Thinking of replacing the OEM stereo on my MY04 with something a bit less pants, for those time sat in traffic when there's no lovely engine note to listen to

Does anyone have any recommendations / good experiences with any in particular? I'm thinking possibly an Alpine HU (with DAB and iPhone connector), and Focal 165 components. Worried they may be too deep for the doors though.

 

Unclefester and Lovegroova are the guys to talk to about it. They recommended me some speakers a while ago. I'm using an Alpine HU with modifry dash control which I got second hand a few years ago. It's linked up to my ipod nano 4th gen and charges and utilises that aswel as Cd's. I can't remember the name of the speakers but you need to get reasonably shallow depth ones with adapters so the buckets don't fowl the windows.

 

You can make adapters for the doors to mount the speakers further out - that stops the magnets from hitting the windows as they go up and down. I think, from memory, there's a good 1.5" to 2" space between the doorcards and the inner doorskins so there's plenty of room to mount even fairly deep speakers as long as you get thick enough spacers.

http://www.caraudiod...cda-137bti.html

That seems pretty good for the money!

Or if you prefer Pioneer to Alpine ...

http://www.caraudiod...-deh-80prs.html

Make sure you spend some time dynamatting the outer doorskins too - that will really make a difference to the end sound quality.


Crossovers can be mounted to the rear of the polystyrene blocks on the door cards, you just cut away the required amount with a sharp knife.

 

I have an old Alpine IDA-x300 and Focal 165As - you'll need spacers but they'll fit and you'll need to be a bit creative with where you put the crossovers. The HU works well with the Celsus ASC2629+ ASCALPP remote control adapter and I have all the functions.

I also needed an aerial adapter like this one

 

Thanks guys! For the speaker spacers is it just a case of cutting a doughnut of mdf with the right depth and screw holes?

 

That's it - always varnish them / wrap them in gaffer tape so they become waterproof - MDF doesn't like moisture much

 

One more question - what tools am I likely to need for this job? And do I need a specific tool to remove the OEM head unit? Thanks so much for the advice so far.

 

Nope - it's all basic tools and simple screws.

Remember on a facelift car, you need to lift up the centre console to slide the radio fascia / door / trim out far enough to remove it. There is a knack to doing this to avoid breaking it or the clips

 

I'm looking for some decent speakers too, which ones would you suggest UF? I don't want to mess around with amps just have something a bit better than the oem ones.

I've already got a sony headunit in there.

 

Those Focal ones are lovely but also keep an eye out on Ebay for Alpine Type R components, PaulF got a bargain with the ones he picked up