Audio FAQ, Pt. 1 - The Basics

[CowboyDren]

We see these questions all the time, so I thought I'd toss together a sort of mini-FAQ. If it's not covered in this FAQ, consider it fair play for normal discussion in this forum. If the answer to your question is in this FAQ, God help you if you ask it in the forum. Questions or comments, errors and omissions can be directed to cowboydren@b15sentra.net.

SIZES:

Stock locations and sizes in any B15 are as follows:

• Deck: With an adapter kit, just about any aftermarket deck up to 6.875" deep will fit fine.
• Map Pocket: Yes, that's a full DIN hole. The factory used it for a 6-disc changer, but do as you like with it.
• A-pillar Tweeters: a 1" tweeter should fit. You have to run your own wires to the crossover, though.
• Doors: Technically, it's a 6.75" speaker hole, but it's only 1.9375" deep, so your options are very narrow.
• Rear Deck: Also 6.75", but much deeper (10"!). No, a 6x9" won't fit.
• Sub: Depends; some GXE and SE models as well as all base SE-Rs have a 6.5" sub in the deck. SE-Rs with the Audio Fanatic package have an 8" in a box in the trunk.

GENERAL TIPS:

For the deck, use the Metra kit. The Scosche kit has notoriously poor fit. Crutchfield ships the Scosche kit, and it sucks. There are other brands, but the Metra is believed to be the best from experience. Scosche makes a really neat line of harness adapters, though, including a Plug'n'Play model for Alpine, Kenwood, Pioneer, and some other decks. Simply unplug your factory radio, plug one end of this into the chassis-side-wiring harness, and plug the other end into your new deck; no muss, no fuss. If you're feelin' froggy, that map pocket can do anything you want, from a DVD deck, to an EQ, to an aftermarket CD changer, or whatever; the sky and your wallet are your only limits.

The front speakers are the most difficult to deal with. Due to the shallow door locations, your best bet is to stick with 6.5" drivers instead of the full 6.75" models. This has two benfits! Firstly, 6.5" drivers are often shallower than their 6.75" brethren, even of the same make and model. Secondly, you usually need an adapter to go from a 6.75" hole to a 6.5" speaker basket, and the added thickness of this spacer often loosens you up by another .175" at least, sometimes as much as a whole 1" depending on what kind of spacer you use!

If you decide to use component speakers, keep a close eye on the tweeter size if you plan on using the A-pillar location. All Infinity Kappa and Reference series tweeters (to date) fit in that location just fine, so anything under 1" will most likely fit. You may be able to get away with something bigger, but don't push you r luck. Whatever you do, don't leave the stock tweeters in place if you upgrade the front speakers, even if you just replace the door units. This may cause damage to the stock tweeters, and we don't know why. Just pop off the cover and unplug the darned things if you ever plan on going back to stock.

The rear deck is pretty much open, do whatever you like. If you're an SQ fanatic, you'll probably just remove the stock speakers and leave them out. If you're normal, and like as much sound as you can get, you probably want to replace the rear speakers with some quality coaxials or maybe just midbasses from a component set. Again, a 6.5" speaker opens your options even further, but you will probably want an adapter; don't worry about depth fitment, you'll be fine with the shallow adapters, but don't use a tall one like for the front doors.