Background
I have been looking at my Kicker system to see if I could improve the sound as I am sure that anyone that owns it knows it is not really close to being a “high fidelity” system. My ACR came with this set-up and though I was aware that it was not great, it does not sound that bad either. The fact it had a 6 CD Changer was a nice bonus and the Sub Woofer gave it that little extra “Kick” (pun intended).
Since I have fairly eclectic musical tastes and listen to many different types of music (my kids help provide even more variety), it became evident early on when listening to softer stuff, that this did not compare well to the system I installed in my last Neon. Unfortunately, most paths to me upgrading the Kicker system resulted in replacing every component, as the upgrade path included a new head, which resulted in a new SW, Amp, Speakers, and CD Changer (I’m sure most here have done the math as well). What I was looking for was an upgrade that would give the system a nice boost, with a little outlay of money, and keeping the basic Kicker system intact.
My Upgrade Notes
What I finally decided that I disliked the most about the system was the lack of overall clarity in the sound. The bass was strong enough, and the highs were OK, but what I really missed from my last system was when the motor was turned off, and I was sitting listening to the music, it had that really high end presence that made you forget you were sitting in a car, and you could just get lost in the music. Let’s face it, at highway speeds and our muffler setup, the Kicker sounds just fine … lol
When I finally got time to dig through the door panels it was easy to see one issue was the fact that the 6.5” in the front doors were basically a full range speaker, with the tweeter in the dash having a very basic High-pass filter. What I decided to try was adding a three way component system to the door to see if this would clean up the sound stage.
Some prefer a 2-way system, but for me the 3-way gives a better overall presence that delineates the sound better. I had my 3-way passive X-over from my last system, and my son gave me a nice 3.5”mid/1” tweeter component system for X-mass. So last week I got off my butt and completed the installation. Here is a picture of the door setup.
Components used
Speakers – Audiobahn, ABFS23Q
Crossover – CDT Audio, ES/HD-30 3-way
The speaker placement was not ideal as I would have preferred to have the 3.5” at the same height as the tweeter to keep them closer together, but they ended up not being that far apart to make a big difference. The 3D aspect to the door panel made it difficult for me to move them up higher as these 3.5” speakers have a very large magnet (16 oz). After having installed them, I think I might have been able to place them up at least another inch. Then they would have been tilting upwards slightly as well. As it stands they are behind the edge of the seat more than I wanted. Here is how I determined the depths available at different locations.
By running thread between the various mounting points I could make some measurements at the individual locations. The tweeter is where it is as directly above the 6.5” grill was a little too shallow. As you can see I had to place one of the screws for the mid range inside the pocket. A smaller mid range may have enough room to be mounted above the position I chose.
In the first go round, I left the dash speaker in place, and made no other changes to the system. When I did a test run, the sound was much better, but the in-dash tweeter from Kicker was harsh at loud volumes. I had planned to keep them as I like the added sound from the dash. To help shape the sound a bit, I added a set of volume controls for each dash tweeter. Here is where I ended up locating them as the controls are large (3” in diameter) to handle the wattage.
(Special Note: No matter how many times you measure, usually you get something wrong. From this picture I can see I did not get the controls aligned correctly … lol)
This helped a lot as I was now able to balance out the sound with the speakers in the doors. Some can argue that the dash speakers reduce the overall music quality, but to my ears, I like having them (In this picture you can also see where I had to mount my X-over’s inside the cabin as there was no room in the doors).
What I did notice more acutely was the fact that these tweeters are not very good compared to the AudioBahn tweeters that came with my kit. Therefore since my son had decided to get me an additional set of tweeters with the kit - he’s a great guy by the way - I decided to replace the Kickers in the dash. Since they had a mounting plate and a X-over, I decided to reuse them. Here is a picture of the back of the tweeters as a reference.
To get the tweeter out, insert a small slot screw driver in the hole at the centre of the circuit board. To get the circuit board out, break off one of the posts at the short end, trim back the glue around the plastic tabs on the long sides and the board will just slide out. To mount my new tweeter here is what I did.
I took the surface mount plastic housing the AudioBahn tweeter slides into, and cut off the end (cut off piece is to the left of the tweeter above), which essentially gave me a ring. I trimmed this down to 0.650” high and glued it into the pocket of the Kicker mounting plate with epoxy. There is a hole in the centre to pass the wires through, and the tweeter slips tightly into the ring now glued to the Kicker plate. I then soldered the tweeter wires to the circuit board, added some epoxy to the tabs to keep the board in place and added connectors to the wires. Here is the final assembly in the dash.
Final Results
This worked out better than I though it would, as it changed the sound quite noticeably. The bass was much tighter, the mid’s had a more natural tone, and the high’s were crystal clear. Other points that I noted:
Advantages
- An added bonus was the fact that I could now turn up the volume significantly before the sound distorted. Before the upgrade after around volume 20, the sound distorted significantly. Now at a volume of 26 it is still good; with some songs able to reach 30. For those looking for more bass, this added significantly to the low end as well. At the low end, everything is more defined and is not muddled.
- My tone controls went from +5 Bass/+3 Treble to +3 Bass / +1 Treble, and I still had more bottom end than before. Whereas before I had the fader at -1, it is now set to +4, this increases the SW volume as well. I turned down the volume on the dash tweeters to about 5/8, just enough to be heard.
Disadvantages
- Not having any adjustments on my X-over limited my ability to shape the sound from the components. The newer X-over models have EQ & Level adjustments, which would have suited this installation better
- The existing dash speakers sound harsh at louder volumes; I had to use a set of Volume controls so that I could adjust the sound levels which helped considerably.
- Anyone who has priced a good 3-way X-over knows they are not cheap; this might limit people from going with this upgrade route. Here is the price breakdown: Crossover - $300 Cdn/pair (less on sale), speakers - $140 Cdn (all four), Volume controls - $25/pair. Though this seems like a lot of money, it is still cheaper than a whole new system (my current estimate is $1,500 - $2,500 Cdn depending on the deals that can be achieved)
Next Steps
Now that I have the upgrade bug it is unlikely that I will stop here. This upgrade has further reinforced the fact that the head unit and built-in amplifier suck. Anyway, here are some further smaller upgrades I am thinking of:
- Add a 2-way X-over for the rear speakers with a better tweeter
- Cut out the rear deck and put in a proper speaker grill. The current open area in the deck is less than 50% open space and therefore IMO blocks too much sound
- Make a custom grill for the front 3.5” door midrange
- Paint the little flame cover on the door tweeters black (still not crazy about the design)
Ian K.
Upgrading my stock Kicker system
Linear Mode
