Door Speakers & Subwoofers in my Leaf

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Vitor said:
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.
Would love to hear more about this amp. Sounds like it's discontinued, though, replaced by the KTP-445U according to Crutchfield.
Did you need to hack the wiring harness or did you (by chance) come up with plug-in connectors for the stock head unit that let you just plug it in?
 
No connectors, I'm not sure they are available for the system we have in the Leaf.
Cut all the 8 wires to the speakers, connect the amplifier in series (not much documentation available).
Power from the cigarrete lighter, positive and negative.
The remote ON is wired to the cigarrete lighter as well, the amplifier has to be on all the time to hear navigation prompts and other sounds.

I bought a NOS on eBay, however the KTP-445U is a universal amplifier, hence the U.
Very happy with the results, the speakers are breaking in very nicely and the sound got better since I installed them.
There are two settings for the gain, I chose the high gain. 80% of the time I have a little volume left before I hear distortion and 20% of the time I can turn it all the way to "11" and I wish I had a little more power.
 
It's official.
CDT speakers suck, sound and quality.
My L/R speaker stopped working, I took it apart only to find that the braided cable from the j-block to the cone was burnt.
I fixed it, but they will go out in the first chance I get. I still have a set of infinity left over from my Honda Civic Hybrid.
 
It looks like all the pictures by the OP no longer work. I am looking to install new speakers and this info would have been really useful. Anyone know of another post that has info on this?

Thanks!
 
seans said:
It looks like all the pictures by the OP no longer work. I am looking to install new speakers and this info would have been really useful. Anyone know of another post that has info on this?

Thanks!
Randy is a very active member. I'd PM him and see if he can fix the images.
 
I'm working on my stereo today. Power cable is run, working on the driver installs now. Trying to figure out how to remove these pillars so I can change out the tweeters. Anybody have any instructions?

Or Pictures?
 
Did you try this URL: http://www.salsleaf.com/leaf_stereo/index.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Works fine for me. I'm in the subway. NYC on my iPhone. Each picture comes right up.

Joshcom88 said:
Hey I noticed the pix were not loading and that would be very helpful. Can you please email me the pictures to [email protected]?
 
Just emailed the photos...

All the previous photo links are broken, unfortunately, with no easy way to fix them unless I go back in 1 by 1 and put in a new url...If anyone else wants the photos, please let me know and I'll email them to you as well....
 
Would anyone suggest the Infinity Reference 6032cf from Crutchfield? They claim they don't fit but when I select "See what Fits" it doesn't show anything that has a 2 Ohm impedance. I see that it's recommended to stay as close as possible for the best experience.
 
Sorry if I missed this on my search..

I remember reading somewhere that the green straps in the A pillar can be disconnected without cutting. Now for the life of me I can't find that post.

Can someone help?
If I do cut the green strap, is it available for replacement?

Thank you

Chuck
 
Randy said:
So, what did I learn? A lot, actually...

* The Leaf factory speakers are very inexpensive and are worthy of an upgrade.
* The car is so new that there isn't much information on exactly what to order or what will fit.
* I took a chance on the CDT Audio speakers because they had such good reviews, and they ended up fitting just fine.
* I do have to turn up the audio system a notch or two extra to get the same volume as the factory speakers, but the amp drives them fine and they play pretty loud without distortion.
* You need two ohm speakers to be compatible with what was there previously.
* A 10mm socket is needed to remove the 2 screws in the door to get the panel off.
* 3 or 4 of the door clips will remain in the door when you remove the panel. Just pry them carefully out of the door and reinstall them in the door before re-seating.
* The drivers door is the hardest because it has 3 wiring harnesses you have to disconnect to remove the door lock / window / mirror control panel from the door.
* I left the tweeters in place, and the system sounds fine. It seemed like too much work to replace them and the new speakers come with tweeters. The "highs" are not overwhelming.

It was a fun project!!!! Now the audio system sounds a lot better!!!!!

Let's discuss it....Any questions?

Thanks, Randy


I assume the factory HU has plenty of power to push upgraded speakers? I tried this on a 2012 Honda Civic EX Sedan and it actually got worse than just using the Honda paper cones. The Honda unit is a 160w unit. Only the coupe has the 320w option. People have said the Sedan 160w system actually sounds better than the premium 320w Coupe unit even though it has a subwoofer. I've had to agree myself.
 
BradFoxUS said:
Randy said:
So, what did I learn? A lot, actually...

* The Leaf factory speakers are very inexpensive and are worthy of an upgrade.
* The car is so new that there isn't much information on exactly what to order or what will fit.
* I took a chance on the CDT Audio speakers because they had such good reviews, and they ended up fitting just fine.
* I do have to turn up the audio system a notch or two extra to get the same volume as the factory speakers, but the amp drives them fine and they play pretty loud without distortion.
* You need two ohm speakers to be compatible with what was there previously.
* A 10mm socket is needed to remove the 2 screws in the door to get the panel off.
* 3 or 4 of the door clips will remain in the door when you remove the panel. Just pry them carefully out of the door and reinstall them in the door before re-seating.
* The drivers door is the hardest because it has 3 wiring harnesses you have to disconnect to remove the door lock / window / mirror control panel from the door.
* I left the tweeters in place, and the system sounds fine. It seemed like too much work to replace them and the new speakers come with tweeters. The "highs" are not overwhelming.

It was a fun project!!!! Now the audio system sounds a lot better!!!!!

Let's discuss it....Any questions?

Thanks, Randy


I assume the factory HU has plenty of power to push upgraded speakers? I tried this on a 2012 Honda Civic EX Sedan and it actually got worse than just using the Honda paper cones. The Honda unit is a 160w unit. Only the coupe has the 320w option. People have said the Sedan 160w system actually sounds better than the premium 320w Coupe unit even though it has a subwoofer. I've had to agree myself.


The HU doesn't seem to have that much power. I'm half way thru upgrading my stereo and so far have installed a LC6i line converter feeding signal to a JL audio amp. With that wired to factory speakers (speaker is the next half) they already sound better. Just need some free time to get the JL audio speakers into the doors and new tweeters.
 
BradFoxUS said:
I assume the factory HU has plenty of power to push upgraded speakers?
I just put a set of Sony 3-way 4 ohm speakers in my LEAF. The head unit can drive the speakers but without any additional low-end response. I was mainly concerned about highs, so I'm happy with my installation -- I'll be adding a subwoofer later.
 
aarond12 said:
BradFoxUS said:
I assume the factory HU has plenty of power to push upgraded speakers?
I just put a set of Sony 3-way 4 ohm speakers in my LEAF. The head unit can drive the speakers but without any additional low-end response. I was mainly concerned about highs, so I'm happy with my installation -- I'll be adding a subwoofer later.


Darn, I was hoping to get a little oomph out of mine. The low response is kinda poopy.
 
cy7878 said:
BradFoxUS said:
Randy said:
So, what did I learn? A lot, actually...

* The Leaf factory speakers are very inexpensive and are worthy of an upgrade.
* The car is so new that there isn't much information on exactly what to order or what will fit.
* I took a chance on the CDT Audio speakers because they had such good reviews, and they ended up fitting just fine.
* I do have to turn up the audio system a notch or two extra to get the same volume as the factory speakers, but the amp drives them fine and they play pretty loud without distortion.
* You need two ohm speakers to be compatible with what was there previously.
* A 10mm socket is needed to remove the 2 screws in the door to get the panel off.
* 3 or 4 of the door clips will remain in the door when you remove the panel. Just pry them carefully out of the door and reinstall them in the door before re-seating.
* The drivers door is the hardest because it has 3 wiring harnesses you have to disconnect to remove the door lock / window / mirror control panel from the door.
* I left the tweeters in place, and the system sounds fine. It seemed like too much work to replace them and the new speakers come with tweeters. The "highs" are not overwhelming.

It was a fun project!!!! Now the audio system sounds a lot better!!!!!

Let's discuss it....Any questions?

Thanks, Randy


I assume the factory HU has plenty of power to push upgraded speakers? I tried this on a 2012 Honda Civic EX Sedan and it actually got worse than just using the Honda paper cones. The Honda unit is a 160w unit. Only the coupe has the 320w option. People have said the Sedan 160w system actually sounds better than the premium 320w Coupe unit even though it has a subwoofer. I've had to agree myself.


The HU doesn't seem to have that much power. I'm half way thru upgrading my stereo and so far have installed a LC6i line converter feeding signal to a JL audio amp. With that wired to factory speakers (speaker is the next half) they already sound better. Just need some free time to get the JL audio speakers into the doors and new tweeters.


If there is enough space I wouldn't mind dropping in a small amp for the doors alone.
 
I'm rarely ever on here anymore as a early Nissan LEAF owner but today I am back to say thank you to everyone in this thread. After 5 years of LEAF ownership, I finally upgraded the OEM speakers (two were blown awhile back and sounded like cr*p). I upgraded to Infinity Kappa 52.11c's in the front and back. - http://www.crutchfield.com/p_1085211I/Infinity-Kappa-52-11i.html?tp=105 .

I had recently had the front door window blown out by an attempted someone breaking into the car (they didn't steal anything) and the guy that replaced the window left a bunch of broken glass in the door. Yeah - poor job. As a result, every time I opened/closed the door there was a nice rattle of glass. Yuck. I decided that since I was going to open up the door, it was finally time to do the speaker upgrade. Well today we finished.

A few things... I purchased from Crutchfield and I love that they provide most everything you need with your purchase. The wiring harnesses were especially helpful.

I used Dynamat everywhere on the front driver door since I had to peel off the plastic barrier anyway. I only used it around the speakers and to close up any holes in the plastic on all the other doors. The drivers door has more of a 'thunk' when closing but that's the only difference I can tell so far.

One potential but probably obvious piece of advice.. the wiring harness for all doors is on the front of the plastic and exposed with the OEM speakers. Thankfully Nissan has some convenient holes for running these behind the panel to get them to the back of your new speakers easily. This was very handy.

The end result is a much better sounding audio system in the car. I don't have a subwoofer or additional amp (the '11 has the hump already making the back small enough) but the car bumps along nicely to music with a strong bass line. I recommend this upgrade to any of you '11 owners still running around with your OEM speakers.

I am at nearly 50k miles on my '11 and it has one bar gone but GID's are .. if I recall - about 190 - so definitely a drop off that makes some of the trips I did a few years ago out of the question. In time, I may go in and upgrade the pack. The car is our get around town car and we love it.

Anyway thanks again. Oh.. I did a lot of work with National Drive Electric Week through the past several years. I've pulled back from that due to some other priorities but I urge folks to attend events near you this summer. - https://driveelectricweek.org/

Patrick
 
So 5-1/4's then? My sales person just showed me 6-1/2" component systems today - I guess she was wrong! Any adaptor plate needed to bolt the Infinitys' in? You picked high sensitivity 4-ohm speakers which should be the loudest among aftermarket options, is there enough volume without an aftermarket amp? Do you think it would be worth it to get a component system if I have a stereo shop do the install?
So many questions!
Thanks in advance,
Mike
 
Mike, Have you seen my post? http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=14156

Oliverovan said:
So 5-1/4's then? My sales person just showed me 6-1/2" component systems today - I guess she was wrong! Any adaptor plate needed to bolt the Infinitys' in? You picked high sensitivity 4-ohm speakers which should be the loudest among aftermarket options, is there enough volume without an aftermarket amp? Do you think it would be worth it to get a component system if I have a stereo shop do the install?
So many questions!
Thanks in advance,
Mike
 
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