Decent speakers and wiring..

Anonymous · August 22, 2006, 18:09

I'm wanting to change my speakers and don't want to fit a sub or 6x9's in the valuable storage bins so a direct 6.7cs replacement.

Have managed to find the following

Alpines SPS 171A £90 quid
Infinity Kappa INF-KAPPA65.7CS £138
Focul 165a £140

Was tempted for the Infinity.

Does anyone had those and if so are they much better than the standard ones, I've the standard double din Sony Audio upgrade and want to keep this.

Also if replacing the speakers should I upgrade the speaker wiring too.

Does anyone have and of those ready made mdf templates to spare and whats the eta on an install for a pleb???

Cheers
Pablo.

roger · August 22, 2006, 18:42

I bought the Infinity off Ebay.here £102 + P&P. Tons better than standard. Basic 70W as opposed to standard 20W. No amp and no sub. Kept the standard HU.

Kept the same wiring to avoid problems, so don't know whether this would give any benefit.

I took a cardboard template for the MDF mounts, Philster has it at the moment, contact him if you would like it passed on.

It took me 1 1/2 days to install including "Dynamatting" the doors. This was very leisurely though, so I would say easy in a day, maybe even 1/2 day if you know what you are doing. I was learning as I went along s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

Anonymous · August 22, 2006, 22:21

I've got the alpine sps-171a and whilst they look great aesthetically, the performance of them is really poor, with only a little improvement over standard speakers.

Given the specifications of them however, this may be due to the RMS output of my head unit and not neccesarily a reflection of the quality of the speakers; something which may be resolved with use of an amplifier. The reason I think this is when I turn the volume up, it sounds as though the built in amplifier is saturating.

I now honestly wish I held off for a set of focals, however at the time i thought the comparable spec of the alpines would be just as good.

As for the wiring, i rewired my speakers with significantly thicker stuff and didn't find any noticeable difference in performance, but I'd say its always good practice to upgrade the wiring anyway when uprating the speakers as the existing wire is very thin.

As for time, it takes:

5 minutes to remove the door panel,
2 minutes to remove the 3 bolts which hold on the woofer,
2 minute to remove the tweeter,
1 minute to fix the crossover onto the foam bit inside the door,
2 minutes to cut and terminate some wire runs from your crossover to the woofer / tweeter,
20 minutes to make a couple of mdf templates for your speaker,
2 minutes to fix your new woofer and mdf template to the door,
5 minutes to trim the tweeter hole and fit the tweeter,
1 minute to connect up your wire tails and speaker inputs to the crossover,
5 minutes to refit your door panel.

You'd maybe even manage it quicker than that as those are just approximations.

Hope this helps,

Richie.

Anonymous · August 22, 2006, 22:37

Brillant Roger, yes thats where I was getting mine from probably same place, will contact the Philster for the templates, also where did you get the dynomatting from???

Quote from: "roger"I bought the Infinity off Ebay.here £102 + P&P. Tons better than standard. Basic 70W as opposed to standard 20W. No amp and no sub. Kept the standard HU.

Kept the same wiring to avoid problems, so don't know whether this would give any benefit.

I took a cardboard template for the MDF mounts, Philster has it at the moment, contact him if you would like it passed on.

It took me 1 1/2 days to install including "Dynamatting" the doors. This was very leisurely though, so I would say easy in a day, maybe even 1/2 day if you know what you are doing. I was learning as I went along s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

Anonymous · August 22, 2006, 22:40

i would consider changing the head unit.
i didnt realise how poor the sony one is/was until i changing mine last week.
i thought my setup with the stock h/u and the upgraded speakers sounded good but with the jvc h/u it sounds amazing.
just upgrading the speakers will only give you so much.

Anonymous · August 23, 2006, 09:07

Wow is the Sony really that bad? I have upgraded my speakers to JBL's and also given them a little oomph with a small amp. I got to admit I'm pretty happy with it but, will a new HU improve things further?

filcee · August 23, 2006, 11:00

Upgrade the head unit first. Speakers will not recover information that is not supplied by the source - the better the source the better the sound. Have a look at Linn's history here for the reasons why this is the better way.

Anonymous · August 23, 2006, 11:35

But the pre-outs on the factory unit might be ok. Perhaps the power amp bit of the factory head unit is rubbish. The factory head unit with an amp might sound good (as long as you don't use the speaker wires to run the amp and use an RCA instead).

roger · August 23, 2006, 14:01

Quote from: "paulwhite1977"also where did you get the dynomatting from???

From Matt. Surprised he didn't mention it. Click on the www on his post above.

Anonymous · August 23, 2006, 16:25

Lol. Cheers Roger. Don't want to plug too hard on the forum.....

Anonymous · August 23, 2006, 19:33

my original setup included an amp connect to the sony h/u which i thought sounded good but putting an aftermarket h/u in has improved the quality of the sound so much.it is alot clearer and the bass alot sharper plus i dont have to turn it up so loud now due to the higher wattage output of the new h/u.
i did it the wrong way round by upgrading the speakers first then changing the h/u (but i got the jvc unit at a bargain price s:D

s:D )

Anonymous · August 23, 2006, 19:40

Quote from: "jonboy".....plus i dont have to turn it up so loud now due to the higher wattage output of the new h/u.....

So you got rid of the amp now? You're using the headunit to drive the speakers? Or do you mean higher voltage level on the RCA pre-outs of the new headunit?

Anonymous · August 23, 2006, 20:26

higher wattage output (55 watts) on the h/u is powering the upgraded front speakers, still using the amp to power the back speakers and sub.

Anonymous · September 5, 2006, 19:14

Yes arrived and at bargain price cannot fault stonking deals from amazon, thanks to Phil also for the templates all I need now is a trip to homebase...

roger · September 6, 2006, 14:12

Quote from: "jonboy"i did it the wrong way round by upgrading the speakers first then changing the h/u (but i got the jvc unit at a bargain price s:D s:D )

Not quite right IMO, because you will have needed the better speakers to get the best from your new H/u. I have found the "Fisher Price" H/u gives out enough power to satisfy the new speakers - to my level at least.

So if all anybody wants to do is hear the radio / CD with the top down without distortion, IMO the speakers are the only thing you need to change, though I am not into the level of sound given by subwoofers, amps etc., not in the car anyway s:wink: :wink: s:wink: