My new MR2 Audio Install (lots of pics)

stargazer30 · May 24, 2011, 16:58

Hey Guys,

I just finished my audio install on my new MR2. I was on a budget this time (around £200) and I wanted use as little space and weight as possible.

So first up was to sound deaden the doors with some cheapy flashing tape from B&Q. I learned the hard way with my first MR2, really expensive speakers sound utterly crap in MR2s as the acoustics of the door are rubbish. So all the holes need to be covered to create an enclosure.

Sound Deadening

I'd decided this time around to use the stock brackets and gut the stock speakers. So out came the dremel and the soldering iron... s:evil: :evil: s:evil:

Two reasons for this approach, the main one is I found using MDF DIY brackets last time was a problem as the doors leak (they are designed to) So the MDF swells up when wet. Also the leak is right above the speakers so the speakers get wet! The stock brackets have plastic shields on them to stop the water hitting the speaker. The second reason was I wanted to keep the stock wiring so I have soldered the speaker to the stock plugs.

Speaker

The component speakers are cheap and nasty Halfords specials for £45!. Remember peeps quality doesn't come in a box from Halfords s:oops: :oops: s:oops: . As a rule I'd never recommend doing what I did here. Infact the only reason I have them is the bangermonics Micra I had before my MR2 had no speakers so I bought anything cheap as it wasn't worth doing a decent install on it. But to my surprise these EDGE 306 speakers are fairly decent for the money, they seem to be the exception to the rule. So since I'm skint I bought another set for the MR2, the last set went with the Micra when I sold it.

Tweeter

The tweeters are again on the stock mounts, I had to swap out the capacitor though. The crossovers on the Halford's specials were in a nice plastic box, when I took it apart it was just a capacitor s:lol: :lol: s:lol: s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

Looks very OEM :-) :-) :-)

Pioneer Active Sub

Most my budget went on this £140 ouch. Nice bit of kit, small, light and active and its a really good fit in the passenger bin

This is the base I've made up for the amp, as you can see I've used MDF and dowels so I can sit the sub on a 2nd base above the amp.

MDF Base

The top MDF part bolts onto the Pioneer sub, like so..

Sub Base

The amp I've used is a vibe black box 3 - 2ch about 300w RMS total. Again not a make I'd recommend but its small enough and only cost £26 off ebay so not complaining. s8)

s8)

Amp In

The the sub and MDF base screws on top.

Finished!

Sound wise I'm very happy with it. The best part are those cheapy speakers, given what they cost they do sound very good with the amp driving them. The sub does its job but like all small active subs it won't punch much, it just gives some nice bass fill.

Hopefully this is the last time in a while I'll have to do an audio install! s:crazyeyes: :crazyeyes: s:crazyeyes:

AmeR · May 24, 2011, 17:07

Like the idea of the dowels for 2 levels!!

s12vea · May 24, 2011, 18:39

Looking good mate! The vibe edge audio stuff isnt bad for the money and a massive improvement to the standard equipment.

stargazer30 · May 26, 2011, 11:19

Thanks for the comments and PMs :-) :-) :-)

Well a few days in on this install with a good few drives to test it and I'm not totally happy with the pioneer active sub. It works well given its size, provides good bass fill and I wanted to keep the install size to a minimum. Trouble is I'm real picky when it comes to audio and I'm used to a full volume sub that punches.

So I recon its gonna get ebay'd (unless some peeps on here fancy one?) and I'm going to have to sacrifice some more space and build an 8" sub box for the driver side bin.....

Hum ho...

To be continued, stay tunned s:lol: :lol: s:lol: s:lol: :lol: s:lol: s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

frogger · May 26, 2011, 19:41

Looking good.

Last weekend I finally got around to ripping apart a huge sound install from a civic I had 5 years ago or so (MDF construction from the back seats has been in the shed ever since!).

I decided to hang on to the fusion 6x9's with the conviction that there was space behind the seats, below the small of the back.
... it seems I was very wrong in that belief, doesn't look like they will fit lol. I think I may have been thinking of the Mk1 MR2.

Your post is making me think I may do better just sticking with new door speakers, and something extra to give some mild bass fill in.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with the fusion 6x9's, twin 12" 500w fusion subs, and the array of sony and fusion amplifiers!
Don't think I'll ever have a home for them in my cars again !

stargazer30 · May 26, 2011, 20:30

Quote from: "frogger"Looking good.
Now I just have to figure out what to do with the fusion 6x9's, twin 12" 500w fusion subs, and the array of sony and fusion amplifiers!
Don't think I'll ever have a home for them in my cars again !

eBay is your friend :-) :-) :-) Keep an amp or two or ebay them for a 4ch amp that will do both the sub and fronts. Recycle the MDF into a new 8" sub box for the MR2. I'm going to do a how to for one of those soon :-) :-) :-)

Anonymous · May 27, 2011, 00:13

or use the whole back bins and put a 12" and the 6x9 in it does fit just lol.

manchestermatt1986 · May 29, 2011, 22:59

I'n my car I have standard fronts (which are die to be changed to some hertz), co-axils that are standard extra on mr-s and two ripspeef active subs I'n the bins. Now I know ripspeed is a horrible word to say let alone buy but I got a bargain and I have to say the sound is brilliant! I used to have a mx3 with full audio install, subs etc. And this would almost give it a run for it's money. The reason I'm upgrading the fronts is because on some songs I have to mess with the equaliser on the jvc headunit to get some treble to be hears due to bass. So for ripspeed, I have to admit there really good!

Matt

Chris H · June 28, 2011, 18:54

hi,.....many thanks to stargazer for the help in this.have just installed these edge 306
speakers,fantastic sound....and what a money saver in using flashing tape to
sound deaden the doors....i bought a 10metre roll of wickes flashing tape for
£10.99 and completely covered both the doors,the difference in sound deadening
the doors is unbelievable.....
Chris...

stargazer30 · July 2, 2011, 23:11

Quote from: "Chris H"hi,.....many thanks to stargazer for the help in this.have just installed these edge 306
speakers,fantastic sound....and what a money saver in using flashing tape to
sound deaden the doors....i bought a 10metre roll of wickes flashing tape for
£10.99 and completely covered both the doors,the difference in sound deadening
the doors is unbelievable.....
Chris...

No worries mate, yup for cheapy speakers they do sound good. I've got my system setup perfect now and I'm still impressed by how good it sounds considering I didn't spend a fortune on it this time around.

CpnSpankyPantz · July 12, 2011, 14:01

I'll be tackling this soon, the only thing that puts me off is taking the doors off... I know there is a how to guide on spyder mag (or something) but the pictures are tiny!

How difficult is it to get the original speaker mounts off of the original speakers?

Thanks!

deadmau5 · July 12, 2011, 14:12

I just cut the old speaker fabric out with a stanley knife, and prised the magnets at the back off with a screwdriver I think?

Taking the door off is easy, only bit that can be troublesome is the door handle surround. Don't be afraid to be rough with it, I've had mine off 5 times and it's not broken once s:)

s:) .

Chris H · July 12, 2011, 19:20

hi,i bought some new speaker surrounds of e-bay,buy the ones for the avensis,they are the correct size
for 16.5cm speakers,cost me a tenner,also had to get some new bolts etc from toyota for these,the
previous owner had removed them....bought another roll of flashing tape from wickes....sound deadened
the door skin and the back of the door card,sounds great..

chris

Tommygun1 · November 1, 2011, 22:35

Is the flashing tape tge stuff with bitumen on it for roofs??
Cheers

stargazer30 · November 2, 2011, 10:56

Quote from: "Tommygun1"Is the flashing tape tge stuff with bitumen on it for roofs??
Cheers

Yup, B&Q or Wickes sell the stuff. PS: After I wrote this thread I went back and did the whole door and the door card, it improved the bass response even more. You can't use too much of this stuff s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

DannyN · November 2, 2011, 12:50

I wouldnt do the holes and I would put the clear liner back on

Tommygun1 · November 2, 2011, 21:51

Did this this evening . Those speakers are amazing so much better and soundproofing so easy to do . One question did you connect the Resistor to the main speaker too as it said to in the distructions
Cheers

stargazer30 · November 3, 2011, 10:46

Quote from: "Tommygun1"Did this this evening . Those speakers are amazing so much better and soundproofing so easy to do . One question did you connect the Resistor to the main speaker too as it said to in the distructions
Cheers

Right its a capacitor not a resisitor, it acts as a cheap and nasty hi pass filter for the tweeter. So if you use it as it comes, the black box connects to both the mid bass and the tweeter. However the mid bass is a straight through connection. Or you can do what I did and just open up the black box, take out the capacitor and solder it directly to the tweeter.

Glad you like the edge speakers, for a cheap set of components they are pretty decent.

Tommygun1 · November 3, 2011, 22:57

All sorted sounds a million times better . Next job is to buy a nice cd player with pre outs this one I have still has a tape player lol . Cheers for tge help .

smarty72 · November 5, 2011, 15:18

Would the sound deadening in the doors make much of an improvement to the stock speakers and head unit? If not would it be worth changing the speakers only or do you need to do the whole lot?

Thanks.

stargazer30 · November 5, 2011, 16:15

Quote from: "smarty2072"Would the sound deadening in the doors make much of an improvement to the stock speakers and head unit? If not would it be worth changing the speakers only or do you need to do the whole lot?

Thanks.

The sound deadening serves two main purposes, it keeps rattles and road noise out but more importantly it creates an enclosure for the speaker and dramatically improves the bass response in the process.

Now on the stock paper speakers the road noise reduction is a plus and yes you'll get a little more bass to boot. However the stock HU and speakers can't deliver the kind of power a decent set of components and an amp will and typically with that kind of power comes the rattles and vibration that the sound deadening gets rid of. So its worth doing if you plan to upgrade the speakers later.

Whatever you do though don't put good speakers in without deadening the doors, they will sound worse than the stock paper units.

smarty72 · November 5, 2011, 19:56

Ok, thanks David.

pill20 · January 22, 2013, 20:38

This is a good how to Gide !! I already have the 360 speakers that was fitted to my dreaded renault Megane cabriolet ( worse car ever) so looks like I'm busy the weekend I guess s:)

s:) I have a 12" sub that I'm trying to get my head around fitting into the back bins so that's going to be a real challenge I think! I was thinking getting a underseat sub but as said in the post not very good unless you have 2 of them ! Is there a any pics on how to remove the door panel ?? Last thing I want is to damage the inside of the car when I've only had it a week!

Anonymous · May 4, 2013, 23:23

Put in a pair of Kenwoods and did the sound deadening with the same flashing tape stuff that's at Home Depot (for all you 'mericans and Canadians.) Thanks so much for sharing all of this... it was fun to do and sounds waaay better! Next: head unit, subs, pre-cats,exhaust, muffler... I think the wife will have to get a second job!
Cheers!