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    Question Audio Install Advice

    hi guys, im looking to upgrade the speakers on my car,
    i have already replaced the rear door speakers, however i want to replace the dash speakers and fit front door ones in the blank space.
    i have spoke to my local ICE installer and he reccomends tweeters in the dash instead of the tiny speakers and bass/mids in the front doors leaving the full speakers in the rear doors. however he quoted £120 for these bought and installed.
    i was thinking of buying the items myself and having an autoelectrician fit them for me as i am having some other electrical work carried out.
    there are a full set of 6 speakers on ebay brand new for a 940 at the moment, i was thinking of simply using these, meaning i had 2 front speakers and new dash speakers all be it standard volvo ones.
    advice/ reccomendations help!?
    this area is not my forte

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    p fandango's Avatar
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    i'd go with the audio shops advice with tweeters in the dash & 5"s in the doors. You'll be better off buying them as a component set so they are matched together & can be wired through the passive crossover you should get in the package (splits the frequency to which speaker will produce it best, highs to the tweeters, mid/bass to the doors)

    if you don't mind me asking what make are they supplying for the £120, if its a reasonable make then it isn't a bad price, special brackets will have to be made to house the tweeters in the dash, & as you haven't got speakers in the door then wires may have to run wires to them (not sure if volvo use a standard lom or not)

    the standard Volvo speakers aren't a bad quality tbh, but i'm not sure if the 940 speakers will be the same size as the 850. & they won't be any good if you intend to to upgrade the system in the future with amplifiers

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    Dave av still got all standard speakers in ma car and a feel they sound amazing, a have got a JBL 12" tube in the boot giving me bass tho

    Mibees go that way first unless speakers are burst

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    What are your goals for the system? Best quality possible, or do you just want to replace some blown ones with some not blown ones, or what?

    The standard volvo speakers aren't much good, and are pretty easy to blow.. which is made worse by the fact that the OE headunit clips a fair bit. If you're trying to install something so that it won't blow (again), then an amp is the way forward. Passive crossovers sap power, and aftermarket speakers tend to require more power to run than OE ones, so you may only end up making things worse.

    Tell us what you want, so we can advise on the best way to go about doing it... like it or not, dealers are in business to make money, and many will seize the opportunity rather than offering the best advice.

    Cheers

    Mark

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    Red face

    Thanks a lot for all the advice guys,
    when i got the car i put a sony single slot CD system in place and replaced the standard rear speakers with some kenwood ones,
    i would be happy with a 6 speaker system and my sony cd headunit i have now as i dont want to invest too much money in this car especially not audio as i am more into styling.
    i want the parts to be easily integrated - using the existing holes in the doors and if i go for the tweeter option be able to hide them under the existing dash grilles.
    the quote for 120 involved using either alpine or kenwood components.
    my aim is really to replace blown speakers while taking the oppertunity to upgrade on a budget!!!
    Further thoughts??

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    http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/prod...d654a31d078e41

    is this what im after???am i right in saying i would need crossovers for this? - are they included??
    would my headunit need anything special to cope with these - its relativley basic

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    Quote Originally Posted by d14vd_h
    http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/prod...d654a31d078e41

    is this what im after???am i right in saying i would need crossovers for this? - are they included??
    Crossovers are included with all "component" sets, so no, you wouldn't need extra ones. However, Kenwood are really bottom of the range stuff.. if you can afford something better, I'd recommend going for something a little more expensive. I ran some myself many years ago, and even then, with little knowledge of ICE, I still wasn't happy with them.

    would my headunit need anything special to cope with these - its relativley basic
    It's always a good idea to run an external amp if possible. Headunits never make the claimed 40/50/60W.. you're looking at more like 15-20W in most cases.

    I'd recommend taking a look at the following:

    http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/prod...d654a31d078e41
    http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/prod...d654a31d078e41
    http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/prod...d654a31d078e41
    http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/prod...d654a31d078e41
    http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/prod...d654a31d078e41

    Or 2nd hand:

    http://www.talkaudio.co.uk/classifie...1&cat=5&page=2
    http://www.talkaudio.co.uk/classifie...1&cat=5&page=3
    http://www.talkaudio.co.uk/classifie...1&cat=5&page=6

    Without a doubt, the Rockfords in the last link are way out of the league of any of the others. All depends how much you really want to spend, whether you're willing to fit an amp, and whether you'll buy 2nd hand.

    HTH

    Mark

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    Mulletboy, how can you recommend Maystar over Kenwood? i've had a complete install using both makes & there was no competition between them

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pedro Fandango
    Mulletboy, how can you recommend Maystar over Kenwood? i've had a complete install using both makes & there was no competition between them
    Were the systems of the same retail value, at roughly the same point in time? Maystar have come on in leaps and bounds over the last couple of years, and other than the subjective feeling of "Kenwood's more popular, therefore it's gotta be better", there is nothing that would indicate kenwood as any better, pound for pound, to me.

    Bear in mind that install and setup will make far more of a difference than equipment choice too.. was your sound deadening as good on the Maystar setup? Was your aiming as good? did you choose the right kit for the right applications? Many, many factors, but you won't convince me that kenwood's better

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    Have to say av got a Maystar think its a MX400 amp running my JBL 12" tube, I bought the amp 9 years ago, a sold it after around 3 or 4 years, it changed hands again (2 brothers) and a was given it back a few years back, its powered up every day and its fair hammered at times, touch wood (hairy woods the best) its never given me any hastle at all

    A was told a few years ago it was sh*t and it should be replaced but its still going strong so mibees av just been lucky or there seriously under-rated

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    I was heavily into ICE about 10 years ago, So the market wasn't no where as good as it is now, But the only Kenwood items i would touch then was the amps, I went for the Alpine set ups for the bass and MD Quart for the Mids and tweets.
    V40 2.0T Sport Lux Titanium grey,(03) 133k,standard
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    keep it comin guys....
    to be honest tho im talkin max £70 for the components otherwise i'd be aswell payin 120 for the pros to do it all hassle free for me!

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    Av got a set of nearly new Alpine 6" components with tweeters lyin in the garage if yer interested, White cone ones. A wasnt gonny get rid but a cant see me up grading the speakers as ad go nuts and need to amplify everything then where do ye stop? just ask Duane hahaha

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    Quote Originally Posted by fraz13
    Dave av still got all standard speakers in ma car and a feel they sound amazing, a have got a JBL 12" tube in the boot giving me bass tho

    Mibees go that way first unless speakers are burst

    do you still have the standard head unit or have you changed it?
    Vorspung Durch Technik

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    Quote Originally Posted by T5Mark
    do you still have the standard head unit or have you changed it?
    No no mate, Alpine Screen/Radio with 6 disc

    Head unit does make a big difference but a only had ma standard CD for around an hour so dunno what it sounded like


  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by mulletboy2
    Were the systems of the same retail value, at roughly the same point in time? Maystar have come on in leaps and bounds over the last couple of years, and other than the subjective feeling of "Kenwood's more popular, therefore it's gotta be better", there is nothing that would indicate kenwood as any better, pound for pound, to me.

    Bear in mind that install and setup will make far more of a difference than equipment choice too.. was your sound deadening as good on the Maystar setup? Was your aiming as good? did you choose the right kit for the right applications? Many, many factors, but you won't convince me that kenwood's better
    not sure how close the retail values are but all the kit i had was top from both manufactures range, the Kenwood install replaced the Maystar a year after (Kenwood install got replaced about 2 years ago, so Maystar stuff must have be 3 years back). I've never used any sound deadened in BT so all the acoustics were the same & have always used the same position for the speakers/tweeters.

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by fraz13
    A wasnt gonny get rid but a cant see me up grading the speakers as ad go nuts and need to amplify everything then where do ye stop? just ask Duane hahaha
    what you trying to say Fraz

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pedro Fandango
    not sure how close the retail values are but all the kit i had was top from both manufactures range, the Kenwood install replaced the Maystar a year after (Kenwood install got replaced about 2 years ago, so Maystar stuff must have be 3 years back). I've never used any sound deadened in BT so all the acoustics were the same & have always used the same position for the speakers/tweeters.
    Then it could be something as trivial as the kenwood tweeters or mids having a better off-axis response (which isn't always a good thing)/poor gain structures/different headunit/etc.. and I expect that kenwood probably go to a higher retail value level than Maystar

    I've heard and been suitably impressed by a lot of Maystar stuff... have yet to hear a single kenwood ICE component that I like. They do actually make some decent high end stuff - but it's all for the Asian market.

    Anyway, at the end of the day, the best advice is always "have a listen to installs running the kit you're looking at, and decide which stuff you like best for yourself". I'm not going to say that Maystar is always better than Kenwood, because it probably isn't

    [edit] Just to hijack the thread for a second Pedro ... how did your boot lid hinges like the extra weight of the amp/components/crossovers? Did you experience any problems other than the obvious extra weight when trying to open/close it?

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by mulletboy2
    I've heard and been suitably impressed by a lot of Maystar stuff... have yet to hear a single kenwood ICE component that I like. They do actually make some decent high end stuff - but it's all for the Asian market.
    i agree, i had a demo in the Maystar sound-off car (Honda Prelude back then) which is why i had decided to go for them myself. Unfortunatley i hadn't got the £'s they had used to install them to get a sound i was happy with

    [edit] Just to hijack the thread for a second Pedro ... how did your boot lid hinges like the extra weight of the amp/components/crossovers? Did you experience any problems other than the obvious extra weight when trying to open/close it?
    the hinges are fine with the extra weight, obversly it is heavier to open with the stuff mounted there but even my mum still manages to open it (i have to close it because she slams it down to much, used to shutting a SAAB boot). Aslong as you cut the shape of the mounting board to fit within the rubber rain seals (which take trial & error) then it shuts fine

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    Sweet, cheers mate You still have that stuff in there then? I didn't realise you'd done it until last weekend when Wobbly told me (or if I did, I'd forgotten).. I'm thinking of possibly putting 4 amps there... maybe on a linear actuator to get the lift it'll need. Not sure exactly how much the amps weigh yet, but I'm concerned, to put it mildly, about the structural integrity.

    It'll all be fibreglassed, and shouldn't be too much trouble to get it looking nice, within the confines of the seals


 

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