T1000

Hi I have a '99 classic Impreza with the standard phillips cd autochanger and tape player head unit.

Am I alone in thinking it sounds rubbish? I have adjusted all the settings, mucking about with bass, treble and loud settings and it still sounds awful. The problem is, on anything above level 14 on the volume control it sounds tinny and too bassy at the same time.

Are the stock speakers reasonable? If so, will think about changing the current head unit, removing the autochanger and replacing for something more modern

Pete N

Wow can't believe your car still has std stereo obviously you/previous owner(s) never listened to it!!

You are quite correct - they are dreadful!

When I had my MY00 I replaced the std stereo and speakers within the first week

escott

iTrader: (1)

Headunit is poor, speakers are terrible! have a look in this section for suggestions.

T1000

I know, the system really is bad. I'm not really surprised though - It is made by Phillips! Is gonna be a right pain in the ar$e to change the speakers though bacause I'll have to take the door cards off etc. Might take it to Edworthys or something simlar.

I reckon the previous owners (it's only had 2), were only interested in hearing the sound of the engine

c_maguire

Taking the doorcards off is not that big a deal, just need to be careful removing the small abs triangle near the wing mirror as the lugs can break off.
The standard speakers are rubbish paper cone efforts about the thickness of a beermat so changing the header is a complete waste of time unless you replace them as well. And don't just do the fronts, do them all. You can get some 6" Infinities in the front with some minor mods to existing doorpanels.
Look on the bright side, at least the header isn't one of those car specific biggies you can't replace easily that you often get in new cars now.
Kevin

T1000

cheers, had a look in Halfords earlier for a new headunit and speakers. Do you know what size the rear speakers are as standard? Am thinking of getting some 17cm (6 1/2 ") round speakers to replace them soon too.

escott

iTrader: (1)

You are better off just leaving the rears and spending money on the fronts, or better still an amp for them.

When I get some more time I'll post all the changes I made and how much improvement I got at each stage.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Don't forget to Dynamat the front doors too.
Search on here for a guide to removal of doorcards, I did one a couple of days ago

My front speakers are Sony 3-way 16.5cm, bought after a blind test because I liked the sound.

Alcazar

escott

iTrader: (1)

^^Exactly^^

Ok, here we go:

Started off by changing the standard headunit (in a 2002 WRX) for a Sony MEX BT2500 taken out of my old car. Although the Sony had bluetooth, the unit itself isn't great but was still an improvement on the standard one, and actually sounded reasonably balanced with the original speakers still in.

Then, changed the fronts to Infinity 6020cs (6.5 inch components) because of recommendations on here. Wired them using the -3db setting on the crossover as they are generally regarded as a little harsh. They were far clearer than the standard ones, but I found that I was not getting much bass from them.

Added sound deadening in the front doors which made them sound much better, also stopped a lot of the rattle/vibrations. However, still had a problem with lack of bass - if I used the loud setting on the headunit the bass was better, but this ruined the sound especially of the radio, so...

Headunit change. Went for an Alpine 9887r, partly because it is rated at 4x60w rather than the usual 4x50w, although of course these are peak outputs and not RMS. Big difference to the performance of the front speakers, although again I would have liked a bit more bass.

I then decided to change the rears and bought some Infinity 4 inch coax, which I assumed would fit, but because space behind the doorcard is tight they didn't, so ended up with some Sony ones instead. They didn't make any difference at all, and to be honest I run only the fronts 90% of the time, even when the kids are in the back. They just muddy things a bit (the speakers, not the kids - hang on the kids do too!)

I should point out that when I'm talking about bass, I don't mean great big overblown scare the neighbours type stuff, just being able to hear lower notes properly. From a lot of research on Talk Audio - Mobile Electronics Online Magazine, which I would recommend anyone looking to improve their system spend some time on, I decided to add a subwoofer.

As I have 2 kids and my car is primarily a family wagon, I didn't want to use up any boot space, and to be honest anything that went in there would probably end up broken anyway. I found Alpine did a powered sub (that means it includes an amp) which would fit under the drivers seat, although strangely not under the passengers. Once this went in it really improved the overall system by filling out the bass below the level of the front components.

The system was now sounding pretty good, but I suspected that although my headunit is quite good, the front components still weren't getting the power they needed to run properly. The speakers are rated at something like 90w RMS, whilst a headunit claiming 4x60w is probably delivering less than 2w per channel RMS.

After more research on talkaudio, I decided that a Genesis Profile amp would be a good option, and in the end went for a Genesis Profile 4 to give me future upgrade options (based on my previous history a good idea!) I found one for a reasonable price on ebay and installed it under the front passenger seat. Result - HUGE improvement in the performance of the speakers, it has really opened them up.


So, the system is sounding pretty good now. Of course I have itchy feet, so have a few things in mind. The first is to tidy up the wiring generally, I would like to run speaker cables directly from the amp into the front doors, although this is a pain to do. I am also going to sound deaden the doors properly - my previous attempt helped but it was fairly basic and I expect this to make a big difference.

I may also swap the powered sub for a proper 8 inch one powered from the Genesis (so 2 channels running the front components and 2 bridged to run the sub). This has the added benefit of simplifying the cabling as well. Lastly, although the front components are sounding pretty good now, I can't help but think that the headunit and amp deserve better, and I could potentially get something a bit smoother which would suit my tastes a little better. If I knew then what I know now, I would have gone for SPL Dynamics for about £80, but I might look to get some DLS or Rainbow in the future.

Going back to the original reason for this post - changing the rear speakers was a bit of a waste for me.

And last piece of advice, as above go and have a search around Talk Audio - Mobile Electronics Online Magazine, although don't blame me if you end up spending a fortune!

T1000

Excellent, great guide too! Thanks very much, was going to change the rear speakers but I think I will concentrate my efforts on the fronts instead as mentioned. I'm looking forward to hearing music as it should be played again, instead of through the grammophone that Subaru installed in the car

escott

iTrader: (1)

No problem, good to get it off my chest!

If you are looking for some good basic improvements without going mad, then I would go for a mid range headunit from a decent company such as Alpine, Pioneer, Blaupunkt, Clarion, Kenwood etc. and something like the Sony's mentioned by Alcazar. I think the 2 way or 3 way coax are better suited to running from a headunit than components. You could also check Alpine and Infinity coax amongst others, or if you do go for components then Infinity is a good choice as they are fairly sensitive and should be OK without an amp.

T1000

Thanks, yep will definitely go for a good brand of audio equipment but I don't want to buy a huge install. Instead, I'd rather have just a good unit and capable speakers.

I've read a few posts on this ICE scetion on scoobynet and it seems that 16.5cm (6 1/2") speakers seem to fit behind the front door cards as replacement speakers. Does this require any chopping about though? Or do they fit quite snugly usually?

escott

iTrader: (1)

You don't need to cut anything, but you will need to create MDF rings for them to sit on, otherwise they tend to catch the window when it's down. Some good guides in the sticky in this section.

Shark Man

The philips head unit is useless.

Even after upgrading the (awful) front speakers with decent coaxial units, it still sounds muffled.

One swap to a Pioneer head unit soon sorted that.

Although an interesting quirk with Pioneer head units is if you don't want a subwoofer(s) in the boot, keep the original rear speakers and activate front image enhancement (FIE) which sends the bass to the rears. It works suprisingly well with upgraded fronts and factory rear speakers....which I only noted after removing £1000 worth of ICE from the car just before I sold it...doh!


BTW...made MDF rings for the fronts (from a window sill that happened to be the right thickness) using the original mounts as a template. They need to be sealed or coated with PVA to prevent moisture ingress as they will go mouldy otherwise.

T1000

Am definitely going to have to change the whole standard audio setup in my car soon, the quality is awful. It's embarrassing to say but I really miss the standard speaker setup in my last Ford Probe - and that's saying something :-)

I'm starting to piece together the model numbers and prices of the new ICE that I'll be getting. I must admit the only thing putting me off is the creating of an mdf base for each speaker to sit on. I'm pretty useless at stuff like that. I searched on the internet and ready-made ones can be bought but surprisingly only for 13cm speakers - not 16cm ones