Summer tunes! (stereos and speaker advice)

timwatsham · Post by **timwatsham** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 6:18 pm

Well, I purchased the underdash speaker housing at Christmas, but haven't got round to fitting it yet. I bought it without the speakers, assuming that it would be better to find some over here.

Has anyone who has made this mod got any recomendations on speakers to use? What have people got in their car? Should I just go to Halfords and get a couple of pairs of the £40 a pair ones? Will they be loud enough when enjoying the car on long journeys?

Any recomendations on head units?

And how easy is it to wire it all in - any advice on where to source power from as my current original radio seems to be without any power.

is there an ariel anywhere?

Gilbert '71 T · Post by **Gilbert '71 T** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 8:48 pm

Hi Tim,

I bought my underdash without speakers as well and fitted JBL components, 1 mid & 1 tweeter, can't remember the size but i took the underdash part into a stereo shop and got them to find a suitable sized pair.

Head unit I've got one of these, really nice retro looks and a great sound, i think the unit is discontinued but you can still get them on ebay or some on-line shops

http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/product_det ... _id=25-121

For the power source I took mine from the clock fuse for the preset memory and another (which I can't remember) for the switched power, it's just a case of checking the fuses with a multimeter and seeing what are live and what are switched, you'll need the two as well, modern units have a red and a yellow power lead, both need to be connected.

If you're ever passing through you're very welcome to come and check it out

Hope this helps

bahama68 · Post by **bahama68** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 11:54 am

I have the same stereo as Gilbert. It fits nicely as it's got a kind of retro look. I got a couple of pioneer speakers to go with it. The sound quality's good, although it's not as bassy as having them in the doors.

I got the underdash speaker jobby at xmas too and fitted it all in at Easter. The speakers were too big for the holes but it was easy to to cut them bigger.

The stereo that was in my dash wasn't wired, so I had to start from scratch. I'm a complete novice with these things but I found it really easy. I took a permanent feed off the back of the ignition switch (there's a thread about it somewhere on here) and put in an inline fuse to make sure I didn't burn my car to the ground.

I fitted the headunit into my glovebox so I didn't have to hack my dash to pieces.

John

Gilbert '71 T · Post by **Gilbert '71 T** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 8:07 pm

I use my car alot and I like tunes in the car, if you want to listen to your flat 6 wailing in delight turn the stereo off

If you want a bit of extra bass I've found these pretty good, fills out the sound a bit, dead easy to wire in, just about fits under the seat and is easy to remove and unplug

infact I've wired both my 911 and my 914 so this can be swapped between the two, it really makes a huge difference in the 914.

http://www.incarexpress.co.uk/view_prod ... no=SWD1600

Post by **Bootsy** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 11:54 am

When picking a head unit it might be worth picking one with adjustable staging (DSO or the like) this allows you to artificially raise the stage which helps the sound dramtically IMO whenspeakers are forced to be placed lower than you perhaps would normally choose.

Gilbert '71 T · Post by **Gilbert '71 T** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 11:59 am

Good point Bootsy, this is one of the features of the retro pioneer unit i have, i didnt now what is was at first and road tested the unit twiddling all the settings then couldnt fathom why it was going quieter as i slowed down

bahama68 · Post by **bahama68** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 12:04 pm

Cheers Darren, I might have to get me one of them. Does it need it's own power feed or does it just run off the headunit?

John

Gilbert '71 T · Post by **Gilbert '71 T** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 12:23 pm

Hello John,

If you go through the menu, bass treble etc. until you get to ASL (automatic sound leveller) and turn it up wherever suits, I have mine at +3 there's no faffing with the volume control once you get over/under certain speeds around town

higher speeds I still need to turn it up even more though (targa's and wind noise eh

)

I'm really pleased with the unit so far, looks good at night too, nice and simple no fussyness or flashy lights that these modern fandango units have.

There is another retro unit on the market from Becker but look at the price

http://www.beckerwarehouse.co.uk/produc ... 7948_retro

Gilbert '71 T · Post by **Gilbert '71 T** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 12:32 pm

Sorry John did you mean the Apline sub thing?

has 3 wires, yellow which can be run off the same yellow wire as the headunit, the blue switch wire coming from the back of the unit goes to the blue wire on the sub, and a black earth.

there's also a pre-out on the back of the unit to plug phono cables from the headunit to the sub. easy as that

timwatsham · Post by **timwatsham** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 2:59 pm

Great looking stereo, think I'll try to track one of those down... And then plan a weekend with my dad down at his place getting him to help me. Much as I love tinkering, I have had bad experiences with stereos, so think I'll get him to help on the wiring...

Good point about taking the speaker housing into a shop... Hadn't thought of that....

bahama68 · Post by **bahama68** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 3:14 pm

Tim - sorry for hijacking your thread.

Darren - Yeah I did mean the sub thing. I've already got the same Pioneer headunit, although I didn't have a clue about the ASL, so thanks for teaching me about that

I see the sub thing can be used with another sub or on it's own. Do you have another sub attached to it. I'd rather just stick it under my seat on it's own, any idea if that'll be enough bass?

Cheers
John

Nige · Post by **Nige** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 3:36 pm

I've been scouring Ebay for one of those Pioneer jobbies, they're quite priccy new, so I'll go with a hot ebay one. About £150 s/hand seems the going rate.

I've currently got standard JVC headunit and 12 disk changer in the boot, which I want to ditch as its pretty average and the main lead from the changer is pretty flimsey and occasionally only plays out of one channel and requires a technical wiggle of the wires.

All I have speaker wise is a pair of Phoenix 6" components in the front doors which do give good sound and don't look out of place. It good do with some extra oomph with a good pair of 6x9s in the back and an amp. But I can't really be ar*ed.

Gilbert '71 T · Post by **Gilbert '71 T** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 9:23 pm

bahama68 wrote:I see the sub thing can be used with another sub or on it's own. Do you have another sub attached to it. I'd rather just stick it under my seat on it's own, any idea if that'll be enough bass?

The sub won't make your car shake by any means, so don't get any ideas of competing with the halfords boys

I've found it just fills out the sound in a nice way. I've got one of these in the back as well with some Pioneer components. All 3, the underdash, the sub and the rear unit work together nicely

timwatsham · Post by **timwatsham** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 10:21 am

Is anyone else on here bidding on the Pioneer unit on E-bay at the moment?

I was and have just been outbid - just wanted to make sure there weren't 2 of us pushing the price up needlessly...

PM me if you are and we can discuss tactics!