Speaker upgrades: who's done it?

[Matthew.]

Hi all,

I have the standard six speaker set up and I'm looking for an upgrade. Not looking for a sub/amp at this stage, so looking to upgrade the speakers (aswell as add door speakers to the holes).

Can anyone give me some advise on which speakers to go for etc?

Thanks.

 

[PerryGunn]

I added the door speakers and sound deadening sheets to the doors.

I went for the Hertz DCX 100.3 speakers which are easy to drive and, to my ears, improve the overall sound in the car. I may upgrade the footwell speakers at some point but adding the door speakers has produced enough of an improvement to satisfy me for the time being

I did a write-up on the installation

 

[Matthew.]

Many thanks for that! So the door speakers are a good starting point I take it, I'll do that first then!

I take it you can "tap into" the A-Pillar tweeter cables for the door speakers?

 

[Matthew.]

Does anyone know if the standard HU can support an amp/sub?

 

[PerryGunn]

Many thanks for that! So the door speakers are a good starting point I take it, I'll do that first then!

I take it you can "tap into" the A-Pillar tweeter cables for the door speakers?

It's all in the write-up but, yes, the tweeter cables carry a full-range signal and the high-pass filter is an in-line type that is housed within the tweeter triangle

 

[Matthew.]

What's the score with the standard HU; will it take a sub/amp?

 

[EddyC]

PerryGunn is your man for replacing door speakers, I followed his write up which was great! I went with some JBL GT6-4's which were a bit cheaper than the Hertz as I also replaced the footwell speakers. I added a few note on replacing those http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=59885 (nothing compared to PerryGunn's write up though).

Not too sure about your answer on adding a sub, don't think the head unit has RCA outputs so you would need to take a feed from the speaker cables and run a clean sweep or something.... Sure I have seen some topics on here about it so worth a search.

 

[chris g]

i added an amp and had some speakers fitted to replace the cubby holes behind the seat

the hu dosen't have line out, but most amps can accept speaker signals

Im reasonably happy - but will add speakers ot the doors also

hearing music at 80 with the roof down is still not brill, but better ....

 

[Matthew.]

Thanks for the input

So just to clarify, a good amp should accept speaker cables and so negate having to connect the amp/sub to the HU directly?

 

[melbs]

just replaced my speakers to focal flax three way

though my zeddy has the 10 speaker non dsp unit, i still replaced the HU with a pioneer 80prs connected to the stock amp and just replaced the front three way speakers.

pretty easy install about 4 hours.

the 6.5 woofer from focal fits right in, just add bigger washers to hold the woofer and use same socket screws and stock screw locations.

for the mid range, an mdf spacer is needed as the focal has 3 inch midrange. our stock speaker has 4 inch with only three mounting holes.

for the tweeter, you need to remove some plastic bits to fit the focal tweeter and some butyl and silicon to hold the tweeter in the stock triangle sails. added 2.2 khz capacitor to protect the tweeter.

 

[NathanZ4C]

You can run a sub and amp off the stock head unit. Just requires something to convert the stock speaker signal to something the amp can handle through the aux.

http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=61230

I might be selling my re-q in a few weeks if your interested.