Hi there, can anyone help me with replacing the front tweeters? I'd like to get something a bit smoother, probably silk dome. I just want to try new tweeters and leave the rest for now, as I don't want to rip apart doors etc. There should be fairly easy access to the pillar tweeters, right?
You should check out the prior threads on speaker upgrades--specifically I'd PM the person who wrote this one and did the tweeter upgrade: https://www.insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/audio-upgrade-for-clarity.2221/page-7#post-89224
The owner of the 12v shop I use (they do high end audio, alarms, modifications) told me that the first thing I'd want to do if I want to upgrade my sound system in my Clarity would be to have the amp replaced (I think that's what he called it). He said that they can make a stock system sound vastly better, but 60% of what they can do is achieved by replacing the amp with one that can be finely tuned, and the other 40% of what they can achieve is done by replacing the speakers.
I replaced my front tweeters and all 4 door speakers back in January with Infinity 6532ix 6.5" 2-way speakers and Infinity Reference 375TX tweeters. They were all 50% off for Black Friday, so I got them all for $150. The back doors also have separate tweeters, but I didn't get replacements for those. While the door speakers were pretty easy to swap out, the tweeters required more work than I thought they would. The A-pillars were pretty easy to remove (once I found proper documentation). The Inifinity tweeters were just a tad larger in diameter, so I had to file and sand the mounting holes just a tad to get them to fit. Plus you have to cut the existing connectors off the wires that connect to the tweeters since they're a small molex-type connector that apparently only connect to Honda stock tweeters. You also need to use the supplied crossovers, otherwise it tries to push the full frequency range into them. I thought that might have been taken care of in the head unit, but apparently not. Once installed, I found them to be a little too loud compared to the door speakers, so I ended up making a 6dB pad with a pair of 10w resistors, and now everything sounds balanced to me. Getting the crossovers and resistors anchored onto the A-pillar is also a little tricky, you need the strong 3M double-sided foam tape. I'm attaching a few photos I took when I first installed the tweeters and crossovers, but before I added the 6dB pads. If I get a chance, maybe I can yank the pillars off and get a shot with everything in there. It may not sound as good as a system with a new amp installed, but it's a lot better than the sound from the stock speakers.
Here's the official Honda documentation on the A-pillar removal. I'm pretty sure I originally got it from another post in this forum. You have to use a flat blade screwdriver to pull out the cap with the SRS logo on it. The key is to not try to remove it completely, just pull it out until you feel a click when the fastener unlocks. Then you have to give the whole pillar a hefty pull to undo the remaining clips. It's suggested to disconnect the 12v battery since there's an airbag right there, but I lived on the edge and did it without disconnecting.
I've seen a lot of other people mention the same thing. I get it too, but I think it might actually be the pillar rubbing up against the dashboard in my case. If I touch it just slightly, the rattle goes away. I might try stuffing a small piece of foam between them to see if it does anything, you might want to try that first as well.
Nope, that's not my issue - I'm one of the lucky ones whose dash was mounted correctly: This is most def a "rattle" from inside.
