Matt110 wrote:

That's more than enough money.

Head unit, single DIN, lots around, Bluetooth is the only real feature required. £120-150.

A pair of 4" component speakers for the front. I understand the Focal thoughts... but in my opinion they really don't have to be Focal. Yes focal are great but with a £500 system you'll loose most of the budget buying them to little avail when the rest of the kit isn't worth the thousands needed to drive them to their full potential. A balanced system can be had without spending 2/3 the budget on a single pair of front speakers which will deliver clarity but zero bass... Anyway, £60. Ish.

A set of larger component speakers for the rear, £100.

Then add a fairly small, sensible, 8" sealed sub and amplifier, or a reasonable underseat sub, though I've little experience of the latter personally, packages can be had for about £150. Or buy an amplified bass box, again fairly small. Most car audio websites run deals and package deals to this end.

You should also upgrade the wiring to use much better speaker wire so chuck in £50 to buy that so the speakers can actually be driven effectively.

Will be transformed, fairly well balanced in terms of sound, and inside budget I'd expect.

The key is she is happy to use phone for visuals, so "all" you need is a reasonable single din head unit, and you're not putting countless budget into fascias etc and double din head units which are lovely but won't change your sound quality at all.

(I'd love a double din... Just thinking of your want to improve sound, not visual).

JW51MAT wrote:

Hi,

Is it really worth going component speakers with tweeters v's coaxial it's not as if it's a FFRR, it's noisy as hell even with the sound proofing?

JW51MAT wrote:

Hi,

Is it really worth going component speakers with tweeters v's coaxial it's not as if it's a FFRR, it's noisy as hell even with the sound proofing?

Just my personal opinions, we all put a different value on everything, and the effort to achieve it.

Any good quality, 4" 2way coaxial speakers will make a massive difference over the standard factory fit ones. Especially as you plan to fit a sub too, 4" will be lacking without it. This might do everything you want to achieve.

If you can be bothered, upgrading to 5 1/4" speakers will improve the bass. Either with or without a sub, as they work above the sub-bass frequencies. You might not think this is necessary or worth the hassle.

Coaxial or component?
My opinion, good quality coaxials can (do) sound very good. A high sensitivity speaker, say 88 to 91db, will work well powered just by the headunit. Even top brands make coaxials, some are very expensive.

Rear channels.
All the sound is projected forward, at the back of the driver's head. Coaxials are fine for this. A separate rear tweeter isn’t going to build a soundstage INFRONT of the listener.
As examples of rear coaxials, I've got Focal PC130 (5") in my 110 and Pioneer TS-A1081F (4") in the rear of another car.

Front channels.
A lot of people would be quite happy with coaxials in the lower dash.
They would however notice a difference with component tweeters on top of the dash, lifting the sound to windscreen level, the optimal listening position, instead of being down at knee level.
I have Focal component speakers in the front of both my vehicles, but wouldn’t say you have to do this just because I have. (I'd probably not use Focals again either, at current prices )

Your daughter's 90 seems to be a run around hack for horse interests. (Sorry if it's not and I've miss understood)
With that in mind, I'd fit a simple system without going over the top.
If 4" coaxials and a sub aren't enough, it's not a massive change to swap the fronts for 2way components later.

Lots in there, but hope it helps with the decision.

To add, £50 to £100 per pair would be my budget for coaxials.