Sport Model: audio solution thread

[Champ]

I want to complement all of the audio enthusiast who mad post on our factory sound systems premium or basic it sounds like there is room for improvment. My question is: because the 350 and 370 both had tweeters in the upperportion of the door, that small triangle where the warning light is now on our Z. I would like to have a tweeter for sound stage at that location. any thoughts? Any installers (JBL Arena X Series 1" edge driven pure Beryllium Dome Tweeters) that is up for a challenge to fit these in that location and keep the light still functional.

 

[KnightRiderz]

I think everyone feels the same regarding the sound system in the Z. However, it can amazing without spending too much if you are willing to do the work yourself. It took me a little trial and error to get it right. Even after replacing the rear speakers I was still underwhelmed with the sound quality. There just isn't enough room behind the panel, even with modifications, to fit anything larger than a slim 3.5 speaker. I decided to fabricate 2 small enclosures that fit in the shelf spaces behind the seats. This completely fixed the rear sound problem with the car. I know that most people won't like the look of them and you do give up storage space, but the sound quality is unbelievable. I also changed out the door and dash tweeters with focal components, threw an RF amplified sub in the back under the carpet, and wired in a DSP kicker amp. Total investment was only $900 and I can't belive how good it sounds!

With the 6x9s did you grab the signal from the rear speakers? I really like this setup. Thank you

 

[Outbid25500]

With the 6x9s did you grab the signal from the rear speakers? I really like this setup. Thank you

No, I ran the rear 6x9's off of the Kicker DSP amp as a completely separate rear channel.

 

[KnightRiderz]

No, I ran the rear 6x9's off of the Kicker DSP amp as a completely separate rear channel.

Got it. Thank you

 

[TheMarkedOne]

Was thinking of doing this to my Z. I hear the new speakers in the back are still not good even after the upgrade. Should I just concentrate on the front dash and door speakers?

 

[Mugzilla]

Was thinking of doing this to my Z. I hear the new speakers in the back are still not good even after the upgrade. Should I just concentrate on the front dash and door speakers?

Honestly, the dash speakers made the biggest bang for the buck, followed by the door speakers, followed by the sub to fill in the low end.

When you upgraded your rear speakers, did you need to trim plastic out of the grill to make them fit? Which ones did you use? Did you make wire extensions to add a sub later?

 

[TheMarkedOne]

Honestly, the dash speakers made the biggest bang for the buck, followed by the door speakers, followed by the sub to fill in the low end.

When you upgraded your rear speakers, did you need to trim plastic out of the grill to make them fit? Which ones did you use? Did you make wire extensions to add a sub later?

Sorry! I have not upgraded the rear speakers. I just saw you said the rears did not make much of a difference in your post. Thanks though! I will definitely go with your recommendation for the dash speakers first if it makes the largest difference.

 

[Mugzilla]

Sorry! I have not upgraded the rear speakers. I just saw you said the rears did not make much of a difference in your post. Thanks though! I will definitely go with your recommendation for the dash speakers first if it makes the largest difference.

Guess I should have read more carefully.....

 

[Exquisite_Red]

Bumping this instead of making a new thread.

Mugzilla, thanks for taking the time to document all of this. Very hard to find info on the Sport audio system.

Does anyone know if there is a separate amp somewhere in the Sport? Or is it built into the head unit? I was hoping I could tap into the system and grab the clean signal before the amp like the Performance people can do, but I can’t find any info on where the amp might be. I read through the service manual and it shows the amp location for the Performance, but not the Sport. I’ve peeked under the rear carpet and didn’t see anything in the location where the Bose amp usually lives. My goal would be to insert a DSP at the factory amp location so I can have full control of the audio without having to rewire anything.

Anybody got any idea where the Sport audio amplifier is!?

 

[Mugzilla]

Bumping this instead of making a new thread.

Mugzilla, thanks for taking the time to document all of this. Very hard to find info on the Sport audio system.

Does anyone know if there is a separate amp somewhere in the Sport? Or is it built into the head unit? I was hoping I could tap into the system and grab the clean signal before the amp like the Performance people can do, but I can’t find any info on where the amp might be. I read through the service manual and it shows the amp location for the Performance, but not the Sport. I’ve peeked under the rear carpet and didn’t see anything in the location where the Bose amp usually lives. My goal would be to insert a DSP at the factory amp location so I can have full control of the audio without having to rewire anything.

Anybody got any idea where the Sport audio amplifier is!?

No amp in the Sport.

Even with better speakers in the 3.5" holes behind the seat doesn't REALLY help. Thinking about doing that 6x9 mod.

 

[Exquisite_Red]

No amp in the Sport.

Even with better speakers in the 3.5" holes behind the seat doesn't REALLY help. Thinking about doing that 6x9 mod.

Bummer, that was my suspicion, but I figured I’d ask. In that case I believe I’ll do door and dash speakers similar to you. As for the rears, they are useless anyways, so I’ll disconnect them and use the signal for a couple subs in stereo behind the seats.

 

[Mugzilla]

Before you completely chop out the rear speakers, the ones I added DO add sound. Just not a lot.

If I had to do it over again, I would use 3.5" speakers that I wouldn't have had to chop out so much of the grid on the speaker grill.

There IS enough room where the 3.5" speakers are depth-wise to add 5.25" speakers there. (Cut a hole, mount the speakers, mount their grills.)

I did tap my rear speakers for my mini sub. I do not believe I have much signal loss to the sub. My one concern though is, the rear speakers have an in line cross over that cuts some of the sub signal going to them.

 

[Exquisite_Red]

Before My one concern though is, the rear speakers have an in line cross over that cuts some of the sub signal going to them.

I’m curious, do you know for sure that the rears have a crossover, or is that speculation based on them sounding so anemic? I was thinking about testing the signal of the rear speaker wires to confirm if they are full range or not.

On another note, I was digging through the service manual looking for amp info and I found the pinout for the A/V control unit:

I searched online for the connector code and found this:

I’m thinking I can plug this between the
factory harness and the A/V unit and then splice in a sub-harness for a DSP and/or amp, without modifying any factory wiring. Not a bad experiment for only $15 shipped. Now, to figure out how to get to the rear of the A/V unit…

 

[Mugzilla]

Only speculation.

Good find on the harness. Not sure if the Sport head unit will be sending any signal to those other pins. (Subwoofer, extra speakers.)

You figure it out, add it in to this thread!

 

[RobotAZ]

This is a great thread for Sport owners. I just don’t have time right now with two jobs both drowning me to do any research on speakers.

Are the previously-mentioned Pioneers just as good as anything else considering there’s no amp?