Speaker component upgrades for front doors - anyone recommend any of these?

[FabFabFabia]

The standard door speakers in my 2012 Fabia Elegance sound dull, they're lacking in deep bass, have too much lower mids, and the separate tweeters sound rough as hell.

CarAudioCentre have dozens of alternatives from £34 to £500 (!) but I need some help here from forum members who may have any of these installed, or who can suggest alternatives to these that I should consider. In ascending order of price these component speaker systems get good reviews on their site (assuming all the reviews are genuine):-

Juice JS6C

MacAudio MP 2.16

Alpine SPG-17GS

In Phase XTC 601

In Phase SXT 6.1c (Skoda kit)

db T-Rex 6.2C

Pioneer TS-E170ci

Am I right in assuming that the maximum depth for the woofer can be no more than 70mm? What is the depth (and make) of the factory fitted door speakers?

Thanks for your help guys!

Edited 8 January, 2013 by FabFabFabia

[FAB59]

I don't have any of these, but Alpine, MacAudio and Pioneer have an excellent reputation, as well as Focal, Infinity and JBL.

However, if you want good strong bass without your doors rattling like crazy, the best solution is a subwoofer. Finally got a picture of mine.

[Confide]

Problem is the poor door-design which doesn't really help the sound at all!

The only viable solution is to go for a subwoofer I'm afraid, tested 5 different kits and I've found nothing that helps the deep bass =/!

Mind you tho, I've "only" looked at kits costing a maximum off 300 euro...

[FabFabFabia]

Thanks Confide - do you recall which, of the 5 speaker kits you tested, sounded the best for bass (deepest) and treble (swet and undistorted)? What depth of woofers will fit in the doors?

[FabFabFabia]

Thanks FAB59 - nice subwoofer! Did you replace your door speakers too?

[Snowman89]

For those of you that installed a subwoofer in the trunk. How did you manage the wiring from the stereo to it?

Skickat från min GT-I9100 via Tapatalk 2

[sonny.s]

I was also thinking of putting a sub into my 2012 fab vRS, I'm not a novice when it comes to car audio systems, but as this is the first new car iv brought I don't want to start replacing the headunit cutting wires etc etc, I do like RF enclosure looks sweet. Just wanted to know how you wired it upto the headunit ? iv got a "swing" but I don't want to put those stupid speaker to RCA converters they ruin the sound.

[FAB59]

Thanks FAB59 - nice subwoofer! Did you replace your door speakers too?

Thanks FabFab. I didn't replace the door speakers. What I did was turn the bass to -8 on the headunit, to filter out low frequencies from the door speakers and stop the rattling. That way, I get only mid-range frequencies from the doors and all the bass from the subwoofer in the boot. Works very well.

[FabFabFabia]

Thanks FAB59, sounds like good idea - the main criticism I have of the factory speakers is the the rough, distorted sound of the tweeters which means I can't have the treble past zero as it's too tiring to listen to. Are yours like this too (or could mine be faulty?)

Edited 10 January, 2013 by FabFabFabia

[FAB59]

For those of you that installed a subwoofer in the trunk. How did you manage the wiring from the stereo to it?

Skickat från min GT-I9100 via Tapatalk 2

I was also thinking of putting a sub into my 2012 fab vRS, I'm not a novice when it comes to car audio systems, but as this is the first new car iv brought I don't want to start replacing the headunit cutting wires etc etc, I do like RF enclosure looks sweet. Just wanted to know how you wired it upto the headunit ? iv got a "swing" but I don't want to put those stupid speaker to RCA converters they ruin the sound.

I'm afraid Fabia headunits don't have pre-amp output. Only way is to use speaker to RCA converters. I just tapped into the rear speaker wires on mine, just behind the headunit, and the result is not too bad at all. I had this same subwoofer in a previous car, connected to a Kenwood headunit with pre-amp output, hence using RCA to RCA cables, and quite frankly, I can't notice any difference in sound quality between "speaker to RCA" and "RCA to RCA". I'm not exactly the audiophile type, but I do appreciate good sound, and I think this setup works wonders in the Fabia.

Edited 10 January, 2013 by FAB59

[FAB59]

Thanks FAB59, sounds like good idea - the main criticism I have of the factory speakers is the the rough, distorted sound of the tweeters which means I can't have the treble past zero as it's too tiring to listen to. Are yours like this too (or could mine be faulty?)

Actually, I have ALWAYS had the treble and mid-range settings on 0 in my Fabia. In fact, in all the cars I've had, or even at home, I never touch any equaliser settings. If you consider all the hard work that goes into recording a song in a sound studio, it's all done there for you, therefore a song will sound the best when everything is neutral, or set to 0. It is no coincidence that on some high-end astronomically expensive home hi-fi systems, the amplifiers often have just an on-off switch, a source selector and the volume control. That's it, nothing else.

Having said that, 95% of the time I listen to my own CDs. Some radio stations have crap sound, and in that case, you probably will be able to improve the sound by adjusting treble, bass or mid-range. If the recording is good quality though, they're all best left at 0.

I have never had a problem with the tweeters in my Fabia. Mine's a pre-facelift one, but I believe the speakers are the same. Very often I have the volume at 26, and listen to it constantly on journeys of over 2 hours long without it getting tiring. Just note, my headunit is the Dance, not the Swing, and the volume scale is different.

Try yours with treble set at 0 for a while and see how you like it. I certainly never had any distortions in mine from the tweeters. If you think yours are faulty, you could always go to the dealer and mention it to them, or even better, have a listen in another Fabia while you're there, to compare.

[sonny.s]

Thanks fab59 sorry just noticed its an alpine not a RF btw what's the model number on that? And did you buy decent low to RCA converter or just standard cheep eBay jobbie?

[FAB59]

Thanks fab59 sorry just noticed its an alpine not a RF btw what's the model number on that? And did you buy decent low to RCA converter or just standard cheep eBay jobbie?

Yeap, it's an Alpine SWD-2000. Bought it new back in 2006 for £200. It's only 350W, so it's not the kind that can be heard all around the neighbourhood. It does have quite a punch though, considering its size, but you'd expect it to be good anyway, as any Alpine product. Has got plenty of abuse in 6 years, but sounds just as good as it did the first day I got it. Excellent quality too, a very sturdy build.

It actually came with speaker to RCA cables included, along with T taps to connect them. In the previous car it was in, I had to buy a set of RCA to RCA cables for it.

[Guest Sib-rs]

if you know anyone with vagcom/Rosstech, get them to do something in regards to defualt the equaliser, I had mine done after complaining to a friend with vagcom that not all songs come out crisp and clear which he went on to mention the equaliser can be either disabled or adjusted, the sound quality now is so much clearer! tried various genres of music, they all sound perfect

Edited 10 January, 2013 by Sib-rs

[Snowman89]

I'm afraid Fabia headunits don't have pre-amp output. Only way is to use speaker to RCA converters. I just tapped into the rear speaker wires on mine, just behind the headunit, and the result is not too bad at all. I had this same subwoofer in a previous car, connected to a Kenwood headunit with pre-amp output, hence using RCA to RCA cables, and quite frankly, I can't notice any difference in sound quality between "speaker to RCA" and "RCA to RCA". I'm not exactly the audiophile type, but I do appreciate good sound, and I think this setup works wonders in the Fabia.

Thanks for your reply.

Did you take the wiring under the carpets from the stereo back to the trunk or how did you do it?

[FAB59]

Did you take the wiring under the carpets from the stereo back to the trunk or how did you do it?

I just tucked it in under the plastic bits that run along the sills. I literally just pushed the cables with my fingers under those plastic trims, I didn't remove the trims or the carpet. It takes no time at all, and even if you want to remove everything and bring the car back to stock, it would only take 5 or 10 minutes, as all you have to do is grab the end of the cables and just pull them out.

Edited 11 January, 2013 by FAB59

[Confide]

Snowman, where do you live?

If you live close by me, I can give you a hand .

[Callum]

I just tucked it in under the plastic bits that run along the sills. I literally just pushed the cables with my fingers under those plastic trims, I didn't remove the trims or the carpet. It takes no time at all, and even if you want to remove everything and bring the car back to stock, it would only take 5 or 10 minutes, as all you have to do is grab the end of the cables and just pull them out.

Hey mate, did you run a live from the battery to it?

[FAB59]

Yes, I did. I had to drill a little hole on the bulkhead for that. I drilled it on the very top right of the front passenger's footwell, just above that foamy panel that you have to remove to get to the pollen filter.

If the power cable is thin enough, there is apparently an existing hole behind the front strut tower that you can use, instead of drilling one. I haven't been able to find this existing hole however. If you want more info on how to find it, contact fabia55 on here, he has used it with his sub, so he probably knows exactly where it is and can guide you.

[fabia55]

I wouldn't recommend any of those speaker, you can buy better. If you're on a budget have a look at the Hertz Deici range. 70mm might be a bit too deep but anything's possible if you have the money for door builds.

Regarding lack of bass, easiest way is to get a sub (or a small one)

[FabFabFabia]

Can anyone recommend the Rainbow DL C6.2 component speaker system? http://rainbow-audio.pl/docs/DL-C.pdf

I've been quoted £270 all-in to install these in the front of my Fabia. I find the stock speakers harsh on the treble and lacking deeper bass (while having too much lower mid) so I'm hoping these speakers fit the bill. The dealer doesn't have them on demo so I'm flying blind, as it were.