 | Home > In Car Electronics > Best 4" speakers for replacing standard front dash unit |
 
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| L90Andy Member Since: 29 May 2014 Location: Stratford-Upon-Avon Posts: 717   
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Took the question right out my mouth, looking forward to hearing the recommendations. Surely this is the first thing many people do...?
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31st Oct 2014 9:19pm |
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| custom90 Member Since: 21 Jan 2010 Location: South West, England. Posts: 20359
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If you want better bass you want a lower frequency speaker, however, you'll nver get phenomenal bass from a 4"
Usually two way speakers or similar are better for bass due to the lower frequency handling like these: http://www.justkenwood.co.uk/car-audio.aspx/kfc-e1065-speakers 4 /5 way speakers are clearer but less bass. Only going larger will you get either most of the best of both worlds but that comes with its issues. |
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31st Oct 2014 11:53pm |
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| Naks Member Since: 27 Jan 2009 Location: Stellenbosch, ZA Posts: 2638  
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I put a set of JBLs, sound was vastly improved.
I moved the rears (JBL 6x9) to the ceiling, so that even when fully packed, the sound travels to the front. -- 2010 Defender Puma 90 + BAS remap + Alive IC + Slickshift + Ashcroft ATB rear 2015 Range Rover Sport V8 Supercharged 
Defender Puma Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zZ1en9 Discovery 4 Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zXrtKO Range Rover/Sport L320/L322/L494 Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zc58JQ |
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1st Nov 2014 6:34am |
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| bear100 Member Since: 22 Mar 2010 Location: South Wales Posts: 1916  
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I use vibe slick 4 for the front, great sound, try this first put your hands over the tweeters
 you standard speakers ain't that bad, have you changed your head unit so you can alter the tweeted frequency,
A sub is the best answer tho 2016 Range Rover Autobiography 4.4 TDV8 2010 110 XS Utility 2.4TDCI 2010 Range Rover Sport TDV8 (gone) 2007 Discovery HSE TDV6 (gone) 1993 110 csw 200 tdi (gone) 1994 90 HT 300 tdi (gone) 1994 discovery 300tdi (gone) 90 hybrid 3.5 v8 (gone) Range rover bobtail 3.5 v8 (gone) |
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1st Nov 2014 7:29am |
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| lohr500 Member Since: 14 Sep 2014 Location: Skipton Posts: 1316 
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Thanks for all the replies. I have changed the head unit but only to the Alpine as fitted to the 2014 XS. I don't think I have that much control over the tweeter frequency. I think I will look for a set of 4" JBL when I have some spare time.
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1st Nov 2014 1:31pm |
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| custom90 Member Since: 21 Jan 2010 Location: South West, England. Posts: 20359
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A more basic HU won't have independent frequency settings, only premium HU's tend to have these features. Normally £300 plus.
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1st Nov 2014 2:54pm |
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| Egoold Member Since: 02 Dec 2013 Location: Glasgow Posts: 110 
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I fitted a set of focals which as good as they are provide very little bass. I think a set of rear 6x9 or a sub would be a better option
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6th Nov 2014 4:32pm |
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| Mazzaman32 Member Since: 24 Apr 2014 Location: Kent Posts: 20 
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Thought I'd add my experience when upgrading the front speakers.....about to upgrade the rear as per my recent post. To be clear I'm no expert in ICE so I'm not recommending this - just providing my view based on the advice I was given and the results I gained.
1. Decided to upgrade the standard front 4" on my 110 XS with 4" Focal K2 100's. RESULT Sound clarity was worse than the originals.....rather annoying after spending £220 on them. 2. Contacted Focal to ask their opinion RESULT Suggested the Alpine head unit wasn't (a) powerful enough 4 x 50w actually equates to around 15-18RMS. The Focal speakers are 50 RMS so would be under powered and (b) the head unit isn't capable of delivering the correct frequency split to match the component speakers so they wouldn't be performing at their optimum. 3. Upgraded the HU to a new Alpine double din (as highlighted with install steps in a previous post) with improved sound output options / filters / lo/high pass etc RESULT Vastly improved clarity - but still not enough to fully drive the Focals (which I knew) 4. Added an Alpine plug n play amp pack (Alpine KTP-445A) which is extremely straight forward to install and requires no rewiring of speakers etc RESULT Great power and sound. Probably not comparable to a high powered amp but this will increase Alpine units to circa 45 RMS. The amp actually comes with what Alpine refer to as a 'birth certificate' stating what the final RMS output is at the final stage of production - Alpine suggest on average 10-15% above the stated 45RMS. Mine happened to be 49 RMS 
Anyway - may help for anyone wanting to upgrade without resizing their front speakers or expect amazing results from JUST upgrading the font speakers with high performance ones like I did. |
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7th Nov 2014 2:21pm |
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| lohr500 Member Since: 14 Sep 2014 Location: Skipton Posts: 1316
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Thanks for the input Mazzaman. Useful info.
Actually, after a reasonably long drive today, listening to a range of music and Radio 4 news, I've concluded that the basic system isn't too bad and I can probably live with it!! The Disco isn't my main set of wheels, so I think the money may be better put towards a decent set of tyres in readiness for winter. The sound system upgrade can be dealt with later if needs be. Thanks again to all others who provided input. |
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7th Nov 2014 3:33pm |
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| custom90 Member Since: 21 Jan 2010 Location: South West, England. Posts: 20359
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If you get into the territory of adding a 4 Chanel Amp and associated wiring it will start costing. Of course you get what you pay for don't get me wrong and once set up will sound great but the cost rises and rises on the power and quality of the kit.
Many people likely would not have the ability to wire it up safely either along with the associated adjustments required to the Amp. It will be difficult to get ultimate clarity in a Defender anyway as it has a lot of road noise and engine noise on its own. Sound proofing then add more costs and you can then go down that route of things. In a nutshell if you want an excellent system you'll have to dig deep, mid range and then there just a basic swap pot. A basic swap out is cheapest and gives a decent improvement for the money. Last edited by custom90 on 7th Nov 2014 8:59pm. Edited 1 time in total |
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7th Nov 2014 5:13pm |
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| kipperthedog Member Since: 27 Jun 2013 Location: Down South Posts: 403
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For what it's worth I have just completed a low/no budget "upgrade". The aim was to end up with something approaching what would be expected in an ordinary modernish car. So I have the factory 4" speakers in their low dash spot, tweeters out of an MGZR in the dash top and a pair of generic Ford (though they actually came out of an S-type Jag, psychologically better than a Mondeo...) 6x9/5x8s (not sure which but they are biggish and oval!).
Result....cheap as chips and good enough,certainly light years away from where it started. I may be wrong but with sound being moving air I thought I would try to increase the amount of moving air rather than up the quality of the 2 4"speakers. It kept me amused for a while anyway. |
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7th Nov 2014 6:46pm |
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| Shax Member Since: 05 Oct 2010 Location: London Posts: 391  
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Sounds like salesmans 80llocks to me.... (a) The RMS power of a speaker is the rated max input, not the amount they need to be driven.. The sensitivity in db is how loud they will sound with a given input voltage.. (b) the "correct frequency split" IS NOT delivered by the HU, it's done with the cross over in the speakers.. El-cheapo speakers just have a non polarised capacitor feeding the mid / tweeter.. And you can virtually guarantee the left and rights are not to any specific tolerance, so you get unbalanced sound. Decent crossovers have inductor / capacitor networks to correctly split the incoming sound source, and direct to the bass, mid or high range drive unit.. Just my 5p's worth, not wanting to upset anyone... ... ,-------, .. I [__][_]|__ .. I __ |"_|"__| .. "(o)====(o)" ^^_-^-_^-^_^^^^^--^^^^ PAUL G7ALW 14.200 USB 26FB458 / 27.275 SSB |
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17th Nov 2014 7:59pm |
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| Mazzaman32 Member Since: 24 Apr 2014 Location: Kent Posts: 20
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Thanks for your comments Shax - personally I wouldn't want to refer to Focal HQ as talking *******, but appreciate your view.
There's no doubt that the HU on its own wasn't powerful enough to drive the Focal K2 100s and by adding the amp vastly improved volume but more importantly quality. The point of my original note was just to flag to anyone thinking of upgrading their original LR speakers with expensive component speakers from Father Christmas (please don't tell me the nice man from Focal was also talking ******* about him  ) - they may not get the results they are expecting without also delivering greater power to drive them properly. Just out of interest the HU also allows me to select the frequency bandwidth delivered to a pair of speakers - Alpine ine925r. I understand your point but I like the fact this allows me to fine tune / adjust what frequencies are being delivered from the head to each pair of speakers....each to their own.
Anyway - all relative considering this is a Defender after all! |
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18th Nov 2014 6:03am |
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