Multipla rear speaker swap

[Pandabloke]

I am currently in the process of deciding what to do with my 2008 Multipla ICE.

I am quite happy with the sound from the front, the tweeters (is it?) give reasonable vocals. They are mounted above the dash and they're fine for me.

Had a poke about in the front doors and according to the manual I have mid-woofers in there. Not sure what they are but they look terribly flimsy but as I say the sound from the front is acceptable so decided to leave them well enough alone.

It is the sound from the back of the car that I find a bit disappointing. If I sit in the back of the car the main quality of sound appears to come from the front. If I put the fader to just the rear of the car there is very much just a dull noise, no real sound quality at all.

So went to Halfords just for some advice really. I know Halfords do get knocked a bit but the chap I spoke to was very helpful and appeared knowledgeable. And his dad owns a Croma!

Basically he says that the rear speakers are full range speakers. We whipped one out and what appeared was an odd ovally shaped dual cone thing with absolutely no weight or quality to it. The wee man told me that Halfords do not stock replacements for these and quality ones were difficult to get. He suggested I got an adaptor plate type thingy (I'm sure you now what I mean) to allow me to fit some decent two or three way 13cm speakers.

So I left empty handed, but more knowledgeable.

I then remembered that I had some two way 80 watt Sony's in the loft, that I bought for a past girlfriends Panda. So I nipped down the cellar and made up a couple of adaptor thingys out of mdf and within an hour or so I had them fitted and working. A definite improvement. Not quite the sound I'm after but going in the right direction.

I have attached a couple of piccies of the original speaker and the replacements I made up and I would welcome any comments.

I sealed the adaptor plate thingy to the door with sealant. I think that was the right thing to do? The speakers were a very tight fit in the mdf so I didn't seal them in there. Should I have done?

I used original wiring and adapted the connectors to fit. The HU only puts out 30w per channel so I didn't see the point in doing anything except making a direct swap of the speakers.

Have I sort of done ok?

 

[volxstu]

You did the exact right thing. MDF is absolutely perfect for the job as it gives a much better baffle for the speaker to kick off of.
I bet you can get much bigger speakers in there if you so wish in the future but please dont go to halfords. If you need to gauge how much money to spend then pick a set from halfords in your price range then have a look online and post us some that you have in mind that are in the same price bracket.
I would recomend using caraudiosecurity.com or caraudiodirect.com as these are well known and have actual shops so can offer a full warranty unlike online only dealers.

I am a little unsure on weather you are asking advice on what you can do to further the Quality of your sound so i am going to make a couple of suggestions anyway, just in case that you do one day.

Obviously the better the quality of the speaker the better sound but if you see the group buy section you can get sound deadening. Now by deadening im sure that you are aware that you can reduce the resonance of the area surrounding area. This will tighten up your bass and just give you a better over all quality to the sound.

If you would like to better further the quality and have the ability to crank the volume a bit more after you have added some better speakers, then if you bought a compatible Alpine Head Unit then they do an amazing little amp that just fits inline with its wiring loom and fits just behind it. It will power 45w RMS compared to the 12-15 that you are geting now. Obviously this means that you will get a lot less distortion and can raise the volume a bit before it does so.

 

[Pandabloke]

Cheers mate.

What I am after really is volume, but above all clarity in the back. The original speakers were muffled and quiet.

I assume a full range speaker should give a clear overall sound. I guess any bass would come from the rather naff mid woofer in the front?

But it's not bass I'm after. More of a car full of the Nolan Sisters, rather than just the front!

I think I can get five inch speakers in the rear if I'm clever. I want to keep everything standard and hidden behind the original speaker covers which are part of the plastic rear door pocket. It's a private car but I use it for occasional chauffeuring.

Also changing the HU on these Multipla's is such a fag. Adaptor plates, leads to me steering wheel controls, built in blutooth, that sort of thing. I know it's all out there but what an effort!

I assume the bigger the speaker, in general, the better the quality of sound?

Panda.

 

[volxstu]

Hold up did you used to have a light blue Multi?

 

[Pandabloke]

No mate. A silver uglybug. You not too far from me though. I'm Deal. You Thanet, I think.

 

[volxstu]

Ah i must have the wrong person lol. Yeah im from Thanet unfortunately. I just wish i could afford/ be bothered to move out lol. I work near faversham and love it in the country surrounded by Orchards and strawberry fields.

 

[Fiabachi]

Hi, What size are Multipla standard rears, I guess 5 x 7 same as Marea fronts?

 

[umberto]

I have actually looked into this myself and i can recommend the Alpine CDE103. It actually works with the sterring controls via an adaptor and it's even got the parrot bluetooth module built in. And one other thing, Alpine units are all compatable with ipods/iphones etc.

Cheers mate.

What I am after really is volume, but above all clarity in the back. The original speakers were muffled and quiet.

I assume a full range speaker should give a clear overall sound. I guess any bass would come from the rather naff mid woofer in the front?

But it's not bass I'm after. More of a car full of the Nolan Sisters, rather than just the front!

I think I can get five inch speakers in the rear if I'm clever. I want to keep everything standard and hidden behind the original speaker covers which are part of the plastic rear door pocket. It's a private car but I use it for occasional chauffeuring.

Also changing the HU on these Multipla's is such a fag. Adaptor plates, leads to me steering wheel controls, built in blutooth, that sort of thing. I know it's all out there but what an effort!

I assume the bigger the speaker, in general, the better the quality of sound?

Panda.