General 500 speaker upgrade

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General 500 speaker upgrade

Baglady1990

One job always leads to another
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Well I’m half way there!! Took me a while to drill out the 3 rivets Jesus it was not easy!! Didn’t help that the drill bits were not as good as I thought they would be
Or maybe my drill not powerful enough

Did both rear quarter speakers and a healthy amount of sound deadening added

Tomorrow it’s the door speakers & tweeters and thankfully they are a lot easier [emoji23]

I’ve noticed the improvement already sound is crisper & no crackled bass!! It’s no wonder when you see the factory speakers!

Well worth doing if you appreciate quality sound! IMG_4306.JPGIMG_4307.JPG
 
Hi, it's critically important that all speakers all have the same polarity its very easy to have one the opposite way round and will sound "odd" most often it's not marked on the original ones



Ooh [emoji50] what does that mean? Same polarity? I bought the whole kit specially for fiats 2 rear 2 front & 2 tweeters I just presumed you just fitted em .......
 
Just make sure you plug the leads into the new speakers the same way round as the old ones (you probably have). Some speakers have different-sized terminals i.e. one large and one small so you can't get it wrong.
 
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Speakers have a +/- your new ones will have it marked and may have different size terminals, the ones in the car most often have no markings and you usually have to modify the original wire ends/plug this gives you the issue of which is which.
The reason is, crudely put 3 speakers push and one(the wrong way round say) pulls leading to a odd hollow sound.
Let's hope your kit has clear instructions?
 
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I get you now! Yup I did it right thank god [emoji23] just finished both doors and everything is back in place .... the sound is soooo much better!!
May not be able to install the tweeters as the wiring is completely different to the factory ones these have plugs & the new ones don’t!
Not the end of the world as the factory tweets aren’t too bad!
 
I get you now! Yup I did it right thank god [emoji23] just finished both doors and everything is back in place .... the sound is soooo much better!!
May not be able to install the tweeters as the wiring is completely different to the factory ones these have plugs & the new ones don’t!
Not the end of the world as the factory tweets aren’t too bad!
I'd there any length of cable on the old tweeter connector you could cut them off and solder them to the new ones
 
I’m confused by the connections on the new ones there’s 2 wires on the factory tweeters but 4 on the new??View attachment 209105

While the mounting adaptors in the set might be exclusive to FIAT the speakers themselves appear to be 'universal' and include a tweeter for those cars that may not already have them.

The two male spade lugs would then go into the speaker supply lugs, the two female lugs into the speaker itself and the tweeter piggybacks feed through the door into the pillar the thence to wherever you want to mount the tweeters. As Chris suggests, you might be best to splice the new tweeters into the existing FIAT tweeter supply leads.

But are the new tweeters the same shape and size as the old? I'd be inclined to just stick with the old tweeters but that's because I'm an ageing headbanger and I can't hear the tweeters anyway.
 
All done! Thanks to everyone esp John202020 tweets fitted and everything working great [emoji1320] I also swapped my cream pillars for matte black but retaining the cream tweet covers ...... well happy [emoji2] I had to cut & solder as John suggested IMG_4312.JPGIMG_4315.JPG
 
Well I’m half way there!! Took me a while to drill out the 3 rivets Jesus it was not easy!! Didn’t help that the drill bits were not as good as I thought they would be
Or maybe my drill not powerful enough

Did both rear quarter speakers and a healthy amount of sound deadening added

Tomorrow it’s the door speakers & tweeters and thankfully they are a lot easier [emoji23]

I’ve noticed the improvement already sound is crisper & no crackled bass!! It’s no wonder when you see the factory speakers!

Well worth doing if you appreciate quality sound! View attachment 209083View attachment 209084
I'm interested to upgrade my 2018 500 speakers. Found the same alpine kit on ebay. Is it worth the money?
 
Absolutely
It was also worth the stress of drilling out the old ones 😂
I did go on to fit a compact under seat sub also that complements the new speakers I’ve actually had to turn down the base!
 
Absolutely
It was also worth the stress of drilling out the old ones 😂
I did go on to fit a compact under seat sub also that complements the new speakers I’ve actually had to turn down the base!

Nicely done, will have to look into doing this myself at some point, I suspect upgrading the little single din radio might be a first step in my journey though, once I've sorted the duff roof aerial.

Did you take any pics of how to get to the rear speakers by any chance, or if not are there any 'gotchas' for removing the trim?
 
It’s actually very easy just a pain in the rear!
Door cards are easy to remove 3 torx then it just pulls off
The rear quarter panels pull off too but of course you have to remove the rear seats B pillars and unscrew the front seatbelts
Door sills need unscrewing so do the rear pillars

I’d peel back the rear quarters DONT attempt to remove both rear seatbelt base bolts they sheer off!! Trust me I know!!!
It’s definitely a summer job 😂 I did it during lockdown 1
 
It’s actually very easy just a pain in the rear!
Door cards are easy to remove 3 torx then it just pulls off
The rear quarter panels pull off too but of course you have to remove the rear seats B pillars and unscrew the front seatbelts
Door sills need unscrewing so do the rear pillars

I’d peel back the rear quarters DONT attempt to remove both rear seatbelt base bolts they sheer off!! Trust me I know!!!
It’s definitely a summer job 😂 I did it during lockdown 1
Thanks Baglady. Will definitely upgrade since the factory speakers are shittty. Would anyone know if they fit the 2018 FL model with 7’’ audio system?
 
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