I just recently bought a 1-owner 2007 G35 Coupe with ~93k miles on it, and it sounds like either the driver's door woofer or tweeter is blown. It has a slight static sound on certain frequencies.

I'm interested in getting rid of the crappy blown speaker and possibly improving sound quality some. My G35 is bone stock and the radio was replaced around ~80,000 miles, before I purchased the car, so I won't be replacing it at this time. I want to maintain factory appearance as much as possible.

I've done a ton of research on this and other forums about replacing the door speakers on these cars, and while there's a decent amount of info out there, most of it is very old and references component sets that are now discontinued. I'd like something that will work fine now, but also gives me the option to replace the factory amp at some point.

My driver's window motor is doing the auto roll down crap, which the reset only fixes temporarily, so it makes sense to go ahead and replace the door speakers while I'm in there to fix the window motor.

My questions are:

Is using a 2-ohm speaker crucial? I've seen some say it is and others say that a highly efficient 4 ohm speaker will work just fine with the factory 2-ohm amp. I don't want to put any unnecessary strain on the factory amp, even though I'll probably replace it one day since the consensus seems to be that it is garbage.

Is there a guide somewhere for how to wire in the crossover for an aftermarket component speaker set?

Does anyone have dimensions or tweeters that will fit in the factory location without much modification? I'm not interested in removing one of the mirror bolts like I read about another guy doing on another forum or cutting up the panel anymore than absolutely necessary(none if possible). I work for an engineering company with high end 3D printers, so I can design and print a custom mount if needed, but I'll have to get tweeters in-hand that will physically fit before I can draw up some sort of custom bracket.

So far, I've narrowed my choices to the following(open to more suggestions):

Infinity Primus PR6500cs:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_108P650...-PR6500cs.html

Super cheap, excellent reviews on Amazon and Crutchfield. 3/4" tweeters would buy me some extra room as opposed to 1" like most people use on these cars. Woofer magnets appear smaller than some (Kappa Perfect 6.1s) so interference in the door shouldn't be an issue. These are 3-ohm, but they market them as 4-ohm when factory wiring is taken into account?? Crossovers seem smaller than most(easier to mount). 93db sensitivity

Infinity Reference 6030cs:

2-ohm woofers is the main selling point on these. They're also affordable and well reviewed, but it has 1" tweeters that I'm afraid may be a pain to mount and the crossovers seem bigger than some others (Infinity PR6500cs). 92db sensitivity

Alpine SPR-60C:
http://www.crutchfield.com/p_500SPR6...e-SPR-60C.html

Slightly more expensive, but still under $150 if you look around. The main appeal of these is that the tweeters look very shallow and the magnets are neodymium and thus very small. Crossovers also look very small. 4-ohm. 88db sensitivity.

CDT Audio CL-61A.2-25 PRO:

One of the only other factory 2-ohm 6.5/6.75 component sets I've been able to find. More expensive than the others. Not a lot of reviews, but seem to be well liked. Crossovers look huge. 91.6 dB sensitivity


Lastly, I am interested to hear if anyone has used these:

I know most people make or use the MDF spacers, but I feel better about plastic since it's not moisture sensitive like MDF.

 

My advice would be at the very least get a new amp and totally ditch the speakers u mentioned. Cdt isnt bad but alpine and infinity are very very low quality speakers. If you dont want to spend on a dd kit and good head unit then get a new amp, rewire everything, get your self a set of entry level speakers . The more u spend the better sound quality will be. Morel ,hertz,focal,hybridaudio are very good names that have 250 dollar components up to very expensive sets. Hybrid audio has a set called hat imagine,those are cheaper but very good, hertz has the 165 hsk with is around 300 they also have the hsk xl which are great for around 700. Morel has a few good entry components, 1 of them are the maximo. For around 200 they sound pretty good.

Your factory amp will be hard to get to sound good with anything but bose if its a bose system.

 

Will I have to get a 2ohm amp to work with the factory speakers? Also, I've read I would need an amp that accepts differential balanced inputs. Is there an easy way to determine what amps support this other than researching every amp by every manufacturer?

If I'm going to get a new amp, it seems the best route would be to replace all the speakers with 4 ohm models at the same time.

DD kit is probably going to happen at some point, but I want it to look as factory as possible, which means I'd get the JDM kit, but it looks like that would be about $1,000 by the time I get the JDM kit, a decent DD HU and get it installed.

The Hertz HSK 165s look like they run closer to $450, which is just too far out of my price range given I'm not after amazing sound quality. Did you mean Hertz ESK165? The only reason I was looking at Infinity's components is that most of the old threads regarding replacing the door components in these cars point to some flavor of Infinity.

I haven't done much car audio research in several years, but my previous vehicle was an S-10 with all Pioneer speakers (4x6" dash, 6.5" doors, 4x10" in rear all in factory locations) running off a higher end Sony HU and a Adire Audio Brahma 12" in a sealed box with a Hifonics 1000watt amp. None of those components would be considered top of the line (except maybe the Brahma), but I was very pleased with the sound I got from that setup.

 

No, they don't have to be 2 ohm. 2-4 will be ok with the stock amp, but the stock amp sucks.

JL Audio amps all do differential-balanced signals, so they're a safe (albeit more expensive) bet. Other than them, you've got to research the individual amp.

If you're looking for a really good speaker at a good price, I can't recommend about $200 Image Dynamics CTX65-CS. I've got them in my wife's car and depending on the song, I prefer them to my much more expensive Boston Acoustics Pro60se's.

 

Those image dynamic are also good. Do you want to use a sub? It basically works like this in a nutshell. Your interior speakers now are 2 ohm off a 2 ohm amp.. that amp has a very low output to the 2 ohm speakers. The whole stock system sucks.

You need either a 2 channel amp or 4 channel amp And new speakers

If your doing front and rear speakers u need a 4 channel amp to make things simple.

Chose your speakers. I recommend not using rear speakers and spending extra on front component.
After u pick your speakers it will tell you what rms they run on.

Say the speakers are 100 rms, get an amp rated 100 rms or more, dont go less becuase the sound quality is better when you match or some cases over power the speakers rather than under powering.

As far as a stock head unit idk how to make that work with a amp,ive never done that .

 

I concur on front speakers + sub only. Music is not mastered in surround, so a left and right channel is the most natural way to listen. Money saved can go towards higher quality speakers - or - sound deadening! My favorite sound deadening is from https://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/ real, quality adhesive and thick materials. Not a roll of roofing tar.

 

Thanks for the recommendations.

So, you're saying run without either set of rear speakers (rear side panels and rear deck)?

If so, how's this look for a setup?

Front Components:
http://www.imagedynamicsusa.net/inde...5cs-components

Enclosure:
http://www.wickedcas.com/product.php...&cat=18&page=1

Subwoofer:
http://www.jlaudio.com/10w3v3-2-car-...-drivers-92150

Amp:
http://www.jlaudio.com/xd500-3-car-a...plifiers-98267

I'd like to keep the stock H.U. as long as it's still working, since I prefer to keep as close to an O.E.M. look as possible.

 

Its a decent set up. The thing is with stock hu You really have no way to adjust anything. If ur happy with just an upgrade then thats fine.

Its really all up to how much u wanna spend. If ur on a budget i say get a cheaper amp like the ppi900.4 and use it as 3 channel. And get a dsp with the 200 u have left over. Ppi has a dsp for around 200 .

Yes ,no rear speakers at all. If you get a dsp you will have every capability that a new head unit will have as far as making it sound good.

 

From what I've read, I'll have to have an amp that accepts differential balanced inputs and it doesn't look like that PPI does.

The JL XD500/3 seems like a good option since it is quite small, accepts differential balanced inputs, and can be had fairly cheaply on eBay.

I think I'll be fine with the sound without a aftermarket H.U. or DSP right now. Sure, it won't reach it's max potential, but it has to be better than stock, right?

 

Yea if what you want is just better than stock then thats a good set up, just make sure u dont use copper clad wires for the speakers or cheap rca wires for the amps and ur good to go

 

How are you planning on communicating with the amp from the head unit?

 

I won't be. I haven't made an adjustment to the system/sub in my truck for years now. If I can get to a place where I'm happy with the sound without a DSP or HU, it will just stay the same.

If I get the JL amp, I may mount the little control **** somewhere inconspicuous, but my old Hifonics amp in my truck has one of those, and again, I never mess with it.

 

Any other thoughts on this setup? Anything I'm missing? (other than wiring, fuses, etc...)

Front Components:
Image Dynamics CTX65CS
http://www.imagedynamicsusa.net/inde...5cs-components

Enclosure:
Wicked CAS Magic Box
http://www.wickedcas.com/product.php...&cat=18&page=1

Subwoofer:
JL 10w3v3 (2ohm or 4 ohm? Thinking 2 ohm since the amp has higher output at 2 ohm)
http://www.jlaudio.com/10w3v3-2-car-...-drivers-92150

Amp:
JL XD500/3
http://www.jlaudio.com/xd500-3-car-a...plifiers-98267

The amp would be running the front components and subwoofer only. I'm thinking when I do a double din swap I could hook the rear-side and rear-deck speakers back up and just let the headunit power them for a little bit of fill instead of just leaving them dormant.

 

Looks good to me. You'll need some speaker spacers up front. If you're handy with a router and MDF board, you can make your own, but otherwise, zenclosures.com makes good ones.

 

I was planning on using the plastic speaker spacers in my original post since I would prefer not to have wood in the doors at all.

The Image Dynamics components you mentioned earlier, did you have them installed in a coupe? I'm just trying to make sure there are as few fitment surprises as possible before I dive in.


Edit: I just noticed in your sig that your wife's car is a sedan. Is the tweeter setup similar in those? I don't foresee many problems with the speakers, but it seems a lot of folks have trouble fitting tweeters in the factory location.