Speakers again

  1. My model of MX-5 is:3.75
  2. I’m based near: Sunderland

Hi all,

Whilst I am on furlough again iam doing a few little jobs which I haven’t been able to do on my days off.

So as I have the rear bulk head off whilst fitting a reversing camera, I have decided to do a speaker upgrade to go with my Pioneer SPA 230 DAB headunit.

I don’t want to break the bank and just want a modest upgrade in sound.

Firstly, what have people used as replacements for the rear speakers and secondly has anyone used the following speakings for the front or have any alternatives?
https://www.mx5parts.co.uk/250w-door-speaker-upgrade-mk2-25-35-pri-2154.html?reviews_id=10640

I bought the door speakers and were well worth the upgrade. I also included some dynomat in the door void for improved sounds. The same speakers (JVC) can be had for a similar price free delivery from such as eBay, I got mine from there.

As for the rear speakers, I’ve seen a thread mentioning these elsewhere, something I may look into myself too. The rears are only to enhance the sound so don’t expect great things from them but worth a possible upgrade.

I am aware I will only get marginal gains from the rears but something has got to be better than nothing :sweat_smile:

Halfrauds have to pairs of Pioneer 10cm speakers one set £20 and the other £35 so may get a set for the rear

I’ve installed the MX5 parts JVCs and they are a worthwhile upgrade.
When I got mine, around November, I couldn’t find any other than those sold by MX5 parts as they appeared to have been discontinued.
Maybe they have now been superseded or are even back in production but I couldn’t find any anywhere else at that time.

I never taken the rear back panel out but have read it’s just an open space back there behind the speakers so not much chance of a decent sound output.

If it is just an open panel, you could build suitable enclosure behind the speakers - but I understand that some space behind any speakers, as long as it is not too large enhances sound. However it depends on the size, shape and acoustic resonance of the space I suppose…

From what I remember, the general idea with speaker enclosures is to try and create an “infinite baffle”, so that sound waves from the rear of the speaker can’t interfere with those from the front, so according to that principle, having a large empty space behind is not such a bad thing.
However, you have two speakers from separate channels, close together and close to your left ear.
This strikes me as being very bad from a stereophonic point of view, so I have faded my own rear speakers right down.
Only my own ever so humble opinion of course…

What model are your fronts? Does not have a model number on mx5 parts

I’ll see if I can find the box.

They are CS-J6820

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Thanks I thought that was them! I was so confident I have them in my eBay basket l

Wow, I paid well over 40 quid with postage from MX5 parts, so looks great.
Fingers crossed they still have some.
I ordered a pair online elsewhere and got a refund cos they didn’t have them in stock and couldn’t get any more.

They say they have 12 pairs left so fingers crossed.

Ease the drip shield off your original speakers, they are stuck really firmly with automotive mastic, then affix to you new speakers. I didn’t really need to replace the tacky stuff it was that good it just stuck back down again, the screws hold it in place anyway.

I looked before for speakers the JVC seem like the best value for money.
They are 500w but that actually means 250w each speaker.
There’s plenty of 6x8 out there, Kenwood do some PS6895C, they are Mazda fitment and 360w per speaker so total of 720w and they are £45. Personally I’ll be trying the Kenwoods but the JVC’s seem totally acceptable especially for their price.

KENWOOD PS6895C on Ebay £44.95

Good to know, wonder if water guard will fit to the Kenwood’s

250w each or (more relevant) 30w rms per channel. As a cheap replacement for oe they are fine but those headline power handling figures are irrelevant and speak nothing of quality.

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Indeed

The Kenwood’s are rated for 81w RMS but it’s followed in brackets by (CEA SPEC) so not sure what that means.