Decent replacement swap-in speakers?
 

I have a 75 Club CDT Tourer from 2002, with the basic sound system (CD changer in glove box). I don't have a lot of money to splash around at the moment but I was wondering whether it would be worth simply replacing the existing speakers with better ones, and if so can anyone recommend me some? I understand that I'll get better sound if I make MDF baffles to mount in the doors but I don't see myself getting round to doing that any time soon.

The trouble with upgrading the speakers is that the headunit that drives them needs to take advantage of the improved speakers. This usually involves being able to provide higher power outputs across a larger spread of fequencies. Unfortunately the OEM equipment is matched to the speakers provided and putting better quality speakers in my result in decreased performance.

What is needed is an amplifier that can drive the new speakers to their full potential (The Harmon Kardon upgrade offered at the factory was one such option available to new 75's/ZT's and uses improved speakers and an amplifier to provide a richer sound).

Unless you are willing to go the whole hog and fit both speakers and an amp or a newer headunit then you may find that you will be disapointed with the results. That said, quite a few members have been satisfied by replacing the OEM speakers and nothing else - I guess it depends on what speakers you go for and what your own perceptions of 'good quality sound' is.

To be honest, the MDF mounts will improve the OEM speaker setup without upsetting power-balanced speaker/headunit arrangement.

Hope that helps. :)

Remember the SLE - Symphony Loudness Enabler get smore bass from your Symphony/Alpine radio.

A few members on here have fitted it and will recommend it.

The SLE can be brought from our friends at http://www.r75-parts.de/en/sle/index.php

Thanks, that does help. In fact I have a decent power amp (and indeed subwoofer) sitting in my loft, left over from a good installation on an earlier car where the head unit was stolen, so I could use those. Where's a good place for the power amp?

Alpine SXE-1725Ss in the rear doors and Alpine SXE-1750S components in the front would probably be a good choice and are available quite cheaply on ebay.

sorry to be thick but do replacement speakers all have the same mounting holes (i.e if they are 16cm replacements etc) ??

im actually after replacing the main front door speakers(one has blown)on my latest freelander td4 and i really want to spend as little as possible.....esp as ive managed to blow the f/n/s one myself.

So, with my Highline/satnav/TV thingy, can I retain that unit in the dash and upgrade the amplifier that drives the speakers?

yeah the standard head unit weak point in the sound set up
when i got my car it had the Harman kardon stereo upgrade and it still didnt sound that good to be honest
i fitted my JVC head unit and the difference was 1000% better

I went for the "closer the better" option and stuck the CD player in the glovebox with the power amp mounted under the glovebox. Subwoofer used is the Rover/MG one available from SMC.

Pics:http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...o/CDPLAYER.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a.../audio/AMP.jpg
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...11/audio/5.jpg

Mick

What head unit have you got? How does the amp fit into the wiring? Does this take the speaker level outputs? And crucially, did it improve the sound quality much?

Head unit is a JVC KD-AVX33. It has more ins and outs than you can shake a stick at. The amp I am only using to feed the sub-woofer out line from the HU (which has an output level adjustment), to the OEM sub woofer for the tourer. The JVC also has levels setup controls for individual speakers, i.e. front left, front right etc., and also settings for distance of each speaker from listening position. I have done nothing with the original speakers, and don't need to. Overall after fine tuning the setup the sound quality is about as good as you can get without spending megabucks.

The CD changer is a JVC CHX1500 which is a 12 disc CD/MP3 changer. Given that the HU will play MP3 DVD's, there is no shortage of storage space!

All is controllable from the steering wheel controls.

HTH

Mick

I considered this before buying the BM24 yesterday. Seems very flexible and I like the fact you can add a DAB unit too. But I just can't get beyond the glossy black plastic and blue lights...

Form before function, or Function before form.
Individual preference.

Mick

I read that there is an "amber/orange" version, but only available in the US. That might have swung it for me if it were available here.

I would change the speakers first off. I used 4 Infinity Reference 6522i speakers with homemade 4 MDF mounting rings 71/4" OD x 6" ID 3/4thick and a additional 2 rings same dimentions but 1/2" thick for the front -so the fronts will be 3/4" plus the 1/2" rings -also cut out the rear area of the speakers. When you take off the OEM speakers you will be amazed on how light and cheap they feel compared to good quality aftermarket speakers not forgetting the improvement in sound

Mayor, I may ask some further questions later if you don't mind. First off though, with the Infinity speakers, do you no longer have separate tweeters, or have you just left the existing ones in place?

Second, how long did the whole job take (removing cards, making mounts etc)? Sounds like it could take a whole weekend!

Hi- just leave the exsiting tweeters in place and use the exsiting connections. With the question of time it took me a good day including cutting out the MDF rings. The most difficult was shaping the MDF to fit fairly flat on the doors any small gaps fill with clear silicone. Be careful of polarity the infinitiy speakers are marked +/- whilst the OEM speakers are not. Front connections:
- black/white
+ Black/Grey

Front RHS
- black/blue
+ Black/purple
sorry can't find my notes on rear polarity but have a look a the RAVE CD

So I could pre-prepare the mounting rings? I must say, I'm not sure I know what mounting rings are! Do they fasten to the door panel, and then you attache the speakers to them?

Are they simply perfectly round rings, using the dimensions you suggest?

What do you mean by "cut out the rear area of the speakers"?

Just cut the foam out behind the speaker area -about 4" diameter so that the doors act as cabinets. The original plastic supports don't do much for acoustics. The MDF rings will need to be screwed into the door will self tapping screws

You actually screw into the metal door panel? Don't the screws poke out of the bodywork?!?

Sorry to be a pain, can anyone tell me where the MDF is screwed into exactly? I have my speakers, alas not the car (it's in the repair shop...) but I'm trying to do as much prep work as I can. I'll never be able to find the time to do the whole job in one hit anyway.

Is the MDF construction a bit like a hollow cylinder or tube then?

Are there perhaps some metal "legs" that you screw the MDF into? Without having a dismantled door in front of me, I just can't picture it.

Given that the total thickness of the MDF pieces is 1 3/4", do you need really long screws? I'm planning on a trip to Wickes (will also pick up some sound deadening stuff along with the MDF) so could you please tell me what type of screws to get? Many thanks.

i`d leave the foam in
most good hi-fi speakers have a filling, there not an empty box

This had occurred to me too (again, without examining the dismantled doors myself). Surely it would make sense, as well as lining with a deadening material (bituminous flashing tape etc) , to actually stuff the remaining space with an "acoustic" wadding?

you cant fill all the space with acoustic wadding, as the window drops down past the back of the speakers

Not trying to teach you to suck eggs as it were, but the total as I read it is 1x 1/4" TOTAL for the fronts, as its 1x 3/4" ring all around, and 1x 1/2" additional ring for each of the fronts..
appologies if that was just a missprint :)

Nick.

Oh yes, got my sums wrong! I think you may have misstyped too, Nocturnal. I think the total thickness of the fronts is one and a quarter inches.

Thanks for bringing to my attention though!

rofl.. I did indeed ;)
when i tried to submit the thread the site went wobbly and i never got to see the thread till I just re-read it and thought what a muppet I've done the same thing hehe.. I had typed 1 1/4" but when i added the space between the 1's I deleted one of them :oh you:

no worries... as long as youre set :)

I will eventually get around to upgrading my speakers so allways look in on these threads :)

By the way, the MDF rings, which I must say I know I'm going to have trouble cutting, are readily available on ebay for reasonable sums, see here.