Speaker Upgrade

[Lem]

Having seen some of the speaker upgrades done here, I was looking at potential upgrades for my upcoming Altea FR.

I'm quite keen to keep the tweeters in the current positions (I had an octavia with a very similar set-up) but would like something a bit nicer sounding than the standard set-up.

I was looking at http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/product_detail.jsp?product_id=2593&taxonomy_id=25-132

which includes tweeters brackets and they do a bracket (UD-M177 VW) for the bass/mids so they fit correctly.

I replaced my octavia bass/mids with some pioneer speakers and it did improve things an awful lot although the tweeters were still a bit nasty.

How easy would the tweeters be to replace? I've not looked that hard an an altea to see exactly where they are.

 

[klawit]

Hi Lem,

with a little investigation and the use of the forum's search-engine, you'll be able to find dozens of threads dealing with sound-system retro fitting etc.

Just to give a starter, try
=> http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?p=762278&highlight=speaker*#post762278

... and have fun with your FR.

Greets ... Klaus

 

[Tell]

How easy would the tweeters be to replace? I've not looked that hard an an altea to see exactly where they are.

This is where Paul [ALT54] quoted the man hours to take the door apart to get at the tweeters, I think it was two hours per door... or two hours in total. Ask your Seat dealer, then that is a cost you can factor in !, man hour cost x total hours to take apart and re-assemble the door.

The tweeters are in totally the wrong position where they are since you have got the back tweeter in your drivers ear as well as the front one, you get about zero bass / mid range from the back and what is suppose to be highly directional high frequency sound from four point sources in a matrix two sound channel system, which is crap in audio terms. If you happened to be playing surround sound that would be different, but you are not via the headend.

So disconnect those incorrectly placed tweeters and stop thinking, oh they look pretty there . Go with what is correct in audio terms.... that's my advice.

 

[ALTEA DUDE]

There is a stack of posts on here about upgrading your speakers, I just put my new ones in 48 hours ago! To be honest, various people prefer various brands, but anything is a huge improvement on whats already there.

Maybe the FR will have better speakers than the rest of the range anyway.

 

[Lem]

FR with upgraded speakers? We can only hope... The only thing both myself and the girly commented on our test drive was the naff stereo. Having had the same speakers in my Octy, I knew where the problem lied!

However, this will be a lease vehicle, so any 'mods' will have to be stealthy and reversible..

 

[ALTEA DUDE]

Its a pain cutting the speaker brackets and getting everything ready to go in (see the other threads), but once you have done it, putting the old ones in again afterwards is extremely easy and quick.

If your going to have the car for a decent length of time, I would recommend it. There's a step by step guide to the whole process listed on various parts of this site

 

[Lem]

Good good.. I'll have the car for 3 years, which is a long time with naff sound. Thanks!

 

[Tell]

Step by step guide authored by me .

It is reversable since the speaker adaptor kit comes with sockets, so you just plug the plug that goes into the existing speaker into the socket which is wired up to the new speakers. The "cut" wire to silence the in built tweeters in on the cable that comes with the adaptor, you cut it yourself, I detail which leads to cut. Then when you sell the car you can take them back out, put the old speakers back in and hey prestor the inbuilt tweeters will work again. Basically they are standard VW speakers that come with the car and standard VW speaker plugs, hence why the VW Golf iV speaker adaptor kit works fine except for the small task of hacking the lip off.

I got my brother to cut the plastic lip of the adaptor kit, it's probably how handy you are with a hacksaw.

 

[loadswine]

Tell's so right about the tweeter position, the stereo imaging seems so much better with decent coaxial speakers ,and old tweeters disabled.
Sound is clear ,punchy and 3 dimensional now.
I wrestled with the shall I shan't I dismantle the doors, but with the sound I've got now it's really a no brainer.
If it's stealth and good sounds then popping coaxials in gets the job done a treat.
Start hunting for your choice of speakers now, so they're ready when your car arrives.
I'd really like to hear different peoples installs, shame we all live in different far flung corners of the land.

 

[Lem]

Step by step guide authored by me .

It is reversable since the speaker adaptor kit comes with sockets, so you just plug the plug that goes into the existing speaker into the socket which is wired up to the new speakers. The "cut" wire to silence the in built tweeters in on the cable that comes with the adaptor, you cut it yourself, I detail which leads to cut. Then when you sell the car you can take them back out, put the old speakers back in and hey prestor the inbuilt tweeters will work again. Basically they are standard VW speakers that come with the car and standard VW speaker plugs, hence why the VW Golf iV speaker adaptor kit works fine except for the small task of hacking the lip off.

I got my brother to cut the plastic lip of the adaptor kit, it's probably how handy you are with a hacksaw.

Marvellous!.. Just what I wanted to hear. I've got one of those dremmel thingies, so cutting the lip off the adaptors shouldn't be too much hassle.

 

[Tell]

The task is to hack that lip off sawing down to where it's moulded into the plastic you can see from Loadswine image where he has done this.

.

[I now see how you get your high quality pics on here... like I do on another board I use ]

 

[Lem]

No problem.. a dremmel with a cutting disc will have that off in seconds

 

[Tell]

Good, good... oh yes and that's the socket and cable that comes free with the speaker adaptor kit so you just unplug the car's speaker lead from the crapy speakers into the socket and your away... back to work.