DIY: Aftermarket rear speaker install on FG2 (excluding subwoofer) *Lots of pictures*

[mort]

After searching I found that no one has posted a DIY about how to install aftermarket rear speakers. There are a few people who have said they managed to mount new speakers into the frame of the oem speakers, but there are no instructions available to my knowledge. I tried this method with success. So, here is the DIY.. enjoy

First, here are a few comparison shots of the oem and new speakers:

Here is a box shot of the new speakers:


Top view of the speakers side by side (Pioneer and oem)


Bottom view of the speakers side by side


Side profile of the speakers side by side (to show depth)


Now it is time to disassemble the oem speakers and prepare them to be mounted to the new speakers:

First you need to cut the plastic supports. I have included circles around each one. *This will destroy your oem speakers*


Then cut the outside material on the top of the speaker as shown.


You can now remove the speaker section from the mounting/spacer apparatus.


I suppose it depends on which aftermarket speaker you choose, but most likely you will need to follow this next step which involves cutting off the plastic rim/lip that protrudes upward from the oem mount.


Here is a shot halfway through the cutting process.


Here is a shot after the cutting is complete. I left the section on top intact which needs to be there in order to bolt back on to the car *it also helps to align the new speaker*


I then smoothed the rough edges with a razor blade so the lip now sits flush with the rest of the top. *This step may not be necessary depending on how you cut the lip off in the first place. I used wire cutters so I had a lot of jaggies left to deal with*


Now the preparation is complete and it is time to mount the new speaker into the newly created apparatus.

*Now may be a good time to attach the wires to the speakers as it may be more difficult after the speakers are set in*


Here the new speaker is aligned and sitting on top of the frame. It fits like a glove.


The next step is to mount the speaker to the frame with screws (they should be included with the new speakers). It may be hard to see in the photo, but I put the two bottom screws in the inside holes and the two top screws in the outside (one side opened) holes.

The speaker is mounted and is ready to be installed in the car.



Here is a shot of the rear. *I have added a couple circles where you can see the screws have penetrated through to the back*


The following photos are of the new speakers installed in the car:

Two inside shots:




Three outside shots:






Two trunk shots:
As you can see there are no clearance issues whatsoever. No modifications of any kind were required inside the trunk or on the deck where the speakers sit. Some aftermarket speakers may be bigger though and might require cutting of the trunk bars.




What to do with the old oem speakers?

Now that the oem speakers have been destroyed you can either throw them away or you can salvage the clips from them if you decide you want to use the stock clips on the new speakers by soldering them on. I have included a photo below of one of the clips removed. I just used the wire cutters to do this.


DIY complete.. and some final words..
It may look like a lot of stuff but the total install took me about 1 1/2 hours. *It may not go so smoothly with different aftermarket speakers due to different sizes and hole patterns.*

As for the sound improvement, there are some ups and downs. There is no doubt the new speakers sound much, much better than the old ones. However, the stock Honda head unit (Civic Si Navigation) is horribly underpowered and there are few equalizer options. So the new speakers seem a little quiet compared to the old ones because the head unit simply cannot provide the necessary power to run them (an aftermarket amplifier would be a good idea). I played with the "equalizer" on the "Premium Sound System" and came up with a temporary solution. I moved the sound fader two clicks to the rear and now it sounds pretty evenly dispersed..

Anyway here's a photo of how I set the "equalizer."


I hope this guide will be of use to someone. Good luck.

[Mikey6p]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to mort again.

[sbigshot]

Awesome DIY .... this will help anyone wanting to make an upgrade! My buddy is a product trainer for Pioneer ... he'll be glad to hear you used one of their products.

[Mikey6p]

I forgot to add, I had those exact same speakers in my old car. They sound damn awesome for the price.

[Nomar06]

Nice diy. I tried this a few months back but didnt want to rip up the stock speakers. Might be something Ill do later on.

[mort]

Thanks guys.

[Kroze]

or you could just go to crutchfield and they'll give you the speaker bracket for free.

[mort]

Originally Posted by Kroze

or you could just go to crutchfield and they'll give you the speaker bracket for free.

It would help if you could post up a URL and/or photos. The purpose of this thread is to help people.

[cbizz]

U DA MAN!!!, great DIY

[J-Ro]

I'm going to be doing some fairly invasive work on the front speakers, and I really hadn't planned on doing anything to the back. Now that I've read this, I think I might

[Kroze]

Originally Posted by mort

It would help if you could post up a URL and/or photos. The purpose of this thread is to help people.

Uh......have you tried crutchfield.com?

Put in 06 civic coupe for your car and they'll give you a list of what speakers will fit perfectly. Along with the speakers, they'll give you free bracket made specifically for our car so that it will fit perfectly like the oem speakers. Not only they will include the free bracket, they will also include free speaker harness that will plug into our oem plug so there will be no need to hack & slash our oem wires.

Can just buy a cheap set of speakers and all that stuff is free.



Oh did i forget to mention, when you buy a headunit from them, they will give you the dash kit for your car for free? they also include the free pocket, harness, & antenna adapter.

Any head unit $129 and up qualify for the free dash kit.

[blanz]

Great DIY! Now I'm finally ready to do mine.
Thanks again...

[ayenoc]

+rep mort.. nice DIY bro..

[mort]

Thanks!

[new06Civic]

Originally Posted by mort

As for the sound improvement, there are some ups and downs. There is no doubt the new speakers sound much, much better than the old ones. However, the stock Honda head unit (Civic Si Navigation) is horribly underpowered and there are very few equalizer options. So the new speakers seem a little quiet compared to the old ones because the head unit simply cannot provide the necessary power to run them (an aftermarket amplifier would be a good idea). I played with the "equalizer" on the "Premium Sound System" *rolling eyes* and came up with a temporary soulution. I moved the sound fader two clicks to the rear and now it sounds pretty evenly dispersed..

Very good work and thank you for sharing!

The aftermarket speaker volume tends to be lower. You'll need to look for the speaker with high sensitivity to match with the OEM speaker. The OEM speaker is China made junk. The OEM speaker sensitivity is in the mid 90 dB, and most aftermarket speakers are in the mid 80 dB. The aftermarket Infinity speaker has very high sensitivity. It is probably as loud as the OEM w/ better sound.

I replaced the entire 2006 Ody speakers with this combination:





It sounds a lot better than the OEM speaker. The movie surround sound is as good as HT.

I am planning to replace the 06 Coupe with 07 Si Sedan, and I'll replace the OEM speaker with aftermarket speaker.

[XOHDA]

Just wondering, is it possible to do the same trick with front speakers?

[SI4US]

Thanks for your great idea's on to re-use the stock speaker mounts.
I just replaced both the rear deck and front door speakers with Alpines speakers on my 07 SI sedan.

Your pictures and instructions sure made a lot more easy.

Few things I'll if it's OK? On my 07 SI the rear speaker grills pops off without having to remove the rear cover. If you carefully pry up the front edge of the rear speaker grills with two screw drivers it'll pop out.
Also on my sedan you don't have to worry about any issue's with the truck bars hitting the speakers. So it doesn't appear to be any depth issue's.

I also cut out the stock plugs ends from the stock speakers, then soldered the new speaker wires to it. And hooked the new wires to the Alpine speakers. This made it real easy to plug everything in.
The whole job took me 3 hours,most of the time was spent figuring out how the front door panels,and rear speaker grills come off.

[Mookie469]

Mort, did you used any type of amp to use with these speakers or are you still runing on the factory power?

[gus738]

hi i dont know where to ask but i bought kicker ks 6.5 spkrs and i want to put them on my civic but do i have to break the original speakers to use the holder as a bracket? or can i do something else? thanks in advance

[CivicMike89]

So you just kept the sub?