3rd Strategy M800

3rd Strategy M800

[4/23/2016] Reviewed by: Al

Applicable to: '90 - '97 '99-'05 1.6 liter 1.8 liter

Miata door speakers

Miata is not a car for an audiophile. Open top, marginal sound insulation, and subpar audio system make for a mediocre (to say the least) auditory experience. It is, of course, a driver's car. And so often we listen to and enjoy the sound of the engine. But, it is still somewhat a disappointment when the sound that comes out of your speakers barely rivals your alarm clock. For years people have tried many different approaches. Some went the route of upgrading the head unit and the speakers, sometimes to the tune of a great expense (Clearwater). Others simply abandoned listening to the tunes. And then some tried to make things work for next to little money. One of such solutions used to be Lighting Audio Bolt 6.5" speakers (I've written about them in the past). But that company has gone bust, and now we have a new player, "3rd Strategy". A simple Google search led me to exchange emails with the company's founder, Glenn, and after a thorough consultation,I had a pair of M800 on their way. A bit of a background on my setup. Unwilling to risk a slashed top, I've kept my stock stereo. Other reasons were that nobody in their right mind would try to steal a cassette player (do those still exist?), and my stock radio worked very well with the (now defunct) LAV Speed-O-Sound (increases volume with speed). Not willing to settle for just the FM, I've used a cassette adapter to connect a Bluetooth adapter to stream music from my phone. Simple, really. So simple, in fact, that even my effort to upgrade said setup through a very well known Miata audio-meister resulted in wasted money and a loss of my best radio. Anyhoo... On to the M800 speakers. When 3rd Strategy says the installation is so easy, even your wife can do it, you better believe it. All you need is a screwdriver. Well, almost. If you're a lucky owner of an early NA, installation is really 3 screws away. Once you remove the speaker grill and unscrew the speaker, just unplug the old one and plug the new one in. For later models, it's a little more complex, but nothing that would take anyone more than 1 hour (while drinking beer, of course).

But, the real question is, how do they sound? Well, pretty effing amazing. Even when compared side-by-side (one M800, one Lightning Audio B1.65.2), M800 simply were miles better. Able to carry more volume, they sounded clearer, produced better highs, better lows, clearer mid-range. I mean, I'm only a former classical musician (French Horn, played professionally many years ago), but to me, this is one truly amazing product. It was almost the "active aero" experience. You know, the faster the car goes, the better it sticks to the ground? Well, it's kinda like this. The louder you play these, the more pleasure these wonderful speakers bring. Yep, definitely worth the money.

Under 5 minutes to remove