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Front speakers

Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 5:55 pm
by mk4_bandit
Ive got a 99 polo 3door, and was just wondering what r the best speaker upgrade for the front and how much it will all cost?? ive heard if you get gd ones u mite have to get an amp?? and finally r they easy to fit and wire up ?? cheers :D

Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 6:43 pm
by LeMeph
without an amp its peanuts you just unplug the old ones and plug the new ones on (screw in etc obvs)

if your gonna amp it then again its fairly simple but you need some knowledge of your head unit and electrics to wire it up. Tho not alot, i can do it so cant need much lol.

Chris,

Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 10:50 pm
by Polo Paul
get yourself on the Pioneer website and look for Custom Fit speakers for VW's they do a cracking upgraded pair of tweeters and woofers.

Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 11:30 pm
by stevexn
If you want decent sound quality, you will need to replace both the head unit and the speakers. Preferably also get an amp (and sub!).

I have a preference for kit from Alpine and Focal, but its completely down to personal taste. Others on here will much prefer other makes.

The standard component speakers are actually not that bad with a decent head unit to power them and a sub to take the base off them. Its simply that the standard radio cant give them the power they need.

Before I got my focals, I had a reasonably nice setup by putting my alpine HU into 3 way mode and wiring the mids and tweeters into it seperately (combined with a sub) so that they had a proper cross-over rather than that little capacitor that comes as standard.

if your upgrading the door speakers, you ideally need to replace the cables as the standard ones will not cope. This is a little more difficult - Bring on the drill!!! - Advise on hand if needed.

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 6:38 pm
by mk4_bandit
Cheers for the advise, got a sub and amp so im half way their just need a decent head unit as i'm only running a tape player :wink: at the moment. looking at getting apline head unit and type r or better speakers, but not sure yet because ive had mixed responses about the apline headunits? apparently they are complicated to use specially with an i'pod?? but i was looking at the jvc with the 3" screen.

Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 6:55 pm
by stevexn
Ive always had Alpine HUs and find them really easy to use. I do also really like the alpine type-r speakers. I used to have two sets of the type-r components in my old car (amped of course!) and they sounded perfect.

I decided to upgrade to focals when I got my polo, and to be honest I much preferred the sound of the alpine speakers. They are better and more clear at the lower volumes as well as when loud. I find with the focals that they only sound really nice when turned up to a decent volume.

Ive currently got a CDA-9855R (the one with the big screen etc) and used to have a CDA-9812RB of which is a lower down model, but is a lot more simple to use if your just getting into car audio and gives out pretty much just as good output, you just dont have all the fancy little extras

Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 7:23 pm
by mk4_bandit
Cheers mate, im pritty sure im gunna get an alpine system, just wondering about amping the front speakers can you do it through the amp that i have got for my bass??? its a two channel 600 watt amp and im running a 1000 watt bass???
anybody know??? :?

Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 9:52 pm
by stevexn
No, you definitely do not do that!!!

You will need another 2 channel amp to power the front components. If your a little strapped for cash i would recommend getting something like an alpine MRP-T220 as they are not that expensive and should do the job perfectly. This is the amp I am using, as I prefer to keep amps and HUs the same make, although to be honest it probably doesn't make that much difference.

PS: I know the power rating for this amp is a little lower than the type-r speakers, but that is the minimum figure. All new alpine amps come with a testing certificate and you will find most have around an extra 5-10+ Watts RMS on top of the stated value.

For the time being, if you cant afford to buy a second amp, it will be fine just running the front components off of a high powered alpine HU