or one of the Infinity Reference series 6 1/2"'s. My question is do these speakers suffer the same leg induced SQ tradeoffs similar to the stock speakers or is the tweeter able to eliminate some of these problems?

I'd like to stay with the coax's if they don't suffer the same pitfalls as the stock speakers but if they do I'll be going with a more robust setup with the new AscendentAudio Arco components and amp and subwoofer combo. I'd like to get off on the cheap though if the sound is respectable. I guess I could always try them out and if they suck in the doors move them to the rears as I've seen some people do.

Also, I'm not completely sold on these particular coax's so if someone else wants to suggest an under $100 set I'd be all ears.


Oh, and I'm also looking to buy a new Alpine headunit (Alpine 9856 or 9857) to drive the speakers with if I stick with the coax's.

golfpro

I've run Infinity Reference coax's in three of our cars (all non-S2000) and was very happy with them. The tweeter can be rotated and aimed at your listening position. This helps somewhat with the "knee blocking" phenomenon, but I'm afraid space is so tight in our 2000's that it might still be a problem.

The best viable solution would be components and mounting the tweeters a little higher on the door (as Honda has done with later MY's.) Again, Infinity's Reference series are decent speakers but you'd want to add an amp to provide them with enough power to really sing.
-golfpro

LubedKoala

If you don't already have it. Get the lucid rears or the S-pods. They significantly improve sound quality in the car. When you get the Alpine HU, be sure to set up the Time correction. Inside of my car sounds like a surround sound home theater system. I can hear all the speakers equally and can't tell where the sound is coming from...its so cool!

Dotay

I'd like to stick to just in door speakers if possible assuming I could get adequate sound out of some coax speakers. If I couldn't I'd probably just step up to components but I'd still like to get out on the cheap if I can. The way I figure it is the S2000 isn't exactly the quietest car in the world so I'm a bit hesitant to sink a bunch of money on super high quality components given the noisy nature of the car. I'm also not too keen on adding sound deadening since I auto-x the car and would like to keep excess weight down if possible.

So back to my original question, does anyone actually have coax speakers located in the doors of their S2000? If so how do they sound?

oth

I put coaxs into my '01, and felt they were a worthwhile improvement,
but only because the '01 stock speakers were terrible, not because they
provide much if any difference in the "knee-blocking" effect.
Alas, all they did was whet my appetite for better sound, so I've continued
to upgrade piece by piece, and will soon add component front speakers.
If you only swap speakers, make sure you get very efficient ones as
the stock headunit doesn't have much power.
I'm not sure any reasonable quality 6.5" coaxs that you'd put in the
front could subsequently be moved to the rear as there isn't too much
room back there for the magnets, though I think some people have done
it by removing a little metal.

Dotay

Bummer...that's what I was afraid of. Looks like I'm gonna bite the bullet and go with the components/amp/sub combo then. Thanks for the reply.

golfpro

Unless you're planning on running your car at the Runoffs, don't worry about the excess weight. The benefits of adding Dyanmat or similar material far outweigh the gain in weight. (no pun intended) You're lap times will not go down because you added some Dynamat.

As I stated before, I was very pleased with the Infinity Reference 6.5's in my cars. Having since upgraded to components (with an amplifier), I'll never go back. The improvement in sound quality is night and day. Keep in mind, these were not in my S2000. The plan there is to replace the head unit and add an amp to power new components.
-gp