speakers in doors

[markmanuel]

has any one changed over their door speakers in there cars and if so what one did they use. and how was it done, thank you

[adrianclifford]

It's easy enough to do Mark just remove the door cards and they are there looking at you, disconnect and remove.

I would ask why though, mine, both on the F and TF, have been up to whatever my stereo threw at it without changing them, in fact, I would say, they're not too bad at all. Unless you are placing an anormous amount of amplified power to them, I believe, through experience, they're capable.

[happychappy#1]

Before changing the door speakers on an F/TF you need to:-

1 - Identify the type of speaker that you currently have.

There are two types fitted to the MGF/TF series cars, the first type is a co-ax (single speaker) unit fitted to pre MY 2000 year cars which are easy to spot as the door card has only one large speaker aperture at the lower front edge of the door card. On newer MY 2000 and TF models they were upgraded to include a separate tweeter (these speakers are generally known as components), to throw the cat in amongst the pigeons its quite easy to upgrade the MK1 door cards to include tweeters simply by either using an appropriate sized hole saw or by purchasing some MK 2 door cards from somewhere like E-Bay.

2 - Decide budget

As mentioned above there are two types of speaker that can be used according to your door card type. The first is a single full range unit (often called a co-axial) that is fitted to the MK1 card and the second a component set which in a two way design (as fitted to MY200/TF) that have a separate mid bass/ tweeter and quite possibly a separate crossover (more on this later).

The prices for the co-ax speakers vary from around £20 up to £250. The components are a little dearer as they are more involved, they usually include a crossover, mid bass units and tweeters, the price range on these is from around £40 - £600! If I were looking for a good co-ax speaker I would be looking around the £30 - £60 mark and for the components around £40 - £100.

In these price ranges you will find competent speakers that should run happily from your headunit without the need for an amplifier. I would try to steer away from the lower priced Chinese imported ranges with names such as ticktackytoshi etc that are usually found on E-Bay and market stalls and stick to well regarded brands such as Alpine, Pioneer, JBL etc etc.

3 - Will it fit?

The mid bass/full range speaker aperture's will happily accept a 6.5 inch / 170mm sized speaker and the tweeter size is around 1". The mounting depth of most lower/ mid range units will be well within the tolerances of the fitted rain covers, its not until you start stepping up to very expensive speakers that the magnets at the rear start to become too large and at that stage you will be well into the higher price range and the associated expense of amps etc.

There are at least two (to my knowledge) types of rain covers fitted to F/TF's and these are used to attach the larger (mid bass/co-ax) speaker to the door.

The later covers are fixed to the speaker unit using pop rivets and I believe that the earlier ones used screws, although the pop riveting could still be used (recommended). These are both attached to the door itself by three self tappers.

If you decide to go down the component route (highly recommended) there will possibly be a separate crossover box for each mid bass/ tweeter pair (although some may have an in line crossover included in the wiring). These separate crossovers are generally good news as they usually allow some adjustment to the tweeter, therefore allowing you to adjust the sound to one that pleases your own ears. This box, which is usually about the size of a packet of cigarettes, will need to mounted quite close to the speakers, the usual place is at the outer side of the foot well using some hook & loop tape.

I used a pair of these in my TF and highly recommend them for a couple of reasons, firstly they represent excellent value secondly the fit perfectly into the rain covers and thirdly sound very good at that price point.

Hope this helps, feel free to PM me if I can help further in anyway

David

[markmanuel]

thank you for that all information i am now thinking on what to do now,

[colintf]

Don't forget the Dynamat - even if keeping the original speakers afterall!

I upgraded to Pioneer Component speakers - very very good.

[markmanuel]

did you need an amp to run the speakers,

[happychappy#1]

If you would like to avoid fitting an amp then take a look at the speakers performance figures, namely the sensitivity.

Most speakers will be around the 89db level, some will be higher and these, if you stick to a non amped system, are the ones to aim for. Basically it means that they will play louder for the same amount of inputed watts