clearwater makes 8" door speakers for the miata as anyone tried to use them for our cars? from the picture it looked like it would work but i have no idea. good-win-racing has them on there website or you can go right to clearwateraudio.com

 

A ton of companies make an 8" speaker... the issue is that the 8's are .5 ohm.

 

yeah, if you're trying to keep the "blose" and just swap speakers I'd advise against it, especially with the Metra kit out now you really are better off getting a decent head unit and some decent speakers rather than just trying to add speakers to the existing system. The blose in the doors are 9 inch, (maybe even 9.5 if I remember correctly?) so 8's will fit and all, but they're all going to be 4 ohm, (unless you find some really strange brand that isn't) plus you have to watch for mounting depth as well as once you start getting into midbass type speaker sizes like 8 inch you usually wind up with bigger baskets/magnets to deal with as well.

What were you trying to accomplish by swapping door speakers? If you have a specific goal in mind it might be easier to make some recommendations for you.

 

http://www.clearwateraudio.com/faqs.html

they make them for the miata bose system so they do sell .5 ohm speakers as a heads up, not sure about fit

from their site
Bose® CARS MUST USE CWC-8B, NON-Bose® CARS MUST USE CWC-8.

What makes the Bose® systems different?
A: The Bose® systems use a speaker that has a 1/2 Ohm impedance. Most normal car speakers have a 4 Ohm impedance. This 1/2 Ohm impedance allows the Bose® speakers to work with the provided Bose® amplifiers that are also part of the upgraded audio system.

 

Interesting, didn't bother to go to the website, oops, my bad for that.

 

Work great in my Miata.

Doesn't help the 8 owners, but I bet with enough interest, they could come up with a Bose upgrade for the 8. I think it is actually a great idea to at least contact them and see how much interest they would need to develop something.

For the price there are better speakers out there and you can get a nice component set and a quality amp to power them for less. Install is a whole other matter though and the fact that nothing else just drops in with no wiring/splicing and works with the Bose amp is why they can charge what they charge.

For the 8, since the install of these would still be a pain as they aren't a direct replacement, you would be much better off getting something else.

 

Do you know if they are close enough in size to the RX-8's that they would fit without the pain of seriously modifying the door enclosure? I have been emailing back and forth with the guy there - he's quite responsive but doesn't have any knowledge of the 8. I want to stick with the Bose headunit because the Metra kit doesn't play nice with the CAN and screws it up enough that a Goodbox won't work (and I love my Goodbox).

 

I wonder if it would work with the Corksport kit?

 

Good question, but I don't know the answer to that. You might pose it in the Goodbox group buy thread.

 

Here's a picture of the rx8 bose speaker:


Here's a picture of the NC miata bose speaker:



Sure looks similar! The tweeter should be easy to do/figure out. It's the midbass your worried about.

 

Pretty much the same speaker construction. One is just 8 inches and one is 9. You would need an adapter plate, but that isn't a huge deal. The connections are the standard mazda ones so it should plug in no problem either. Plenty of space to mount the small crossover too. Depth of the speakers aren't a concern, lots of room for them in the 8.

The tweeter is mounted in a 3.5 inch plastic enclosure so it will drop into the NC door panel. That would take a little bit of effort to put in in the sail pod of the RX-8 I would think.

Not sure how they would sound though. I had the standard audio in my 8 and that got ditched after about a year. I am not familiar enough with the Bose in the 8 to really say how much of an upgrade these are and how difficult they would be to install as is.