urabusMY94

iTrader: (4)

Looking to upgrade my front speakers to some new 17cm ones.
Running a Sony CDX-650 head unit so don’t want to go OTT
Anybody have any recommendations?
Have been recommended the following so far:
Kenwood KFC-1739ie’s
or
Pioneer TSE177S’s
Anybody have any experience of the above, or can you suggest better alternatives for the same type of budget (£100 max ideally)?
Also, when is it worthwhile upgrading the speaker cable – is it worth it for 120 –150W speakers?
Cheers,
W

chiark

Hi,

My personal opinion is that you could do better for the money. For 120-odd quid, the Focal access range is excellent, but slightly above what you want to spend...

I did have a set of 5" kenwood components and they weren't bad. The Pioneer coaxials I had were also good for the money too.

Doesn't help much this post, does it? Try to hear what you're thinking of buying, then try the focals too.

urabusMY94

iTrader: (4)

Thanks for this Chiark – yes and no!

If they were for the Scoob, then the Focal’s would be on the list. However, this is in my other car (the run-around) which I’m using as a bit of a test bed to see what I can do DIY (properly!) on the ICE front before messing about with the Scoob! The Scoob already has upgraded speakers by the previous owner - better than the OEM but they don’t do the new Kenwood head unit I have since fitted justice and will have to be upgraded in the near future!

Hence, the lower budget (and moderate head unit) referred to in this post.

If, however the Focal’s are THAT good, then maybe I should consider including them in my list for review and if I like them, then I could always transfer them to the Scoob later…. HELP!

What do you think about the speaker cable issue? As OEM is chicken wire, any upgrade seems worthwhile (as you say in your FAQ), but at what stage does the existing cable become rate limiting? Wattage or upgrade cost? LOL!

All the other noise in the car blur the issue for me (and others?) concerning any improvement in the depth and quality provided by better cable....

Again, the idea is that if it is worthwhile to upgrade the cable, then to practice on the Nissan before I attempt it on the Scoob (even with the detailed pictures provided on your FAQ site!).

Cheers

William

(Did I mention your excellent FAQ site by the way?)

chiark

Hi William,

I see where you're coming from. Best advice would be suck it and see with those speakers then. The pioneers have a tendency to be a bit brighter than the kenwoods in my very VERY limited experience, so go for what suits you?

Regarding upgrading cable, I would recommend it if you're adding an amp, but if you're using the built-in amp of the head unit then I would personally be tempted to leave as-is. But that's possibly because I'd definitely be adding an amp at a later stage

If you've got the time to spare, running the cable will not hurt the sound whatsoever and should give you something, though whether it's noticable on the built-in amp is something I really don't know.

Cheers,
Nick.

urabusMY94

iTrader: (4)

Thanks Chiark for the advice - been listening to a few different setups and have to agree that Focals (165A's) are excellent. My problem is that they are component and therefore have separate tweeters, and I don't fancy drilling holes in the door cards to fit them.

Of the single unit speakers, the 2 mentioned in the original post have moved down the wish list league table somewhat. Might explain why no one had a good word to say about them!

Liked the sound of Infinity 652i’s, which have a built in positional tweeter in the center that would solve the above problem. Kenwood KFC 1777's are also pretty good but less bassy than Infinities.

So being new to this lark, I cannot get my head around the Infinity numbering system (and the Infinity web site is useless). Looking on online store sites, I can get:

Infinity 652ie
Infinity 655ie
Infinity 652.5i

Suspect different numbers are due to model year but no logic to the numbering system....

Anyone have any experience of any of the above or able to explain the difference?

Also, which of the 3 should I go for?

Cheers

W

chiark

You don't have to drill holes to fit the tweeters. I mounted the tweeters on the triangle behind the wing mirrors with a single screw. When I sold the car, I left a flat head black screw in there, and it looks like it should be there.

The other option is to use the tweeter mounting already present on MY98+?