[Ja'Crispy]

ES - Base - Speaker Wiring Guide

For those looking to upgrade their speakers and add an external amp - here is the wiring guide for you.

 

[Voodoo Idol]

Nice! This is the type of information and collaboration we're looking for here on the ES forums. Well done, good sir.

 

[dmushet1]

I have a dumb question. If I want to get new speakers in the doors, both front and rear, what size what that require?

Also, would simple upgrading the speakers in the door have much of an impact or would an amp and sub be necessary?

 

[birdman]

I just did new speakers the other day, went with Kicker CS 654's (300w max 100w RMS) as they were on a good spesh. Had to get some spacers too as even though the speakers themselves are the same size as the stock ones, the bolt holes are considerably further apart for the stock ones and the bespoke sort of surround that Hyundai have put them in.

I left the tweeters as is, I didn't want to mess with their mounting or wiring, it didn't look nearly as 'plug and play' as new woofers. Also I don't think that even the front are run as 'splits' where the signal is cut and sends separate frequencies to the woofer and tweeter (I forget the proper term for this), as when I put the new speakers in there are definitely highs coming out of all of them (did front and rear 4x speakers total).

The stock woofers that came out had a Hyundai part number and were otherwise labelled as '20w' - so the new speakers as you could imagine are a massive improvement. Oddly enough the bass doesn't seem quite as deep as the stock ones, it feels a lot more punchy and crisp, and naturally they don't distort when pushed hard like the crap paper cone stockies. I unplugged the stock ones and cut the plugs off to just crimp down onto the leads that the new speakers came with. I'd say beginning to end with all the parts in hand it will take an average person 20-30 minutes per door, including trim removal and re-installation and everything between.

Very happy with the end result, the sound is a lot more clear and punchy and just seems to get better the louder it is pushed, a great result for a stock head unit. It really fills the cabin with the right frequencies a lot ... fuller I guess and makes the sound system really respectable, especially considering they are run without an external amp.

next up I'm planning a small under seat self contained subwoofer and amp combo, thinking this guy - NEW PIONEER TS-WX120A OVERSIZE 8" SLIM SUBWOOFER SUB INBUILT AMP UTE TSWX120A

my question there would be how hard is that install going to be? I know I'll need to run wire all the way to the battery, but does anyone also know if the stock head unit has the right outputs ready to go or if some splicing/modding is needed?

 

[17ElantraSportPremium]

....

next up I'm planning a small under seat self contained subwoofer and amp combo, thinking this guy - NEW PIONEER TS-WX120A OVERSIZE 8" SLIM SUBWOOFER SUB INBUILT AMP UTE TSWX120A

my question there would be how hard is that install going to be? I know I'll need to run wire all the way to the battery, but does anyone also know if the stock head unit has the right outputs ready to go or if some splicing/modding is needed?

Looks pretty straightforward. A 10 gauge single run is pretty easy. Just be sure you have inline fuse at the battery end of the 10 gauge run, it's o.k. for the one at the battery to be a 30 amp if you like (it'll help keep it from popping and a short would blow the fuse quick anyway). Be sure to get the ground connected to shiny body/unit body metal as close to the amp as possible, a little cleanup to a seat mount bolt will work well. Refer to the chart at the top for the wire colors. I recommend connecting it to a rear channel speaker line (the fader can be used for low-rent quickie gain control, so you don't have that ugly wired remote). I also recommend soldering and double shrink wrapping the connection, instead of using splicers, if you can take a half hour or so to learn (if you don't already know how). It saves having to track down or take apart the interior for a bad/loose connection, getting oxidized, or passenger or you stepping wrong on the carpet.

Pic from manual, but I've stuck about 20 powered bazooka tubes in minitrucks back in the day. Was a little hustle I did to get my own audio together ($75 install and $12 for parts). Take about an hour to do, and everybody but the Circuit City was happy, since they charged twice that. If you need help or have questions let me know. Also, if I missed any pointers, let me know. Pretty tired.

Cheers,
~nukks

 

[Voodoo Idol]

LOL @ Circuit City. We're getting old, brother.

 

[Ja'Crispy]

I have a dumb question. If I want to get new speakers in the doors, both front and rear, what size what that require?

Also, would simple upgrading the speakers in the door have much of an impact or would an amp and sub be necessary?

Upgrading the speakers in the base ES is a considerable improvement. The nicest feature of our cars are the plastic molded door seals. It effectively creates a good backbox for the speakers when replaced and really helps mid bass response. I would check out Crutchfield website and see what fits. I went with a set of JBL GTO 609c component set in the front and JBL GTO 629 in the rear. Crutchfield will price match them to Amazon (Amazon is over $100 cheaper for the set!) Each are 6.5". When upgrading the speakers, simply purchase a set of Scosche SAHY651 Speaker Mounting Brackets for the front and rear. They are cheap and way easier than dremeling out the stock speaker molds. When replacing the speakers, I highly recommend purchasing a roll or two of 1/2" adhesive backed weatherstrip. To prevent rattles in the plastic-on-plastic mounting, put the weatherstrip in between each point of contact i.e. door seal to speaker bracket, speaker bracket to speaker and lastly, the outside lip of the speaker where the door panel molding meets the surround.

I would also suggest getting amp to power the speakers if you plan to replace all of them. The factory speakers are 20w. You will run the risk of damaging your headunit's internal amp if you drive aftermarket speakers from them for too long. I went with a JL RD900/5 5 Channel amp that powers all my component speakers and my JL 10w6v3 subwoofer. Sound upgrade was tremendous and the amp fits nicely under the seat. A few good perks of that amp - it takes speaker level inputs (you can wire your input signals directly off the speaker outputs of the factory headunit) and it will do signal sensing power on/off (no need to tap a 12v line for a remote wire).

 

[Ja'Crispy]

I just did new speakers the other day, went with Kicker CS 654's (300w max 100w RMS) as they were on a good spesh. Had to get some spacers too as even though the speakers themselves are the same size as the stock ones, the bolt holes are considerably further apart for the stock ones and the bespoke sort of surround that Hyundai have put them in.

I left the tweeters as is, I didn't want to mess with their mounting or wiring, it didn't look nearly as 'plug and play' as new woofers. Also I don't think that even the front are run as 'splits' where the signal is cut and sends separate frequencies to the woofer and tweeter (I forget the proper term for this), as when I put the new speakers in there are definitely highs coming out of all of them (did front and rear 4x speakers total).

The stock woofers that came out had a Hyundai part number and were otherwise labelled as '20w' - so the new speakers as you could imagine are a massive improvement. Oddly enough the bass doesn't seem quite as deep as the stock ones, it feels a lot more punchy and crisp, and naturally they don't distort when pushed hard like the crap paper cone stockies. I unplugged the stock ones and cut the plugs off to just crimp down onto the leads that the new speakers came with. I'd say beginning to end with all the parts in hand it will take an average person 20-30 minutes per door, including trim removal and re-installation and everything between.

Very happy with the end result, the sound is a lot more clear and punchy and just seems to get better the louder it is pushed, a great result for a stock head unit. It really fills the cabin with the right frequencies a lot ... fuller I guess and makes the sound system really respectable, especially considering they are run without an external amp.

next up I'm planning a small under seat self contained subwoofer and amp combo, thinking this guy - NEW PIONEER TS-WX120A OVERSIZE 8" SLIM SUBWOOFER SUB INBUILT AMP UTE TSWX120A

my question there would be how hard is that install going to be? I know I'll need to run wire all the way to the battery, but does anyone also know if the stock head unit has the right outputs ready to go or if some splicing/modding is needed?

I would definitely look into a 5 Channel external amp - Our factory headunits do not have enough juice to run those speakers safely for extended periods of time. I was very conscious of space when choosing a subwoofer. The first subwoofer I put in was a JL 10TW3-D4 slim sub in a compact wedge sealed enclosure. I was not happy with it. Yeah it improved bass a little, but not enough to justify being a component subwoofer. I returned it for a JL 10w6v3 in JL's high output ported enclosure. Still a relatively small footprint and does well in the trunk for low end reinforcement.

When retaining the factory headunit and running an external amp, I would recommend these parts for your install:

Scosche SAHY651 Speaker Mounting Brackets (mounts 6.5" component speakers in factory door locations)
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_142SAHY651/Scosche-SAHY651-Speaker-Mounting-Brackets.html?tp=2824&omnews=12535403

Install Bay RNBC Butt Connectors (use these to crimp in new wiring at the headunit)
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_120RNBC/Install-Bay-RNBC-Butt-Connectors.html?tp=61469&omnews=12535403

Crutchfield CK4 Amp Power Wiring Kit (Power wire can be fed through gromet located in engine bay, up high on passenger side of the car. Dumps out right behind the glove box inside the car)
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_007CK4/Crutchfield-CK4.html?tp=2919&omnews=12535403

EFX 9-Wire Ultra Flex Speaker Wire 20 feet (Split this cable in half and it will run input wires from headunit to external amp below driver's seat as well as amp out wires back to factory headunit - 2 runs)
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_1429WC1820/EFX-9-Wire-Ultra-Flex-Speaker-Wire-20-feet.html?tp=2917&omnews=12535403

Posi-Products Wire Connectors (Pos-Taps, what can I say - They're great for tapping into wires without cutting them. I used them to tap into the headunit signal feed at my amp to loop out to my subwoofer amp input)
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_669PP605/Posi-Products-Wire-Connectors.html?tp=61469&omnews=12535403

Links to the amp, speakers and sub that work really well in my setup.

JL Audio RD900/5
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_13698642/JL-Audio-RD900-5.html?tp=115&omnews=12535403

JL Audio RBC-1
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_136RBC1/JL-Audio-RBC-1.html?tp=3091&omnews=12535403

JBL GTO609C (Front Component Set)
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_109GTO609C/JBL-GTO609C.html?tp=106&omnews=12535403

JBL GTO629 (Rear Set)
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_109GTO629/JBL-GTO629.html?tp=94&omnews=12535403

JL Audio HO110-W6v3
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_13693310/JL-Audio-HO110-W6v3.html?tp=112&omnews=12535403

With Crutchfield - PRICE MATCH EVERYTHING. It will save you a ton of cash


As for the Tweeter install. It's not that bad. You can dismount the factory tweeter, dremel out the factory speaker and hot glue the new tweeter to the factory mount. I've included some pics from my install. Took about 10 minutes to do each one and the factory tweeters are paper junk. Can definitely smooth our your highs with new quality tweets.

 

[Ja'Crispy]

Looks pretty straightforward. A 10 gauge single run is pretty easy. Just be sure you have inline fuse at the battery end of the 10 gauge run, it's o.k. for the one at the battery to be a 30 amp if you like (it'll help keep it from popping and a short would blow the fuse quick anyway). Be sure to get the ground connected to shiny body/unit body metal as close to the amp as possible, a little cleanup to a seat mount bolt will work well. Refer to the chart at the top for the wire colors. I recommend connecting it to a rear channel speaker line (the fader can be used for low-rent quickie gain control, so you don't have that ugly wired remote). I also recommend soldering and double shrink wrapping the connection, instead of using splicers, if you can take a half hour or so to learn (if you don't already know how). It saves having to track down or take apart the interior for a bad/loose connection, getting oxidized, or passenger or you stepping wrong on the carpet.

Pic from manual, but I've stuck about 20 powered bazooka tubes in minitrucks back in the day. Was a little hustle I did to get my own audio together ($75 install and $12 for parts). Take about an hour to do, and everybody but the Circuit City was happy, since they charged twice that. If you need help or have questions let me know. Also, if I missed any pointers, let me know. Pretty tired.

Cheers,
~nukks

Good call on the soldering. I also recommend soldering all speaker wire to new speaker terminals. Try to keep your splices to a minimum, keep them neat and get yourself a good set of crimpers if you use butt connectors - giggity.. I would avoid using the male/female solderless terminal connectors. They tend to loosen over time and are not a reliable termination for car audio given the bumps and constant vibration of a moving automobile.

I've attached some pics of my amp power wire install and the gromet I used to pass-thru into the cabin of the vehicle. Yeah - I didn't split the grommet and weather-seal it yet. I'll get to it eventually (at the very end of the install, I was tired, cramped and the back hurt from leaning into the dash fitting terminations for hours). I just wanted to get it powered up and hear the result LOL.

LOL @ Circuit City. We're getting old, brother.

Good lord, that's a throwback store eh?

 

[17ElantraSportPremium]

LOL @ Circuit City. We're getting old, brother.

Who you tellin? 88-94 they were the main place people would shop for car audio. Unless, like me, they were into higher end audio. 1992 - Phoenix Gold MS2250 @0.125ohm, 8x JL WX6-8in (PITA enclosure, lol), 8x Boston Acoustic Pro 6.1's, about 250 lbs of caps and coils and 200lbs of wire and battery. 200 amp Phoenix Gold Competition Alternator added for audio only. Dead flat spec. analyzer line @ 137 db.

Don't ask me how I can remember that but not the name of my g.f. at the time. Lol

 

[Ja'Crispy]

Who you tellin? 88-94 they were the main place people would shop for car audio. Unless, like me, they were into higher end audio. 1992 - Phoenix Gold MS2250 @0.125ohm, 8x JL WX6-8in (PITA enclosure, lol), 8x Boston Acoustic Pro 6.1's, about 250 lbs of caps and coils and 200lbs of wire and battery. 200 amp Phoenix Gold Competition Alternator added for audio only. Dead flat spec. analyzer line @ 137 db.

Don't ask me how I can remember that but not the name of my g.f. at the time. Lol

So... where did you sit when you drove the car?? haha

 

[17ElantraSportPremium]

Oh it had 2 seats, but the doors DID intrude a bit, and it never stopped smelling like a canoe.

 

[2841]

I know zippy about audio. What would be a decent cost to have two front speakers replaced? Nothing crazy, just better than the stockers. Prefer to keep the stock head unit. $300?

Coming from a Mustang with the Shaker Sound system

 

[Ja'Crispy]

I know zippy about audio. What would be a decent cost to have two front speakers replaced? Nothing crazy, just better than the stockers. Prefer to keep the stock head unit. $300?

Coming from a Mustang with the Shaker Sound system

You snag a pair of the JBL GTO 609c from Amazon for less than $100. Replaces the factory tweeters and 6.5" drivers. Personal experience, they're an awesome set of speakers. You can also have Crutchfield price match that.

 

[2841]

You snag a pair of the JBL GTO 609c from Amazon for less than $100. Replaces the factory tweeters and 6.5" drivers. Personal experience, they're an awesome set of speakers. You can also have Crutchfield price match that.

I'll check those out, thanks. How about on the install side? Probably would like to have them put in professionally. Don't know what a good price would be. Or maybe there's an ES owner nearby (North-Easternish MD) who could lend a hand.

Only worry I have is having rattles after separating the nice & sealed door panels (regardless of who installs).

 

[Ja'Crispy]

I'll check those out, thanks. How about on the install side? Probably would like to have them put in professionally. Don't know what a good price would be. Or maybe there's an ES owner nearby (North-Easternish MD) who could lend a hand.

Only worry I have is having rattles after separating the nice & sealed door panels (regardless of who installs).

I can assist you with photos and instructions if that helps. The install is fairly straight forward if you're comfortable soldering, crimping and using a plastic panel puller tool.

 

[2841]

I can assist you with photos and instructions if that helps. The install is fairly straight forward if you're comfortable soldering, crimping and using a plastic panel puller tool.

I found a local place with a good rep. Might see what they charge for the install before I take a crack at it. Appreciate the help!

 

[Mmchou]

Crossover?

Since the stock has separate wire to the front door tweeter and lower speaker, do you still use crossover? If you do, how you wire them?

 

[Ja'Crispy]

Since the stock has separate wire to the front door tweeter and lower speaker, do you still use crossover? If you do, how you wire them?

There is only one pair of wires going to the front left and front right door speakers. Hyundai has their own crossover in each door. I have the feed coming into the woofers wired into my crossover signal input. Then run new wires to the new tweeters and woofers.

 

[Shikadi]

There is only one pair of wires going to the front left and front right door speakers. Hyundai has their own crossover in each door. I have the feed coming into the woofers wired into my crossover signal input. Then run new wires to the new tweeters and woofers.

Hyundai's crossover, does it only do a HPF for the tweeter and send the full signal to the woofer, or is there a LPF for the woofer wires?