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70 Posts
The Insight is a wonderfully designed car; when people stop me on the streets, I can’t say more great things about it… But their was one thing about the design I couldn’t stand to take any longer, and that was the lack of speakers.
I’ve read all the posts about the drop-in replacements and felt that the rear speaker placement was ok, but not spectacular. I also felt that having tweeters IN the front speakers rather then separated and next to the side view mirrors (like in most cars), was one sacrifice to many.
While these are affective and inexpensive ways of vastly improving your Insight’s entertainment capability, they do not satisfy my inner audiophile. So I thought about placement and eventually decided to have some custom pods made. This allowed me the flexibility to place the speakers in optimal locations where they would produce the best sound quality, while leaving the Insight’s interior design relatively untouched (or at least inexpensively reversible).
This was the result (high resolution pictures, dial-up users beware):
http://www.halestechnologygroup.com/MyI ... age341.htm
After some discussion with Brandon and his team of installers (which included an experienced Honda Insight mechanic), we decided to place the rear speakers in the far back corners. We did this to avoid any unforeseen problems that could arise from having magnets so close to the battery pack and to make securing of the rear pods easier. It was also the best place to keep the speakers as inconspicuous as possible from the outside. And since the only parts of the car that needed major altering was the thin grey material that covers the back, it would be relatively inexpensive for me to restore the car to its original two speaker glory.
The placement of the two front tweeters was a no brainier, but required custom pods none the less.
The result for me is an outstanding acoustic experience that effectively masks the outside noise, even while the stereo volume low.
The custom pods cost $380.00 to build and install. The speakers I choose were around $600.00 and included installation as well. To build and install everything took one and a half days to complete from start to finish. All-and-all, it came out to be just under a thousand dollars and given that I spend at least four hours a day in my car, it was worth every penny!!
----- Update -----
I posted more information about the system, including the model numbers of the speakers I used here:
http://www.insightcentral.net/forum/vie ... 4908#34908
I’ve read all the posts about the drop-in replacements and felt that the rear speaker placement was ok, but not spectacular. I also felt that having tweeters IN the front speakers rather then separated and next to the side view mirrors (like in most cars), was one sacrifice to many.
While these are affective and inexpensive ways of vastly improving your Insight’s entertainment capability, they do not satisfy my inner audiophile. So I thought about placement and eventually decided to have some custom pods made. This allowed me the flexibility to place the speakers in optimal locations where they would produce the best sound quality, while leaving the Insight’s interior design relatively untouched (or at least inexpensively reversible).
This was the result (high resolution pictures, dial-up users beware):
http://www.halestechnologygroup.com/MyI ... age341.htm
After some discussion with Brandon and his team of installers (which included an experienced Honda Insight mechanic), we decided to place the rear speakers in the far back corners. We did this to avoid any unforeseen problems that could arise from having magnets so close to the battery pack and to make securing of the rear pods easier. It was also the best place to keep the speakers as inconspicuous as possible from the outside. And since the only parts of the car that needed major altering was the thin grey material that covers the back, it would be relatively inexpensive for me to restore the car to its original two speaker glory.
The placement of the two front tweeters was a no brainier, but required custom pods none the less.
The result for me is an outstanding acoustic experience that effectively masks the outside noise, even while the stereo volume low.
The custom pods cost $380.00 to build and install. The speakers I choose were around $600.00 and included installation as well. To build and install everything took one and a half days to complete from start to finish. All-and-all, it came out to be just under a thousand dollars and given that I spend at least four hours a day in my car, it was worth every penny!!
----- Update -----
I posted more information about the system, including the model numbers of the speakers I used here:
http://www.insightcentral.net/forum/vie ... 4908#34908
