Front speakers - replacement with Infinity Ref 6510CS

[carl0s]

One of the guys on Talkaudio actually said "Strange. Focal Polyglass usually work OK direct to a HU" (when talking about other speakers from the past). So he certainly didn't subscribe to this notion that without an amp the speakers will sound like they've been razerbladed into fifty peices..

and I don't think my summary upon fixing the problem and returning to the forum was *that* smart arsey. I said:

Guys. It was a ****ed crossover. I just tried the crossover for the other side (remember I only have passenger side fitted at the moment), and it's fine. Actually, it's a bit crap, but it's what I expected

I hate to say I was right, but I was right. My 14w head unit at full volume plays clearly through the OEM speakers, and it also plays clearly through these speakers. Maybe I wasn't graphic enough when trying to describe the smashed up razorbladed speaker sound that I was getting above 16/40 on the volume..

[mICK77]

Today I have installed a set of Infinity Reference 6520cs -- here are some pics that I took during this afternoon. Some of them shows the original components (like tweeters). Have fun

[carl0s]

Well, today I put some £400 Focal K2 Power 165K2Ps up front, and they sound no better than the £59.99 Infinity. More importantly, I put the infinitys in the rear, and they sound less bassy than the stock units (this I suspect is down to the excellent sealed fitment of the stock units.. they seem to use the panels as a sort of enclosure).

I really badly need an amp Anyone gonna try the Blaupunkt THA-475 PnP and see if one of the two Honda harnesses fit our Civics?

[carl0s]

I just emailed the UK Blaupunkt distributor regarding the THA-475 PnP amp. Will let you guys know if anything good comes from it.

Hi.
I have the new shape (2006 onwards) Honda Civic (the one with the triangle exhausts). The car is leased for the next three years so I can’t really go pulling audio wires all the way through it.

The Blaupunkt THA 275 or 475 PnP seems the ideal solution but the plug-n-play adapter list doesn’t show the >2006 Honda Civic. I see there are only two different harnesses for all the different Honda models though:
Blaupunkt Article numbers: 7 607 622 025 001 and 7 607 622 028 001

What are the chances of you sending me one of each harness so that I can try them? It would open up quite a market for you if one was found to be the correct fitment. There are enough people on the Civic forums who would probably go for one of these PnP amps if it worked.

I am willing to pay for both harnesses but would like to return whatever does not fit, which might turn out to be both of them.

Can you do anything?

Thanks,
Carl

Here's hoping..

[dubby]

Thats really good info, well done Pottsy.

[carl0s]

Honda amplifier harness has arrived from BlueSpot this morning. If the plugs fit the Honda head unit then I will be ordering the amp. Pictures to follow.

[carl0s]

The adaptor harness doesn't fit, however I think this will be doable. The Blaupunkt stuff comes as an OEM -> ISO adaptor, and a separate long (2.5m or 5mtr if you want the longer one for rear installation) ISO -> Amp wiring lead with power and speaker wires. I think with an Autoleads SOT-908 and somewhere to wire the power into, this will work. I'm off to Halfrauds for a look.

Pottsy.. your dash removal instructions are great, thanks!

[carl0s]

Regarding the Infinity speakers. I am now running the Infinity tweeters with Focal K2 Power 165K2p woofers and the Focal crossovers. The crossovers are set to "normal" (no buttons pressed), and everything sounds good and fine. So the "overactive tweeters" of the Infinitys is because of the Infinity crossover. The tweeters themselves are fine and actually sound pretty good with the Focal crossover. It also means I don't have the treble turned down to 1 or 2 any more, so the rear speakers sound better. I have bass at 6 and treble at 5. With the Infinity crossovers I had the tweeters hooked up to -3db and treble dropped to 1 or 2.

[NickG]

Originally Posted by carl0s

Regarding the Infinity speakers. I am now running the Infinity tweeters with Focal K2 Power 165K2p woofers and the Focal crossovers. The crossovers are set to "normal" (no buttons pressed), and everything sounds good and fine. So the "overactive tweeters" of the Infinitys is because of the Infinity crossover. The tweeters themselves are fine and actually sound pretty good with the Focal crossover. It also means I don't have the treble turned down to 1 or 2 any more, so the rear speakers sound better. I have bass at 6 and treble at 5. With the Infinity crossovers I had the tweeters hooked up to -3db and treble dropped to 1 or 2.

So where can I get myself my Focal crossovers? Do you have a part number and/or source?

Thanks,

Nick...

[carl0s]

Originally Posted by NickG

So where can I get myself my Focal crossovers? Do you have a part number and/or source?

Thanks,

Nick...

Focal stuff all comes through one big distributor called BBG I think.. Any Focal dealer should be able to get them, but last time I ordered a one-off (it was a replacement 165K2P Woofer), it took nearly two months to arrive.

The Focal dealer I went through was Macclesfield Home & Car Stereo, on 01625-432-707. They are good but like I said it took a while, apparently due to BBG. You might not have such a wait on the crossovers. Just ask for a price on replacement crossovers for the 165 K2P kit.

[carl0s]

My THA-475PnP amp has arrived. It's way smaller than I had imagined


Just waiting for the SOT-908 now

[lark]

A question for that amplifier, Where does it take the power? from the HU through the ISO connector, of from the battery with a dedicated cable like the rest of amplifiers?

[carl0s]

Originally Posted by lark

A question for that amplifier, Where does it take the power? from the HU through the ISO connector, of from the battery with a dedicated cable like the rest of amplifiers?

Either. The plug'n'play sockets come with plugs that you can screw wires into. It's designed to take power from the cars radio harness which goes into the head unit. It does this by having a small vehicle-specific harness adaptor, which looks a lot like the SOT-908 Autoleads Parrot kit harness, and a long ISO -> AMP lead which carries speakers & power from the head unit to the amp, and then back out to the speaker wiring near the head unit.

Two small problems though:

1. The Honda harness is for old Hondas, not new ones, so it doesn't fit and I am waiting for a SOT-908 to come.
2. The Honda wiring which supplies the radio doesn't look like it could carry 25 amps (4x75w @ 12v = 25amps, the amp actually has a 30amp fuse in it though), and it certainly doesn't look like it's 1.5mm dia as recommended in the Blaupunkt manual.

There are plug'n'play sockets for power though, it's just that I might not use them. I might just pull a single thick-ish 12v lead from the battery, or somewhere.

This is the 4 channel 4x75w RMS @4ohm amp. There's also a THA-275-PnP which is just two channel, if you only wanted to amp the front. It looks like it's half the width of this unit.

I just noticed it says on the box "Separate power cord required for Plug & Play connection if the car stereo is fused with less than 15A"

[carl0s]

Meh. It's all ready to go now. The SOT-908 and long amp cable is hooked up, but I have discovered how hard it is to see a usable grommet in the engine bay for pulling the power cable through.

Any ideas? I have looked at a few threads on here but nothing easy or clear..

[carl0s]

Well, I was getting a bit worried because I noticed this amp doesn't have a bass control on it.

I actually feel quite smug right now, because it sounds absolutely incredible

Those infinity tweeters were worth the £59.99 that I paid for the whole speaker set. They're working beautifully with the K2P woofers & crossovers, and they fit the car perfectly.

I still have the stock speakers in the back, and am going to try the infinity woofers in the back without tweeters, and maybe without the crossovers too.

The K2 Power woofers sound better in the Civic than they do in my Supra. The door panels make a much better enclosure than the door cards of the Supra.

[carl0s]

The Infinity woofers sound awful in the rear, even with the amp.

I can only imagine it's because the Astra rings don't make a tight fit in the back. I'm losing a lot of potential volume because there just not much coming from the rear in comparison to the front.

I have put the stock speakers back in the rear, they make a much fuller and bassier sound than the Infinity woofers, with or without the crossover. Crossover seems to do very little or even nothing for the woofer actually.

[Stef]

Originally Posted by carl0s

The Infinity woofers sound awful in the rear, even with the amp.

I can only imagine it's because the Astra rings don't make a tight fit in the back. I'm losing a lot of potential volume because there just not much coming from the rear in comparison to the front.

I have put the stock speakers back in the rear, they make a much fuller and bassier sound than the Infinity woofers, with or without the crossover. Crossover seems to do very little or even nothing for the woofer actually.

Had exact same experiece after fitting Pioneer speakers.
I did cut-out the original speakers from their support ring and fitted the Pioneer into the original ring.
At the end I had to buy two new original speakers, they just sounded better! Now I will try a separate mini amplified sub TS-WX11A from Pioneer, has realy good reviews. You can get them on Ebay for 130€.

[mistuk]

Originally Posted by Stef

Now I will try a separate mini amplified sub TS-WX11A from Pioneer, has realy good reviews. You can get them on Ebay for 130€.

I'm tempted by this too... (not got my civic yet!) how would you get power to this sub? Could you run something from the 12V lighter socket?

And how about the audio feed? Could you take a feed from the front passenger speaker? I'd like to mount this sub underneath the passenger seat

mistuk

[Stef]

I allready have the wiring located.
You can not put is under the pass seat, it only has about 2cm space! under it due to the location of the fuel tank.
I will mount the sub under the rear seat, easy detacheable in case you want to fold down the seats.
The wires (speaker and +12V) are located under the rear carpet. I allready checked this. ( note my car is a 5dr)

[mistuk]

Originally Posted by Stef

I allready have the wiring located.
You can not put is under the pass seat, it only has about 2cm space! under it due to the location of the fuel tank.
I will mount the sub under the rear seat, easy detacheable in case you want to fold down the seats.
The wires (speaker and +12V) are located under the rear carpet. I allready checked this. ( note my car is a 5dr)

I didn't realise there was so little room under the passenger seat. I'm getting a 5 door too. Are the speaker + 12V cables easy to find and identify which one is which?