Front speakers
 

I want to replace my front speakers in my 85 gsl-se. I want to go with aftermarket speakers what size is the factory speakers I need to know what size to get

Front speakers are 4 inch, rear's are 6.5. i do not know depth, i will pull one and measure it for you tomorrow morning if you like.


if you have decent rear speakers, don't bother spending a fortune on the fronts, most 4 inchers usually end up being nothing but tweeters anyhow.

also - www.crutchfield.com will tell you exactly what size speakers any car needs, it asks you what your car is so it can show you a selection. you can find speaker sizes - depth, width, etc etc.

Aftermarket Options
 

I've done a lot of experimenting with the OEM speakers, and here's what I found:

1. The OEM rear speakers can't be beat (in the OEM location). I bought a couple of sets of high dollar replacements, and they didn't sound as good as the OEMs. The salesman at the stereo shop didn't believe me, so I put an OEM speaker on one side and the aftermarket speaker on the other, then used the balance control to switch between them. After that he was convinced, and gave me a full refund. The OEMs are sized for that weird enclosure, and they work better than anything else I've tried. BTW -- I even tried adding and removing insulation and the OEM shoddy. The insulation didn't help much. You definitely want to keep the shoddy.

2. The front speakers are a "full range" with a whizzer cone (if memory serves). That means that they are relatively shitty little speakers that are trying to act like something more. I tried some Radio Shack replacements, and they sounded OK, but a better option is to carpet over the OEM location, and step up to 6.5" coaxials in the front doors (see the pic). With the coaxials, you get better highs and better bass. The door is a much larger enclosure, which helps to extend the bass better. I mounted mine to the door trim panel only, and it has worked fine. Maybe the biggest gain is that the speakers are now in a better location so the mids and highs have a direct line to your ears. I don't know if better tweeters in that OEM kick panel location would help much, since they're so obscured.

3. The best option, which I used on a car I no longer have, is to get a component system. You put the 6.5" in the doors, and the tweeters up on the dash. In my application, I glued the tweeters into the defrost vents that aimed at the side windows (I lived in South Carolina and didn't need the defrost much). If you add a Bazooka (do they still make 'em?), or some other bass box, now you have a real stereo.

Love the interior Elwood, very nicely done.

I'm honestly surprised the paper cone speakers sounded that good, any chance you remember the name of the speakers you bought that you returned?

I like the door idea - i keep thinking about doing that in mine since one of my door panels is already cut. I just have a hard time bringing myself to cut the other one...

One of my past SEs had the door speaker mod like Elwood (infinity brand) with the stock amps and it sounded superb! It's a huge performance upgrade. In subsequent cars I've tried to upgrade the 4" speakers with same-sized replacements and have gained very little improvement. I've also replaced the rear speakers with better units and really the stock speakers aren't all bad.

You just have to make sure that the amps and head unit are still performing well. Some of them degrade over time.

If you do replace speakers, make sure that you get a very effcient model. I think that's part of the magic with the stock speakers.

You can see the details and pics of my audio here - http://www.cardomain.com/ride/232206...ndon-on-ca?p=4

My front speakers were torn up, the speakers would crackle if I so much as breathed on the head unit, and every else just looked like hell. I had a shop install the door speakers and wire up the new head unit, and I installed the rears, positioned the amp and crossovers and I've been more than happy with this setup for a few years, and probably won't change it. I was considering going back to the stock 4 inchers in the kick panel but after what I've read here I'll just stick with my 6.5's and maybe make a less bulky door pod, or go right through the door panel itself. One day. Too much on my plate at the moment.

i've used infinity 4" reference series speakers in the front of my 7's for a few years now. they are affordable, install with no modifications to the car or interior trim, and they sound very clear.

I put MTX Componants in the rear and they sound great!

I used a Porsche 944 front pod over the original 4" holes and put 6" kicker 2 ways in there.......

I refuse to cut my doors!!!

Pics or GTFO.

This is the only pic that I have

http://img465.imageshack.us/img465/7281/podki7.jpg

What is GTFO?

if you need stock amps or a full stock stereo i got one. The only problem is idk if it works or not. I got it in a box with the car. I have a extra amp also. IDK there was one but there is.

6.5s in the doors is an incredible improvement over the stock bits. I also installed 6x9s in the rear on either side of the hatch release brace. There is a ridiculous amount of space behind that little hanging flap of carpet back there.

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...pain/rx001.jpg

Maybe if my car was a beater or something, but I cant hack a hole in the door like that.

What about the rain on the back of the cone?

Thats what weather stripping is for!

But I agree, I couldn't hack into a good door panel, either.

Good door panel is subjective, its a piece of fiberboard with cheap vinyl glued to it.

Bear in mind that this was a few years ago, but if memory serves, the ones I returned were Rockford Fosgate. I also tried JBL, Infinity, and Pioneer. The initial test was done with the OEM amp, so I thought it might be a question of the OEM speaker being more efficient, but it wasn't. I tried a fairly decent Phoenix Gold amp, with much higher power rating, and the results were similar. At normal listening levels, the OEMs were better. More deep bass (as much as you can get from a 6.5") and equivalent imaging.

I'll be the first to admit that your results may vary, but keep this in mind:
At Mazda, like every other OEM, there's some engineer that spends his/her life designing the audio system for cars. When this car was designed, that person spent the better part of a year working on the best setup in concert with Clarion, a well respected audio supplier. Jointly, they designed the head unit, amps, and speakers that worked the best in the environment they were given -- with the cost targets they had to live with. As far as 1980's stereos go, the 1984/85 FB setup is very good.

Can a better system be designed? Sure. But with the original constraints in place -- i.e. the same speaker locations and the original amplifier, I'd put my money on the OEM speakers. After all, they were specifically designed for that application.

A beater?!? (Feigned indignation) I guess one man's dream car is another man's beater . . .

When I installed them, I did cut through the water shield (the plastic sheet that is adhered to the door inner panel), and the door inner panel. There is the likelihood that some water will impinge on the speaker cone and the back of the door trim panel, since there is now a hole in the water shield.

But there are a few things to consider:
1. If the seal at the bottom of your window is intact, very little water enters the door
2. The door trim panel is made out of pressure treated masonite, so it has some water resistance.
3. I've had this setup for about 13 years, with many miles in the rain and no issues.
4. The speaker cones are plastic, so a little H2O doesn't bother them much.
5. The 6.5" JBLs sound sooo much nicer.
6. The 6.5" JBLs sound sooo much nicer.

I have 6 3/4" speakers in the stock location in the rear, and 5 1/4" speakers in the front, i didn't have to do any modifications except drill holes for screws. That's it.
In the hatch i have 1 15" inch subwoofer, when turned down my system sounds perfect, i think. Even before i had the subwoofer it sounded great IMO. I wouldn't do anything else, wasn't hard to do and gave me what i was looking for.

Pics of the 15" sub??