Replacing Speakers Only - Worthwhile?

[Tallpaul]

Many moons ago i was in to car audio in a big way and my car at the time was dynamatted, and full of MDF and Carpet trim stuck down with spray glue with huge fuse boxes and all sorts of crap everywhere.

These days i prefer to spend money on my home entertainment, but every so often the speakers in my A3 let me down.

I run a dension ice link+ for my iPod through the standard HU but probably listen to the radio 70% of the time, so i only really crank up the volume for embarressing sing along moments...

I just want to replace the speakers with better quality ones, the OE ones are sort of OK but 8 years of use has had it's toll on their flimsy cones by the sound of it.

These guys sell adaptor for fitting 13cm to the front and 17cms to the rear:

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/aud...7.html?cadid=cd8b42a662c6b0be67ce15c059ff77c2

I'm pretty sure that's bigger than OE, will they fit with no other mods apart from the adaptor?

I think the rears are just 2-way but the fronts have a tweater too, is there an OE crossover or are the tweaters run straight from the HU? If so, is there a 13cm mid/1" tweet (i think the OE tweets are 1"?) component combo that'll fit, this one perhaps?

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/inf...8.html?cadid=cd8b42a662c6b0be67ce15c059ff77c2

Or won't that run straight from the HU?... I'm not fitting an amp, but don't want to fit speakers that the HU simply can't power. Also is there plenty of space behind the doorcard to tuck a crossover?

Finally, that 'sub' thingy in the rear wheel arch... Anything that can be done with that or utilises its location... I'm not fitting a boxed sub.

 

[AndyMac]

Personally I wouldn't bother with the speakers. The fronts are tricky to fit as space and depth are both very limited and the puny 2 x 20w HU amp won't do justice to anything. Unless the speakers are fried I'd leave them alone.
There is little room for a crossover, the speakers are mounted to the flimsy doorcard, OTS adapters don't tend to fit properly etc etc.
You will get a much bigger improvement by replacing the tupperware sub with a proper stealth sub. I make custom 18mm MDF enclosures that replace the tupperware box. Housing a JL Audio 6.5" sub and powered by an Alpine V12 amp hidden behind the rear peaker panel, the install is totally hiden. The transformation is major. Proper clean punchy bass without it being overwhelming, and a cleaner sound from the cabin speakers as you run the HU on -2 Bass, so they don't have to struggle with the low stuff.
PM me if you want more details.

 

[Tallpaul]

lol, cheers fella. like i said i'm way beyond ripping out trim and laying cables etc etc. Just doesn't interest me anymore, but i'm fully aware of the potential improvements of doing so.

i'm only willing to replace like for like, i'm fairly sure that at least the front mids are ******, and imagine that after 8 years/95k the cones on all the speakers are beyond tired. I only want a marginal improvement and am only willing to invest a proportional amount of time and money. i couldn't even be ***** to fit my Alpine HU to this car, i really have lost all interest in 'ICE'. I just want snow patrol to sound ok when i turn the volume up

 

[A3_Turbo]

Hello mate i had a similar problem i have Bose in mine the first thing i did was upgrade the HU that alone made a hell of alot of difference original HU is 20 w i think aftermarket are between 45-60 w so the difference is massive why not just try that first before you change anything else?


Jason

 

[Tallpaul]

because i like the OE HU, and it works just fine for radio and ipod control. If the bottom line is that i'm not gonna achieve an audible improvement in my setup by just buying £100 - £150 of speakers, i probably won't bother