Door Speakers & Subwoofers in my Leaf

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GeekEV said:
Thanks for doing the research Randy! I just did this upgrade myself tonight with help from my brother. I elected to disconnect the factory tweeters after all as they add this high frequency "scraping" to the sound. Depending on how much high frequency hearing loss you have, you might not notice. It definitely sounds better! A long term listening test will confirm... :)

Which brand and model coaxial speakers did you install? I can't decide if I should try to replace the tweeters in the A pillar or just disconnect them and go with coaxials like you did.
 
Randy said:
By the way, the Nissan Service Manual wiring color chart is incorrect for the Leaf.

Here are the colors I found:

Front Left (+) Blue / Grey
Front Left (-) Violet

Front Right (+) Red / Grey
Front Right (-) Brown / Grey

Randy,

Are you sure about that?
If we assume that the original speakers are all made the same, then that wiring combination would put them out of phase based upon the wire locations on the plugs.
Could you double check against your photos?

http://home.roadrunner.com/~mhebert/rm/stereo17.jpg
 
Agreed - from what I found the blue/grey and brown/grey were the negatives on the front...

Also, the polks definitely fit fine, and sound great - but the adapters that come with them suck. There's PLENTY of room in the door for the external crossovers. It's a bit more work, but it's well worth it for the increased crossover quality as compared to other coaxes. The adapters, though - they have three-bolt mounting points *almost* in the right spots for the leaf, but not quite - so if you force them in, they don't seal up against the door well. So, if you want to use the polks, get a set of nissan speaker adapters as well. I think these are the right size: http://www.amazon.com/Metra-82-7500-Speaker-Adaptor-Oversized/dp/B0015G17VE (personally I just made MDF baffles; I was doing it for the front anyway since the front as an oversized 6-1/2" midbass)
 
defiancecp said:
Agreed - from what I found the blue/grey and brown/grey were the negatives on the front...

Also, the polks definitely fit fine, and sound great - but the adapters that come with them suck. There's PLENTY of room in the door for the external crossovers. It's a bit more work, but it's well worth it for the increased crossover quality as compared to other coaxes. The adapters, though - they have three-bolt mounting points *almost* in the right spots for the leaf, but not quite - so if you force them in, they don't seal up against the door well. So, if you want to use the polks, get a set of nissan speaker adapters as well. I think these are the right size: http://www.amazon.com/Metra-82-7500-Speaker-Adaptor-Oversized/dp/B0015G17VE (personally I just made MDF baffles; I was doing it for the front anyway since the front as an oversized 6-1/2" midbass)

Did you disable the tweeters in the A pillar?
 
I haven't yet; I'll be making pods in that area anyway, so I'm keeping them working until I get the pods made to put my own tweeters in. So probably several weeks... :/
 
defiancecp said:
I haven't yet; I'll be making pods in that area anyway, so I'm keeping them working until I get the pods made to put my own tweeters in. So probably several weeks... :/

How do the speakers sound with the tweeters still there? Don't the tweeters still draw power from the head unit?
 
Fine- I've gone through the wiring and there's no crossover, the speakers & tweeters are just wired in parallel (though there's likely a capacitor crossover built into the tweeter). Also, the front and rear door speakers are identical.

So, my configuration right now is a midbass from a 3-way set running as full range in place of the front speaker, wired by the factory in parallel with the factory tweeter.

Obviously not an optimal configuration, but there's no way I can do all the work I want to do at once, so I'm trying to find ways to do little bits here and there while keeping the system at least minimally functional - And a midbass wired in parallel with a factory tweeter sounds a lot better than just a midbass :)
 
awiegel said:
Randy said:
By the way, the Nissan Service Manual wiring color chart is incorrect for the Leaf.

Here are the colors I found:

Front Left (+) Blue / Grey
Front Left (-) Violet

Front Right (+) Red / Grey
Front Right (-) Brown / Grey

Randy,

Are you sure about that?
If we assume that the original speakers are all made the same, then that wiring combination would put them out of phase based upon the wire locations on the plugs.
Could you double check against your photos?

stereo17.jpg

SPEAKER WIRING UPDATE:
The discrepancy between observed colors at speakers and colors on wiring diagram, and for that matter wires coming out of head unit, is because Nissan, in an inexplicable act of obfuscation, actually changes the wire colors between the head unit and the speaker :roll: . If you study the wiring diagrams in sufficient detail, what you learn is that the colors and destinations shown for connector # M83 as shown on page AV-183 of the shop manual are indeed correct. For the purpose of hooking up a Bazooka at the head unit (which I just finished this afternoon) you can not follow the speaker colors at the doors.

For the Left Front Speaker output, postive is pin 2 and a blue wire at the head unit, but it changes to a purple wire at a harness plug ( M11 to D22 ) where it uses pins 1 and 2, but they have different colors in the two halves of the harness. The negative signal for that speaker begins at pin 3 on the head unit in a pink wire. It then becomes a blue wire at the same M11/D22 harness plug. So, Blue and Pink becomes Purple and Blue, with the Blue now on the opposite leg from where it started :? .

For the Right Front Speaker output, postive is pin 11 and a green wire at the head unit, but it changes to a red wire (no kidding :eek: ) at a harness plug ( M10 to D2 ) where it uses pins 1 and 2, but they once again have different colors in the two halves of the harness. The negative signal for that speaker begins at pin 12 on the head unit in a red wire. It then becomes a brown wire at the same M10/D2 harness plug. On the right side, Green and Red at the head unit become Red and Brown at the door, again, the Red wire is now on the opposite leg from where it started.


EASY BAZOOKA WIRING:
If you use a Bazooka extension harness "FAST-BTAH" and then the Bazooka "FAST-9999 fast-universal harness at the head unit, it all goes together very simply. The single harness runs down one side of the car and has power, switched power and input wiring. I guess Bazooka is not concerned about noise transmission, and I can not detect any unwanted noise in the finished installation ( of course, the Leaf does not have the usual three causes of noise in the sound system: ignition, generator or alternator)

The extension harness plugs into the Bazooka. All you have to do at the back end of the car is attach a ground under the back seat. At the front, the harness plugs directly to the "FAST-9999" universal harness. The universal harness is very nice. Each lead has a positive screw-on wire tap connector, and each lead is labeled as to what it should connect to. Everything you need to attach is right at the #M83 plug on the back of the heat unit, even switched power ( pin #7 blue wire) and a heavier guage hot lead ( pin #19, heavier brown wire)

The whole installation went smoothly and the system works beautifully. I did some experimenting with location and direction of the Bazooka and discovered that the manufacturers suggested location, in the right rear corner pointed at the hatch 4 inches away, sounds way better than strapped to the back of the seat or several other positions I tried. Guess they know what they are doing ;)

I am enjoying the sound very much with 4 of the CDTAudio Speakers and the Bazooka. I am still thinking about new pillar tweeters though, with only midrange in the front doors.

- Andrew
 
My Leaf arrives in a month and would like to order some speakers for it. It looks like two people on this thread ordered aftermarket speakers. Will any 6.5" speakers fit? I'm totally lost when you guys start talking in your audiophile lingo- can someone recommend a speaker to use if I don't plan on adding subs or disabling the tweeters if it turns out to be difficult? Thanks.
 
defiancecp said:
There's PLENTY of room in the door for the external crossovers. It's a bit more work, but it's well worth it for the increased crossover quality as compared to other coaxes.

Can someone translate this for me? What are external crossovers, should I get them, why are they more work and what are coaxes? Thanks.
 
DrillbabyDrill said:
My Leaf arrives in a month and would like to order some speakers for it. It looks like two people on this thread ordered aftermarket speakers. Will any 6.5" speakers fit? I'm totally lost when you guys start talking in your audiophile lingo- can someone recommend a speaker to use if I don't plan on adding subs or disabling the tweeters if it turns out to be difficult? Thanks.

Pretty tough for me to say whether ANY 6.5" speakers will fit. It all depends on the size of the rear of the speaker and the magnet assembly depth, etc. The ones I bought and installed will work, so if you research those speakers online maybe you can find some specs about the size that can be translated to another brand of speaker. I'm happy with the speakers I bought (photos and description on the first page of this thread)...

Randy
 
DrillbabyDrill said:
defiancecp said:
There's PLENTY of room in the door for the external crossovers. It's a bit more work, but it's well worth it for the increased crossover quality as compared to other coaxes.

Can someone translate this for me? What are external crossovers, should I get them, why are they more work and what are coaxes? Thanks.

Look on a website like Crutchfield.com for more info.

In a nutshell, coaxial speakers have two speaker drivers mounted in the same package. It could be a woofer on the bottom and a tweeter mounted across the top. You install that one speaker and you get the benefit of the two drivers. Of course, this is a compromise to the real "Audiophiles".

Separate woofer/tweeter speakers usually require an external crossover (if they are of any decent quality). A crossover is an electronic device that controls what frequencies get "routed" to each speaker. The idea behind this is that it makes more sense to route lower frequency audio to a speaker that can reproduce it, and direct high frequency audio to the tweeter, etc. These crossovers are pretty small but you still need to have room to install them.

I would suggest that you browse the Crutchfield website and check out their materials about the different options available...

Randy
 
Randy said:
Pretty tough for me to say whether ANY 6.5" speakers will fit. It all depends on the size of the rear of the speaker and the magnet assembly depth, etc. The ones I bought and installed will work, so if you research those speakers online maybe you can find some specs about the size that can be translated to another brand of speaker. I'm happy with the speakers I bought (photos and description on the first page of this thread)...
Randy

I think I will probably just go with those CDTs. For $100 a pair, the price is right. Sent you a PM about the cheapo vibration dampener. Did that work out for you? The price is right on that stuff as well...
 
Randy said:
In a nutshell, coaxial speakers have two speaker drivers mounted in the same package. It could be a woofer on the bottom and a tweeter mounted across the top. You install that one speaker and you get the benefit of the two drivers. Of course, this is a compromise to the real "Audiophiles".

Separate woofer/tweeter speakers usually require an external crossover (if they are of any decent quality). A crossover is an electronic device that controls what frequencies get "routed" to each speaker. The idea behind this is that it makes more sense to route lower frequency audio to a speaker that can reproduce it, and direct high frequency audio to the tweeter, etc. These crossovers are pretty small but you still need to have room to install them.
Randy

OK that makes sense. Knowing that, I'll probably grab those CDTs you recommend and just disable the tweeter. You just need to disconnect the tweeter physically, right? Is there any special thing you have to do with the head unit for that? Thanks for your help.
 
DrillbabyDrill said:
OK that makes sense. Knowing that, I'll probably grab those CDTs you recommend and just disable the tweeter. You just need to disconnect the tweeter physically, right? Is there any special thing you have to do with the head unit for that? Thanks for your help.

After putting my ear up to the existing tweeters (and not hearing much sound when playing), I decided to not disconnect them. No regrets on that decision.

If you're only replacing the door speakers, there's nothing special you have to do with the head unit. It's just a speaker swapout....

In order to get the doors off, though, I would highly recommend the blue plastic tool kit I have pictured in the beginning of the thread...You really need it...

Randy
 
DrillbabyDrill said:
My Leaf arrives in a month and would like to order some speakers for it. It looks like two people on this thread ordered aftermarket speakers. Will any 6.5" speakers fit? I'm totally lost when you guys start talking in your audiophile lingo- can someone recommend a speaker to use if I don't plan on adding subs or disabling the tweeters if it turns out to be difficult? Thanks.


I was very pleased with the benefits of simply replacing the stock door speakers with the $100/pair coax from Amazon as suggested by the author of the thread. I added the subwoofer because I wanted full bass, but was as good as most "good" car stereos after simply replacing the door speakers and leaving the pillar tweeters hooked up.

Andrew
 
Randy said:
DrillbabyDrill said:
OK that makes sense. Knowing that, I'll probably grab those CDTs you recommend and just disable the tweeter. You just need to disconnect the tweeter physically, right? Is there any special thing you have to do with the head unit for that? Thanks for your help.

After putting my ear up to the existing tweeters (and not hearing much sound when playing), I decided to not disconnect them. No regrets on that decision.

If you're only replacing the door speakers, there's nothing special you have to do with the head unit. It's just a speaker swapout....

In order to get the doors off, though, I would highly recommend the blue plastic tool kit I have pictured in the beginning of the thread...You really need it...

Randy

Except that you change the load at that frequency level.
 
Can someone convert these pages [INT13 - INT18 (Body Interior)] from the service manual to a pdf or using some other approach send them to me? I want to do the speakers but I also have a problem with the arm rest on my back door. The leather installer removed it and it is now loose. Thanks! Steve
 
I replaced the two front speakers with the CDT speakers and I was not that impressed with the sound. Better, but nothing like my Mini or my Lexux Hybrid, or my previous Honda Hybrid.
By now I was commited to the replacement of the four speakers so I went ahead and completed the replacement.
By the way, I used the existing connector, if you cut the OEM speakers, you will be able to drop the CDT speakers into the adapter and just solder the tabs to the existing tabs. See the picture.
Leaf_speakers1.JPG

Leaf_speakers2.JPG


So, I needed more power!!!
I then installed an ALPINE KTP-445 HEAD UNIT POWER PACK 45W RMS X 4, this is a speaker level amplifier, that is very compact and does not draw a lot of power (until you crank up the volume).
Now I'm happy with the clear thumping (if I choose to) sound.
Sorry, no picture of that installation, too busy messing with the wiring.

I'm still not happy with the horn replacement, the one recommended here is OK, but I want the scare-the-hell-out-of-you sound of my Lexus Hybrid.
The search is on for one of those.
 
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