Speaker 'Upgrade'

[Don]

The stereo system in my SE has always sounded pretty good, but it's always been my experience with past cars that a set of decent speakers really improves things, so I've been planning from day one to replace all 4 of the door speakers which came with my car

Today, I finally got around to buying a pair of Pioneer TS-G1644R 6.5 inch coaxial speakers and set about putting them where my stock front speakers were. The door panel is very easy to remove - 3 screws and a series of push 'rivets' and it comes loose. Disconnect the two cables for the door handle and lock, the two electrical cables for the power window and door lock and the panel can be lifted off and set aside - 5 minutes tops. Unplug the speaker, twist it CCW 15 or 20 degrees and it's off the door. Kudos to Mitsu for making it as easy to take apart as any car I've done

The Pioneer speakers are rated 250 watts (40 watts nominal) and are 4 ohm. The first thing I noticed is that they're actually pretty flimsy when compared to the stock OEM speakers. Despite being rated as 6.5 inch speakers, the cones are actually a little smaller than the stock ones too. The Mitsu speakers are also rated as 40 watts nominal, but they are 2 ohm . . . . not 4. I knew before I installed one that it was going to require more twist of the volume knob to get an equivalent sound, and it does. Somewhat surprisingly, the stock speakers seem much better all around compared with my proposed upgrades. The Pioneers have an integral tweeter (the stock ones don't) but all in all, the bass and overall sound of my stock speakers was better to my ears than the Pioneers, and they are definitely better made too

I put the stock ones back and took the Pioneers back to the store. You may get somewhat better sound with a more expensive speaker, but you're not going to get anything better than the OEM speakers without spending quite a bit, IMO

If you bought an ES and want to install speakers in the rear doors, I would see if I couldn't come up with a set from some other Mitsubishi product which would also fit out car . . . . or, just buy a new set from Mitsu parts for our iMiEV - I think you'll be happier with those than any $50 pair of speakers you could buy . . . . and they'll be much easier to install as well

Don

 

[alohart]

Wow! That's pretty surprising. I don't think I've heard of a car whose OEM speakers are higher quality than reasonably-priced after-market speakers. Maybe the upgraded SE radio/CD player is worth something after all. Kudos to Mitsubishi for not going too cheap.

 

[Llecentaur]

Hi Don,

Thank you for detailed description and feedback.

In general I do not find Pionneers to deserve their name. If I want to maximise speakers I would go with Infinity Kappa not to waste my time, by the way they are also 2 Ohm. 2 Ohm is a good choice in a car because of thin wires used to save weight, that is the explanation given by Infinity.

Another brand I have tested with success is Kenwood's Dual cone 6x9 speakers with small tube amplifiers. The result is simply unbelievable, a friend who had bought French cabasse and a NAD was schocked at their sound with a small 4w tube amp and DAC fron an iPhone.

It seems that unless really well made, the fact of adding a second speaker in the axis creates several losses that a good dual cone does not suffer from !

 

[aarond12]

Kudos to Mitsubishi for not going too cheap.

...except in the ES model omitting the rear door speakers.

If I want to maximise speakers I would go with Infinity Kappa not to waste my time, by the way they are also 2 Ohm.

I haven't had good luck with Infinity speakers in the past. 2 Ohm speakers are good on paper, but the low resistance can cause the radio's amplifier to run too hot.

A nearby store has a pair of Pioneer speakers, similar to ones I've seen on other "how-to" pages, that I might add to the rear doors of my ES. I'm gonna wait a bit until I make some (reversible) modifications to my i. I've only had it a week. :lol:

 

[Llecentaur]

Ok, I started by installing an IR quartz heater in my garage which let me work on the car and not to catch a flu again (hopefully).

I can confirm that stock speakers are very very good quality. I had bought a pair of dual cone Kenwood's that I installed in the back and they just sounded terrible. Luckily I had tried to source some Infinities from a private seller on EBay and I am not sure if they where really infinity kappa but they held up pretty well against the stock speakers without being better.

Now I have the stock speakers in front and these fairly good 6.5" two way speakers in the back and the overal sound is well balanced but not better in terms of frequency response. I would say that the extra speakers let the front one work with less load and definitely sitting at the back sound is much better now.

Also please note that the best would be to install 2 Ohm speakers at the back to balance the front ones. Here again I think some new Infintities do have 2Ohm Speakers, I think the result will be woth it and one might try and install a tad bigger than 6.5" there is plenty of room there.