Sport Model: audio solution thread

[Mugzilla]

The conundrum is there are no options for 2 ohm 6.5" speakers.

I am in a weird boat; I was pleased as punch with my 2.75" dash speakers, and 6.5" Pioneer door speakers. THEN, @Exquisite_Red came along with his superb reading and observation abilities, and noticed the 6.5 STOCK speakers are 2 ohm.

SO, my dash speakers have been getting cranked up because I was turning up the volume to hear the 4 ohm door speakers.

Exquisite:

another thought; You have all that foam around and BEHIND the door speakers. From an acoustic standpoint, is that sort of like sound deadening? Like having a pillow as a sprinter's starting block? Is it absorbing the sound?

Getting delivered today are "similar" power boost speakers. They are supposedly direct stock swap ones. I don't have the microphones or frequency monitors you have, but we'll hear what we'll hear.

mug

 

[Exquisite_Red]

- What dash speakers did you use? 2.75"?

- Did you get the + and - correct on their wiring? Those frequency swings at the top seem suspect. Wonder if those crossovers are direction-dependent, or are "passing" monster amounts once they cross their cutoff threshold. (I doubt you wired incorrectly, as your attention to detail is incredible.)

- If you email/call Crutchfield and let them know that they are recommending the wrong wiring harness, they'll update. They are a "small" company, that was just down the road from me when I lived in VA.

Yes, I went with the 2.75”, same as you.

I’m certain that the wire polarity is correct, I quadruple checked! I’m not sure if direction matters for crossovers, but regardless, I know they are still in the original orientation because I didn’t touch the side of the Pioneer harness that has the speaker terminals. So I know the signal is still flowing as expected, even though I patched in my own plug.

I just checked and when I look for a dash speaker adapter for a '24 Z on Crutchfield, it now says there is nothing available. So not really sure what happened there. In your original posts, you said you used the same harness (B07PR6PFXR) for both the doors and dash. Was that correct, or was that just a typo? Because my Z had very different plugs for the door and dash.

Assuming the stock sport deck is only pushing 15-20w RMS, I bet if you dropped down to something more suited for that power @ that ohm load it would make a world of difference. It has been awhile but the last time I tried a set 50+ RMS / 1XX+ max on a head-unit putting out ultra low wattage they sounded like child walky-talkies. I'm actually surprised you're getting anything out of the door speakers, stock HU power is likely not enough to get the cone moving at all. A good test would be to go grab a set of ultra cheap Kenwood KFC-1666S for the door. If it instantly wakes up, they offer a 2-40 watt tweeter int hat KFC line as well.

Great news on the door being near sealed from the factory and once you get a set of speakers that match what you're working with I bet its going to sound incredible with the effort you put in. I'd rather have entry/mid-level speakers with fantastic deadening than the best speakers money can buy and no deadening. It's like a $-multiplier if you've got the time. Thanks for posting all of this information.

As Mugzilla said, pretty limited options for 2 ohm (the Kenwood KFC-1666S you suggested is 4 ohm), and I didn't want to spend a fortune on them because I eventually plan to add a DSP amp and switch to 4 ohm anyways. But yeah, I'm hoping all of the sound deadening effort pays off later!

another thought; You have all that foam around and BEHIND the door speakers. From an acoustic standpoint, is that sort of like sound deadening? Like having a pillow as a sprinter's starting block? Is it absorbing the sound?

Getting delivered today are "similar" power boost speakers. They are supposedly direct stock swap ones. I don't have the microphones or frequency monitors you have, but we'll hear what we'll hear.

mug

So, technically yes, it is absorbing the sound, but that's the point. The idea with the foam and Dynamat is to absorb or diffuse as much of the audio as possible that's not shooting directly out from the cone. The goal is to eliminate as much of the reflections and resonances as possible, so all you hear is the sound coming directly from the speakers.

I'm gonna do some tinkering and messing with the crossovers a little bit because I'm convinced something is wrong. Like, music sounds so bad in my car right now I've just stopped listening all together. There are too many glowing reviews of the Pioneer TS-A709 speakers for them to actually sound like this. I'll report back whatever I find!

 

[Mugzilla]

@Exquisite_Red

It's been awhile since my original posts on pg 1.

Here is what I ordered, and did not return:

Red Wolf harness (2) ASIN: B08VJ7NZYY (Many, many mentions that this is used in Nissan Frontier and Altima dash speakers)

Red Wolf harness (2) ASIN: B08C4MQDPB (Read the reviews. ONE states, "The polarity is reversed")

Red Wolf harness (2) ASIN: B07PR6PFXR (Many mentions of door speakers)




NOW, here's the problem; I have (possibly) 2 issues: The dash harness and the rear speaker harness.

I'll verify the front speakers when I install my PB 6.5" 2 ohm speakers.

I say that I used ASIN B08BHPYQFV for the rear speakers. BUT, my amazon orders says I returned those. (AND,... they were reddish plastic.)

Sorry.

 

[Exquisite_Red]

@Exquisite_Red

It's been awhile since my original posts on pg 1.

Here is what I ordered, and did not return:

Red Wolf harness (2) ASIN: B08VJ7NZYY (Many, many mentions that this is used in Nissan Frontier and Altima dash speakers)

Red Wolf harness (2) ASIN: B08C4MQDPB (Read the reviews. ONE states, "The polarity is reversed")

Red Wolf harness (2) ASIN: B07PR6PFXR (Many mentions of door speakers)




NOW, here's the problem; I have (possibly) 2 issues: The dash harness and the rear speaker harness.

I'll verify the front speakers when I install my PB 6.5" 2 ohm speakers.

I say that I used ASIN B08BHPYQFV for the rear speakers. BUT, my amazon orders says I returned those. (AND,... they were reddish plastic.)

Sorry.

The pictures on Amazon of the B08VJ7NZYY look like the dash plug in my car, so I’m gonna try it. I’d like to eliminate my DIY harnesses as a potential point of failure. I also ordered extra harnesses for both the door and the dash so I can make adapters to plug directly into my audio interface and test the raw signal to see if the head unit is sending clean audio or something wonky. I’m hoping the door signal is clean and full range so I have good source audio for my DSP down the line. I’ll report back what I find!

Thanks for the info!

 

[Mugzilla]

OK! I have updated the Pg 1 post about the door speakers. I left references to the Pioneer 4 ohm speakers, spacer rings, foam rings, and Red Wolf harness.

HOWEVER, IT IS NOT A GREAT IDEA TO USE THE PIONEER SPEAKERS UNLESS YOU ARE RUNNING AN AMP! Why? Wrong resistance!

I installed the PowerBass speakers Amazon ASIN: B0BH56NGBV

Full disclosure: I did NOT reinstall my stock 6.5" speakers to see how they sound. BUT, the PowerBass speakers sound great to my tinnitus--infested ear canals. It is an acceptable sound system now. I do not have E_Red's equipment or hearing nuances. But It sounds good to me.

 

[Exquisite_Red]

Sorry for the gap between replies. I got super frustrated and had to walk away for a few days. The B08VJ7NZYY harness did NOT fit my dash plug. The plug on my car's harness has two little rails on either side (see the picture of the OEM speaker female plug below to see what I'm talking about), which the aftermarket harness plug didn't have. I tried to cut out the sides of the Red Wolf plug so the car's harness plug would have room to slide in, but I had to remove so much material that the plug was on the brink of falling apart so I gave up. And I accidentally scratched my speaker cover taking it off. So I got pissed off and gave up for a few days.


The Red Wolf harness doesn't have these slots (as a reminder, this picture is of the plug on the OEM dash speaker that I sawed off to rig up a temporary adapter harness):

This is what the B08VJ7NZYY plug looks like:

I'm gonna keep reading around and see if I can find the correct dash speaker adapter.

 

[Mugzilla]

Man, I'm sorry. I cannot for the life of me figure out which harness/plug I bought for the small dash speakers.

What is that black part in your pic? Is that the Red Wolf harness, or the factory part?

 

[Exquisite_Red]

The black plug in pic #1 is the OEM plug that was originally attached to the speaker. I cut it off to make my own sub-harness to install the aftermarket speaker.

The white plug in pic #2 is the Red Wolf harness(B08VJ7NZYY), which doesn’t have the four “slots” cutout for the tiny rails of the OEM dash speaker harness plug.

It would be much easier to understand if I had an actual picture of the OEM harness male plug. The next time I have the speaker out, I’ll get a pic.

The fact that I’m having so much more trouble than anyone else makes me think they changed the speaker harness for ‘24 model year. Is yours a ‘23 or ‘24?

 

[Mugzilla]

2024.

I'll pop one of my speakers out next time I'm in the shop.

 

[RobotAZ]

So is the Powerbass or whatever it’s called that has the correct ohm rating any good? I’d just buy all six if they’re better than stock and rated correctly.

 

[Mugzilla]

So is the Powerbass or whatever it’s called that has the correct ohm rating any good? I’d just buy all six if they’re better than stock and rated correctly.

@Exquisite_Red appears to have used the woofer-only 6.5" PowerBass speakers from his post on pg 3.

Mine have the tweeters and 6.5" woofer.

I think mine sound "Good +" Then again, I have tinnitus, and hearing loss in the voice frequency range, so my audio opinion is $#!+.

Only the 6.5" speakers are 2 ohm on the sport. Rest are 4 ohm. I think E_R is trying to figure out why the frequency response is all over the place, as well as a part number for the Red Wolf adapter for the dash speakers. The ones I used do not plug in to his dash plugs. Did Nissan change things mid-year? Who knows.

 

[RobotAZ]

@Exquisite_Red appears to have used the woofer-only 6.5" PowerBass speakers from his post on pg 3.

Mine have the tweeters and 6.5" woofer.

I think mine sound "Good +" Then again, I have tinnitus, and hearing loss in the voice frequency range, so my audio opinion is $#!+.

Only the 6.5" speakers are 2 ohm on the sport. Rest are 4 ohm. I think E_R is trying to figure out why the frequency response is all over the place, as well as a part number for the Red Wolf adapter for the dash speakers. The ones I used do not plug in to his dash plugs. Did Nissan change things mid-year? Who knows.

I thought you could buy the PowerBass and they fit and attach perfectly. Seems dumb all these connectors.

 

[Mugzilla]

I thought you could buy the PowerBass and they fit and attach perfectly. Seems dumb all these connectors.

PowerBass used the stock door plug. Dash and rear speakers? Need to source regular 4 ohm speakers that don't use the stock plug.

 

[Exquisite_Red]

Alright, after searching for hours, I finally found good info on the dash speaker harness connector.

Random Google searching landed me on this OWC connector page here. There is a vehicle list on the page that specifies which vehicles use which harnesses, but it unfortunately only lists the Performance Z, no Sport. However, just by looking at the plugs, it looked like the TH02MW was what I was looking for. I referenced the vehicle list to see which use the TH02MW and saw the ‘22+ Frontier with Fender audio listed. A search for that yielded this Frontier forum thread here. That user posted a bunch of great pictures of the front speakers and harness. I stole one of his pictures of the harness plug below. That is the same connector I have in my dash. Unfortunately, the user goes on to say that the Metra harness Crutchfield recommends doesn’t fit. He says he will follow up when he finds the correct harness, but that was three years ago. Sounds like he ran into the same roadblock as me!

Anyways, all that to say, I believe the OWC TH02MW is the correct harness. I’ve ordered it and will report back.


For reference, here is a picture of the Frontier dash speaker plug (matches my ‘24 Sport dash speaker plug):