Buzzy Altea Speakers and ICE upgrade

[ALTEA DUDE]

Must be a typo at Halfords Tell, as its the same model number also listed on their website. Sounds like they mean 652.5i which is obviously the last model now, unless its another Inifinity speaker thats for the UK?

Thanks for the link to ebay loadswine, must get something ordered soon or fat lot of use the speaker adapters will be when they finally get here....

 

[Tell]

It could be that when the Halford ones arrive they turn out to be the new model or just old stock. I sense you don't use internet for ordering bits, does mean you need someone at home. Think Loadswine got a good price on his. It is very straight forward to fit them yourself.

 

[ALTEA DUDE]

Got all my speaker adapters today and the local car audio place convinced me that Rainbow speakers are the dogs danglies so got 2 pairs of them too.

The "flange" bit looks a total nightmare to get off the speaker adapters! By the time I do that SEAT will have launched the all new Altea replacement

 

[loadswine]

I've heard Rainbows are pretty good.
Honestly, the flanges aren't too bad to remove.If you were near my neck of the woods ,I'd give you a hand.

 

[ALTEA DUDE]

Thanks loadswine. If Edinburgh wasnt so far from Surry I would take you up on that!

Just noticed in one of your previous posts that you had mentioned Rainbows, so seems like my car place wasnt leading me on.

Just plugged one of them into the the rears to hear what they sound like, not very scientific, but what a difference even when its lying on the back seat!

The speakers definately dont look as fancy as yours and no directional tweeters either, but hidden behind the grills I guess the sound is what matters.

Cant wait to get those irritating flanges off and get them put in, better go find that jigsaw....

 

[Tell]

"The speakers definately dont look as fancy as yours and no directional tweeters either, but hidden behind the grills I guess the sound is what matters."

Cough. The directional tweater is to get your sweet spot .

 

[loadswine]

Cough. The directional tweater is to get your sweet spot .

Aaaaah , sweet spot!
I'm sure the Rainbows will be fine and give you a much better sound than before.
You did well, I didn't think there were that many dealers who sold Rainbows.
Just out of interest, and for other folks who like a choice, which model did you go for?

 

[ALTEA DUDE]

Got the Rainbow SL 165's. Didnt realise Rainbows were difficult speakers to get. Asked the dealer about Infinities and was told that in their opinion, Rainbows are better (they sell Infinity too) and after a few demos they had convinced me.

Cut all the flanges off tonight so everythings ready to go in tomorrow in the day light!

 

[Tell]

But no adjustment for your sweet spot thou . The Infinity ones have a patented method of getting more bass out of the speaker for the speaker size since they fold the diaphragm.... but I'm sure your gay rainbow ones will be fine ...

Basically, I had Infinity ones in my old Citroen which I put in myself, which I was very pleased with, so when I did the Altea I kept to Infinity but bought the super duper ones and they were also an inch bigger across, which means more bass.

It's so weird that Seat put crap speakers in the car when the headend can handle speaker which are much better. Why put cheap paper speakers in the car which sound dreadful...

 

[loadswine]

Glad you're almost ready to go Altea Dude, daylight is very useful. Ran out of light whilst doing mine and ended up doing the rears in the dark. I tended to concentrate very hard on the first speaker and the others were kind of production line stuff, getting quicker as I went along.
Tell, I agree, how much would it have cost Seat to install decent speakers in the first place. Cost to them would be negligible.
Can you imagine how much they'd charge for an upgrade package on the speakers like we've done/doing?
What small people they must be!

 

[Tell]

I did mine over two Saturday's, the first Saturday was working out how to do it... which I documented and put the two fronts in, then I did the back two weeks latter on the parents drive. It doesn't take too long once your into the swing of things and I did get my eldest brother to hack off the plastic.

Make sure you don't swap the polarity of the leads Altea Dude, I'm sure you won't.

A tip so that you don't scratch the door when you are putting a screw driver under the speaker cover to pull it off, is to use a piece of card [Xmas card say] to back the screwdriver onto, that way you don't nick the plastic when you twist, which I did, the first time I pulled one of the covers off.

 

[ALTEA DUDE]

Yes, agree that it would be easier if they just stuck better speakers in the car in the first place, but its the only sign of cost cutting I've noticed on the car (apart from the soaked engine bay!) so I'm happy to change the speakers myself. Not really SEAT's fault the speakers are crap, they are VW ones! Even more inexcusable that they are so crap given the amount of VAG cars the speakers are used in; would cost them virtually nothing to use better ones.

Only managed to get 1 speaker in this morning. Cant tell a lot of difference so far, 3 versus 1 not very fair! Bit annoying that you cant attach all the speakers to the adapters in the house and then attach the adapter to the car last as once the speakers are attached, it blocks the holes needed to attach to the car.

I hope I have got the polarity right. You can only attach the cable one way at the plug end and at the wire end, there a big one and a little one which fit perfectly onto the big and little plugs on the back of the Rainbows. Its almost seems too easy!

Regarding the speaker covers, I just pull them off with my fingers. Its amazing how easy it is to get them off, almost like they know us owners will be changing the speakers....!!

 

[Tell]

Only managed to get 1 speaker in this morning. Cant tell a lot of difference so far, 3 versus 1 not very fair! Bit annoying that you cant attach all the speakers to the adapters in the house and then attach the adapter to the car last as once the speakers are attached, it blocks the holes needed to attach to the car.

On pulling off the speakers I was probably protecting my finger nails... on the one above, I did, mind you that's why it took me about two hours working out where everything was going first of all. I soldered the leads on in the house with my brother starring and saying I wouldn't solder and I said I prefer soldering.

So you then got the speaker with a big long lead on it. I pulled out the rubber grommet that holds the wire into the body of the car and threaded the wire back into the car and pushed the grommet back again. Follow ?. It's about nine months since I did that. I suspect that could be your issue that the cable comes forward from the speakers, into the body of the car behind the grommet and the plug is this side I think, hmmm.

So I reckon you need to get the cable behind the grommet then you are OK. Do disconnect the tweeters as well, they are crap.

I hope you get as good a sound with your Rainbow speakers as Infinity . The headend is very good, it’s daft what the VW group do.

Yeah... I think this is it, the cable from the speakers comes back from the back behind the grommet then plugs into the speakers this side and the plug and socket is tucked away... I plead it's been too long...

 

[ALTEA DUDE]

Finally got it done, all I can say is....


Need to do one of my 12 hours trips to get them broken in now but what a good start. Bit more fiddly trying to get them in than I had thought, 2 degree temperature didnt help much either.

All my CD's sound so different through a decent set of speakers

Loadswine and Tell. Thankyou so much for all your help and assistance, couldnt have done it without you.

Just hope SEAT can sort out this soaked engine bay problem on Monday and I'm sorted.

 

[Tell]

Glad your pleased Altea Dude, I'm sure mine are still burning in even after a year by playing music loud, Trilok Gurtu remix sounded rather good come back down the M1 fast . It's the only arrangement where I can the difference between CDs and MDs which is saying something about the headend and the speakers, I got an MD changer in the left recess in the boot, kits nicely in there... better compression on MDs than IPods, my excuse.

We also have to thank Paul [ALT54] who gave me advice on speaker size and disconnecting the tweaters last year. It was a wee bit cold too do it, today.

 

[loadswine]

Glad you've got the good sounds going on Dude.
Enjoy!!
Tell, I'm intrigued by this music you mention, will have to research and sample some sounds.

 

[Tell]

The album was this Loadswine, may not be your cup of tea and at this sampling rate on these samples it sounds terrible

Trilok Gurtu

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00008BRCV/203-1859086-3583165

the Kraftwerks one is

http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000BUNW9K/303-3456389-4596236

& Salif Keita Remixes from Moffou

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/world/reviews/remixes_moffou.shtml

So if you see an Altea flashing past fast it's probably me playing the above getting into the music

 

[Griffsters]

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this I changed my fronts over to infinitys yesterday. Sounds loads better

How much further difference willl changing the rears brings - I'm not really an audiophile if only minor difference then I wont bother. Also if the rears need changing too - do they need to be the same speaker or can I choose something a little more budget conscious

Cheers
Lee

 

[Tell]

It improves the bass ... good news and you still have the rear tweeters in your ear.

I'd do it.

 

[Griffsters]

Hmmm yes, I've noticed vibration from one of the rears on more 'bassy' tracks..

I'll add this to the list, makes sense to get it all done I'm just penny pinching.. Could do with robbing a bank really