I'm planning to upgrade my stock sound system with new door speakers, a new HU, an amp for the door speakers, and the rsx spare tire sub. The rsx sub is already purchased, but not hooked up yet... so I don't know yet if it's going to satisfy me with the low frequencies. But let's assume it will. I have decided to go with the focal access 6.5" components (165A) for the doors to be powered by a 2 channel mtx amp I have from an old install. The mounting depth on the focals is 66.2mm or 2.6".

Now on to the questions...

-I've been reading a lot about mounting depth and interference with the window mechanism. With the mounting depth of these speakers will it be necessary to purchase spacers, or cut out the baskets? I'm under the impression that the oem speakers are 5.25" so will it be a problem using these 6.5" speakers? Or will these speakers drop right in? I'm concerned about screw holes lining up.

-I am trying to decide on a HU. I have decided to go with an alpine, but not sure on the model. I am looking at the 9811, 9813, and 9815. I wanted one that would illuminate amber to match the dash, but it looks like none of these do. I know in the past alpine had the dual illumination feature. There's a pretty big range of price between these 3 units so I'm wondering what makes one so much better than the others. The 9813 and 9815 have a bit more power, but I'm using external amps for the front speakers and the sub so the power difference doesn't mean much. All 3 have the time correction feature. All 3 have mp3 capabilities. The 9813 and 9815 have more sophisticated crossover capabilites, but the 9811 does have a crossover. It looks like amber illumination isn't going to be an option with these decks, but I would say the 9815 is the nicest looking. So, I guess what I need is someone to tell me what would make me want to buy the 9813 or even the 9815 over the 9811. Is it worth spending that much more money when my install is going to be a pretty simple one anyway? I realize there's another thread floating around about the differences in the alpine HU's, but I was hoping for a little more technical info on their differences instead of which one looks cooler.

Can anyone give me some advice? Thanks in advance.

 

The RSX sub pretty much stinks. I've heard it in the RSX and you can barely tell it's there. And thats in a hatchback, not a trunk in a convert car.

 

I personally hate my RSX sub and am currenlty selling it. The low frequency response of my 6 1/2" MB Quarts is better. If you were adding this sub to the stock system it would be okay, but it just doesn't match up well with externally amplified good aftermarket components.

I took a long time deciding between the 9811, 9813, and 9815 but ended up with the 9815. I also have an external amp, so I just have the internal amp turned off(supposedly gives you better sound quality). I got the 9815 for the display. It looks much nicer and has the two line display which is very convenient for mp3's . My old Sony had a single line display which really sucked, you only saw half of the tiltle and had to wait for it to scroll across to see the whole thing. So all in all I really like the 9815 and am happy with my purchase.

 

RSX sub is crap bro. In the RSX you can barely notice it, and in your car, probably wont even make it into the cabin. Just get a real sub and be happy!

 

See my webpage for some depth measurements and diagrams...

 

I wanted to keep this install relatively simple. I just felt like the bose sub would be simple... and best of all I don't lose any storage space. I'm planning to tuck the amp for the highs away somewhere so as to not take up any space. I realize some people aren't impressed with it, but others have had good things to say about it. You guys who aren't fans of it realize that there was an acura recall on the unit because it wasn't properly wired from the factory? The fix makes the unit perform much better. I'm going to form my own opinion of it before just ruling it out. I appreciate everyone's opinions on it, but let's assume it will satisfy me (like I said initially).

CRX7 - thanks for the input on the HU. I guess I need to determine whether the nicer display is worth the price difference.

Macgyver - thanks for the info on the depth measurements.

 

plan on spacers for the Focal Access series. they're not as deep as some of the other Focals, but they aren't a shallow speaker.

and if you're looking for amber, see if you can track down an old Alpine CDA-7894, as it had the amber illumination. it doesn't have quite the crossover options as the CDA-9813/15, and it doesn't play WMA files -- but it's a capable little head unit. also, it's last year's model, so it isn't so old as to be impossible to find or too antiquated to be useful.

 

Thanks phillip. I appreciate the input. And I really do like the amber display on your HU. I think I'm going to see if I can track down a 7894 before getting a newer model. It would be nice to match the colors of the dash.

 

Alpine 7998 has amber and green illumination but it's too expensive....
You might want to give your stock 03' speaker a chance before you change it to aftermarket. Run a good clean amp and fine tune the crossover point and EQ and they will sound really good. The reason why most 03' S2k owner complain that it sound muddy or distorted is because they are under power from the cheap factory deck and no sub....
I recommend you get a aftermarket HU either Alpine 9815 or 7998 because thet have built in Crossover, EQ, time correction and bass focus so you could fine tune your music.
For Amp,JL 300/4, use two channel for the front speaker and bridge the last two for single sub either 10"or 12".
So far i have JL10w3 sub. This sub has dual voice coil for more excursion but i'm not satisfy with the sound. The bass is just too booming. It's a perfect sub if your going for SPL. I'm going to try either 10w0 or Infinity reference series Sub.