The Hoff

iTrader: (5)

I'm looking to upgrade the speakers in my 99 Forester from the £30 Alpine coaxials that are currently in there.

The head unit is an Alpine CDE9871R single DIN unit which will be changed for a modern Kenwood unit in due time. I'm not planning on connecting the fronts to an amplifier but will be adding a custom sub box and amp.

I'll be making some spacers for them to fit in the front doors and also applying some sound deadening at the same time. The tweeters I'll mount in the corner triangles in another small custom mount.

The four below are all around the £100 mark, anybody had experience with any of them?

Focal access 165AS
Vibe BlackAir 6C Black Edition
Infinity Reference 6500cx
Pioneer TS-E171Ci

TECHNOPUG

iTrader: (1)

The Focal are quite bright sounding. Not bad per se, just down to personal preference.

Whichever you pick, really consider powering them with a separate amp. A tiny HU amp won't do any of them justice. If a small 50w*2 dedicated amp will be a big improvement. The more power the better though. Just make sure it's a decent brand. Lots of second-hand bargains to be had.

I'd also consider mounting the tweeters on the a-pillar rather than the sail-panels.

The Hoff

iTrader: (5)

Where on the A pillars would you recommend? As the 'snail panels' are at the bottom of the A pillar....

Went for a set of Hertz DSK 165.3's in the end after inputs from a couple of mates. Will update how I get on with them

TECHNOPUG

iTrader: (1)

The Hertz are very good speakers but again, will need some proper power feeding them to get the best performance.

With regards to the tweeters, I would suggest that the sail panels will be too low and close to you. However, you need to experiment with sticking them at different heights along the a-pillar and see where sounds best. I'd suggest at least 5" up from the dash as a starting point.