Matteeboy

Now I'm generally very happy with our "beater," a 2006 Outback 2.5 SE petrol manual but the sounds were pretty poor.
So I bought decent JL speakers and began to replace the front woofers and tweeters as a starting point; major hassle as the whole door cards have to come off but nearly there.

Anyway I got to the OEM woofers, removed one and picked it up; it weighs almost nothing, doesn't appear to have a magnet (pretty vital in a speaker) and is the WORST speaker I have ever seen; is this a standard Subaru thing?

I don't know the RRP of ours but it must have been close to £30k (SE is top spec); who the heck signed off such dreadful sound kit? Oh and not even an AUX port....

Trinity

iTrader: (28)

Always been terrible. The Pioneers in the Blobeye are paper, kinda like that toilet paper you got in school that had that sheen on it than cut your bum

Id get some components up front, and a little 8" sub for the boot and a nice four channel amp. Can create a great sound with so little these days with good quality kit.

Better good build quality with a Subaru though, than a polished tin can of an audi with an aux jack though

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

The ones in my 98 UK Impreza were 13cm and VERY poor, I got rid of the lot after snapping a wire off one of the rears.

The headunit wasn't bad as headunits go, Philips and made for a simple conversion to CD player in the boot etc.

But that went too.

jaygsi

iTrader: (46)

My UK classic has amazing sound, then i found out all the speakers had been replaced lol

Trinity

iTrader: (28)

I love Jays posts.

Matteeboy

I'm starting with JL components up from plus full sound deadening. If this isn't enough I'll whack an amp and a sub under that passenger seat.

I ordered the upgraded system on the BM (amp plus subs and extra speakers); incredible VFM and sounds great.

Trinity

iTrader: (28)

Having an amp isn't really about volume unless you are a boy racer Its about sound quality and finesse, something you will never get close to with a headunit amp.

I suggest a Pioneer head unit though, excellent processing and dynamics tools, far beyond the likes of Clarion, Sony etc. JL Components are good stuff, they do a nice Coaxial range if you dont want the added fitment hassle of components.

Those little flat Vibe subs sound really good for what they are, and will fit under the chair, or on one of the walls of the boot.

Matteeboy

The rear speakers are Co-axials so I might match these to the front components. Not worried about blasting music; just decent sound.

I'll do it on steps until I'm happy with the result.

My dads just installed a seriously good Alpine system in his van; he's made the speakers units in the back, good head unit, good sub and amp; it sounds awesome!

DanGlennon

The speakers in my 04 Impreza are awful. Not too bothered about amazing music sound but bad, flat music sound is something I can't stand! They'll be getting replaced soon no doubt.

edsel

iTrader: (2)

The music in my car comes from under the bonnet, cos its an RA It also came with paper cone and light weight magnet speaker option

Matteeboy

After much faffing and deciphering Subarus bizarre wiring (the OEM tweeter have four wires going into them from a separate, mystery source...!) plus some drilling and plenty of sound deadening, we got there.

The sound is MUCH better now.

Trinity

iTrader: (28)

Probably a crossover

modrich

iTrader: (2)

very happy with my Pioneer/Hertz/Infinity combo here:

https://www.scoobynet.com/1004847-fo...l#post11572556

modrich

iTrader: (2)

Think you'll find the OEM tweeters have a capacitor on them to filter out the low frequencies no crossover and the 4 wires is the inputs to the tweeters and a loopback feed for the woofers

Matteeboy

Thanks for the info; they are now unused; woofers connected direct to tweeters via a supplied wiring harness containing a crossover/protector thingy.

Tried wiring the same as we found them; didn't work. I actually had to read the instructions...!

The difference is vast. Think I'll do the rear speakers soon as they're now heavily biased to the fronts. Nice to hear some bass!

Trinity

iTrader: (28)

as i said, crossovers, same thing

Trinity

iTrader: (28)

Sounds like you have the bug...wait till you fit a good quality amp and sub, you will sit in your car to listen to your tunes instead of your living room

Matteeboy

The BM has them already (factory fitted option) great sound.

I've had a few cars done and a little money goes a long way. Not done them myself (with help from dad...) though!

Trinity

iTrader: (28)

Too true..I have the BOSE system in my Audi...its junk compared to what I can create for a few hundred quid!

If you design a good system, good components, good cables, you will beat that BMW sound easily as well.

Matteeboy

Yep; even upgraded OEM stuff isn't always great.

Dad's system in his van (T4 camper) is epic; all done himself, hand built speaker cabinets, fully sound deadened, etc, good sub, amp, head unit, cables. All Alpine kit.

Mates of ours have just bought an XC90 (top of the range T6); 2003, low miles, under £5k. The hifi in that is awesome!

Trinity

iTrader: (28)

Sounds crackin.

Im not too keen on Alpine stuff, hate their head units...but each to their own, done properly like it sounds it has been, Im am sure the sound is immense!

Just dont start getting into processors and delays....it gets SILLY

Matteeboy

A bit beyond me TBH.
Impressed with JL's kit though - seems well made. Hertz and Morel seem to be the next step up but that's taking it too far for me. It's only a £5.6k beater!

south_scoob

Its not just subaru as a general rule oem speakers are always crap! Rip them out asap!

Trinity

iTrader: (28)

JL is pretty decent stuff...do like Hertz but its how far you go with cost...I spent £2k on a system in an old Golf, it was amazing, and dropped to that all important 33hz...I learned a lot from that project so wouldnt change it, but probably wouldnt do it again!

Still have to have a good setup with amp though, bare minimum for me to drive the car

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

I used to work at a car accessory place, was my first good job and led me into the field I spent most of my working life doing. It was 27yrs ago mind.

We fitted some pretty big systems that cost £3/5k full install, well the workshop lads did, I was mobile fitting alarms, central locking, electric windows to the trade and general public.

We had a spectrum analyser for setting the systems up and the best sound hands down always came from Alpine, but it was pricy. Back then if you wanted a good sound for not much money Kenwood was the best VFM/ sound and very reliable, I still have a head unit and 6 disc auto-changer in my Isuzu that's 25yrs old and still works the Kenwood 10' sub in the boot of my Blob is almost 20yrs old and still shakes the car along with the Alpine amp that drives it from the same era and the head unit is also an old Alpine unit that was in my Type R when I bought it almost 10yrs ago, door speakers are MB Quartz Reference components that are in the region of 11yrs old too as I bought them to go in my first Blob in 04, as you can see I'm a propper tight wad and never throw anything away.

I always keep the OE stuff and put it back in the car when I sell up, never leave my sounds in a car as you never get the money back and then you don't have to buy new stuff everytime you change cars.

TECHNOPUG

iTrader: (1)

Original v Proper speakers

modrich

iTrader: (2)

If they're fronts they look a little deep to clear the glass when it's wound down even with spacers, have you tried them?

TECHNOPUG

iTrader: (1)

In fairness, the stock speakers can still sound quite reasonable, providing you send them a high qaulity, clean signal. You need a decent HU for that. The best speakers in the world will still sound poor if you send them a distorted signal from a rubbish HU.

TECHNOPUG

iTrader: (1)

You spotted that then?

I bought the speakers before I inspected the doors....turned out I bought the deepest 6.5s to fit in the shallowest of doors...

I did get them to fit though, in the end. Any decent install will require mdf baffles. Tried with the Corsa-B plastic rings that some people suggest - they are junk. Waste of time. I made some rings out of 18mm mdf (I think) and spaced them out with some Silent Coat and foam rubber. Just managed to clear the windows - literally MM to spare. Originally wanted to recess the speakers flush with the rings but they were hitting the windows.

However, the rubbish Bugeye doorcards wouldn't then fit. So I swapped them all over for later Blob/Hawkeye ones. All good now and worth the hassle in the end. One stupid thing that I did do was use the original speaker template for fitting the baffles. So attached them via the 3 standard screwholes. In hindsight, this is a daft idea. What I should have done was just drill 4 holes through the baffles/doors and bolted them to the doors. May revisit this later in the year.

Should've taken lots of photos really. More than happy to share my experiences with anyone looking to build a reasonable install in a Newage. I have 6.5s in the front doors, tweeters (on a A-Pillar but yet to build them in properly yet) 3 amps (running active now but originally 2 amps with passive crosssover) and a 12" sub.

Lots of trial and error as I wanted everything routed properly and hidden from sight as much as possible and the interior to remain OEM. Might be able to save some people some time and expense trying to figure it out for themselves.

I did suffer from a considerable amount of mission-creep ....I am now a dab hand at removing interiors though....

modrich

iTrader: (2)

You did well to get them fitted then Techno as the 6.5 Hertz were touch and go even with the plywood spacers, any deeper and the door card wouldn't have clipped back in place. I have found the limiting factor on volume in the fronts is the door cards starts to vibrate, but wouldn't have it at that volume for long anyway so not an issue.