Speaker connectors & suggested location for crossover unit in door

[FergalK]

Hi

I'm installing upgraded speakers in my 2015 Octavia and they are a separate woofer/tweeter unit with crossover.

Any suggestions as to where I should mount the crossover?

 

Also - there are separate wires for the woofer and tweeter - I'd be surprised if these wires carried different signals (ie; high freq. for the tweeter and low freq. for the woofer) - or do they?

 

Can I use the wires that go to the woofer connector and connect them to the input of the crossover?

 

Also - the black section I have marked as "What is this?" - anyone know what it is?

 

Thanks for your help!

Fergal

 

[inigopete]

Hi Feargal, FWIW I'm having the exact same problem at the moment.

 

Bought a pair of Focal IS 165 VW speakers, went to fit them yesterday and a) spotted the woofer connector is significantly different (Focal is 4-pin, Skoda 2-pin) and b) the tweeter is a different size - the stock Octavia tweeter is tiny and has a small port behind the grill that won't fit the new tweeter without some modification.

 

I'm looking into it... let me know if you found a solution yourself!

[TheClient]

***Just noticed the op post was 7 months ago. I'll leave reply for others..****

 

The black thing is just a bung to allow you to see inside the door but then replace to seal off moisture and noise.

 

Is your car standard speakers? Ie not canton with external amp? I really really doubt there is any crossover employed before the drivers them selves.

 

The tweeter probably has a cap on it?

 

I'd say the wires are just in parallel. If that's the case you could use either as the input to the jbl crossover.

 

I'd suggest trying it at low volumes b4 install. If there is a crossover employed to either the woofer plug or tweeter plug it will be obvious when you test with the jbls. It won't damage anything. You'll need to either cut the connector or source an adaptor.

 

 

Edited 27 February, 2022 by TheClient

[TheClient]

2 hours ago, inigopete said:

Hi Feargal, FWIW I'm having the exact same problem at the moment.

 

Bought a pair of Focal IS 165 VW speakers, went to fit them yesterday and a) spotted the woofer connector is significantly different (Focal is 4-pin, Skoda 2-pin) and b) the tweeter is a different size - the stock Octavia tweeter is tiny and has a small port behind the grill that won't fit the new tweeter without some modification.

 

I'm looking into it... let me know if you found a solution yourself!

That connector issue is strange. Is your is 165 version definitely the vw version?

 

Why does the woofer have 4 pins?  Only 2 would be connected to the woofer voicecoil. 2 must be redundant. Not used? 

 

The tweeter install is acknowledged in the install manual. You'll need to modify the tweeter cover and glue in the new tweeter. 

 

In the Focal IS 165 VW install manual there are b&w photos of the connectors and they look the same as @FergalK photos. Admittedly they are not full close ups in the OP post but from what I could say look same / similar. 

[FergalK]

I ended up gluing magnets to the back of the crossover and attached to the door with the magnets. The wiring for me was very straightforward I cut off the original connector and spliced in the speaker specific connector. 

[Bellows]

Glad to find the good topic corresponding to my current questions.

 

I wounder what’s the best option between plug in Focal IS 165 and other speakers with crossover. In both cases, I think add an amplifier (i’m looking at Impulse 4.320).

 

A ) @FergalK : So your keep the original low soundspeaker wire to connect it to the crossover, and link it to the tweeters et the new speaker ? And finally, you did’t use the original tweeter wire ? That’s correct ?

Did you notice good Improvement ?

 

B ) @inigopete : did you finally install your focal IS 165 ? Indeed, speakers have 4 pins connectors, i found adaptative terminal (vw 191 972 704 or skoda 1J0 972 704). And just to pins to connect (port one et three), check on focal youtube channel.

https://www.skoda-parts.com/spare-part/1j0972704-flat-contact-housing-4-pin-21181.html

[FergalK]

On 04/03/2022 at 12:44, Bellows said:

Glad to find the good topic corresponding to my current questions.

 

I wounder what’s the best option between plug in Focal IS 165 and other speakers with crossover. In both cases, I think add an amplifier (i’m looking at Impulse 4.320).

 

A ) @FergalK : So your keep the original low soundspeaker wire to connect it to the crossover, and link it to the tweeters et the new speaker ? And finally, you did’t use the original tweeter wire ? That’s correct ?

Did you notice good Improvement ?

@Bellows sorry for the big delay on replying to this - but yes - didn't use the original tweeter wire, and yes, great sound improvement but tweeter sound is a little bit too bright so used the graphic WQ to pull down the treble a bit

[inigopete]

Just resurrecting this topic...!

 

I finally fitted the Focal IS 165 VW speakers at the weekend. My notes, from my attempt to fit:

 

- The Focal speakers use a 4-pin connector, which I didn't have. Fortunately I had some small spade connectors which I could just use to attach the speaker wires directly to the terminals on the speakers.

 

- The original Skoda Octavia Mk3 (Estate, if that makes any difference) has two pairs of wires in the loom(s) in the door - one to the tweeter and one to the woofer. The Focal IS 165 VW woofer seems to take one connector, which then has a pair of wires which go up to the tweeter. So I disconnected the original tweeter cable, knotted it round itself and tethered it safely against the door skin, in case it was needed in future, and wired the Focal tweeter in parallel with the woofer.

 

- I removed the Skoda 2-pin connector from the woofer wires so I had two bare ends. I removed the Focal spade connectors from one end of the paired tweeter wires. Each wire pair had one with a black stripe, so it was easy to make sure polarity (positive and negative) was kept the same throughout. And the Focal speaker has a - and a + on the plastic moulding, so it's easy to see what should connect where.

 

- I tested and experimented with the wires - it seems the four terminals on the Focal connector are two -ve, two +ve, in pairs next to each other. In other words, the two terminals near the "-" symbol are connected in parallel, and so are the two terminals nearest the "+" symbol on the speaker.

 

- I twisted and soldered the Skoda loom feed wire and the Focal tweeter wire together and connected them to a spade connector, then covered them up with heatshrink. They gripped the speaker terminals well.

 

- Drilling out the plastic clips that held the original speaker in was fine. HOWEVER the rivet / screw holes in the door panel are around 8mm diameter, so the nice Focal rivets that come with the speakers didn't work - they expanded and popped, but hadn't expanded wide enough to hold the speaker in, they just rattled out! I run a bicycle shop, so I used bottle cage rivnuts. They were a bit of a faff to fit, but meant I had tidy nuts held in place, so I could use M5 bolts and washers, with Loctite 243, to really hold the speakers securely in place.

 

- the tweeters were actually way less hassle than I expected. The Focal tweeters come with a removable ring; once that's removed, the diameter of the tweeter is the same size as the original. To remove the original tweeter, you just need to cut the three pins off the plastic housing with a sharp knife, then pull the tweeter away. I then cleaned up the cylinder in the door housing so the new tweeter fitted neatly onto it. I then used a hot glue gun and plenty of glue to glue the new tweeter in place, making sure the wires fitted neatly through the retaining clip.

 

- the original rubber ring to fit between the woofer and the door panel _doesn't_ fit the Focal speakers. But it's very close - so, again with the sharp knife, I trimmed off the small plastic moulding lumps around the outside of the ring and made it as close to a uniform circle as I could, then offered it up against the Focal woofer... it fitted around outside the moving parts of the speaker, so I held it in place and wrapped some PVC insulating tape around it a couple of times (pull it slightly and it stretches, to hold the ring firmly in place) then fitted the door panel, checking that it hadn't been dislodged and it wasn't fouling the actual speaker.

 

...I think that's it! With a completely flat EQ profile on the OEM sound system, the new speakers sound clear, the range is great, the definition is superb and I'm very happy with them so far.

 

(I just wish I'd taken photos!)