General Upgrade to standard speakers

[rob_g_clarkson]

Has anyone upgraded their standard speakers? Any well troden routes/known solutions?

I'm finding the standard speakers a little under whelming to be honest

 

[Gary]

After just replacing the head unit to a decent model i found the standard speakers sound quite good

 

[pdtrewern]

Changing the head unit is an option... but what about the built in bluetooth?

 

[Gary]

You do lose the bluetooth option

But there are headunits out there that have the same type of bluetooth system

 

[rob_g_clarkson]

i quite like the factory look of the OEM headunit.... that said, there's some smart looking double dins out there....

 

[Gary]

most people who have upgraded have changed to single din and had an extra storage area

 

[puffed out daddy]

Standard head unit binned, blue tooth is gone, but with can bus adaptor i still have steering wheel buttons working.

 

[Tom100hp]

thats was the only real thing stopping me changing mine as liked the controlls on wheel, where did you get the cable from?
i would get another bluetooth one though,
and how much was the cable if you dont mind me asking?
Thanks.

 

[puffed out daddy]

thats was the only real thing stopping me changing mine as liked the controlls on wheel, where did you get the cable from?
i would get another bluetooth one though,
and how much was the cable if you dont mind me asking?
Thanks.

dont even go there, organised by my local ice dealer.
alfa romeo can bus adaptor rebuilt to fit the 100 hp,company in milton keynes. the guys came up and spent a whole morning with a lap top working it out.
went back, made it and posted it up, cost me £69.
if you google there is now a can bus adaptor available for the 100 hp, it,s more than a cable.
PS...found it, caraudiosecurity.com £49.99

 

[JayZone]

dont even go there, organised by my local ice dealer.
alfa romeo can bus adaptor rebuilt to fit the 100 hp,company in milton keynes. the guys came up and spent a whole morning with a lap top working it out.
went back, made it and posted it up, cost me £69.
if you google there is now a can bus adaptor available for the 100 hp, it,s more than a cable.
PS...found it, caraudiosecurity.com £49.99

I've seen at least a couple of posts where people have had a nightmare gettng the products from caraudiosecurity.com. Of course not everyone will be happy with every supplier but thought it might be worth a mention


You might want to look at http://www.incartec.co.uk/ which was surgested to me by Mehstq. I know for my 04 plate they do a lead at £75 (Yes a little on the steep side) but normally have these in stock so they might be worth a call 44 (0) 1392 829435

 

[AskCy]

sorry to appear numb (and deaf)... is there something actually so wrong with the basic unit and speakers that it needs changing or is the more a case of pimp my ride?.... Just wondering as my current car (rover) has the factory fitted stereo which although isn't motorheads sound system, it is enough to drown out the road noise and listen to news etc... don't want to by going backwards in time and having a tinny/hissy orrible tinpot thing...! (ps mine will be factory standard in the Active Eco 1.1 so It doesn't have bluetooth etc..) Steve

 

[Geddes]

Just wondering as my current car (rover) has the factory fitted stereo which although isn't motorheads sound system, it is enough to drown out the road noise and listen to news etc... don't want to by going backwards in time and having a tinny/hissy orrible tinpot thing...! (ps mine will be factory standard in the Active Eco 1.1

Drowning out road noise and listening to the news is about all the Active's standard stereo is good for.
It sounds retty much like a cheap tranny. You can tell what people are saying, but you're aware that there's a lot of subtlety to the sound that's passing you by.

I haven't tried changing mine 'cos I only have the news on anyway, but it's a standard size unit in a fascia adapter which would help if I did.

 

[AskCy]

Cheers, I don't think its going to be high on my list of things to do then... lol

Drowning out road noise and listening to the news is about all the Active's standard stereo is good for.
It sounds retty much like a cheap tranny. You can tell what people are saying, but you're aware that there's a lot of subtlety to the sound that's passing you by.

I haven't tried changing mine 'cos I only have the news on anyway, but it's a standard size unit in a fascia adapter which would help if I did.

 

[paulbfd]

sorry to appear numb (and deaf)... is there something actually so wrong with the basic unit and speakers that it needs changing or is the more a case of pimp my ride

Depends on how into your music you are, I've tried to recreate a home hifi within the confide space of my car, few people on here have heard it and it's pretty special not at all "Pimp my Ride".

 

[AskCy]

I wasn't having a go/critising peoples choice of stereo.. once upon a time I would have been going to find some umpty big speaks and cable like rope myself.... but these days I'm just glad when its not wogan...!

Depends on how into your music you are, I've tried to recreate a home hifi within the confide space of my car, few people on here have heard it and it's pretty special not at all "Pimp my Ride".

 

[tarbyonline]

Having changed both my headunit and speakers I would say the head unit made the biggest difference. Mind you my active came with a tape deck. Had this switched to a sony cd player which was a little tinny to be honest so invested in an Alpine. The difference was night and day. Then i put alpine components on MDF bafles in the front which made a good difference to the ability of the alpine to put out bass. I then lined the door cards with a quality wooden floor underlay which has cut down a lot of the vibrations produced by the cheap plastic

 

[paulbfd]

I wasn't having a go/critising peoples choice of stereo.. once upon a time I would have been going to find some umpty big speaks and cable like rope myself.... but these days I'm just glad when its not wogan...!

Never for one moment thought you were mate. I've had to explain to £100,000+ Ferrari owners the benefits of in car hifi, most are initially put off by the idea but once they have had a listen and seen examples of work carried out they've seen the light.

 

[ThisBitterPill]

Depends on how into your music you are, I've tried to recreate a home hifi within the confide space of my car

I would be hard pushed to match my home set-up in my 100hp without spending a fair amount and the fact that I had my one and only decent in-car set-up stolen two days after I fitted it many years ago has put me off spending that amount of money on another in-car one, but I do really think that the standard set-up can sound pretty good when you get it set-up to your liking....

Never for one moment thought you were mate. I've had to explain to £100,000+ Ferrari owners the benefits of in car hifi, most are initially put off by the idea but once they have had a listen and seen examples of work carried out they've seen the light.

Once you hear a proper set-up it's very hard to go back!

 

[Gary]

Once you hear a proper set-up it's very hard to go back!

You should here Paul's set -up very nice

But as you say there is the worry of theft

 

[ThisBitterPill]

You should here Paul's set -up very nice

But as you say there is the worry of theft

I can imagine....

I chose to spend my money on the home set-up, but I fully understand why you'd want a similar set-up in the car....The theft issue is something that puts me off as I already said....

Plus MrsP would cut things off if I said I wanted to put an expensive system in the 100hp after the amount I spent at home!