Technical Upgrading sound system fiat 500 GQ 2014

[Felixthecat]

Hello everyone

I recently bought a Fiat 500 GQ 2014, and want to do an audio upgrade, but i'm a noob, so I would like some feedback.

First of all: how do I know what sound system is installed in my fiat? I'm unsure if it is the base system or the alpine system. It is not the beats one.

Then, I wanted to know if it is possible to replace the current speakers with better ones (and maybe a subwoofer), without having to install a different radio. I want to make the car look as original as possible...

Thanks!

Felix

 

[John202020]

Welcome, you're correct the first upgrade is speakers, spend at least £100( more like £150-250) on front speakers http://caraudiosecurity.com/club-602ctp-club-series-6-5-component-speaker-with-tweeter-pods and at least £50 on the rears http://caraudiosecurity.com/club-522f-club-series-5-25-2-way-car-coaxial-speakers

Ideally replace the radio with a aftermarket one I'd go with Alpine, add a amplifier 4x40W RMS you could add Sub Tube rather than a box style https://www.caraudiocentre.co.uk/pr...TEYqmRmhnB7QwZt6qDnrX3hld4915czRoCKqgQAvD_BwE plus a amp 150W RMS
This would be ideal http://caraudiosecurity.com/s-a55-5-channel-power-amplifier-4-x-60w-1-x-300w-2-ohms

Remember for the best sound you would replace all the speaker wires with much thicker ones for best sound quality, that said you "can" use the existing ones without great loss.

Have a professional install the system unless you really know exactly what you're doing.

 

[AndyRKett]

What’s your budget?

As pointed out already you do need to make sure you’re spending a decent amount or you might not be actually improving anything.

And I agree start with the speakers, buy the best quality ones you can afford.

 

[Baglady1990]

I upgraded my whole system during lockdown 1
I basically added a double din touch screen pioneer with CarPlay DAB and rear parking camera
I upgraded all four speakers and the front tweeters plus added a pioneer compact amplified under seat sub
I must have spent in excess of 600 in toto but I didn’t buy everything all at once
I’ve actually just added a shark fin antenna that feeds to the stereo and is powered giving me excellent DAB reception compared to the stick on windscreen antenna that gave me patchy reception!!

Didn’t have a clue what I was doing ? but I watched YouTube googled and read up on things! Took it slow and kept referring to posts and videos as I went!

If you decide to do your speakers the doors & tweeters are very easy the rear is a tad harder (rear seats out and quarter panels opened up) getting a drill in there to drill out rivets it tricky but once done! That’s your hardest hurdle!
Keep us informed and ask questions if you get stuck!

 

[Felixthecat]

Thanks for the quick replies!
It's not that I have a tight budget. I'm willing to spend some money on them, I just think speakers are important... What is a "decent amount" to spend?

I don't want to change the radio... I want to keep the car to look as original as possible.
If I have the alpine sound system (which came from the factory), does it include an amp? Because if it does, then I can just use that one, no? Anyways: how do I know what system is installed in the car?

Ideally replace the radio with a aftermarket one

so it is not necessary?

 

[John202020]

Depends on what is already installed, if the system has a separate amplifier then it's "simple" to upgrade if it's all in the radio itself then it's far harder to have quality sound in a large set up.
The speakers I listed should give a quality upgrade and more volume as they are more sensitive and 3 ohms on a standard head unit.

 

[AndyRKett]

Thanks for the quick replies!
It's not that I have a tight budget. I'm willing to spend some money on them, I just think speakers are important... What is a "decent amount" to spend?

I don't want to change the radio... I want to keep the car to look as original as possible.
If I have the alpine sound system (which came from the factory), does it include an amp? Because if it does, then I can just use that one, no? Anyways: how do I know what system is installed in the car?


so it is not necessary?

I wasn’t aware that alpine had made any head units for fiat, usually it’s things like blaupunkt and grundig but more recently it’s been a Chinese brand dachii (something like that) they’ve been using and generally quality isn’t great or high end, pop the radio out and have a look at the labels it should tell you who the manufacturer is somewhere on the back.

You can get these amps that plug into a iso connection then go out to the rest of the car speakers as a cheap and simple upgrade the amps are usually fairly low powered but give a very modest boost to the sound and allow for some better speakers to be added,

Usually an oem head unit might only be good for 10-20watts per channel, with no pre-amp or other upgrade options,
Where as an after market radio might handle 50watts per channel and have multiple rca connections for amplifiers.

If you really want a good quality set up, your going to have to look at changing the head unit that’s not to say you can’t have half decent sound out of the unit you’ve got but it really all depends on what you’re hoping to achieve

 

[Felixthecat]

So, if I have an amplifier already installed in my boot, I can buy new speakers and a sub and just connect them all to the amp? Right?

If I don't however, can I just mount different speakers (using the same wires), but not a subwoofer?

Then my last option is that I install an iso-connection-amp. I was thinking about this one:
"impulse 4.320 amp"
Is it powerfull enough to handle all new speakers AND a subwoofer?

Or if I would just use this amp(no new speakers): does it make the original speakers sound a bit better?

 

[John202020]

Its very hard to advise without knowing exactly whats there already, technically almost anything is possible, regardless of what's there, the drawback is a compromise in sound quality.

You could easily just replace the speakers, add a amplifier and a sub, even without line level outputs, this would give a huge gain, better speakers that don't have to handle low frequencies mean the head unit can drive them more without distortion so more volume from the factory unit(up to a point) then the sub handles the rest, high level input L+R to amp then sub ( this is not ideal but way better than no sub )

 

[chris3234]

I wasn’t aware that alpine had made any head units for fiat, usually it’s things like blaupunkt and grundig but more recently it’s been a Chinese brand dachii (something like that) they’ve been using and generally quality isn’t great or high end, pop the radio out and have a look at the labels it should tell you who the manufacturer is somewhere on the back.

You can get these amps that plug into a iso connection then go out to the rest of the car speakers as a cheap and simple upgrade the amps are usually fairly low powered but give a very modest boost to the sound and allow for some better speakers to be added,

Usually an oem head unit might only be good for 10-20watts per channel, with no pre-amp or other upgrade options,
Where as an after market radio might handle 50watts per channel and have multiple rca connections for amplifiers.

If you really want a good quality set up, your going to have to look at changing the head unit that’s not to say you can’t have half decent sound out of the unit you’ve got but it really all depends on what you’re hoping to achieve

I think most of they u connect units are made by continental
But yes the older ones were usually blaupunk