2006 Honda Ridgeline

audiocr381ve

I thought I'd never touch another stereo system in any of our cars since my last car was stolen because of it, but the bug always gets his way!

I've learned my lesson about not being Captain Obvious, so all I want to do is upgrade my speakers and keep the factory head unit to power them. Would really appreciate some help.

The truck has components up front with a tweeter in the dash. I want to go with coaxials. Should I disable this tweeter since my new speakers will have one in them? Or would you recommend leaving them in the mix? My gut says disable them.

Like I said, I want to go with coaxials all around, and since I'm not adding an amp, I'm going to need some pretty efficient ones. I want to spend under $200 on the fronts and upgrade the rears as money allows. Are their any coax's that stand out right now?

Thanks guys!

dorokusai

I've been really happy with the new Polk DXi series I installed in my work vehicle. They were a bit muted and not very bass accurate when first installed but really changed character after about 50 hours and a month.

I'd keep the tweeters for front fill if anything, just to keep the soundstage a little more distributed.

audiocr381ve

Thanks for the response doro. Lookin' into it.

MacLeod

The MM's would be better. Theyre simply better speakers and even under head unit power, will sound better.

Word of advice though, you may have to do some cutting or at least fab up a mounting bracket. A lot of the new Honda's Ive seen have 6" speakers but theyre custom made with a teeny magnet and have a cutout of about 3" which will not fit an aftermarket 6. Not a huge deal but you may have to do some creative installing. Might want to pop off that door trim panel and see what lies in store for you and if youre willing to tackle it before you drop $200 on a set of shiny new MM's.

BeefJerky

I don't recommend letting the built-in head unit power aftermarket speakers. There are a couple of reasons for that:
1) Lack of power - you are lucky to get 15w RMS out of it.
2) Funky EQ - I know in my '08 CR-V that the built-in head unit had a nasty midrange EQ bump that made aftermarket speakers sound awful. No amount of treble/bass adjustment from the head unit could compensate for it.

I ended up going with an aftermarket head unit, however, there are ways to accomplish good sound quality with the built-in head unit. In fact, the only reason I'd find it necessary to replace the built-in one is if you need more features like I did.

What I recommend is this:
1) Get a JBL Cleansweep (or similar), which will take the output from the head unit and flatten out the frequency response. It will then output that into line level outputs.
2) Get a small easily hidden amplifier. I have the Kenwood XR-5S, which is very small, but very well built. When I first picked up this little amp, I was amazed at just how heavy it was. I have it mounted under my passenger seat, and as such, no one would know it was there unless I told them. If I can find a place to hide it in my CR-V, you would certainly be able to do the same in your Ridgeline. Kenwood also makes a 4 channel version of this amp, the XR-4S.
3) As for speakers, there are a lot of options. I will say that the Kenwood drives the Polk SR5250's very well.

I certainly understand your reservations against being "Captain Obvious." In fact, aside from the head unit, no one would know anything was aftermarket in mine. The front and rear speakers are both mounted in the factory spots. The sub is hidden under the upper shelf in the cargo area, and the amp is hidden under the passenger seat. Surprisingly, even the head unit isn't too obvious since I was able to purchase the Honda navi dash piece and make it work with that.

If you do want to go with a coax setup, I recommend disabling the dash tweeters. However, I recommend getting a nice component set and putting the tweeters in the factory position. I prefer components in this fashion since it keeps the soundstage at ear level. In addition, you don't lose the highs due to being so far off axis. However, this is just my opinion.

EBAN44

You just took his $200 budget and turned it into a grand. lol

I have the MMs they are great but you will need to put some power to them to make them sound good and hit hard. I'm around 200 rms. I hate telling people to buy cheap speakers but if you don't want to go for an amp I would go for the Db or dxi series(same thing I think, just depends where you buy them)
Components are a lot better but without an amp, I would say they would be an waste of money. I had coaxials hooked up in front before with the factory tweeter still and it was never to much highs. I would keep it hooked up and then cut the wire if it makes it over powered.

audiocr381ve

Thanks for the responses guys.

I actually have an eclipse 3640 4-channel sitting in the closet that I just don't want to spend the money on having it installed. I've installed 3 or 4 systems but didn't particularly enjoy the work, or the sloppy end result so I'd be looking at doubling my budget for installation. Then again, if I end up buying some good speakers I'd want them to have decent power.

As far as products like the JL Cleansweep, I've always wanted to learn a little more. Is the end result pretty close to having an aftermarket HU? (minue the bells and whistles)

A set of SR6500's just popped up locally, I'm negotiating with the seller. I'm stoked to hear a really nice pair of components. I did NOT have a good experience with a $100 (new) pair of Phoenix Gold's I bought a few years ago.

BeefJerky

audiocr381ve wrote: »

Thanks for the responses guys.

I actually have an eclipse 3640 4-channel sitting in the closet that I just don't want to spend the money on having it installed. I've installed 3 or 4 systems but didn't particularly enjoy the work, or the sloppy end result so I'd be looking at doubling my budget for installation. Then again, if I end up buying some good speakers I'd want them to have decent power.

As far as products like the JL Cleansweep, I've always wanted to learn a little more. Is the end result pretty close to having an aftermarket HU? (minue the bells and whistles)

A set of SR6500's just popped up locally, I'm negotiating with the seller. I'm stoked to hear a really nice pair of components. I did NOT have a good experience with a $100 (new) pair of Phoenix Gold's I bought a few years ago.

I actually didn't notice your $200 budget, so sorry about that. However, I still stand by my recommendations. I suggested what I did due to my own experiences with my system. My car audio went through a quite a few iterations before I got it where I wanted it. I half-assed things a few times in order to "save money," but ended up spending quite a bit more in the long run than if I had done it right the first time. I wish I would have done it right the first time, and that's what I encourage you to do.

First off, you already have an amp, so that saves you some money there. The only question is, how many watts RMS does it put out? I personally wouldn't run the SR series with less than 75w RMS per channel. Mine puts out 80w RMS, and it gets plenty loud. I would look at Fry's for install kits; they seem to have good prices on them. However, watch out for some of the no-name ones, as reviews told me that the power wires aren't actually as thick of a gauge as they claim to be. I normally dislike Monster products, but that is what I used. They seem to be priced reasonably at Fry's, and the wires are the gauge they claim to be.

As far as the actual installation goes, yes, it is a pain. However, if you take your time, there shouldn't be a "sloppy end result." It took a few days of work to finish mine and get it the way I wanted. However, if I had to do it again, I would still do it myself. This way I know exactly how it is wired and setup. I also know that it was done right. As the old saying goes, "if you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself."

If you have a good deal on those SR6500's, I would snatch them up as long as your Ridgeline supports 6.5" speakers. The SR series are fantastic car speakers!

As for the Cleansweep, I will admit that I haven't personally used one. However, I did look into it prior to going with an aftermarket head unit. From the reviews I've seen, it does a very good job of cleaning up the output. There shouldn't be any significant difference between its output and an aftermarket unit.

MacLeod

The Cleansweep is pretty cool and works but I've heard a couple complaints about noise and you have to use its own volume control and its kind of a pain. Plus its $300 so it adds a chunk to your budget.

If all you're wanting is a simple upgrade, running aftermarket speakers off the head unit will be fine.

You will lose some bass response though because the factory speakers are designed to have a lot of bass because most people associate good sound with how much bass there is. So its cheaper to make bass heavy speakers than it is to make good speakers. So while your bass will go down some, your mids and highs will be significantly better.

audiocr381ve

Again, thanks for the responses.

Dskip, the seller isn't getting back to me. I may take you up on that offer.

audiocr381ve

I ended up pulling the trigger and two pairs of coaxials. The DB651's (rears) and the DXi650. Are their any real differences between these two pairs?

dorokusai

Don't forget to Dynamat your doors. It's well worth it.

I don't believe there's enough difference to worry about it. They are damn near spot on when you look at the spec's.

pentoncm

If the deal falls through with the SR's go with the MM's for $200 at onlinecarstereo.

Mounting means everything however. At my installer they have a civic si with hertz high energy ($500 speakers) with the tweeters up high in stock position aimed up at the windshield. It sounded good in its own right but I really don't like a setup like that, it doesn't sound right to me to have the low midrange separated from upper midrange and treble. My new MM before any eq but using active filters (only12db/octave though in order to compare) sounded better because they are in custom door pods with tweeter below and aimed at headliner in between opposing headrest and opposing window.

audiocr381ve

Good stuff Doro.

Pentoncm, I'm going with coaxials all around, not components.

audiocr381ve

Guys, this is also really strange. Why am I finding the DB651's for $60 used on Amazon and the DXi650's, which are supposedly a step above the DB's for around half that (used on Amazon)? That's bizarre. I picked up the DXi650's for $28!

pentoncm

Whoops, sorry about that.

Coax MM 6.5inch $135 at onlinecarstereo, $125 for 5.25 inch

audiocr381ve

No prob. The MM's would have been nice. I'm trying not to get to involved in this system. I was so tempted to drop a G on new gear. I'm hoping I'll be content with these and the stock HU power so I don't have to spend more. We'll see!

audiocr381ve

So annoyed right now! One of the supposedly "brand new" DB650's is DEAD. I confirmed this by using the stock speaker to test the signal coming from the HU. I then took the speaker inside and tried it in the home stereo system. Dead.

I spend a ton of time prepping the door only to have to reassemble it with no speaker! Is a dead speaker a dead speaker or are their any tricks of the trade I could use to bring it back to life?