Is it worth replacing the stock speakers with new Co-Axials?

[feenster]

Hi all,

I will ripping my interior out in the coming days to add sound proofing in as many places as I can fit. While it's all out, I thought about upgrading the speakers.

I don't want to splash out on decent components, and i'm not an audiophile as such. I just want a bit better quality than the standard speakers give. With this in mind, is it worth bothering to install new Kenwood 6x9's and maybe 5" co-axials in the front? I've found a decent set of 6x9's for £20, reduced from £50 - i will probably go for these as one of my rear speakers is a bit duff anyway.

Got any thoughts on this? Its a Jan 2002 Cooper, with a Kenwood KDC-2601G (I think!) CD/MP3 head unit.

Cheers,
Matt

[A13EX F Cooper S]

yes definatly i've upgraded mine to rockford fosgate ones even replaced the standard tweter grilles with the rockford fosgate grilles it looks very subtle but very nice i'll take some pics for you if you want!

[feenster]

Yeah, that would be good. I'm not so bothered about the looks - more interested to see whether it was a noticeable improvement over the standard speakers in terms of sound.

Cheers,
Matt

[PMB]

Quote: Originally Posted by feenster

Yeah, that would be good. I'm not so bothered about the looks - more interested to see whether it was a noticeable improvement over the standard speakers in terms of sound.

Cheers,
Matt

Matt,
The stock speakers are not good at best. If you are going to the extent of sound proofing you really should repleace the stock speakers, especially the fronts. Even if you don't go high end, it is possible to get a set of components for £50 that will make a dramatic improvement. Spend £100 and you are laughing.

For the rear speakers the best and cheapest improvement is a pair of 8 MH inductors, one for each side. These act as a passive low pass filter which improve bass from the back and sound staging at the front dramatically. They should cast les than £5.00 each.

[feenster]

PMB,
I think you are right - I will get a set of components for the front. I can't afford to get an amp too, so will need to run them from the headunit (it has is a 4 x 50W unit). The rear speakers are absolutely busted, so I think I will just stick to a new set of 6 x 9's there.

Thanks for the advice, and you are a very lucky person to live over in the IOM - one of my favourite places in the world

Matt

[venox22]

are aftermarket 6x9 speakers a direct swap for the mini rear speakers??? or do you need special mounting plates like you do for the fronts??

[A13EX F Cooper S]

direct replacement on the rears.

if you are mounting components in your front door and are going to screw them to the front of the door card so they are on show you will need 3 layers of mdf screwed to the door itself then screw through the door card into the mdf with the speaker otherwise the new speakers will not produce any base

[burns863]

Personally... as said before I would never run comps from a HU. I understand you believe that your head unit gives out 50W on each channel but in reality its a lot lower. 50W is the peak / max output. If it was to give 50W your HU would blow in about a minute. Always amp aftermarket component speakers with an external amplifier. Just save a bit of extra money before you stasrt to upgrade the ICE. No point in doing half a job eh?

[PMB]

Quote: Originally Posted by feenster

PMB,
I think you are right - I will get a set of components for the front. I can't afford to get an amp too, so will need to run them from the headunit (it has is a 4 x 50W unit). The rear speakers are absolutely busted, so I think I will just stick to a new set of 6 x 9's there.

Thanks for the advice, and you are a very lucky person to live over in the IOM - one of my favourite places in the world

Matt

Thanks Feenster!! It is a great place!!

Burns863 makes a good point about amping components. However, until you can afford a good amp the HU will be fine. I recommend you look at the Infinity Kappa "dot 7" series. They are very high "95db" sensitivity which means your HU will drive them as loud as an entry level amp. Unfortunately, they are not cheap (RRP over £200!!!), but can be found on E-bay and E-shops for half price or less. I will find a link and post it for you.

6x9s

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/INFINITY-Kappa...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/INFINITY-Kappa...QQcmdZViewItem

[umberto]

I fit some 6 1/2" coaxials in the front doors easily and left the stock 1" tweeters connected for extra brilliance so the wiring was nothing....just unplugged the old, plugged in the coaxials

they are infinity 6002si shallow mount coaxial, but needed spacers

[feenster]

Thanks chaps. Due to money (or lack of!), I have decided to just sort out the rears for now as they barely work at all. I've ordered a set of 6x9's for the rear, just some cheap ones mind, as my thinking is that they will sound miles better than what I already have. My money can be better spent elsewhere at the moment, so I can always upgrade later

Matt

[Rob Fuller Spirx]

What would you recommend as a good amp to go with those speakers PMB?

Cheers,
Rob.

[Hodude]

Quote: Originally Posted by PMB

Matt,
The stock speakers are not good at best. If you are going to the extent of sound proofing you really should repleace the stock speakers, especially the fronts. Even if you don't go high end, it is possible to get a set of components for £50 that will make a dramatic improvement. Spend £100 and you are laughing.

For the rear speakers the best and cheapest improvement is a pair of 8 MH inductors, one for each side. These act as a passive low pass filter which improve bass from the back and sound staging at the front dramatically. They should cast les than £5.00 each.

PMB,

Could you expand abit more on the 8MH inductors? What are these? How are they fitted etc?

I've recently installed a high power Alpine HU and using it to power a pair of Infinity components in the front. I've tweaked the settings but clearly lack any bass but i don't want to go down the route of sub and amp, so really interested in this inductor idea.

Much appreciated!

[PMB]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hodude

PMB,

Could you expand abit more on the 8MH inductors? What are these? How are they fitted etc?

I've recently installed a high power Alpine HU and using it to power a pair of Infinity components in the front. I've tweaked the settings but clearly lack any bass but i don't want to go down the route of sub and amp, so really interested in this inductor idea.

Much appreciated!

When you install a set of tweeters it is common practice to put a capacitor in series to stop low frequencies from damaging the tweeter. The capacitor acts as a high pass filter. An inductor is a coil of wire which when placed in series with a driver prevents high frequencies from going to a driver. By carefully chosing a capacitor for a tweeter and an inductor for a mid/bass you create the simplest form of crossover, a first order Butterworth. In the case of the bass driver, what this will do is reduce the output by 6 decibels per octave. Ok, thats the Physics!

Inductors are rated in a scale called Milli-Henrys (MH). The MH value is dependant on the crossover frequency required and the inpedance of the driver. For a 4 Ohm driver to start to cross over (low pass) at 80hz, First order, the inductor required is 8MH. 10 MH will start you crossing over at around 60hz.

Since the driver is no longer full range it can concentrate on outputting the desireed low frequencies, rather than waste energy outputting midrange or even treble.

This is not a perfect solution for bass but will improve the overall bass response.

To install, simply cut one of the two wires going to the speaker, strip foth ends if the wire and connect the inductor in line.

I hope this helps.