Replacing front door speakers

[Nickey]

Hi, new to forum and was wondering if anyone can help with some questions about the speakers in the Fabia (Mk2)

 

I have recently acquired a Fabia 3 Mk2 (2007) with the Dance Radio, and am finding the sound quality to be quite poor, so am looking to make a few upgrades starting with the front door speakers. I would be looking to hopefully replace them with a standard pair of 17cm/6.5" speakers, but seem to be finding very little info on the Mk2 Fabia's in relation to speaker upgrades

 

Could anyone advise me on a suitable speaker adaptor? I have seen plenty on sale for the Mk1 Fabia, but cannot find anything for the Mk2. Would the speaker adaptors from the Mk1 be suitable, or would any other be suitable. It would be good to know before buying blind and hoping for compatibility.

 

I have not taken the door panel/trim off, but have seen references to the speakers being riveted in place rather than screwed - can anyone confirm this? Not a big problem, just good to know in advance.

[vxh26]

From personal experience (not on a Fabia), you may be disappointed with the claimed benefits of better speakers - a better head unit with greater headroom might be a more sensible investment - Garbage In, Garbage Out.

[promethian]

I have a Fabia 2 III and found the rear speakers to be awful, rattly and distorted when any bass applied.

 

Replacing the rear woofers with some decent Pioneer 2 way about £30, solved the problems as the tweeters are fine.

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pioneer-TS-G1721i-17cm-Dual-Speakers/dp/B006NU55EC/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

 

The front speakers are fine, as is the Dance head unit.

 

And yes they are riveted in place, just drill them out.

 

 

Other than this you need to spend hundreds to make any significant improvement to the overall system. Not worth it IMO.

Edited 30 May, 2014 by promethian

[SeaGoat]

I would like to know more about replacing the front door speakers in the Fabia - I'm not really bothered about the rear speakers. I have a Mk.2 vRS and at 70 on the motorway, the road and wind noise is so great that the sound has to be wound right up (Standard "Swing" head-unit).

What concerns me is how the various speakers are powered. On any decent domestic or professional loudspeaker, a sophisticated crossover determines which frequencies go to each of the drive units and the mid and bass units are in properly sized and damped cabinets. I can't find a circuit diagram for the Swing head-unit (or for any other car radio for that matter) or wiring diagram to indicate whether even basic crossovers are present. I imagine that dual and triple coned replacement car speakers have some sort of crossover built into them but how well do they then match up  with the remaining speakers? Anyone who has any experience of a quality domestic sound system will know that power and speaker size isn't everything - if you don't know what I mean, Google Quad 33/303 and LS3/5a!

 

I am particularly interested at this time because both my front doors are due to be stripped by a dealer next week to investigate rainwater entering and getting trapped inside the front doors. Perhaps as suggested above, it isn't worth bothering.

 

The Fabia vRS is a lovely car, just not a great listening environment.

[zouche]

Replacement speakers will undoubtedly improve the sound quality provided decent speakers are used. The standard speakers are paper coned with limited power handing and distort very easily.

I spent a few extra ££s and added front component speakers (tweeter and woofer in stock positions), some door sound deadening, an amplifier and a slimline sub for the boot. Vast increase in quality albeit at a price. Worth it for me as i spend up to a couple of hours a day in the car commuting and like to listen to quality sounds!

[fabiamk2SE]

I would like to know more about replacing the front door speakers in the Fabia - I'm not really bothered about the rear speakers. I have a Mk.2 vRS and at 70 on the motorway, the road and wind noise is so great that the sound has to be wound right up (Standard "Swing" head-unit

Adding sound deadening throughout the car will help that more than anything.

Iv looked into having my speakers upgraded. My local home and car stereo specialist said the speaker wire is of a good size on the skodas (Hondas are terrible apparently), and the headunit isnt too bad. Its the speakers that are the limitations on the stock set up.

He quoted me £300 to supply and install 'JBL c3' component speakers in the same place as the standard ones (woofer in the door and tweeter in A pillar). He'd also put some sound proofing in the doors for that.

I too like a decent home stereo system .

[SeaGoat]

Damping material sounds like a good idea, what would you use? Dynamat, Dedshete or Waxoyl Underseal - the latter might suit me for other reasons. I guess that you could use jute felt under the carpets as well, to eliminate road noise?

 

I once painted the insides of a pair of DIY transmission line speaker cabinets with bitumen car underseal but I haven't seen it about recently - it was foul stuff.

[multiskoda]

Have replaced and amplified the front speakers in mine. You have to disconnect the rears (or replace them with matching ones as well) or the sound becomes muddy and the bass overwhelming. The stock speakers are good for one thing: muddy and overpowering bass. The difference between them and some mid-range replacements is like night and day.

Amplifying them is a must in my opinion but replacement of the stereo isn't required (at least for me). I dare say for the best quality sound you'd need to but my main goal was removing the interference you get from the factory bass cones.

Edited 31 May, 2014 by louisv6

[multiskoda]

Oh, and I used dynamat in the doors (mostly on the plastic door cards to stop them rattling but also a small sprinkling on the metal door skin - not much though as it's already pretty solid), and you'll need some spacers to replace the factory plastic frame that's riveted to the door. Believe they're the same as a golf mk5, but managed to find some nice wooden spacers on eBay for a fabia.

[Nickey]

Thanks for the replies. Can anyone confirm what speaker adaptors would be required for the front door (for 16.5cm speakers).

Does anyone know if something like the CT25VW01 adaptor would be suitable for holding the speakers?

[multiskoda]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161092585235 This is what I used. Sold as mk1, but fits a mk2 fine (it's round, and the correct dimensions). Prefer working with wood adapters as they're more likely to take a range of speakers (cause you put your screws where you want).

The autoleads part will probably do the trick too though. Wasn't impressed with them when I used then in my octy a few years back. Brittle cheap plastic.

Edited 31 May, 2014 by louisv6