Worth replacing the speakers in the V6S?

[MartynB]

Interesting Nicolas

Which Focal sub did you use? I've fitted a Focal iBus 20 to my wife's CRV. Good unit.

Also, where did you install it? Under dash or behind seats? I'm currently considering options, also with a view to remove for trackdays.

[GFWilliams]

I just ordered the Pioneer TS-WX120A Subwoofer.  I'll be fitting it in the passenger footwell and will see how it sounds with just that to begin with. If I feel I need to I'll then swap out the factory speakers for better quality units

[internets]

I have just fitted a new DAB/Bluetooth Alpine head unit and run cables to fit the Pioneer sub at some point. Thinking about building some speaker enclosures, was reading this thread where @PhilS did this and he was impressed at the sound improvements. 

I used an DAB aerial splitter to utilise the current Exige aerial to save adding another aerial and so far seems to work very well.

[MartynB]

I've also now gone for the Pioneer 120 sub. I got it pretty much installed yesterday, even shortening the massive leads, by crimping new pins on at the sub end.

What I did get stumped by was finding a ground point inside the passenger side dash. Now I could run the ground wire out to the jump terminal, but was hoping to get away with only punching one wire through the rubber seal.

Any ideas?

[MartynB]

Heck with it. I ran the earth through the seal to the jump terminal in the end. Now we have decent sound. Hurrah!

[BatMobile]

I am keen to upgrade the system in mine, it comes with the new clarion with USB connector, bluetooth etc which seems to actually have good reviews. is the general view, add enclosures to the speakers and maybe upgrade to a decent make and add a small sub behind the seat? Does this suffice to make it half decent when you want a bit of music to accompany the drive? Any recommendations on companies you guys trust in the surrey area? I am very particular and know it is above my skill grade to do this to the level i want.

Spoke to shocks away and Toby seemed to know his stuff, said Andy at back on track use him a lot - anyone had experience of either firm?

Edited April 5, 2017 by BatMobile

[MartynB]

Don't know if yours did, but my Sport 350 came with no rear speakers and the 10cm coax fronts. I swapped the Clarion for a Pioneer HU with Spotify integration in the Bluetooth support, since that's my main music channel. That also gave me a mic and I fitted a DAB antenna splitter too. The Pioneer 120 sub or similar fills in the bottom end enough to work with the car's refinement level. It's not audiophile and it's not sound off material, but for journeys where you would end up using the cruise control I feel it gives me enough audio quality and loudness to give me what I felt was missing.

I didn't bother adding any enclosures to the coaxes, since the sub is happy to fill in. I haven't done a sweep yet to see what the frequency response looks like, but it sounds pretty fair to me, in context of a fairly noisy car.

I've installed the sub in the pax footwell for now, velcroed to the carpet, where the older cars had a footrest. I intend to improve on this by installing rivnuts into the under dash beam and making a removable assembly that sits, pointing downwards, above the passenger's ankles. I suspect there is too much to in the rear bulkhead area that would decide to resonate, and I intend to stow the softtop there at a pinch.

[BatMobile]

Thanks Martyn, yes spotify is my main source for music, does the clarion not support it even with the iPhone plugged into the USB?

No rears on mine either.

Toby said the same - upgrade to focal fronts, add a small sub either in the footwell or behind the rear seats. I plan on going soft top soon but wouldn't be bothered about sticking it in the boot - does the sub get in the way in the passenger footwell? even mounted above is that concealed and non intrusive - i am keen to hide everything where possible so it all looks standard and wouldn't want it in a place passengers could kick it etc when in the car.

 

Edited April 5, 2017 by BatMobile

[MartynB]

The Clarion will do BT streaming, but no track info. Not sure about USB. I like to stream from my pocket or with the phone over by the drivers A-pillar, so not so keen on wired tethering. I also like having no CD drive in the HU. Maybe I'm odd.

As it is the sub is kickable, but my wife knows not to and would have to reach to do so. When it's up and under the dash it'll be very much out of the way. If I had decided to go for behind the seats I would probably have gone for the slightly larger Focal iBus 20, which I have installed in her Honda CRV. That's also what Steve Banks has in his, see page 1.

[geartox]

My 350 has rear speakers... but don't have the Clarion head unit (lotus touch). I have bought an alpine unit, with BT. Concerning the subwoofer, finally it was not a good idea for me. It makes a real diff with the sound quality, no doubt about that. But it was not so easy to remove the sub before trackday, so finally I decided to uninstall it. 

 

 

[TonyKL]

I've managed to remove the grill and the surrounds, but I'm not sure how the speaker actually comes out.

I've given it a good tug be it just doesn't want to budge and I can't see anymore fixings.  How did you guys remove the front speakers?

[MartynB]

Pry it off. The painted metal has stuck to the polyurethane finish of the "leather". Mine were quite reticent to come out, but we persuaded with a flat blade screw driver and some patience. There's no glue under them.

[TonyKL]

Thanks, just wanted to make sure I wasn't forcing them when there are other attachments.

[TonyKL]

Today is the day, I've already swapped my rears for new Focals and now it's the fronts.  Already manage to pry them free so the replacement should be easy but I want to fill the holes with some sound deadening first as it's an open cavity below the fronts.

[French Frie]

Tony, you'll find out that you have to keep the surrounding and grill from OEM, because the Focal one is too large for the dashboard's place... but then, the grill will foul a bit the angled tweeter ! It's ok, but not optimum...

[TonyKL]

2 hours ago, French Frie said:

Tony, you'll find out that you have to keep the surrounding and grill from OEM, because the Focal one is too large for the dashboard's place... but then, the grill will foul a bit the angled tweeter ! It's ok, but not optimum...

Thanks, I've just finished getting everything in the car, including USB to both sides.

As I fitted a bit of sound deadening below the speaker (creating a kind of bucket) this slightly raised the grills so nothing seems to foul.  I would have liked to keep the focal grills to match but as you said they don't fit inside the dash and would look far too high otherwise.

Hope you managed to get the rears replaced!

[French Frie]

Great ! I just fitted the driver side's speaker, so I kept the hardest stuff for later  ...

[mark248am]

On 4/30/2017 at 20:29, TonyKL said:

Thanks, I've just finished getting everything in the car, including USB to both sides.

As I fitted a bit of sound deadening below the speaker (creating a kind of bucket) this slightly raised the grills so nothing seems to foul.  I would have liked to keep the focal grills to match but as you said they don't fit inside the dash and would look far too high otherwise.

Hope you managed to get the rears replaced!

do u have a picture of the front grills with the focals fitted? I want to leave the OEM grills but figured they wouldn't fit over the focals because of the raised tweeter.

[TonyKL]

6 minutes ago, usurp said:

do u have a picture of the front grills with the focals fitted? I want to leave the OEM grills but figured they wouldn't fit over the focals because of the raised tweeter.

I'll take one tomorrow and post it up.

[French Frie]

@usurp: don't worry, it fits well... but the grill can't be fully pushed, but for 1mm or so, so it can be noticed by others than you !

 

[French Frie]

PS: as I didn't need CD player, I chose a very "light is right" (and rather cheap) head unit : Philips CE162. it's neat and simple, has  USB and SD card ports, aux input, Bluetooth and AD2P connectivity, and the display color can be matched to the car display... and you don't have to read the f#cking manual every time you want to use it  ! it can even be controlled by Iphone app ... not hype HU , but very useful !

http://www.philips.fr/c-p/CE162_12/carstudio-systeme-audio-pour-voiture

 

Edited May 2, 2017 by French Frie

[TonyKL]

I checked this morning, you are right, my mesh it just touching the tweeter, not sure I'm that bothered but you can't really notice.

Went for a drive in the car this morning with the roof off, was happy that the stereo (when turned up a bit) could still be heard and the quality was good.  The pioneer has a more gradual volume control which is great, I hated the alpine because it was always either too loud (shouty) or too quiet.

I wasn't expecting miracles from the update but I'm pleased with the sound.  Would be pretty good with the hardtop on.

[MartynB]

My pair of Focal 100AC should arrive today. Going to use a gasket of funky foam to cover the square bit of the hole and raise the grille up a couple of mm.

[French Frie]

don't expect any bass though, but upper range is definitively clearer  ! when I took off the OEM speakers, the right one was making a strange noise, and it appeared that the spider suspension has totally disintegrated  !

[MartynB]

No worries. That's what the sub is for.

I had a bit of a crunchy noise from the voice coil tube on the left, but actually managed to reshape it so it wasn't rubbing. Just happy to replace with something better quality and hopefully a bit more presence in the upper mids where the stock units are lacking.