[DaleB]

Soundstream SPL65G.

6.5" and have a 2 ohm rating, which means they would match the Bose Amps.
Do a search on their model, you can find quite a few on sale for around $111 to 130/pr., about double what the Inifinity cost.
Higher end speaker, plus 2 ohm matching. Interesting.
No 2 ohm sub that I could find, but did not do a lot of searching on that.
If you go to this site,

http://www.buyloud.com/product_detail.jsp;jsessionid=To10580mC2679424199367898At?pid=1195

you can get them on a 30 day turn around maybe someone who has not made the leap to dumping the base or Bose speakers would want to test these out and let us know.
The non-Bose MDX have a 2 ohm amps too? I don't know off-hand.

 

[PsychoKnight]

Soundstream SPL65G.

6.5" and have a 2 ohm rating, which means they would match the Bose Amps.
Do a search on their model, you can find quite a few on sale for around $111 to 130/pr., about double what the Inifinity cost.
Higher end speaker, plus 2 ohm matching. Interesting.
No 2 ohm sub that I could find, but did not do a lot of searching on that.
If you go to this site,

http://www.buyloud.com/product_detail.jsp;jsessionid=To10580mC2679424199367898At?pid=1195

you can get them on a 30 day turn around maybe someone who has not made the leap to dumping the base or Bose speakers would want to test these out and let us know.
The non-Bose MDX have a 2 ohm amps too? I don't know off-hand.

I have two pairs of these in boxes, opened and inspected, but never installed or used. Pristine condition, warrantied and w/ auth. dlr receipt. I was going to eBay them, but never got around to it.

Ive auditioned them at length in a sound demonstration room. Sound quality - I'd rate it an 8 out of 10. I rate the Infinity 652.5i as a 6, the original Bose a 2 (rear) or 4 (front), and the top of the line Boston Acoustic or MB Quart as a 9 and 10, respectively. I currently use the BA's. The higher end speakers have large, cast aluminum magnet baskets which require extensive removal of material from the front door panels. The SS SPLg should barely fit, or perhaps with only minor modification.

If any of you have decided to try these, but can't find them for this kind of price, I might be able to help if we are able to come to terms. Let me know: [email protected]

Regarding 2 ohm subs, I'm using a Boston Acoustic Generator 10" in 2 ohms (avail. in 4 ohm as well). As with most 10" subs, you'll need to make a spacer out of 1" MDF (also known as $1.99 shelving pieces from Home Depot). For the free-air design that it is, its the best that can be expected from these physical limitations.

The Base model Alpine system uses a conventional 4 ohm sub, congruent to its door speaker counterparts.

 

[DaleB]

I apologize, the link I gave was for 5.25"
speakers. Buyloud does not carry the 6.5" Soundstream.
Have you auditioned the JL against the Boston, Inifinity, etc.?

 

[mikel51]

BuyLoud does carry the 6.5 coaxials, just not indexed properly in the speaker selection section:

http://www.buyloud.com/product_detail.jsp?pid=1194

I just recieved my infinity 652i speakers, but have not yet installed them. I my find the time next weekend. I wonder if I should try to get the Soundstreams before investing my time in installation.

To those of you who have installed the infinities: Do you wish that they had more power?

 

[DaleB]

That's a good question. I think the Soundstreams would have even better sound overall.
TheycallmeBruce's evaluation seems about right, at least rating the Infinity 6 against the Bose 4. Although, personally I think it's more like 7 against 4 maybe 6 against 3.
I would have to say I do find myself cranking up the volume more than usual with the Infinitys. Although, I can always obtain a pleasing level.
With the Bose volume was not a real problem, just good sound was the problem!
I guess it's always nice to have some reserve though.
I think there is definitely a good margin left for improvement by just swapping speakers. I would say with the Infinity we are about 2/3 of the way there. Once we get into high end, not much could be improved upon without changing amplification. I would not want to use high-end components with these amps. That would be a waste of money IMHO.

 

[Emerald01]

I too considered the Sound Stream SPL65G because of their efficiency and 2ohm rating. But I read from this thread that they will not fit.

http://www.acuramdx.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4078&highlight=SPL65G

Until I know someone who has put them in and listened to them in the MDX, I am hesitant about buying them.

 

[DaleB]

Good find! I will be happy with the Infiinities. I did notice he does not state if the front fit OK. If they do, just replacing those could be a nice improvemet..Oh well, I have enough other things I need to get done on the vehicle.

 

[PsychoKnight]

Don't fit? Who said it didn't fit?
In what regard?
Why wouldn't they fit?

I've pulled the front panel and tweeter pod at least 20 times, and the rears more than a dozen times (long story as to why: speakers, crossovers, door handles, dynamat, etc).

In the front, ANY 6 1/2" will fit. There is no limiting factor, except a rain shield that is easily cut to accomodate the extended aluminum baskets of premium drivers. I have the SPL60G here in front of me, and no I'm not going to pull the panel for the 21st time just to be sure, plus I've already enlarged the rainshield on mine for the Boston Acoustics). I create my own moisture barrier with 5 or 6 mil clear plastic sheeting (any home supply store or paint store) just by placing a piece over the opening, pushing in the speaker, and pulling out a little extra at the bottom where the wires pass through the plastic to act as a drip boot. This provides not only rain drip protection, but humidity protection as well, and keeps the dust and dirt from building on the backside of the speaker. It is possible that the mounting hole will have to be enlarged by 1/8," just enough to drop out the plastic cone-shaped rain guard. The underlying sheet metal will not have to be disturbed. My Bos. Acc was designed for a 5" cutout, and in the MDX it had almost 1/4" of play, whereas the SPL requires 5-1/2". Regardless of whether you will need to enlarge the opening and drill new mounting holes, it will fit nicely.

As for the rear speaker openings, people need to stop playing with that silly white plastic louvre basket. If you use a moisture barrier as I described, this ventilated contraption has no useful purpose. The steel spacers provided by most speaker kits is sufficient to sandwich the sheet metal of the inner door skin to deal with the slight contour of its surface. Use the spacers as a backplate instead of as a spacer. I will admit, the opening is on the small side and I had to take a metal cutting jig saw to enlarge the opening. This is not an unusual procedure in custom fitting speakers to a door. Takes about 5 minutes, plus another five to sand down the rough edges and spray some protective paint over the bare metal. Using a metal strap bracket (Home Depot, they have everything), mount the tweeter directly over the woofer, and bend the strap so that the tweeter is recessed halfway into the speaker, making sure that the strap completely clears the foam surround by at least 2 mm.

Yes, it sounds like a lot of work. But . . .
1) Its a lot less work than upgrading the main amplifier.
2) It sounds much nicer than the Infinity 652.5i
3) It is better volumed-matched to the Bose headunit

4) If you don't want to even think about the work of fitting the speakers, take them to a shop and let them deal with it. You get the car back with great sounding, ohm-matching, true multi-component speaker drivers with an aggressive (also costlier) 24db/octave crossover.

I'm not trying to market the SoundStream SPL60G, as I have a fully integrated system that sounds much better.

All in all, what do you risk in using a high quality component system speaker that is resistance-matched to your factory amplifiers?

Thanks for reading, please excuse the ranting/raving. I'm just passionate about some things.

 

[Emerald01]

Bruce, your right with enough modification it probably could fit. With more modifications you can probably put a 10" sub in the door too! I was just posting what I read in a previous thread.

I attempted a speaker upgrade once so far on the MDX. I wanted to put in a pair of Alpine 6-1/2. (They weren't Boston’s but I like the way the sounded in my previous vehicle). Before installing, I did try the speakers without mounting them and saw a big improvement. So I decide to try to install them. In attempting to install these I found the magnet to be to big for the rain guard so I cut the rain guard partially on one door panel. The magnet could now fit but found that the basket wouldn't. Looking at the door panel, I could see that the rain guard added to the structure of the panel. And as you must know, the speakers are mounded to the door panel and not to the door itself. Cutting the entire rain guard off or even most of it would cause the area around the speaker to be more 'flimsy'. This wouldn’t be good for the speaker. I don't believe baffles or installing Dynamat would replace that structure the rain guards provided. I decided not to install these speakers. Although I haven't seen SPL65G, I think they might have a similar problem. I didn't want to find out the hard way.

If there is a better speaker out there for the MDX, I'll definitely consider it. But it's good to know if someone has tried it with good results.

 

[DaleB]

There seems to be quite a bit of space between the speakers and the grills in the doors.
Is there some reason a spacer will not alleviate some of these problems?

http://www.millionbuy.com/a-isg650dx.html

 

[PsychoKnight]

Bruce, your right with enough modification it probably could fit. With more modifications you can probably put a 10" sub in the door too! I was just posting what I read in a previous thread.

. The magnet could now fit but found that the basket wouldn't. Looking at the door panel, I could see that the rain guard added to the structure of the panel. And as you must know, the speakers are mounded to the door panel and not to the door itself. Cutting the entire rain guard off or even most of it would cause the area around the speaker to be more 'flimsy'. This wouldn’t be good for the speaker. I don't believe baffles or installing Dynamat would replace that structure the rain guards provided.

Emerald,

I agree with you, in some respects. There is a diminishing return on the extent of modification when considering the "fit" of a speaker. Creating a custom baffle and and grill enclosure would be far beyond the scope of a simple modification. But doing nothing more than enlarging a hole, and drilling new mounting holes, would be about the same amount of work in any car.

Its true that the rain guard is very thick and appears to add to the structural integrity of the door panel. However, there is nothing structural to support, not even the speaker. Allow me to explain. Yes, the speaker is mounted to the panel, and then the panel is screwed into the door around the perimeter of the speaker. It is my evaluation that it is the perimeter screws that keep the door panel from flapping about from the vibration of the speaker, rather than the dome structure of the rain guard. The rain guard may provide torsional rigidity, but not lateral support in the direction of the speaker cone movement.

I concur with you that the unsupported plastic may be marginal for mounting the speakers w/out further reinforcement.
You wouldn't want to mount the speaker to the plastic panel without beefing up the attachment, once the rain guard is removed. I suggest a two-fold suggestion, both very easy to do, once the panel is removed, which you must do anyhow to mount the crossover.
1) Use bolts and washer + nuts instead of screws. This provides greater surface area grip on the plastic material and will not come loose with time or vibration. 2) Add three more large screws to augment the panel/speaker perimeter mounting screws. This will double the amount of attachment strength between the panel and door. If one is very paranoid, or wants a very secure installation, simply use one of the spacer plates (steel diameter spacer, not plastic depth spacer, although this could be better if its fits within the cutout in the sheet metal of the door) commonly provided with speakers as a reinforcement plate to sandwich the panel. There is no additional time or money involved.

Cutting out the rain guard, replacing bolts for screws, and adding three screws should not add significantly to the install time (maybe 12-17 minutes to each door?). Because of the minor amount of additional work involved, and not having to fabricate any pieces or materials, I consider this to be a fairly modest modification. It would take longer than this just to remove and install the door panels, especially the driverside.

You brought up some good points. It is not a drop-fit replacement, and some strategic reinforcement must be integrated. I try to think of the solutions around the obstacles and then decide if the cost in frustration/effort/money is worth the benefit. Personally, I would just remove the speakers by popping off the grill only, take the new speakers to a reputable shop, and show them the problem. Ask if they can fit the larger speaker basket and make the installation secure. They see this issue all the time and its not a big deal for them as it is for the novice who isn't doing this daily. I don't think they would even qualify this as "custom" work, and should not charge much more than the standard fee for component/crossover installation. Problem solved with no engineering worries on your part.

Good discussion,

"Bruce"

 

[Alvin]

I still say the soundstreams won't fit in the front without cutting the rain guard all the way out. I cut the back of it out of the guard, and they still wouldn't fit. It seemed like I would have to cut the guard all the way out, where it meets the door panel. I wasn't up for doing much cutting on my new MDX and I'm no installer, so I stopped there. Theycallmebruce and I have had this conversation three times now. Let's take the mystery out of it Bruce, install them and tell us what you had to do. I think the soundstreams sound a lot better than the infinity, so I hope you can make it work. Sounds like you are a much more experienced/confident installer. For you other novices, wait for someone else to take the plunge.

 

[Emerald01]

I think the spacers Dale mentioned might be something to consider.

Alvin, When you put the Soundstreams in with part of the rain guard cut off, how much space is there between the speaker and the door panel?

Once one person gets these in, I buy them knowing I can get them to fit.

 

[PsychoKnight]

I still say the soundstreams won't fit in the front without cutting the rain guard all the way out. I cut the back of it out of the guard, and they still wouldn't fit. It seemed like I would have to cut the guard all the way out, where it meets the door panel..

Yes, remove the rain guard completely. Use nuts and bolts instead of screws to mount the speaker because you will be mounting to plastic instead of steel. You are on the right track. You would be simply cutting a hole to specification, in which case, by definition, it must fit. It's not like there's a depth obstruction, or any kind of mechanical interference with the window or regulator.

I would have done this had I known about the 2 ohm Bose system.

I didn't discover this website till after I spent 40+ hours installing amps and running new speaker wires, dynamating, etc. I'm just trying to share my costly and time consuming mistake with others. Chopping off the useless rainguard (all of it) is a very small modification compared to tapping into the amp harness and running new lines back and forth under and around the console, under carpets, in thru plastic channels, and pulling speaker wires through tight door jam weather boots, etc, etc. My system sounds really good now with Boston A. Pros and SoundStream amps (not speakers), but I would have been very satisfied with nothing else than just installing the Soundstream 2 ohm components. They cost a lost less than true premium components (the quality is very good, but admittedly not the best, uses foam surround, not rubber butyl, silk instead of titanium tweeter), doesn't require running wires everywhere or tapping into pre-amp harnesses, etc.

I'm not about to rip out the B.A. Pros and enlarge the cutout to install a lower quality speaker set just to prove a point. I'm not an expert installer, have installed 10 or 12 over the years, half of them component sets, but I'm not in a position to try this myself. Okay, maybe I am all talk and no action. Still, I think that if you were to take these speakers to an install shop, they would've sliced out the whole rainguard and not even tell you about it, or charge you for it, because its no big deal. So, if anyone is nervous, just take it to a shop.

Oops, I said I was gonna let it rest. Sorry.
Alvin, you are a thinking man. Caution keeps people alive. Since none of us here is a pro, it would be nice if someone got an installation estimate from a shop, being told about the rainguard problem of course, they can just pop off the grill and pull the speaker to check the fit for an estimate. This way we can get a 2nd opinion from someone who knows what they are doing.

Darn, got tricked into a long post again. Thanks for bearing with my humble ideas.

 

[Alvin]

I think the spacers Dale mentioned might be something to consider.

Alvin, When you put the Soundstreams in with part of the rain guard cut off, how much space is there between the speaker and the door panel?

Once one person gets these in, I buy them knowing I can get them to fit.

I can't say, because the rain guard wouldn't let me get the speaker flush in the hole, even after I cut the back out. I didn't want to cut the rain guard all the way out because so many of us have had water on the window (in the door?) after a rain or wash. I got rid of the Soundstreams, so I'm off the case. Ended up putting in some Image Dynamics 4 ohm that sound better than the OEM. Be sure to have the window rolled down if you are judging depth, it didnt seem that far away from the soundstreams, but as Bruce said, i'm sure there are lots of fixes for this that are beyond my skill set.

Good luck and a big BOOOO to Acura for putting such crap in our "luxury" vehicles.

 

[slackass]

the spacer idea works pretty good. i made a custom spacer out of aluminum and installed a pair of Image 5 1/4" chameleons. I cut the outside shape of the spacer the same basic shape as the factory speaker. the spacer is 1/2 thick and i drill and taped holes in the spacer to mount the speaker to. you can not go much thicker than a 1/2 spacer or it hits the factory grill. i am hoping to have some pics of my install pretty soon. i did not modifying of the door panel other than the little nobs that the factory speaker aligned to.

 

[renov8r]

Wouldn't it be easier to use...

...poly or acrylic. What do you use to cut &#189" aluminum?

 

[slackass]

i have an advantage. i own a machine shop and i cut them out using a cad/cam system and a cnc mill. softer would be better if you had to do it by hand but, i can machine anything i want and aluminum makes a good looking part and is easy to machine.

 

[renov8r]

Nice tools to have access to...

i have an advantage. i own a machine shop and i cut them out using a cad/cam system and a cnc mill. softer would be better if you had to do it by hand but, i can machine anything i want and aluminum makes a good looking part and is easy to machine.

I was thinking you were gonna say that too. Come to think of if, the only folks who ever have ½" aluminum always have a machine shop...