Pioneer TS-G1341R Speakers vs. 2006 Honda Civic EX
Pioneer TS-G1341R Speakers fitted into gutted 2006 Honda Civic EX Rear Deck Speakers
Tonight’s project-cum-technical disappointment was what you see above. That is, my fitting some aftermarket Pioneer TS-G1341R 5¼” into the shells of Honda OEM speakers from the rear deck of my car.
See, ever since installing the Bass System Kit (photo gallery retired) a year ago, I just haven’t been wholly satisfied with the sound in my vehicle. The bass was improved over the factory bass, but it still sounded rather warbly and distorted even with ‘normal’-ish bass, such as the guitar in some pieces. Much electronic stuff was just right out.
Earlier today I decided that I’d pick up a cheaper, but likely decent set of speakers as replacements for the ones which shipped with the bass system kit. So, poking around, I came across the Pioneer TS-G1341Rs which are fairly widely available. So, at lunch I swung by Best Buy and grabbed a pair for just under US$50.
By gutting the leftover original speakers and some ¼” MDF I was able to nicely fit the new speakers in, and even wire them up to use the original Honda connectors. This is good because I can easily swap my new speakers in and out for the ones from the Bass System Kit.
Why would I want to swap them? Because the new speakers sound like crap. They sound worse than the ones with the Bass System Kit. In fact, they are more in line with the very original OEM speakers.
So, I don’t know what I’m going to do right now. Probably return them, and possibly acquire some (better 6½” speakers and an aftermarket mounting bracket. Or… something. I don’t know.
Bah. At least it only took a few hours.
Two-way speakers almost unilaterally suck, it’s definitely worth your while to go with separates. Infinitys are OK, Bostons are better, and if you’re willing to foot the cost Dynaudios are amazing. It also might be worth your while to look at the OEM speakers of high-end cars, like the Mark Levinson system in the Lexus GS. You don’t have to go with a dedicated amplifier, but that’s worth it as well. The system I was going to put in my car before I found out the stereo faceplate couldn’t be removed was:
Denon/Rockford Fosgate 8250 head unit
Any decent CD changer with a remote
McIntosh MCC406M amplifier
Dynaudio System 242GT speakers
These are just rear deck speakers designed to replace the Honda ones with the factory amp. There’s no reason for me to go with separate low/mid speakers back there, as that already exists up front. I may try a pair of 5″ or 6 1/2″ speakers from Parts Express. Maybe something like this.
Since the amp it’ll be connected to is part of the Honda Bass Kit I figure it should be decent for this, and I can just adjust the crossover accordingly.
Or, maybe these. Opinions are very welcome. :)
Both are OK, but for those prices you can get better drivers from MadiSound, Vifa makes some really good ones.
Unfortunately they don’t have any 5 1/4’s so I can’t drop them in the mounts shown above. :\
What do you think of these?
You can always buy/make a shim, 5″ drivers would fit fine. The driver you linked to is a good choice, but the frequency response drops off a little too soon to be used as a good sub. This one would do the trick. This Seas driver would be pretty damn good, albeit it might freak out an amplifier wired to run 4-ohm drivers.
The amp that is in there already is pushing 2 ohm speakers. So, I think 4 ohm would be just fine, just might run a little louder. (I can trim that down.)
And yeah, I already made the MDF surround seen up above. One of the mounts shown above is the left speaker here.
Bu falls off, to you mean on the high or low end?
The low end, 70Hz is OK for rock, but wouldn’t work as well for industrial or other synth music.