Hi guys, I haven't been on here in 9 years or so...but I'm back in the S2000 community, I just got a 2001 GPW/Red. I'm addressing the sound system and buying all the pieces at the moment. Obviously the car does not have OEM tweeters and I don't really want to cut into the door panels. I've got a JL Audio 10" sub for the trunk in the tool well and a Kenwood HU so far. I had an Alpine PDX in my last 2003 which I liked and have one in my '94 MR2 currently. I'm thinking of replacing that with another or maybe a JL Audio Slash.

I know I can fit pretty much any 6.5" with some spacers. My question is two parts...

1) If I got a component set of speakers is there another place to mount the tweeters that has worked well, without cutting the door panels?

2) Would I be losing a tremendous amount by just going with coaxial speakers and avoiding the cutting? Is there any recommendations?

I was also looking into the JL Audio C3-600's. This seems to be a compromise, has anybody had any experience with these?

Thanks for any feedback.

 

if it matters any i went with a pair of Kicker DSC650 from amazon for about 65$ and used a Metra 72-7800 speaker harness which plugs into the factory speaker harness so I didnt have to splice any wires. To mount the speakers to the doors I used a set of speaker adapters from car-speaker-adapters.com model "SAK033". The adapters are made from PVC and everything mounted to OEM locations on the door. They are kind of pricey at 35$ or so shipped but they wont deform when it gets moist like MDF would. Another big plus is that they look factory and come with all the hardware needed. Everything listed above fit as factory within the OEM dimensions, so I didnt have to bend or contort the factory door card when I reinstalled it. Just be mindful and use snug as a tightness when screwing into the car speaker adapter. I have a sony DSX s-300 HU with the modifry DCI to retain oem functionaility of the side controls. Though everything is powered by the OEM amp, I did notice quite a difference just bolting the speakers in, it may not be an audiophiles setup but its lightyears better than the OEM stereo.


edit
I forgot to mention that it took about 2-3 weeks for my speaker adapters to ship. I tried emailing and contacting the company but received no update. So factor that into consideration.

 

The ap1 doesn't have factory tweeters? Didn't realize that.

My Pioneer component speakers came with with a mounting pod for the tweeters tbat I didn't need for my ap2 (ap2 has factory tweeter, so I just replaced factory one with Pioneer, and it fit perfectly).

So if your car doesn't have factory tweeter, maybe mount aftermarket tweeter using mounting pod, attached to door card in same location that ap2 tweeter is located.

 

I can't recall for sure, I believe the AP1 didn't get the door tweeters until the 2002 model. The door card isn't going to work mainly because, as I originally stated, I don't want to damage them.

 

Perhaps buy a used set of door panels and keep the original ones tucked away

There used to be components that also included a mount to make them like a coax and you could angle the tweeter, not sure if anyone still does that or not.

I'm currently running JL C5's, they're decent. I'd think the C3's will be fine.

 

The C3's are "convertibles" like you're talking about.

I was actually thinking about maybe in front of the door handles the tweeter could be installed. It's not ideal, but at least I could get it in the exact same location. The curve on the passenger side of the door at the top is holding me up. I don't want to drill into that and it look kind of cheesy. If I could find some Red door cards with OEM mounts, that would be optimal, I'm having a very hard time coming across a pair...plus, do I want to spend $400-$500 on them just so I have a stock tweeter location.

 

Perhaps look into placing them on the A pillar up by the dash.

FTR, I have a second set of door panels for my 05 I bought 10+ years ago since I altered an original set. All depends if you need/want a better stereo rather than cutting/drilling into your panels or not, only you can answer that question.

 

Many '00-'01 owners have mounted speakers in the panels behind the seats, the benefit being that you can fit something larger than just tweeters (and no need to change/cut door panels). I put 4" speakers there, but you can fit at least 5.25, possibly much more. Look/ask in the Electronics sub-forum for ideas.

 

In my 01 I had tweets mounted in my A pillar down in corner a few inches up from dash. I always thought they were factory. I bought the car used with only 22k miles, original owner was some old guy in his 60-70's. Stock door speakers and radio otherwise. Seems like a lot of trouble for nothing. Still sounded like shit Why I figured they were factory They looked factory.