The Maive

Is it me or are the standard speakers in a scooby proper crap. Ive changed head units in other cars before and although appreciated standard speakers were never the best my MY00 must be the worst ever.

Im not too clued up with ICE, Ive just recently bought a cd head unit and was made up when I successfully fitted it myself although give it time it will probably stop!! Anyway as soon as you even merely crank up the volume it just cant handle the bass.

A friend ( Non Scooby driver ) said the speakers should be ok in what was a 20 grand car and that I should buy and amp and a basstube. Not knowing about ICE im obviously confused and am pretty skint really after buying the cd player.

Can anyone advise on what I must do to get better sound than standard, Im not well in to my music that much so dont want to really go to a load of trouble and expense. Will I get away with just changing the speakers, if so what are currently the best for a limited budget, the cd player says 4x50W on it if that helps.

Can you tell Im a not too clued up on this, someones advice would be very very much appreciated,

Cheers

Chris

chiark

See the faq for starters. The speakers, despite it being a 20 grand car, are absolute pants. Change 'em, and the head unit. And after you've taken 'em out, show your mate. He'll be shocked.

The Maive

Cheers Nick, I'll check out your FAQ and make hasty plans to wip the speakers out,

Chris

Dave_A

lol, I think I'd whipped out the original speakers in about three hours of owning my car, they really were that bad. Sound is now a lot better, but I'm considering changing the fronts again now that I've listned to a few motorsa at the motorshow.

I would heartily recommend that any ither speakers than the standard ones will sound better though.

Good luck
Dave

scoobyfella

Hi Chris,

I have just had a new head unit and changer fitted, and also set of focal components in the front and replacement focals in the rear and what a cracking sound no need for an amp or bass tube with this set up, unless of course you are dead serious about ICE.

Also had sound deadening put inthe front doors.

James

The Maive

Scoobyfella,

What speakers did you go for and how much did they cost. I think just changing the speakers are really as far as I need to go, as you say if I was dead serious then I would perhaps want to go keep going, not only that I only use the car at weekends aswell,

Cheers

Chris

scoobyfella

Hi Chris,

I installed polyglass 165v coponent set in the front and access 165ca in the rear i paid £350 all in and installation also including sound deadening in the front doors, very happy with the sound.:

James

lpski1

scoobyfella, what make are these are they made by polyglass ??? had a brief search on the web for the models but alas no joy.

Need to get my order in for Santa early this year.

scoobyfella

Hi ipski,

They are made by French firm Focal, the component set is a new range not long been out. They don't give the prices on the wab site though you will have to find a local dealer.

James

lpski1

cheers scobbyfella

Paul STi 5

Go for the Focals! they are the t1ts,i'm a bit if an ice fan and Focals are very good. Sextons sell them and even some Halfords have some basic models in now.
Go shopping,you'll be well chuffed and shouldnt need an amp or sub as lond as you have a good head unit.

The Maive

What size speakers are suitable for fronts?

Paul STi 5

5 and 1/4 inch up front (watch the depth). I had 6 and 1/2 in the doors of my type r and they were a bith to fit behind the standard door card. I was told it was impossable so i had to prove people wrong. As for the back i think they are 6 inch. Check because belive it of not a lot of subaru's have slight differences in speaker shelf size.

The Maive

Just had a quick look on Component speakers on Cel-Direct and there were some Pioneer ones for example. £69.99 a pair and this was the description.

General

5" Pearl Mica Woofer, Swivel Dome Tweeter, 170 Watts Max, 50 Watts RMS, 91dB, 40Hz-32kHz

Can anyone explain what all the bits mean and if this is good and if it isnt what should I be looking for.

Cheers

Chris

Paul STi 5

Ok,
5" = 5 inch,the size of the hole need to fit the speaker. Pearl Mica Woofer is just a flash way of describing it has a silver plastic cone(the cone(woofer) is the big bit you can see), Swivel Dome Tweeter is a small round tweeter that sits in the middle of the cone and you can angle it.
170 watts = peak music power, RMS is the true power. For example you can get an amp for £50 that will say it gives out 150 watts, as were it really puts out about 40 or 50 watt RMS. Divide Peak/max Watts by about 3 and that will give you the RMS. Your headunit prob gives out 50watts max and has an RMS of around 15 watts. The speakers should have a higher rating than your amp/headunit so you wont blow them up.
91db is the decibels, in short how loud they can go.
40Hz-32kHz is the fequency range, how much bass and treble they can handle.

This is only a quick run down and i hope it makes sense and helps.

chiark

You can fit 6" up front...

The Maive

Paul,

That is a big help, thanks for your time on this,]

Cheers

Chris

Paul STi 5

Thats ok,glad i can be of some help.

Yes you can fit 6's up front,but usualy suffer with a lack of depth. 6 and 1.2 will have trouble clearing the door card.

hades

Sorry to be pedantic, but 91dB will probably be sensitivity and technically be 91dB/Watt, i.e. the sound level produced by 1W RMS at 1m range. Therefore, it will tell you how loud the speaker will be at a given volume setting. "How loud they can go" is a combination of sensitivity and power handling. (e.g. 93dB 1W speakers will not go as loud as 90dB 1000W speakers by a long way)

Unfortunately dBs are a logarithmic scale, so aren't sxactly intuitive to follow.

Probably doesn't help, so I'll shut up now

SlowBoy

iTrader: (1)

The Maive

Probably been said already, but you definitely want to go for 6", not 5". Much more scope for better sound. Do some homework on the pros and cons of having rear speakers or not, don't just automatically replace what's already there for the sake of it - there are other options.

EVOLUTION

i have some 6.25 " speakers for sale, never used, full component set inc wireing, let me know if you want some details

Paul STi 5

Hades i was explaining in very basic terms. When it comes to a set of replacment speakers the db wont make a huge amount of difference.
6's will give you a bit more mid bass,but 6's can get a bit deeper than a 5. The most annoying thing ever is fitting a speaker to only find the window hits it on the way down.
5's and 6's of 2 slightly different sounds it depends on what you want.
In short buy the Focals and choose what YOU likethe sound of.

Pauleds

Focal are the way to go. utterly awesome.
Paul.

MelTypeR

iTrader: (4)

I managed to fit 6.5in rockfords in the front of mine with the help of a mk4 golf speaker pod which i cut down slightly, it fitted perfect and i have about .5in clearance to the window.


Mel.

ps would post picture but dont have a digi camera

The Maive

Slowboy,

I am on the look out now for some speakers at the front, through everyones advice which has been much appreciated I am going for 6".

I assume the other options you have on your mind are and AMP etc....

I read Chiarks FAQ on speakers etc and the rear ones do sound a bit of a ball ache so I think they will defo be staying where they are!!

Cheers

steve McCulloch

Paul sti5

Focal are, as you say very good
I have a set currently in mine, some fairly easy to fit with a spacer set of 165 Ploykevlars - the tweaters are pants but not bad.

I have rear 6*9's - but really I dont notice them

If you want far better sound quality Dyn Audio (which I previously had and have a spare set of (and am keeping)) is the way to go - but they cost about £400 for the fronts....

I also have several grand more on the system...

If I could go back in time I'd leave the rear speakers and just upgrade the fronts.. at about £80 to be run off an uprated Apline head unit.. I'd have saved myself over £5k.... and my eardrums would probably last longer!