Speaker upgrade

Author
Discussion

mnaylor

Original Poster:

284 posts

136 months

Sunday 9th February 2020
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Hi All,

I have a 21 year old jap import which is a weekend toy for shows and dry weather driving etc. I would like to upgrade the speakers all round so I have slightly better sound quality for the longer trips I make.

The key is, I don't really want to increase weight by adding a sub, I am not sure I even want to add an an amp. The car sits in the garage for long periods and the battery copes fine with this, well it has done so far anyway.

So, what I was thinking was to just upgrade the 4 speakers. The standard sizes are 6 inch up front although apparently some 6.5's will fit. 6 x 9's in the rear. I know it's quite old school but so is the car. I contacted a local audio installer and he recommended Audison Prima speakers all round. He seems to think this will be a good improvement over what I have, relative to budget and the fact I dont really want to add much weight to the car ir take up boot space.

I am probably willing to spend about 400 on this upgrade, but that will include installation costs, I don't have the time, skill or inclination to do it myself.

Oh the head unit is aftermarket already, it's a relatively modern Alpine double din unit. I tend to stream my music through bluetooth using Spotify off my phone.

Has anybody got any advice on this on any of this?

Scrump

22,943 posts

165 months

Sunday 9th February 2020
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I upgraded the 4 standard speakers in my car and it was a worthwhile improvement.
The standard speakers were paper cone single coil ones and I put in some Alpine dual coil units. The same diameter but deeper and heavier.
Kept the standard head unit and wiring. Cost far less than £400.
Could really do with a sub but just changing the 4 speakers gave a much better sound quality.

DennisCooper

1,340 posts

178 months

Sunday 9th February 2020
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Hi,

If you are happy with the level of spend you mention and looking for a marginal increase in SQ then press ahead! Audison are a well respected and higher end/quality car audio brand so their products are excellent. If in the future you decide to add a small(er) amplifier, then for the 2-3KG additional weight, they'll play even better. If you later decide on a 2.9 - 5 KG slimline powered subwoofer, you'll get a very decent level of SQ that'll perhaps make driving the car on Fun days and to/from shows much more enjoyable.

That's much weight at all really!

Cheers, Dennis!

defblade

7,624 posts

220 months

Sunday 9th February 2020
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I know you said about weight, but some damping/loading/deadening sheets stuck on both the inner and outer door skins, and maybe even inside the door card, will help your speakers play to their best.