Speaker Upgrade with Beatsonic

[ToyFan]

Hopefully this helps for those looking to upgrade their radio. I have the "base" LC grade with the factory 10 speaker stereo. It is actually pretty good, but is lacking highs and deep bass. I like good sound in my cars, and since I was used to the system in my old Ridgeline (which I upgraded), the factory sound wasn't cutting it. I listen to mostly 80-90s music (r and b, rap, alternative), I am a product of genX after all, so needed something that could hit that broad spectrum.

I have to give credit to Chancellor and this thread, LC Trim base level stereo
They delved in and did the hard work, I used this as reference.

Upgrades:
Beatsonic amp: Beat-Sonic ENA-2T3 Plug and Play Encore Alpha Power Amplifier Kit for
Front Speakers: Hertz Uno X690 6x9"
Rear Doors: Hertz DCX 165.3 6.5"
Dashboard: Hertz DCX 87.3 3.5"
Subwoofer: Polk DB 842 DVC 8" shallow mount (but not shallow enough, will explain)

Why Hertz? Had a leftover 3.5" from my last car and wanted to match the sound quality all around. Went with the Polk sub, as it was cheap(er) and the factory hatch sub barely does anything short of real deep bass. It's tied to the rear speakers and honestly doesn't do much from the factory.

Parts you will need:
Metra 82-8146 6x9 speaker brackets (pair)
Metra 82-8148 6.5" speaker brackets (pair)
Metra 73-8109 factory harness adaptors (comes in a 2 pack, will need 4 packs)

I bought the harness' and adaptors from Amazon and all the speakers from Crutchfield.

Accessing the dash speaker is straightforward, just pop off the covers. Pry (with a trim removal tool) from the front for the left and right sides, and from the rear for the center. Wire in your harness to your speaker of choice and they drop right in.

To access the Front door speakers, there are three screws to be removed (one behind the door handle, one in the armrest cup) behind trim panels, and use a trim removal tool and pry off the door card from the bottom up. Disconnect the electrical connectors. I did not undo the door latch cables, I just let it hang off them. Install your speaker adaptors (you will have to drill one hole because they don't line up perfectly). Make sure to install them with the harness hole facing up (not upside down like I did), because the Metra harness is not long enough. Your new speakers will then screw into the adaptors. Take note of the limited depth with the window rolled down. Shallow mount speakers are your friend. Mine are not and almost didn't clear. Didn't get a pic of the Hertz installed, but you can see the factory unit. Reverse everything to reinstall the door card.

Rear Doors are the same as the front. Pop the covers off behind the handle and door pull, remove screws, and use a trim tool to remove the door card. There is a lot more room to mount the speaker in the door, as the window sits farther in when rolled down.

Well, the sub I bought is too deep and will need a spacer and mounting bracket to mount into the factory rear cargo door location. The factory bracket is oversize and I bet you could get a 10" in there. I was contemplating gutting the factory "sub" and just using the bracket. We will see. I found this on Amazon, so I will try this first. Amazon.com
In the meantime I installed a foam baffle behind the factory sub and that actually cleaned up the bass a bit now that it's not lost in the door. I'm contemplating installing a mono amp to the factory sub or just getting an aftermarket compact powered sub. Haven't decided yet, but I don't want to take up any cargo room really.

The sound so far is decent, but the speakers are still breaking in. I lost some low end with the Hertz speakers (most of the base comes from the front doors), but the overall clarity and soundstage is much better. If you're just looking for clarity, change out the dash speakers. Changing out the rear doors also opened up the soundstage in the rear. There's actually vocals, instruments, etc. vs just a muffled sound. The front doors are a wash, as they are truly just woofers, so not getting any benefit from the mids/tweeters. I may drop the factory ones' back in or switch to a woofer only. I ran with this setup about a week, but it needed more....

So I installed the Beatsonic amp. THIS really helped drive the aftermarket speakers. Not a huge difference, but enough to notice. I can turn it all the way up and there is zero distortion. In fairness, the factory setup didn't have distortion either. The front and rear are powered off the same stage from the factory, so adjusting the rear gain on the Beatsonic did nothing, which was a bit of a disappointment. Oh well, I adjusted the gain to about one o'clock and just fiddled with the factory "eq" to get where I wanted. It's a straightforward install, don't be intimidated, it's literally like a lego kit taking the dash apart and putting it back together. I'd say less than an hour to install this.
Here's a link to their install.
or

So that's where I'm at right now, I will update when I get the sub figured out.

 

[TrailWhale]

Nice! Did the dash speaker brackets fit the existing mounting holes? I recall @chancellor had to macgyver their’s a little bit.

I’m not familiar with Hertz, aside from their rental cars . How would you describe the upgrade quality vs something like the infinitys?

I’m still on the fence about doing a dash-only upgrade. I’m satisfied with the low end in my non-premium LC^2, but would like to improve my upper mids and highs.

 

[ToyFan]

Yes, the dash speakers reached the factory mounting tabs. It doesn't look like it will, but once I got the screws to bite, they lined up fine. I've never had Infiniti speakers, but have heard nothing but good things about them. The Hertz speakers lean a little toward the bright side, which works for my not so great hearing. The dash speakers were definitely the most notable sound upgrade.

 

[SOCAL250]

Hopefully this helps for those looking to upgrade their radio. I have the "base" LC grade with the factory 10 speaker stereo. It is actually pretty good, but is lacking highs and deep bass. I like good sound in my cars, and since I was used to the system in my old Ridgeline (which I upgraded), the factory sound wasn't cutting it. I listen to mostly 80-90s music (r and b, rap, alternative), I am a product of genX after all, so needed something that could hit that broad spectrum.

I have to give credit to Chancellor and this thread, LC Trim base level stereo
They delved in and did the hard work, I used this as reference.

Upgrades:
Beatsonic amp: Beat-Sonic ENA-2T3 Plug and Play Encore Alpha Power Amplifier Kit for
Front Speakers: Hertz Uno X690 6x9"
Rear Doors: Hertz DCX 165.3 6.5"
Dashboard: Hertz DCX 87.3 3.5"
Subwoofer: Polk DB 842 DVC 8" shallow mount (but not shallow enough, will explain)

Why Hertz? Had a leftover 3.5" from my last car and wanted to match the sound quality all around. Went with the Polk sub, as it was cheap(er) and the factory hatch sub barely does anything short of real deep bass. It's tied to the rear speakers and honestly doesn't do much from the factory.

Parts you will need:
Metra 82-8146 6x9 speaker brackets (pair)
Metra 82-8148 6.5" speaker brackets (pair)
Metra 73-8109 factory harness adaptors (comes in a 2 pack, will need 4 packs)

I bought the harness' and adaptors from Amazon and all the speakers from Crutchfield.

Accessing the dash speaker is straightforward, just pop off the covers. Pry (with a trim removal tool) from the front for the left and right sides, and from the rear for the center. Wire in your harness to your speaker of choice and they drop right in.

To access the Front door speakers, there are three screws to be removed (one behind the door handle, one in the armrest cup) behind trim panels, and use a trim removal tool and pry off the door card from the bottom up. Disconnect the electrical connectors. I did not undo the door latch cables, I just let it hang off them. Install your speaker adaptors (you will have to drill one hole because they don't line up perfectly). Make sure to install them with the harness hole facing up (not upside down like I did), because the Metra harness is not long enough. Your new speakers will then screw into the adaptors. Take note of the limited depth with the window rolled down. Shallow mount speakers are your friend. Mine are not and almost didn't clear. Didn't get a pic of the Hertz installed, but you can see the factory unit. Reverse everything to reinstall the door card.

Rear Doors are the same as the front. Pop the covers off behind the handle and door pull, remove screws, and use a trim tool to remove the door card. There is a lot more room to mount the speaker in the door, as the window sits farther in when rolled down.

Well, the sub I bought is too deep and will need a spacer and mounting bracket to mount into the factory rear cargo door location. The factory bracket is oversize and I bet you could get a 10" in there. I was contemplating gutting the factory "sub" and just using the bracket. We will see. I found this on Amazon, so I will try this first. Amazon.com
In the meantime I installed a foam baffle behind the factory sub and that actually cleaned up the bass a bit now that it's not lost in the door. I'm contemplating installing a mono amp to the factory sub or just getting an aftermarket compact powered sub. Haven't decided yet, but I don't want to take up any cargo room really.

The sound so far is decent, but the speakers are still breaking in. I lost some low end with the Hertz speakers (most of the base comes from the front doors), but the overall clarity and soundstage is much better. If you're just looking for clarity, change out the dash speakers. Changing out the rear doors also opened up the soundstage in the rear. There's actually vocals, instruments, etc. vs just a muffled sound. The front doors are a wash, as they are truly just woofers, so not getting any benefit from the mids/tweeters. I may drop the factory ones' back in or switch to a woofer only. I ran with this setup about a week, but it needed more....

So I installed the Beatsonic amp. THIS really helped drive the aftermarket speakers. Not a huge difference, but enough to notice. I can turn it all the way up and there is zero distortion. In fairness, the factory setup didn't have distortion either. The front and rear are powered off the same stage from the factory, so adjusting the rear gain on the Beatsonic did nothing, which was a bit of a disappointment. Oh well, I adjusted the gain to about one o'clock and just fiddled with the factory "eq" to get where I wanted. It's a straightforward install, don't be intimidated, it's literally like a lego kit taking the dash apart and putting it back together. I'd say less than an hour to install this.
Here's a link to their install.
or

So that's where I'm at right now, I will update when I get the sub figured out.

Thank you so much for all the help! That information was incredibly useful. I had a quick question—are you using a crossover, or is the incoming signal already filtered? Also, do you think it’s possible to add a DSP between the Beat Sonic amp and the factory head unit? Right now, the head unit's only controls are for treble, mid, and bass, and it's pretty limited."

 

[ToyFan]

Hi, im not a super skilled AV guy, just luke to DIY.

I don't have a crossover. The factory one is definitely crossed over though. I didn't measure anything, but you can tell most of the power is going to the front. Rear doors and "sub" are weak. I imagine a dsp could fix this.

 

[ToyFan]

I finally got around to installing a subwoofer. I went with an under seat JBL BassPro Nano. It puts out a pretty good amount of bass, considering it's compact and fits under the passenger seat perfectly. I have a manual seat and I can still lower it all the way with no interference. It fills in the bottom end quite nicely, probably how it should've been from the factory. It's not going to blow away the car next to you, but it's sufficient for full sound in the car. I gave up on the hatch subwoofer due to lack of space. There's only 3" +- depth, and due to the non flat surface, there's no way to mount a spacer ring. I could've gutted the factory sub and used the bracket, but I didn't have the heart to do it (yet). Someone with more skills could probably make it work with 3d printing a mounting ring.

The sub is available here: JBL BassPro Nano

I didn't take too many pics, but the install is pretty straight forward. I ran the power wire under carpeting, and under and around the big battery cover to the 12v battery in the rear. I grounded to the chassis under the door sill, and tapped into the rear speakers Metra adaptors and ran the wiring through the factory b-pillar harness. There is an opening on the bottom of the harness that is perfect for this. You do need to take off the rubber grommets and unplug the connecter to do this. All the wiring (save for behind the rear seats) is under the door sills and ran under the passenger seat. There is a hole in the carpet you can fish wires through. I tried tapping in behind the head unit first. You get sound, but there is no volume control, so don't waste your time. I believe I read this on another thread too. The sub turns on with speaker level inputs, so I didn't need to run a remote-turn on lead, which was great. Because I didn't want to tap/cut into any factory wiring.

Overall, a worthy upgrade. A pro (and maybe me) could've done a little cleaner install. But that would've required stripping most of the interior to hide the wiring better. Something I really didn't feel like doing. I'd say B on the sound quality overall, and my hearing isn't the best. I'd say the limiting factor is the factory amp/ equalizer. You'd basically have to bypass it, but looking at the wiring diagrams, a whole lot of things run through it, so probably not possible. It works for me, for now.

 

[SOCAL250]

Have you looked into this bracket? Amazon.com I will by trying to install it today see if it fits.

I decided to go with the Infinity Kappa 693C for the rear paired with the 303C for the dash. The 303C connects directly with the 6x9s, bypassing the harness in the dash since it’s part of a 3-way component setup. For the rear, I opted for the Kappa 603CF. I’m removing the center speaker entirely as I don’t plan to use it.

To access the factory amps and get a clean audio signal for the new amp, I had to remove the seat. The factory amp needs to stay in place to retain fade and balance functionality. Due to limited space under the seats, my amplifier options are restricted. Behind the rear seat, there's only a small amount of space, but I found enough room under the middle rear seat for a JL Audio FIX 86.

In the rear trunk, I’ll be replacing the factory subwoofer with a JL Audio 8-inch subwoofer. Once everything is complete, I’ll provide a more detailed write-up. For now, here are some pictures of the work in progress!