We all know that the Skoda head units are pant's, and at some stage I will be upgrading, but in the mean time would like to replaced the speakers - would have to stick to standard location though as I don't want to cut any trim,

Anyone got experiance of particular speakers -- what's best for the standard locations ? -- they will need to be good as I intend to upgrade amplification as well -- at a much later date that is.

And last but not least -- where to get them from ?

Hi,

As you might be aware Dave,I have been doing an upgrade of the pants Skoda/Grundig set-up.I am REALLY happy with the results and here is what I have installed (I mainly listen to guitar/rock etc):

Front speakers: Pioneer TSE1775's

Rear Speakers: Sony 13cm (can't remember model no. sorry possible 1236's! Rob??)

HU: Panasonic cq dfx783n

I am over the moon with the difference in sound quality between these and what was originally fitted to the car.Of course,there are many different way's to go with this and I'm sure the rest of the guys will be able to add their tuppence worth too.

The ICE suppliers linked to this site are also very keen with deals/prices etc so you should be able to save a bit than going to a local expert or Halfords (I know to my cost now!). Not sure of your location but would hazard a guess it isn't north of the border else I'd be more than happy for you to come over to have a listen.

Cheers

Hugh

P.S Liked the wheels/exhaust.......................(note to myself) where's that credit card??

I've upgraded to Infinity 652i (or something - search on Infinity will bring up details!) in the front, and Pioneer TS-G1316 in the rear, as well as disabling all my tweeters.

Went for the Infinity's as they came recommended on here, and would fit in the shallow space where the existing speakers were. I went for the Pioneers as they were the 13cm ones cheapest Halfords had...

As Hugh said, the links on this site are good for getting a bargain, but if you don't want the hassle of mail order than specialists and Halfords will be convenient at a price...

Rob.

i have gone for upgrade to sony xplod components in the front... and coaxials in the back... but im junking the rears and going 6x9?

Dave, couldn't you just "borrow" a Bose unit from an A3?

I've upgraded the fronts to Alpine SPS-170A, and the rears to Pioneer TS-H137. Both units fitted well, although the rears were a bit of squeeze under the grill but they went with a bit of push. Both sets of speakers have directional tweeters built in so the std tweeters have been disconnected.

A much better sound overall even with the std head unit.

I got mine from a local ICe dealer but only cos I wanted them that day, but they can be had for good prices over the net.

Originally posted by TaviaRS in this post

Dave, couldn't you just "borrow" a Bose unit from an A3?

Hmm now theres a thought !

I got the Infinity 652i in the front and changed the head unit for a Blaupunkt Los Angeles MP72. Disconnected the rear tweeters but running standard rears; will probably gets some 6x9 Pioneers for that "nts, nts" factor.

The rear speakers aren't that bad upto a certain volume level however by disconnecting the rear tweeters, at lower volumes there is noticeable "gap" is sound reproduction.

I have the system slightly biased towards the rear speakers.

I've got Kenwood dualmags components in the front (110 from bass-junkies) and some kenwood custom fit coax's from MCS for the back which came with the wiring adaptors.

They aren't particularly bass heavy but are much better than the factory fits , and I don't feed them any bass below 87 Hz as that all goes to the JBL sub in the boot :0)

Its no wonder we like to modify the ICE in our cars --- who would like to tell me how much a A4 door speaker costs ?

Who gives a stuff?! It's in the CAR, for heaven's sake .......... somewhere you spend between 10 and 110 minutes a day unless you're really sad, like me ........

Nick, chill out dude . It's all horses for courses. You like to spend

True. Sorry :cheers:

Originally posted by ncarring in this post

Who gives a stuff?! It's in the CAR, for heaven's sake .......... somewhere you spend between 10 and 110 minutes a day unless you're really sad, like me ........

But if you have a sound system you can't hear, you might as well have bought a car without one at all... :p

Admittedly there are limits to the fidelity of the sound reproduced compared with home hi-fi setups, and there is a point at which the extra investment becomes pointless, but replacing the manufacturers setup with even the cheapest of aftermarket stuff will yield good results!

I suppose you'll next be asking what's the point in have a fridge in it...

Rob.

Originally posted by robmawer in this post

But if you have a sound system you can't hear, you might as well have bought a car without one at all... :p

Admittedly there are limits to the fidelity of the sound reproduced compared with home hi-fi setups, and there is a point at which the extra investment becomes pointless, but replacing the manufacturers setup with even the cheapest of aftermarket stuff will yield good results!

I suppose you'll next be asking what's the point in have a fridge in it...

Rob.

Agree with Rob on that point, for not much dosh you can make a marked improvement over the standard set-up by simply replacing the speakers.

Why bother? Depends on how much you listen to your radio/cd's. I have mine on whenever I

Rob, you need to hear the 6x9's nowi have them tweeked up! will knock your socks off... (assuming you have them on with your sandals....)

Originally posted by ffelan in this post

Rob, you need to hear the 6x9's nowi have them tweeked up! will knock your socks off... (assuming you have them on with your sandals....)

No matter how good the system is, it won't make S Club sound good... :p

Rob.

Originally posted by SilveRS in this post

Agree with Rob on that point, for not much dosh you can make a marked improvement over the standard set-up by simply replacing the speakers.

Why bother? Depends on how much you listen to your radio/cd's. I have mine on whenever I

Hi Nick,

Only speaking from my experience here but the first upgrade I performed on the original ICE system installed in the car was the speakers both front then rear. I found a noticable difference in terms of response and both low range and high range frequencies appeared to be much more prominent and with a lot more clarity than the OEM ones fitted.

I would never say I was in any way an 'audio-phile' but having said that, I guessed within minutes of listening to the original Skoda hifi, I didn't really rate it. I am a huge fan of music in general so I have a system at home that I believe, in my opinion, is pretty good and sounds great with many different styles of music I listen to. This however, is at home so there's no way it would be possible to try to repeat it in the car without spending a complete fortune.

With regards to the speakers I was prepared to 'leave it at that' as far as upgrading went (like you say as long as it was acceptable to you, it's OK) but as you may have seen from other forums I know own an Apple iPod.This was a birthday gift and it was intended for me to download my music to it and play it in the car. I have over an hour long commute to work each day so having a large collection of music to listen to is a big help in passing the tedium.

I bought a new head unit to accomodate this (i.e have a facility to plug the iPod in) and have found it to be a great addition. I find the clarity of the music now much more prominent and dare I say it, more involving/enjoyable etc. Basically, though Nick, the choice is totally yours and ,as with your tastes when it comes to car cleaning products, as long as YOU remain happy with the sound in the car that's all that matters.

I'm sure Rob will help out as much as he can if you were to decide to do any upgrading work as he and several others on here were a big help to me during my ICE installation work. I can also offer any help based on my new-gained ICE install experience too for what it's worth.

Cheers

Hugh

Originally posted by ncarring in this post

I agree to some extent - and my stereo is also on 100% of the time I'm in the car - always CDs. But .... maybe I'm getting very old ... I don't worry too much about the quality - as long as it's acceptable, I make allowances for the fact that I'm in a car, not a sound studio. My real quibble was with Dave W's assertion that because it cost X pounds, the OEM speaker must be replaced with something more expensive.

I've thought about changing the speakers but I think mine sound OK. Maybe the previous owner changed them, or maybe I'm just so old and insensitive that I wouldn't benefit from the change anyway. I was going to listen to Rob's at the Midlands meet but never got round to it. Next time ...

the std speakers are crap nick - the reason they are crap is cos they are built to a price... hence the assumption that any aftermarket option that costs more is better....

My head unit is non-standard too - it's a Clarion replacement installed by the dealer. I have the bass turned up a little (unusual for me) and the loudness on, and apart from a few treble areas the car seems to reproduce the music quite well. There are types of music which don't play well in a car anyway - classical for example, so I have to twiddle the volume up and down a fair bit. I've considered disconnecting the rear tweeters as some have suggested, but I actually like some treble in my music, so haven't done it yet, although there are times when the distortion is not comfortable :(

Agree that some cars have better hi-fi than others. Since mine is not standard anyway I'm not able to quote from the same experience as others, but I don't find it that bad. I'm not after huge amounts of either bass or volume, just nice clear reproduction will do, and it's kind of acceptable already. I'd need to listen to someone's upgraded system to know if I thought it worthwhile.

Originally posted by ncarring in this post

but I actually like some treble in my music, so haven't done it yet, although there are times when the distortion is not comfortable :(

Sounds a good case for upgrading the tweeters at least!

Rob.

And if you think the stereo in the Skoda's crap, you should listen to the awful old thing in the Porsche ....

... but in there we have an engine to listen to, so who cares!!

Originally posted by ncarring in this post

And if you think the stereo in the Skoda's crap, you should listen to the awful old thing in the Porsche ....

Sounds like a good reason to swap it out...

Rob.

Nick.

I think if the Skoda had an engine note like your Porsche -- I wouldn't need to change the speakers

Having said that I don't "Need" to change the speakers - it's just one of those things that get added to the list......

Seem's a lot of dealers swap out the original head units -- my uncles Octavia came with another unit - a pioneer I think - good sound as well.

He just fitted rear speakers in his car (only a 1.6 ambient-so didn't have standard) -- he actually spent less money than it would cost to buy Skoda original parts - but it sounds better than my system - not quite sure how that works.