Speakers again

[Tigger]

Well, I think my nb8c's main speakers have finally bitten the dust. Two head units, and both have loud crackling distortion.
1: could something else (like earthing) be causing this?
2: and reasonably Price yet fairly decent speakers I can put in without having to Butcher the door?

Sound quality is good, but I prefer my exhaust note

[taminga16]

There is an Audio bloke in here somewhere, search is your friend.
Greg.

[Cus]

1: I've had two sets of speakers go with the same result (crackles and/or distortion) both were physical failures of the speakers:

1.a: Check the webbing on the outer rim of the speaker, if it's cracked or falling apart the speaker will sound horrible, doubly so if it's missing in parts like the blue speaker below:


1.b: Crackles could also be from water getting into the back of the speakers and dragging dirt in with them, then it sets on the coil and every time the speaker moves past the resting point, it makes a crackle sound. (This happened to my previous set) the way to test this is to gently push the speaker cone back and forwards, if you can hear a noise as it goes past the resting position, it's toast.

2: "which speakers to buy" will start holy wars almost as quick as asking which mx5 to buy, it all depends on what you want and how deep your pockets are!
Put some songs you know on a USB, decide on a budget, then go to a car audio shop (or a couple if you're in the city) - play your songs, spend only your budget, price check on the internet (some car audio shops retail WAY above RRP), leave happy.

[Red Dragon]

Hi Cus,
If you go to one of the Classic Car runs up your way you will probably see my brother in his/ my old Red NA have a listen to his speakers they were just el-cheapo's from ebay but the do a good job

[Tigger]

Pockets not so deep lol. Amazing sound, I think, should be the car, and then the stereo lol. I just don't want heavy distortion.
As for which mx5 to buy? That's easy. Any that isn't an NC hahaha

[Tigger]

Also, thanks cus. I'll do that this week.
Red Dragon, do you know which speakers on eBay they were. Like I said, I'm not too fussy. If they sound decent, even like oem, I'm happy to take your lead on them.

[hks_kansei]

I've never found an issue with the factory nb gear sound wise.

I'd just look for a set of factory speakers, contact someone who races mx5s. Often they just bin the speakers, so you should get some dirt cheap.

[Red Dragon]

They were called Kingwood , Kenwood copy
There are some on ebay at the moment for $37

[Tigger]

Hahaha Kingwood. Classic.

[hks_kansei]

Btw.

You should be aware that the NA uses round speakers (not sure of diameter)

Where the NB uses oval ones (5x7 from memory)

You can fit round ones to an NB, you'll just need to buy/make an adapter to bolt into the oval hole. (Making them isn't hard, you just use mdf or similar and cut it to fit he oval hole, then cut a hole in he wood to suit your new speaker)

[Tigger]

Yeah, the NB uses 6x8s, but it will accept an 8" if you remove the adaptor.
The oval ones direct sound towards the driver/passenger, whereas round ones gonstraight out.

[Red Dragon]

There are plenty of 6 x 8 from $45 up to hundreds on E Bay most will give good sound without being lounge room clarity

[muzzy66]

Sorry for the delayed response - I haven't been on this forum for probably about a year (maybe more) so thought I'd drop in for fun and see what's happening.

If you still need advice on speakers, I would be happy to help. I don't own an MX-5, but I used to have an NA6 some years ago and have quite a bit of experience with all things audio.

If you can let me know what your price point is, then and I can probably recommend something that will be head of the class in that price range.

The MX-5 has a very unique advantage over almost all other cars (audio wise) in that the fixed corner window means there is no glass behind the speaker hole, so you have almost unlimited mounting depth to work with.

The NA models are limited a little by diameter - you can comfortably fit a 5.75" or a relatively modest sized 6". Some of the larger 6.5" drivers (and all 7" drivers) will need some custom spacers installed=, and that's a little difficult to achieve because there isn't a lot of clearance between the speaker itself and the removable grill - hence if you use a spacer it needs to be cut to shape so it matches match the original mounts and also has to be pretty slim.

The NB models however have a larger diameter and can fit just about any midbass imaginable up to 8 inches. This is a big, big advantage when you take into account the fact that the MX-5 doesn't really have enough boot space for a proper amp/sub setup while still remaining practical - a good set of midbass drivers up front can some pretty close to rendering a sub unnecessary.

Anyway if you're still shopping for speakers please feel free to reply (or drop me a PM) and I'd be happy to offer any advice I can.

[bear2230]

^^^^^Listen to this man Tigger^^^^^^^^

Don't ask for a detailed summary though unless you really like reading.
You wont find a more knowledgeable audio guy anywhere.

Richard.

[ManiacLachy]

The NB models however have a larger diameter and can fit just about any midbass imaginable up to 8 inches. This is a big, big advantage when you take into account the fact that the MX-5 doesn't really have enough boot space for a proper amp/sub setup while still remaining practical - a good set of midbass drivers up front can some pretty close to rendering a sub unnecessary.

I would love to know what you would suggest for the NB. Say at 3 price points if you could - High-end, middle-ground, and budget?

And for NB's would you suggest upgrading the tweeters as well?