This thread will get moved and rightfully so but I am hoping to get a quick capture of opinion and not enough people hang out in the audio section to just post it there...

How many of you have the Clearwater replacement door speakers? Are they worth the money? And yes I know speaker taste is a personal thing but I am curious what the general opinion is.

Any thoughts?

They were great back in the day, much better and less expensive products out there now and with the adapter rings readily available, installation is a piece of cake. Clearwater jumped on the car when it was new, designed a set of speakers specifically for it and sold the heck out of them. I had a set back in 1992 in a 91 and thought they were the best thing going. Now the cheap set of Pioneer dual channels in my door panels sound great.

Yes, thoughts - the moderators have stopped babysitting everyone so much - if you want to get the opinions of the Audio gurus who hang out in Audio, you'll have to post there yourself or ask a moderator to move this for you.

Maybe if you hung out in the audio section more, you'd be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem!

I have been in the audio section as much as I have been in here and that is why I know that there are usally 6 people viewing audio vs. 30-50 in here - as I said I was just looking to reach a larger audiance with a simple question.

Sorry to be part of the problem and thanks for your input.

I am one of those 6 people. Having said that ....you will find a lot of good audio advice here ....the people that hang out in the NA forum (that don't hang out here) are not going to be audio enthusiests and won't have the knowledge you are looking for. They may have swapped out a set of speakers ...or had it done ...not not going to have the deapth of info that you can benefit from here.

Gordon seems to be having a rough day.

>^..^<

Im also one of the 6 people...more like the 10th or 12th...
Im also part of the problem,so welcome aboard!!!

so what are you looking to do...do you just have some crappy OEM speakers you want to replace with direct replacement? are you planning on changing out the Head unit?...

I understand from others that the Clearwaters are good speakers..but I think they are kinda pricey...

Another who does NOT have the speakers, but curious as to the reason for the ?

Checking in for the first time in maybe three years...

I bought one of the Bose Replacement Systems for an '04 Mazdaspeed. Big improvement in the bottom end, and I prefer the Clearwater tweeters to the Bose. The midrange was probably a push. I liked that the Clearwaters were an easy plug-and-play installation, that didn't require any permanent changes except a 1" cut in the plastic baggy liner within the door. And at the time it seemed like the only decent upgrade for the Bose junk that didn't require replacing the head unit (also junk, but I didn't want to deal with pulling it at the time). That particular Clearwater system was a little pricey, but the overall quality, packaging, documentation, etc were all top-notch. I had no regrets with the purchase whatsoever.

I actually swapped the stock speakers back in this morning (took maybe a half hour) in preparation for selling the car, and it was yet another reminder of the overall quality of the Clearwater package. You'd never know the stock system was ever removed.

Please take no offense to the 6 people remark, again I was just trying to get a larger sampling, I have been in this forum quite a bit and all info has been greatly appreacaited.

I am putting in an Alpine CDE-9872 head unit - I like the interface, I have had multiple Alpines in other cars and liked them and the majority of the buttons and backlighting is green and white and its important to me that it match my '91 dash lights.

I am not doing an external amp.

I do have crappy OEM speakers and want the best easiest replacement but being a little bit of an audio person I have requirements. I don't want any cloth surround, I only have door speakers and am only going to do door speakers at this time (yes that is my head rest speaker thread that seems to morphed into a door speaker thread before this thread was moved over here) so a 6 1/2 inch is more appealing than a 5 1/4 just to get as much bass as possible from this limited system.

I really don't want to pay more than $100-$120 and yes I know the Clearwaters are much more than that ($199) but I was potentially willing to fork it out to have something I knew was going to sound good and fit. - plus their website propaganda on how it they were designed for the Miata cabin was fairly convincing. I don't mind drilling a hole or too but I do not want to cut any metal.

So having said all that does any one have any suggestions for 6 1/2" door speakers that you know fits with just the drilling of holes? The other thread makes mention of Polk momos but then eands with they don't know if they will fit due to the tweeter sticking out too far.

There are Polk db651s and Boston S65RC - has anyone put those in?

Sorry for the lengthy post and as always any input is greatly apprecaited.

Why not? An external amp will sound exponentially better than any amp in a HU. I had rather have a 30WPC external amp than I had a 50WPC internal amp. The problem with internal amps is that they are limited on size ...ever noticed that they whole HU is smaller than most any amp? ....and that HU has to have a tuner and CD transport stuffed in there as well as an amp. There is not enough room in there for a power supply capable of supplying the current needed for deep tight bass. (among other issues)

Why are you even considering a 5.25"? (actually I like them when I'm running a sub ...the smaller speaker has faster transients) But since you are not talking about a sub you will be better off with a good 6.5"

The Clearwaters will fit fine ...and sound OK ....not great.

The problem is that you have posted variations of the same question everywhere and it is getting confusing. As I said in another post ....you NEED a speaker with a pivotal tweeter. Look at the FOCAL Access line ...FOCAL tend to have better bass and the Access line is a good value.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Focal-Access-165...QQcmdZViewItem

>^..^<

I never ment to post the same question in multiple spots - again I applogize.

I am not going to run an external amp because I can't afford one.

To the best of your knowledge will the Focal Access line fit in the stock location in my '91 without any usses? Just drop in, no metal removal, no issues putting the stock speaker cover back on? Again I'm fine drilling holes I just don't want to alter the door more than that.

no offense taken sede!...
As far as the Polks 6.5" with the pivotal tweeter..i thought I had seen some threads here regarding the tweeter hitting against the stock grill on NA's...I might be wrong..hopefully someone can clarify that..
as Catman said the Focals are a great speaker too...hopefully he can answer the question above for you...
good luck and let us know what you decide on!!