Stereo Sadness

[DunkHSP]

Alhtough its not often I have the stereo on I am a big lover of music and the one I have, or more so the speakers are crap. Its a four speaker set up with diddy Alpines in the front (I have an S2 just to clear that up) and some 'not knowns' in the rear behind the seats. Basically they handle about as much volume as a comb and tissue.

 

I've been looking at compact sub units that I can put in line and remove when it suits me.

 

Any ideas or tips?

 

Cheers

 

Dunk

[Scott_Mac]

Plenty of options... there are 3 companies who make compact sub units, Clarion, Pioneer and Kenwood, all fit comfortably behind the seats. I bought a Kenwood one from eBay for approx £40 12 months back and it makes a world of difference. Chaning the head unit for something with a littloe more output may help and maybe uprate the speakers also.

 

With my setup, i can hear the music pretty clearly at 3 figure speeds with the roof off.

[catboy]

My mate just brought two from ebay for £10 each, however they are not the best quality. Best to pay a couple of quid more and get the better ones like scott just mentioned. Also, what sort of head unit are you running? It could be the amp in this which is knackering the sound rather than the speakers if you have some OK alpines in the front?..

 

If your thinking about changing speakers, get a copy of Max-Power (I know, you will have to buy it under the cover of darkness) as there are always good offers in the back of there... Look for a company called "cel direct". They are in Leicester, and have some good deals in MP that arent available in the shop unless you produce a copy of the mag.

 

Also keep an eye out on ebay for amps; I just picked up a 4ch apline V-Power amp for £16+postage... its 75w per channel, which is too low to get any of the nova boys interested, but more than enough to power 4 speakers in the car... will make a lot of difference to sound quality, at the expense of about 0.75kg. I think the compact sub units are active, so just need a speaker high level input from the head-unit.

 

b

[Scott_Mac]

Compact Sub Units are active, some use RCA input others high level line input.

 

I personally use http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk for all my bits and bobs.

 

I'm not an expert on the S2 stereo if i'm totally honest, Snowman has a pretty good system, or if you want to get silly check out Bogie's car (on SELOC )

[Rob_W]

I replaced the four standard speakers with Rockford Fosgate full range units I bought on Ebay, a new Pioneer head (tasteful one withbrushed ally finish!) unit for MP3s and the best bit was one of the Pioneer 105 active subs. Works pretty well now.

 

Rob

[snowman]

Rockford Fosgate components into the rear and you can leave the fronts alone. Position the tweeters on the top of the rear window sill!!

Sounds good with a sony head unit. Same as Scott really at speed, roof down listening to your fav tunes......

[DunkHSP]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Its confirmed alot I was unsure of and pointed me in the right directions.

 

Think I'm gonna start with a new head unit then go from there. Hopefully rocking to some tunes soon enough!!

 

Incidentally does anyone know any bass players? Long shot I know but I'm getting desperate!!

 

Cheers and hopefully meet up with you all soon.

 

Dunk

[DunkHSP]

Oh yeah, fantastic breasts!!

 

[catboy]

BTW does anyone know what size std speaker holes are? (if any)

I have some nice components in my car at the moment which I might carry-over if they are the right size..

 

b

 

ps... I do know a good bass player, but she's 80 miles away!..

[Scott_Mac]

Catboy - S1 or S2?

 

S1 are 16cm rears, very few speakers drop in and you probably need spacers - you can then fit 17cm ones and have a much larger choice.

 

S2 i believe are 5.25" rear and 4" front - but could be wrong.

 

As for the stereo, the perfect match for the Elise - IMHO (but then i do have it and from his descripotion so does Rob) is:

 

 

£220 from the link above - i think you still get 5% discount when you sign up too. Cracking unti, plays MP3 etc...

[catboy]

Cool... I have weird shape/size speakers in my car at the moment.. 13cm components up front, 15cm co-axials in the rear, so will probably keep them all and see what fits best!

 

Im open to sugestions on the head unit front; its gonna need to be compatible with the dennison ice>link though so I can use my ipod

 

b

 

ps.. S1

[Scott_Mac]

I used an Aux Input to the above head unti and a Belkin charger.. voila iPod in car.

 

Otherwise the best units for iPod compatability are Alpine, they have an add on unit that allows full control of the iPod from the head unit.