Mk2 V6 Clio stereo/speakers

[Dredd]

Im thinking about upgrading the stereo and/or speakers in my Mk2 V6 Clio. I mainly drive a Golf diesel for work purposes and the stereo in that is way better than in my Clio (at least to my ears it is).
Id like to keep the standard stereo if possible (dash display, steering column controls, etc), but would be more willing to upgrade the speakers and add an amp if necessary.
Can anyone recommend any kit which would achieve this, or recommend any car stereo specialists in the West Midlands who might be able to sort me out?

Thanks,
Dredd.

 

[Claire]

youd need an amp to get a decent improvement with any aftermarket speakers, as the wattage of the h/u is very poor. You only need a cheap amp (like the one Im selling, about 75 w rms is good enough for most comp sets) Take a look on caraudiodirects website as they have some cracking deals

 

[137699]

Actually I found that the power output from the h/u is pretty well specd (approx 40W RMS per channel I thnk). The front speakers are OK (blaupunkt components) but the rears are awful. I changed all mine (fitted Pioneer woofers on the front, with the blaupunkt tweaters and some alpine components on the rear) and it made some improvement, but the main issue stems from the fact that the speakers are only 13cm front & rear.

Ive just won an 8" dual-coil sub off ebay which Im going to build a box for out of MDF and mount on the rear shelf. Ill probably ditch the alpine rear woofer cones (but keep the tweaters), and instead wire the left & right feeds to each coil on the sub, as I think the amp in the headunit will be powerful enough to give the coils in the sub some clout.

Will post back my findings once its done!

 

[Claire]

No, sorry. On several h/us the wattage has been metered and its something stupidly low as in an average of 12w per channel. Not many headunit achieve the output that they state they have

Its not got an awful lot to do with size. If anything the mids may well give a tighter response. (Using different brand tweeters to the woofers, if they are a fairly low spec, might have impaired the SQ somewhat)



If I was you, Dredd, Id get some components for the fronts (tweeters in the Clios you see) to give a much better sound than any coaxials youd be able to get in the same price range. Try to aim for components worth at least 100, as in the higher price ranges these speakers really come into their own (I currently have a set worth 750 in my car)

Then get a amp to run them off. It neednt be very large so you could fin a nook somewhere in the car to hide it if you like.



Though I have just thought of an issue for you. Iirc the headunit doesnt have any RCAs (unless the V6 has a higher spec unit) So youre going to need to get round this (ie, a new fairly cheap h/u, say 150) in order to power the amp if you decide to go down this route

 

[Martin_172]

My pioneer unit is 4x 27Watts RMS (4x 50Watts MAX Power)

 

[Claire]

If you actually meter this youll almost definitely find it puts out nowhere near this wattage. This is why I disagree so much with rms ratings for on board amps in headunits. Just like preout voltages - they always say around about 4-5v, but when you set gains and scope everything, its always much closer to 2-3v

 

[137699]

Some feedback for you... I have ripped out my rear speakers, and have now fitted the dual-coil 8" sub that I bought off ebay, wiring up left & right inputs to seperate coil inputs on the sub.

In doing so, I found that the Renault wiring for the drivers side rear speaker was back to front, as when I used the +/- on the factory wires, the sub performed really badly, but when I swapped them over, it gave a much better sound! Also in fairness to Clairesclio, the stereo is rated at 4x15W, so not as powerful as I thought, but as the sub is dual coil, its getting 2 feeds, 30W in total, which isnt too bad.

As a result I have now Pioneer woofers & original Blaupunkt Renault tweaters in the front, Alpine tweaters on the rear, and an 8" sub mounted in a home-made MDF box sat on the shelf behind the seats.

I have not fitted any additional amp, just used the existing rear outputs to drive the sub, and put the tweaters in to keep a stereo perception from behind, and I refitted the rear speaker grills without the original speakers in place anymore.

Its all running from the original Renault tape/radio headunit with alpine under-seat cd changer.

The result, though clearly not earth-shattering from such a small sub, is a huge improvement over the flappy renault original speakers, and is good enough & loud enough for me it has to be said! May not impress your average max power reader, but fine for my more modest tastes!

I just need to get hold of some blue carpet to cover up my mdf box and some sticky velcro pads to affix it better to the shelf, and itll be job done! Will post some photos up when it looks presentable - as my home-made MDF thing doesnt exactly look very nice just now!


[Edited by 137699 on 24 July 2005 at 7:47pm]