whoiswholeaf
Member
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2017
- Messages
- 15
After reviewing all the post here I finally decided to upgrade the speakers on my ‘15 Leaf, I noticed distortion in the speakers once the radio is turned to the halfway mark just to get decent amount of mid bass from the stock speakers. Reading all the posts that mentioned that the stock speakers were 2ohm speakers, I went in search for aftermarket 2 ohm speakers which were somewhat limited in selection (at least for lower priced speakers). I finally found some Focal speakers which I have always heard were awesome speakers when I was younger (when I couldn’t afford them). I saw that some people chose some Infinity speakers which were 2 ohm also, but I’ve had used Infinity speakers in the past and were good but still not as good as Focal speakers (I understand it's a big price difference between the two to compare). I took the plunge and bought two sets of the Power 165KR2 component speakers which were 45% off from Crutchfield (could not pass up such a deal even though they might be last year's model). Since I was spending that kind of money on the speakers I decided to do the install right and get some dynomat and the F.A.S.T speaker foam rings to help with deadening the doors.
The install took me about a total of 8 hours just because I took it slow and methodical so I get it exactly correct. The doors were easy to remove and the original speakers came right off. I took my time to determine where I can locate the crossover (not too big) in the doors which was a bit of a challenge for the front door, the rear door had a little more space. For the front door I was able to modify some plastic spacers to provide the door panels with reinforcement against the door frame. The way I modified the spacers actually holds the crossovers by themselves against the door panel and not actually screwed into the door frame. For the rear door I found some space in the upper front portion of the door panel where I just used velcro strips to hold them against the backside of the door panel and not screw it into the door frame either. Because the crossovers are installed on the door panel and not the door frame I had to install some inline spade connectors on the speaker wires from the crossover to the woofer and the stock speaker connector to make it easier to remove the door panels in the future.
I took even longer to figure out where to install the front tweeters because the set comes with some mounts that can actually sit on top of the door to angle the tweeter towards the listening position (but did not look very stock of course), I did not want to go through the trouble to run wiring from the door to the pillars to the stock tweeter locations (did not want to drill through the sidewall of the door jam). So I decided to install them flush to the door panel in the upper corner of the door panel near the dash. That area of the front door panel is not very flat so the install of the tweeter is not exactly flush but should be ok once I properly secure them to the door (I will explain later). The rear door panel was also time consuming trying to decide where to install the tweeter (of course flush mounted too), same issue as the front door; not too much flat area to install the tweeter. I wanted to install the tweeter forward of the inside door handle and the B-pillar but that area is not very flat for a nice flush install (since its just hard plastic with no padding like the front doors to fill any gaps to compensate for the curvature of the panel). Just a little lower from there was a flat surface but I secured the crossover in that location on the backside of the panel so no can do there for the tweeter. I finally decided to install tweeter just below the door hanel and above the window switch, at least right there the surface is perfectly flat for a flush install. I got lucky that a 1 ¾ hole saw was very close to the hole size required for the tweeters, just needed to do some minor work with a grind wheel on a dremel to slightly enlarge the hole for a perfect fit.
For the woofer installation I applied dynomat around the speaker opening only and not the entire door since I didn’t want to add too much weight to the car and undo the weight savings I had with my suspension and wheel upgrade (check my other post). I installed the F.A.S.T rings on the rear of the speakers, the big center piece in the door behind the speaker (as much as possible since the cross beam is in the way). I used the left over dynomat that I cut out from the speaker hole and applied it to the cross beam and anything else I can get to through the speaker hole. I installed the woofers with the supplied mounting brackets (FOC from Crutchfield) and used the speaker connector adapter (FOC from Crutchfield). No clearance issues at all with the window mechanism or the crossbeam in the door.
Overall the install went great with no issues popping up, was even surprised that after it was all done and tested the speakers all sounded great and all in phase with each other. So with all my do diligence with the intermediate spade connections for the wiring, I made sure each side of the connections had the opposite connectors so I will never cross the connections in the future if I have to remove the door panels again for any reason. The wiring probably took a good amount of time to make sure I had all the correct lengths and no reversed wires, but I think the tweeter install took the longest just to make sure I was satisfied with the tweeter position I chose before I made the cut out for the tweeters. The ultimate question, sound quality; the speakers sound crisp and clean compared to the stock speakers. The tweeters are very crisp (maybe too harsh, might need to adjust the tweeter settings), the woofers sound clean but I think I lost some bass at low volume. But when I crank it up (just a little pass the halfway mark from the max volume) the woofers provide great tight bass with no distortion what so ever. Did not want to crank it up further since it’s recommended to breakin the speaker a bit before cranking it up. Very satisfied with the speakers and the install, well worth the money. Now I just have to wait to see how the speakers breakin and see if I will want to add an amp to drive the speakers and/or powered subwoofer just to add some bass at the lower volumes. Still not like what I have in my Range Rover Evoque with the Meridan sound system (low volume midbass/bass wise, still gets distortion at high volumes). Depending how these speakers sound at the end I might consider upgrading the Evoque speakers with Focal speakers too!!!
I am still technically not done yet with the install because I could not correctly secure the front tweeters to the door panel because I could not remove the tweeters out of the mounting cradle they sit in, so they are just sitting in the hole in the door panel and I can just pull them out by hand for now unlike the rear doors where they are secured with the provided rear bracket and additional silicone around the cradle and the panel . I called Crutchfield right after I was done and they are sending me a replacement set and I will have to re-install the front tweeters and woofers (maybe if serialized).
Any recommendations to get some more bass at the lower volumes?
Here are some pictures of the install.
The install took me about a total of 8 hours just because I took it slow and methodical so I get it exactly correct. The doors were easy to remove and the original speakers came right off. I took my time to determine where I can locate the crossover (not too big) in the doors which was a bit of a challenge for the front door, the rear door had a little more space. For the front door I was able to modify some plastic spacers to provide the door panels with reinforcement against the door frame. The way I modified the spacers actually holds the crossovers by themselves against the door panel and not actually screwed into the door frame. For the rear door I found some space in the upper front portion of the door panel where I just used velcro strips to hold them against the backside of the door panel and not screw it into the door frame either. Because the crossovers are installed on the door panel and not the door frame I had to install some inline spade connectors on the speaker wires from the crossover to the woofer and the stock speaker connector to make it easier to remove the door panels in the future.
I took even longer to figure out where to install the front tweeters because the set comes with some mounts that can actually sit on top of the door to angle the tweeter towards the listening position (but did not look very stock of course), I did not want to go through the trouble to run wiring from the door to the pillars to the stock tweeter locations (did not want to drill through the sidewall of the door jam). So I decided to install them flush to the door panel in the upper corner of the door panel near the dash. That area of the front door panel is not very flat so the install of the tweeter is not exactly flush but should be ok once I properly secure them to the door (I will explain later). The rear door panel was also time consuming trying to decide where to install the tweeter (of course flush mounted too), same issue as the front door; not too much flat area to install the tweeter. I wanted to install the tweeter forward of the inside door handle and the B-pillar but that area is not very flat for a nice flush install (since its just hard plastic with no padding like the front doors to fill any gaps to compensate for the curvature of the panel). Just a little lower from there was a flat surface but I secured the crossover in that location on the backside of the panel so no can do there for the tweeter. I finally decided to install tweeter just below the door hanel and above the window switch, at least right there the surface is perfectly flat for a flush install. I got lucky that a 1 ¾ hole saw was very close to the hole size required for the tweeters, just needed to do some minor work with a grind wheel on a dremel to slightly enlarge the hole for a perfect fit.
For the woofer installation I applied dynomat around the speaker opening only and not the entire door since I didn’t want to add too much weight to the car and undo the weight savings I had with my suspension and wheel upgrade (check my other post). I installed the F.A.S.T rings on the rear of the speakers, the big center piece in the door behind the speaker (as much as possible since the cross beam is in the way). I used the left over dynomat that I cut out from the speaker hole and applied it to the cross beam and anything else I can get to through the speaker hole. I installed the woofers with the supplied mounting brackets (FOC from Crutchfield) and used the speaker connector adapter (FOC from Crutchfield). No clearance issues at all with the window mechanism or the crossbeam in the door.
Overall the install went great with no issues popping up, was even surprised that after it was all done and tested the speakers all sounded great and all in phase with each other. So with all my do diligence with the intermediate spade connections for the wiring, I made sure each side of the connections had the opposite connectors so I will never cross the connections in the future if I have to remove the door panels again for any reason. The wiring probably took a good amount of time to make sure I had all the correct lengths and no reversed wires, but I think the tweeter install took the longest just to make sure I was satisfied with the tweeter position I chose before I made the cut out for the tweeters. The ultimate question, sound quality; the speakers sound crisp and clean compared to the stock speakers. The tweeters are very crisp (maybe too harsh, might need to adjust the tweeter settings), the woofers sound clean but I think I lost some bass at low volume. But when I crank it up (just a little pass the halfway mark from the max volume) the woofers provide great tight bass with no distortion what so ever. Did not want to crank it up further since it’s recommended to breakin the speaker a bit before cranking it up. Very satisfied with the speakers and the install, well worth the money. Now I just have to wait to see how the speakers breakin and see if I will want to add an amp to drive the speakers and/or powered subwoofer just to add some bass at the lower volumes. Still not like what I have in my Range Rover Evoque with the Meridan sound system (low volume midbass/bass wise, still gets distortion at high volumes). Depending how these speakers sound at the end I might consider upgrading the Evoque speakers with Focal speakers too!!!
I am still technically not done yet with the install because I could not correctly secure the front tweeters to the door panel because I could not remove the tweeters out of the mounting cradle they sit in, so they are just sitting in the hole in the door panel and I can just pull them out by hand for now unlike the rear doors where they are secured with the provided rear bracket and additional silicone around the cradle and the panel . I called Crutchfield right after I was done and they are sending me a replacement set and I will have to re-install the front tweeters and woofers (maybe if serialized).
Any recommendations to get some more bass at the lower volumes?
Here are some pictures of the install.