Team-BHP - Honda Civic : Maintenance, Service Costs and Must dos

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mpower (Post 2114938)

Guys, how's the quality of factory speakers on the Civic?

Willl changing out only the F.speakers with a quality aftermarket brand (no amp/sub) give me a good improvement in sound quality.

The OE speakers seemed quite ok at low volumes.

As @idofsuresh mentioned, if you are changing just the front speakers, damping the doors should have a significant effect. I would do it surely. When changing the front speakers with components, check whether the tweeters of the new speakers will fit in the OE slot (if installing there), before purchasing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by idofsuresh (Post 2115331)

Spadix, you are right. I am looking for the Owners manual and not service manual. I bought a pre owned civic last month & the previous owner had misplaced the owner's manual. I got the service book that comes with the car though. I was told the car comes with 2 manuals, owners manual and the service book.

Download the owners manual for the USDM Civic from the following links.

http://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/p...0/NA1010OM.pdf
https://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/.../ACV0909OM.pdf

Quote:

Originally Posted by spadix (Post 2115012)

I have found the front speaker response to be really good for most types of music I've played on my Civic's OEM setup so far. And these are mostly mp3 files whose quality wasn't in my control. With audio CDs and high-quality compressed audio it should only be better.
The stock front speakers work well for my requirements.

Quote:

Originally Posted by idofsuresh (Post 2115347)

mpower, The stock front speaker of Civic is okay for casual listening, will work for most people. At the same time I must also say that the infinity reference and the JBL amp in my Indica is too bright for my taste. If you are just upgrading the front speaker, I think you can expect a better mid and high. I doubt there would be significant improvement in the bass.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shuvc (Post 2115370)

As @idofsuresh mentioned, if you are changing just the front speakers, damping the doors should have a significant effect. I would do it surely. When changing the front speakers with components, check whether the tweeters of the new speakers will fit in the OE slot (if installing there), before purchasing.

Thanks guys. Looks like combination of F.speaker and dampening should give a good improvement.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mpower (Post 2114938)

Guys, how's the quality of factory speakers on the Civic? Willl changing out only the F.speakers with a quality aftermarket brand (no amp/sub) give me a good improvement in sound quality.

Most OEM speakers are a sham. Changing the speakers to good ones from a reupted brand will improve things but I have begin to harden to the view that damping the doors (espeically of jap and korean cars) is the most VFM upgrade you can get.

I dont know if your Civic has a tweeter pod for the front and/or rear passenger but if it does a set of components for the front and a set of coax for the rear would be a good upgrade. Infinity, Alpine, Boston etc... all make nicer speakers than the OEM speakers your Civic has.

@idofsuresh: The manual you get in India is also primarily for the LHD version with some pics in the RHD version as well.

You may get one or two changes - the power is 140 horses in the US as against 130 ponies here. Torque may also be different. Also, the recommended oil here is 0/5W30 and not 20 even though the former is allowed. I personally am going to 0W40 (Mobil 1) until I have done about 15,000km when I will go down to 0W30! I do not want to use 0W20 in our 45°+ summers, even though it is allowed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mpower (Post 2114938)

Guys, how's the quality of factory speakers on the Civic?

Willl changing out only the F.speakers with a quality aftermarket brand (no amp/sub) give me a good improvement in sound quality.

As mentioned by others the stock speakers are of a very decent quality, and I concur with it.
Rather than changing just the front speakers, I would suggest changing all 6 speakers will surely bump up the quality of the sound.

Quote:

Originally Posted by navin (Post 2116996)

Navin,
Civic does have a tweeter pod up front. So will upgrading to component speakers up front and co-axials at the rear help? I had posted this in the audio thread as well but did not get a response. Will this upgrade help in getting a better bass response than the stock system?

The reason I ask because one installer told me that a component speaker set up will not sound good without an amplifier and a sub woofer.

Looking forward to hear from you.

Regards

Quote:

Originally Posted by hiren.mistry (Post 2117119)

The reason I ask because one installer told me that a component speaker set up will not sound good without an amplifier and a sub woofer.

I am no expert. But i feel a component setup essentially gives you a good separation of mids and lows. Though, this may appeal to a high frequency lover, for a low frequency lover like me, i definitely feel the need of a subwoofer.

@hiren: I have a component in the front. With or without amp the difference is not that significant. It also depends on how powerful your components are, the head unit is and whether the head unit can drive it well. I have an Alpine high end head unit and infinity reference speakers. Linking sub-woofer to amping the component is stretched too far. There are many micro/mini systems that are absolute delight to hear but they don't produce the bass. If you are looking for a better bass, sub woofer is the one that makes a big difference per rupee spent. Leave everything as it is, add a good sub and an amp to drive it. You will notice a good difference.

The overall acoustic treatment of the car, positioning of the speakers play a significant role. It's not just the speakers and amp themselves. A VFM way would be to install speakers at right locations, dampen the doors, choose a speaker that sounds nice to YOUR ears. After all this, if you feel the components are begging for more power, add amp by all means. Test to see if there is any difference to YOUR ears, if YOU don't see a difference, don't buy the amp.

@mpower: Upgrading to a good front speaker will give better mid, high and sound clarity. If that qualifies as better sound, they yes it gives better sound. Just watch out for speakers that are too bright or too laid back for your taste. More expensive DOES NOT necessarily mean better for you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgiitk (Post 2117075)

I read somewhere that Xw30 (the one recommended by Honda) is the right oil to be used. It's more from the 30 part. The argument was that the tolerances and "gaps" in the civic engine are too narrow and a xw40 or xw50 oil would be too viscous and won't lubricate the engine properly at high temperatures. I don't know how true is that.

Honda OE oil (i.e. Idemitsu/Savsol) is xW30 (x=0 for synth), so they will naturally tray and push it. As for the tolerences the engine is 'tight' when it is cold, here the oil is 0 or 5, so will flow like 'water'. When warm the oil hits its full viscosity. Why I want the 40W (which is also in Honda specs) is because I will like a little heavier oil till the engine is fully run in. Incidentally getting oil from Honda is cheaper than buying it from the market. Only question is whether you are happy with Idemitsu/Savsol.

Quote:

Originally Posted by razrman (Post 2118098)

Me too. Will try a sub while keeping the rest of the system intact. Thanks!

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Originally Posted by idofsuresh (Post 2118214)

Thanks for this Suresh. I don't plan to change the stock HU of my Civic, so I will try out some comps and see if they sound better.

TBH, I am not even sure what kind of sound I prefer. I have a Harman Kardon AVR 245 and JBL floor standing speaker system combo at home and I am spoilt by that.

Thanks!

Will be ordering online so auditioning it is ???. Getting Infinity reference 6030cs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hiren.mistry (Post 2117119)

Civic does have a tweeter pod up front. So will upgrading to component speakers up front and co-axials at the rear help?

Is it in the mesh at the base of the windshield? Thats like sooo far off from the driver's ears considering Civic has cab forward design. Does it take 3/4" or 1" tweets.

@mpower, IMO Civic's stock HU lacks proper DSP to bring out a balanced sound across low, mid and high. Highs sound a bit harsh with mids + lows sounding quite good for a stock unit. I would attribute this issue to HU rather than speakers. This can be controlled to some extent with a neutral sounding (not too bright) speakers. To put things into perspective, in home theater speakers, Klipsch Horns -> JBL -> Jamo -> B&W -> Quad means bright -> neutral -> a-bit-subdued sound. So choosing neutral sounding ones would match stock HU better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mkc15 (Post 2119311)

Thats dope man. Can you give me some recomendations? Is this ..Infinity reference 6030cs any good.

Reason for not posting in ICE was so that I dont get sucked into Amp, sub, cable, HU :p

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mpower (Post 2119505)

Thats dope man. Can you give me some recomendations? Is this ..Infinity reference 6030cs any good.

Reason for not posting in ICE was so that I dont get sucked into Amp, sub, cable, HU :p

I have the infinity reference components in my indica, did not like it very much. Basically too bright to my taste. If you are in bangalore and want to hear, pm me.

@prof: My question was is xw40, the "40" part is it too viscous ? I was not worried about the cold viscosity part.