[ej25goddess]

Greetings,

I am going out today to make my rounds, and listen to speakers at local car stereo shops for my father 03 spyder. From my understanding most people here are using Focals or MB Quarts, both the type of sound my father would enjoy (I am more of a polk or infinity girl myself).

Last night I did some exploratory surgery, and figured out how all the speaker areas come apart, and bought myself a new soldering iron, and figured it all out.... save for how to unclip the rear speakrs. Damn the itallians and their complicated connectors! Alghough I am confident that when I am not on Vicodin and Valium (recent oral surgery, not recreational) and doing this at three in the morning, I will be able to figure it out.

I probably wont be buying today, unless I bump into any open box deals that fit and have the correct mounting depth, but I just wanted to ask before I go out.

Do the maserati speakers have any goofy impedance/crossover/ect issues that I should be aware of before I start buying up new toys for the father? Also, will the crossovers already in the system be compatable with aftermarket drivers so long as they are reasonable and similarly designed. (not paper of course)

To confirm, they are 6.5inch speakers in the front, and 5.25s in the rear right? Also, I did not find any tweeters in the rear in my exploratory surgery, did I miss something or are they just used as mid drivers... which would be smart of them. Also, if I got royally lazy, and simply upgraded to better quality speakers that were coaxial (yeah, really lazy, like post oral surgery lazy) do the internal crossovers limit the range of the door drivers in these cars, or can I just pop them in, unplug the tweeters, and tell my father not to cover up brilliantly placed the door drivers with his thighs?

Thoughts? Thanks for saving me all my bumbling around with your wisdom.

-Colleen

Oh, and I will be checking the thread on my phone while I am out, so I will see if any wisdom has been shared before I make any open box impulse buys. Thanks again.

 

[squid]

http://www.maseratilife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1793

 

[SJP63]

Colleen you are going to love this thread...you and the author may have to set up home together........

My input having gone through the same thing on my M3 CSL is you need an amp bigger than the original to drive these new speakers or its a waste of time. The basslink/sub whatever is a smart move on its own, except I would go with a strap in tube as the basslink is too big/heavy.

http://www.maseratilife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1793

 

[demoe]

Colleen

you are 100% correct about the speaker size. 6.5 inch in front, and 5.25 midbass in the rear-panel.

If you are going to put a full range 6.5 inch in the front, it is best to disconnect the tweeter, however I ran it with it connected as well with no issues. The tweeter is 'capped' so to not obtain a full range signal. the Stock 6.5 inch door speakers run full range.

I have done a bit of tweaking with the system in my car to the point where I do not think I can do better, plus I have taken off the Roll bar hoops (to access the 5.25 inch speakers) too many times to the point I have told myself to STOP.

 

[ej25goddess]

Well I in fact, found an open box I could not resist, test fitted, and they are going to work out fantastic in component.

Full Details to come. I am a member of numerous automotive message boards, Subaru, BMW, Ford, Honda, Acura, Volkswagen, Aircooled Volkswagen, Rx7, on and on and on, and one thing that most of those less expensive marques have, is a larger population, and many more people willing to tear into their cars to modify them. In turn you end up with exelent resources such as...

www.scoobymods.com
www.bimmerdiy.com

... and the like.

So I am going to go ahead and take full pictures and do a writeup of the speaker install, and maybe we can start an archive somewhere of simple DIY tutorials.

Oh, and I have declared JIHAD on removing the shift knob. It was designed by infidels who must be cleansed... or at least I need to get this fricken knob off.

-Colleen (who seems to work very fast on red bull)

 

[squid]

Oh, and I have declared JIHAD on removing the shift knob. It was designed by infidels who must be cleansed... or at least I need to get this fricken knob off.

-Colleen (who seems to work very fast on red bull)

Good luck...I've had no luck getting mine off.

http://www.maseratilife.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1703

I have this skull rattling around the left door that I really want to fit, no luck.

One service guy said there was a bolt. I couldn't find it...then another one said they were screw on, then another one said they were just "stuck" on basically. The second guy said they have a tendency to work loose, so frequently people sprayed a little loctite in there to stiffen it up. Mine ain't budging. If you figure it out, do post up, because I'd like to get it off without breaking the car.

 

[Frankie P]

When MB Quarts were installed in my front door openings, they apparently shut the NIT unit down. At least this is what I was told by the so-called pros who finished a job I started. Something to do with the external MB crossovers, "fooling," the NIT unit into thinking the load was greater than it really was, thereby causing it to shut down. I ultimatetly had a JL Audio multi-chanel amp installed, and all has since been well, at least in that departument. Thus, if the installer was correct and you're planning on using the factory amp, be careful. Good Luck!

 

[ej25goddess]

A dildo might look better

WTF are you even refering to? Why are you allowed to speak you make stupid, random ass, sexist comments like that?

Just go find another thread, and be a chauvinistic crapweasel there.

...


you should at least know, any woman with dignity has a rabbit pearl.

 

[demoe]

WTF are you even refering to? Why are you allowed to speak you make stupid, random ass, sexist comments like that?

Just go find another thread, and be a chauvinistic crapweasel there.

...


you should at least know, any woman with dignity has a rabbit pearl.

I beleive he was reffering to Squids attached photo, a skull head shift knob which he wants to put in place of the Soft Italian leather one which comes stock in our vehicles.

Another example of "going off topic, gone bad"

 

[squid]

I would feel weird heel-and-toeing a synthetic weener.

 

[ej25goddess]

The meat

So, for an update on the whole stereo situation.

I listened to the stock stereo system again, and it made me seriously wonder what the hell the engineers were thinking when they threw that into a Maserati? I am no audiophile, I have quite a bit of experience and knowledge regarding automotive acoustics, but I franky do not care that much about car audio systems. Essentially, I feel when it comes to car audio, if it works fine, dont fix it.

I know I am strange, but at 20, I listen... talk radio. DUN DUN DUN. Thats right, I am coming out of the closet, I totally listen to AM talk radio mostly. I hope the world accepts me for it.

But then I listened to the stereo in my father's 03 Spyder. What a pile of crap. It sounded like pair of headphones from an old school 1980s Walkman piped through a megaphone. I did not know that it was possible to create recognizable sound, with such little range, it simply boggles the mind.

My father said it was unacceptable, and being his college-age daughter... I of course did the natural thing and instantly disregarded his opinion, assuming Maserati put something workable in there. Then I realized, my father has a hearing aid, and he felt that the stereo did not have enough range... crap... that really means something.

Lets just use a simple visual aid. Compare the construction of the stock speakers, to the after market alpines. Look at the size of the magnet, if your saleswoman said size doesn't matter, she lied, unless you are made out of Neodymium. Then look at the fact that your stock speakers are made out of paper. I considered writing a paper, on the paper of the speaker, about why paper speakers suck, and using it as an art project, but I am no longer longer studying industrial design. Oh well, it would have been beautiful...

Do you see what I am getting at?

Something had to be done.

Here is the victim.

So, I researched what I had to work with.

The front speakers are components, 6.5 inch drivers in the door, and tweeters up top with built in crossovers. This makes things super easy if all you plan to do is replace the driver, or go to a coaxial speaker. I chose to go with a component speaker system, leave the current crossover/tweeter in place, and use the new component drivers in the doors.

Essentially, I replaced a driver which only was designed for mids, with a driver only designed for mids. You could, if you wanted, disconnect your tweeter, and replace your driver which normally only does mids, with one that does both mids and highs simultaneously.

I chose my method, because components typically sound far better than equivalent coaxial speakers, I had a lot of faith in the assumption that the Maserati tweeters weren't' the the problem, but the mid bass drivers were. In retrospect, I would have simply gone to a simple coaxial setup, and have been done with it, since I discovered later one of the OEM tweeters was broken anyway. I could install the tweeters from the alpine component speaker set I picked up, but I haven't decided if I want to flush mount them, or try to tear apart the old OEM tweeters and hide the new ones behind the old screens.

Anyways, here here is how to go about doing thins, roughly. I decided originally to take pictures of the entire process, to help others who are less mechanically inclined, but then a few things came up.

1. I found myself getting into it, and forgetting to take pictures
2. There was a redbull drought in my garage, it was horrible, blood everywhere... no .... words...
3. I found it to be pretty basic except for a few key steps, so I decided just to show pictures of those, and let everyone else figure out the rest, since it would be a waste of bandwidth to go screw by screw.

 

[ej25goddess]

So, here it is, how to install new mid drivers, and new rear speakers, in a 2003 Spyder. To begin the process, grab a small flathead screwdriver, or if you are a dentist/tinkerer, a nut or dental pick. This next step is highly technical, pry the cover for the door speakers off. Simple eh? Now unscrew it, and cut the bastard out.

Now you have two dangly little wires, one negative, and one positive. I like negative things, so I stripped her first, and then stripped the other girl second. I then added on some spade connectors.

Wait! Don't plug in the new drivers yet, its not that simple. The way to get this particular set of drivers to fit, is you need to use a set of spacers that comes with them. Of course these spacers that came with your speakers, did not come specially for your Maserati, but are universal. You have to break all the little tabs and snaps off of the universal connectors, to get down to the simple ring.

Next, the only holes that line up with your speakers, are the four copper threaded ones in on the outside of the ring. Unfortunately, Maserati had better taste than alpine in this department, and used beefier hardware than Alpine. You now how to ream out these holes with a Dremel, a drill, or hopes and dreams. Whatever works. I used a dremel, it took a while longer than a drill, but hey I didn't have a drill, such is life.

 

[ej25goddess]

Now you have your spacers, and your drivers. Scamper back out to your slide the spacers onto the drivers, you will be able to tell which way is right if you have a brain, or some sort of vestigial notochord. Plug in your female spade connectors. Now, line up the newly enlarged holes, with the Maserati holes, and your Speakers holes, and start screwing in your bolts. Screw it all in, and assemble in reverse. Pop your cover back on, and your done.

Your midbass drivers now, suck less, than they did before. Congrats!

Now for doing it in the rear, if you swing that way. This is a bit tricker, but slow down, take it easy, make sure you don't push or tug to hard, and everything will go just fine, and the rewards will fantastic.

First, you need to take apart your roll bar thingys. You see the part that is covered in leather that matches your interior, that pops right off. Grab it by the base , yank, make your way around, and it all comes right off with just some tugging an jerking.

Now it gets more fun, The painted portion of the roll bar consists of two sides, a couple of big screws, a couple of small screws, and some love. Unscrew all of these screws, and the sides just pop apart. Want an important tip? Don't all these little parts. Now the painted sections separate, and can be removed.

At the base of the painted portions of the roll bar, is a little rubber prettiness grommet, with a goofy little twisty motion these are removed. Now you can see all four big black screws that hold down the big black piece of plastic that covers up the rear speakers. Remove them, yank out the black plastic cover, and now you see your rear speakers... of death... and auditory suffering.

You can figure out how to remove these things. Its not rocket surgery, It's Italian sports car surgery.

Here is the trick though.... if your speakers are anything like mine, they take full advantage of their 5.25 inches of radial space. In the picture below, you can see these little gold slide on sheet metal nut things, your nice new speakers, should they be of completely full girth, will not fit with these slid onto the metal as they should be. Take these little pricks off, drop your speakers in, connect them up, and either use nuts on the bottom, or reuse the gold sheet metal nuts and hold them while you tighten from the top. Problem solved, totally works. I did it myself.

Put everything back together in reverse.

Listen to your stereo. You hear that, thats what we like to call music. What you heard before was noise, now you hear music. I am serious, go pick up any open box bullcrap speakers that fit in your car at any best buy, frys, circuit city, whatever, they WILL be an improvement to what Maserati sold you for $100k.

-Colleen

- Fin -

 

[leadfoot_mf]

nice write up. good looking car, love the color. but these are NOT the pics i was asking for.

 

[ej25goddess]

Then buy a subscription to Suicide Girls and take a guess.

 

[SJP63]

Thanks, I was indeed referring to the skull picture. An ill advised comment looking back on it, but I thought it was funny at the time. Great rant though Colleen, I enjoyed it!


QUOTE=demoe]I beleive he was reffering to Squids attached photo, a skull head shift knob which he wants to put in place of the Soft Italian leather one which comes stock in our vehicles.

Another example of "going off topic, gone bad"[/QUOTE]

 

[ej25goddess]

Thanks, I was indeed referring to the skull picture. An ill advised comment looking back on it, but I thought it was funny at the time. Great rant though Colleen, I enjoyed it!


QUOTE=demoe]I beleive he was reffering to Squids attached photo, a skull head shift knob which he wants to put in place of the Soft Italian leather one which comes stock in our vehicles.

Another example of "going off topic, gone bad"

::Smorks the peace pipe with SJ::

 

[ej25goddess]

Should I put this information into a properly titled thread so that people find it when they search for it?

 

[Jalpa_Mike]

Colleen:

Great post! How do you like the sound of the new Alpines? How did you decide on those as opposed to like the Focal 165CA1 or Boston Acoustics that other folks have used?

I want to replace mine too (I have a Coupe).

 

[SJP63]

Now weve made up I can say thats a great write up. Not just a pretty face....

Doh! there I go again......