Speaker upgrade in Fabia 2021 mkIII

[CDP-511]

Hi All, 

 

Just curious if anyone out there has managed to upgrade their speakers in the car.

I have done some research and found this set 

Skoda Fabia III 2015 - 2021 Front and Rear Focal Speaker ... (dynamicsounds.co.uk)

Hoping someone has used this set and have any feedback.
Also if anyone has any other recommendations I'd be happy to hear them.

Thanks 

 

[pab567]

I used Gladen One 165 SQX for Golf 7. They have 2 Ohm impedance, are more powerful (180 W max, 120W RMS) and have great crossover with 3 level tweeter adjustment. 

[Cocain]

May I ask What is it that you are trying to gain from this  'speaker upgrade'?

[CDP-511]

6 hours ago, Cocain said:

May I ask What is it that you are trying to gain from this  'speaker upgrade'?

Just trying to add some bass, also to try and make them a little louder 

[Cocain]

Depending on what your budget is, how much time you have and how good you are at car D.I.Y. I would suggest the following :

 

Without changing the speakers... 

Try as much as you can to make the door where the speaker is mounted as rigid and solid as possible. Deaden the door with sound deadening material that you can buy online on lots of places.

Also deaden the speaker baffle as it is just plastic. Make sure all of the access holes on the door are sealed. You can cover them with the deadening material. You can also get some round foam circles that stick onto the interior surface of the door behind the speaker.  Make sure that there is not a gap around the edge of the speaker and it is sealed. Also no gap from the front of the speaker to the door card so no waves go outwards and hot the inside of the door card.

All of these things will help the music come out of the speaker instead of being absorbed by the door or hitting the door causing resonance and buzzing. So instead of the speaker playing you actually hear the speaker and door playing which is not good.

 

Level up is to add an aftermarket amp. Even with an aftermarket amp and no speaker upgrade it will sound better if you do not push it too hard and you deaden the doors well.

 

next level up speaker upgrade but you will need to use the old speaker plastic baffle and make a template to create a new mount from 12" or 18" marine birch plywood (do not use MDF) Make sure you make a foam gasket in between it and the door to seal it.

 

You may find this will help but not astronomically as doors are not a great place for mid bass speakers so I would advise not breaking the bank on really expensive speakers as it is more important to install the speakers well and have them on a good location before you start shelling out on expensive speakers.

 

next level up would be to add a sub woofer in an enclosure to add to the above.

This would sound the most impressive and probably be worth doing as you will notice it the most.

 

If you do not know how to do this find a GOOD shop or I can point you on the right direction of people on YouTube to follow to do it yourself.

 

If you really want your car to sound hands down 100% better then get an amp with a DSP in it and get someone who knows how to tune it to do it for you and you will be blown away.

[CDP-511]

2 hours ago, Cocain said:

Depending on what your budget is, how much time you have and how good you are at car D.I.Y. I would suggest the following :

 

Without changing the speakers... 

Try as much as you can to make the door where the speaker is mounted as rigid and solid as possible. Deaden the door with sound deadening material that you can buy online on lots of places.

Also deaden the speaker baffle as it is just plastic. Make sure all of the access holes on the door are sealed. You can cover them with the deadening material. You can also get some round foam circles that stick onto the interior surface of the door behind the speaker.  Make sure that there is not a gap around the edge of the speaker and it is sealed. Also no gap from the front of the speaker to the door card so no waves go outwards and hot the inside of the door card.

All of these things will help the music come out of the speaker instead of being absorbed by the door or hitting the door causing resonance and buzzing. So instead of the speaker playing you actually hear the speaker and door playing which is not good.

 

Level up is to add an aftermarket amp. Even with an aftermarket amp and no speaker upgrade it will sound better if you do not push it too hard and you deaden the doors well.

 

next level up speaker upgrade but you will need to use the old speaker plastic baffle and make a template to create a new mount from 12" or 18" marine birch plywood (do not use MDF) Make sure you make a foam gasket in between it and the door to seal it.

 

You may find this will help but not astronomically as doors are not a great place for mid bass speakers so I would advise not breaking the bank on really expensive speakers as it is more important to install the speakers well and have them on a good location before you start shelling out on expensive speakers.

 

next level up would be to add a sub woofer in an enclosure to add to the above.

This would sound the most impressive and probably be worth doing as you will notice it the most.

 

If you do not know how to do this find a GOOD shop or I can point you on the right direction of people on YouTube to follow to do it yourself.

 

If you really want your car to sound hands down 100% better then get an amp with a DSP in it and get someone who knows how to tune it to do it for you and you will be blown away.

Thank you for the comprehensive reply. I'll look into this further

[Mattn00b]

I actually bought that very same kit you linked in and installed it into my Mk3 Fabia.

It was a straight swap and very easy to do. The sound quality difference is amazing, the bass is a lot better and its nowhere near as tinny.

It does makes driving a lot more enjoyable, however, whether I'd say it's worth £300 is debatable- and while I haven't actually done all the things @Cocain has suggested, I did use sound deadening on the door panel.

Even so the front passenger door card does rattle a little with certain bass which is very annoying and I couldn't ever stop it no matter how much more deadening I added, or where I added it- I never tried on the speaker itself though.

 

Anyway that's besides the point, that's nothing to do with the speakers, as I was saying, It's much better quality sound but not sure it's worth the price tag. As I said though, maybe deadening the speaker itself will help that more.

 

I also added an under-seat sub (https://caraudiocentre.co.uk/products/in-phase-usw300) which has also made a big difference to the bass.

Any audiophile will also probably try Liam Neeson me for the method I used to install this too, as I've tapped it into the dashboard fuse box using an "Add-a-circuit splitter" as opposed to directly to the battery, due to it not actually drawing too much current- as well as (here's the kicker) splicing the audio input cables for the sub straight into the existing audio cables coming out the back of radio to the door speakers using T-tap connectors.

Certainly not how it should be done but it works! Oh also velcroed the bottom of the sub to the carpet rather than screwing it in- and it never budges!