Speaker upgrade
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Pete,
I have a set of 6x4 MB Quarts that were installed in the back of my 964 for about 2 months before I removed the whole of my interior to make way for RS style carpets. They are boxed and in 'as new' condition, and surplus to requirements. The trick is getting replacement speakers to fit under the stock grilles. Most replacement speakers need to be mounted in a 'frame' to which the grille clips, but the standard 964 speaker 'frame' does not work. Conveniently I had a set of frames and grilles from my old 3.2 Carrera which are the right shape to take the speakers and are cosmetically identical to the 964 (and same size). So as well as the speakers I have grilles to drop them right into the holes left by the old speakers ie no more than a 5 minute job to switch them over. The speakers were £100 without the grilles, so I'd be willing to accept £75 including the grilles.
Let me know if they're of interest to you.....
Jamie
I have a set of 6x4 MB Quarts that were installed in the back of my 964 for about 2 months before I removed the whole of my interior to make way for RS style carpets. They are boxed and in 'as new' condition, and surplus to requirements. The trick is getting replacement speakers to fit under the stock grilles. Most replacement speakers need to be mounted in a 'frame' to which the grille clips, but the standard 964 speaker 'frame' does not work. Conveniently I had a set of frames and grilles from my old 3.2 Carrera which are the right shape to take the speakers and are cosmetically identical to the 964 (and same size). So as well as the speakers I have grilles to drop them right into the holes left by the old speakers ie no more than a 5 minute job to switch them over. The speakers were £100 without the grilles, so I'd be willing to accept £75 including the grilles.
Let me know if they're of interest to you.....
Jamie
Yep, will drop straight in.
Jamie
Jamie
993 and 964 rear speaker / rear parcel shelf set-up is identical as far as I know (I had realised we were talking about a 993 !)
Jamie
Jamie
MrHappy
New member
Clarion produce a set of 6x4 custom fit speakers (not specified as custom fit for the 993 but they do). I fitted them into the back of mine and all I had to do was gently file out the plastic frame a little (5 mins work) and they dropped right in. The original speaker grilles then clip back on over them as before. As these speakers are male spade connectors you need to remove the original plug and fit 2 female spades on the wires. Very easy unless: a) you're of a large frame (not easy moving around in the back of the car) and/or b) you don't have a very short philips screwdriver (the furthest screws are very close to the rear screen).
This substantially improved the sound to the point where I'm considering keeping the 2 original front speakers and tweeters (ok, controversial!) to save the aggro of changing them. Maybe I'll look at that at a future date.
David
This substantially improved the sound to the point where I'm considering keeping the 2 original front speakers and tweeters (ok, controversial!) to save the aggro of changing them. Maybe I'll look at that at a future date.
David
MrHappy
New member
Maurice - from your technical article it looks like the hardest part of changing the front speakers is the removal of the door panel to replace the tweeter whereas the replacement of the woofer is straightforward. Is it possible to just replace the woofer and use it in conjunction with the existing tweeter? The only possible downside I can guess with this, is that you may need to match the woofer to the tweeter or that the existing tweeter really gives a poor sound?
David.
David.
MrHappy
New member
Maurice - I took a similar approach with a new pair of coaxials and leaving the original tweeter in but disconnected. Once I'd completed one door I decided to do a sound test to compare new to old. I faded the sound to just the front speakers and then used balance to compare. The new coaxial sounded flat and distant whereas the original system sounded much more dynamic.
Do you use a seperate amp with the Rainbow speakers or does your head unit give enough power?
David.
oliverjamesthomas
New member
Not brave Maurice - I just like a challenge!!! Oh and a few scraped knuckles of course!!!
Good to see you've got some enjoyable results and the write up is very good also. Regarding David's point of the replacements sounding flat and distant, there's a couple of possible explanations. The origin and quality of the speaker is a key factor. As an example, the American manufacturers can tend towards quite an 'in your face' and sibilant treble, because that's how the home market likes it's sound. I've run speakers from the likes of Soundstream and Rockford Fosgate in the past which are excellent build quality, but always found the treble took the enamel off my teeth! I couldn't live with them, so replaced them with a pair of speakers designed by an Englishman that give a much more laid back sound.
Another key factor is crossover point - ie, the point where the midrange 'rolls off' and the treble 'rolls in'. For a sound to be 'alive', you need a response thet's quite prominent in the 3,000 Hz to 4,000 Hz band because that's the frequency range key to vocal reproduction. Different manufacturers use different points and without wanting to get into real teccy (boring????) stuff, if you have a crossover point in, or too close to this band, you get wave traits that b**ger the job up completely.
Finally, (for this sermon!!!!), direction is of massive importance. Lower frequencies aren't too sensitive to direction, but the human ear is very sensitive to higher frequency reproduction. Hence, if you are able to angle the driver's side tweeter to the passenger's head and visa-versa, you are able to lift the soundstage and make things alive. I know of excellent installers that have spent literally days messing with speaker direction in order to achieve best results. It's actually a bit like tyre pressures, really - start with a benchmark and then tweak for best results.
As an aside - using a factory tweeter with a third party midrange and crossover is likely to cause problems. The factory filter is a very crude affair, whereas a third party filter will be a lot higher quality. It's probable the crossover frequencies will be miles different, so whilst you might get lucky, it would be very easy to fry the factory tweeter totally. They get rather upset if you give them the wrong food!!!!
But, after a fantastic trackday at Oulton Park and with one eye to chasing Maurice at Curborough this March, I'm putting the C2S on a diet and pulling all my equipment. I'm going to practice what I preach though and fit a simple pair of high quality co-axials and an amplifier that'll go under the seat!!!
Regards
Good to see you've got some enjoyable results and the write up is very good also. Regarding David's point of the replacements sounding flat and distant, there's a couple of possible explanations. The origin and quality of the speaker is a key factor. As an example, the American manufacturers can tend towards quite an 'in your face' and sibilant treble, because that's how the home market likes it's sound. I've run speakers from the likes of Soundstream and Rockford Fosgate in the past which are excellent build quality, but always found the treble took the enamel off my teeth! I couldn't live with them, so replaced them with a pair of speakers designed by an Englishman that give a much more laid back sound.
Another key factor is crossover point - ie, the point where the midrange 'rolls off' and the treble 'rolls in'. For a sound to be 'alive', you need a response thet's quite prominent in the 3,000 Hz to 4,000 Hz band because that's the frequency range key to vocal reproduction. Different manufacturers use different points and without wanting to get into real teccy (boring????) stuff, if you have a crossover point in, or too close to this band, you get wave traits that b**ger the job up completely.
Finally, (for this sermon!!!!), direction is of massive importance. Lower frequencies aren't too sensitive to direction, but the human ear is very sensitive to higher frequency reproduction. Hence, if you are able to angle the driver's side tweeter to the passenger's head and visa-versa, you are able to lift the soundstage and make things alive. I know of excellent installers that have spent literally days messing with speaker direction in order to achieve best results. It's actually a bit like tyre pressures, really - start with a benchmark and then tweak for best results.
As an aside - using a factory tweeter with a third party midrange and crossover is likely to cause problems. The factory filter is a very crude affair, whereas a third party filter will be a lot higher quality. It's probable the crossover frequencies will be miles different, so whilst you might get lucky, it would be very easy to fry the factory tweeter totally. They get rather upset if you give them the wrong food!!!!
But, after a fantastic trackday at Oulton Park and with one eye to chasing Maurice at Curborough this March, I'm putting the C2S on a diet and pulling all my equipment. I'm going to practice what I preach though and fit a simple pair of high quality co-axials and an amplifier that'll go under the seat!!!
Regards
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