I've just spent an entertaining day outside (I like this stuff) fitting
a new car radio in prep for a dreaded travelling job driving for two
months along it seems all the motorways in England.

The original Grundig stereo in the car (Skoda Octy) wasn't that bad
(great cassette!) but there were some features I needed in the
replacement like MP3 and iPod playback, so I plumped for a cheap Kenwood
CD thing from the local Halfords "Half Price Sale".

And to do the upgrade job "er properly, brother" I had some fancy
'component' speakers left in the garage (woofers, tweeter and a
crossover) removed from a previous amplified car (I was young...), so in
they went (long job) replacing the original speakers in the front doors.
Had to find somewhere ingenious for the crossover modules.

Now, I still had the original radio in there while fitting those
speakers, and as a goodbye test to that old thing, I decided to see if
the components made any discernable difference. Er, nope. In fact worse.
A lot worse. Muddy distorted bass, barely any treble. Oooo. Poor old
stereo is clipping - it just don't have the oompfh.

So, I wandered over to an American supplier of these high quality but
understandably low efficiency speakers and read "Just replace your
original speakers with these. You'll honestly be amazed by the
difference!". Yup. That's US marketting for ya. The shop keepers must
keep baseball bats handy for defence from their returning customers.

Anyway, with trepidation (that is, praying that I won't need to
eventually install hundreds of watts of amplification in the back of the
car) I installed the new stereo.

It powered up and played a MP3. It sounded fine. Music as expected. Hey,
the sun is shining. Beer... ;-)

I could have just left the stock speakers in there and just swapped in
the head unit. The job that non-DIY folk would hand over Halfords £25 to
just expertly unclip ISO leads and fit their new toy.

I'm just thinking that with this car (and presumably similar in the
VW/Audi group) that wouldn't have been a satifactory experience either.
With the new head unit a short stab of bass would have pulverised those
old high efficiency OEM speakers.

And in a similar situation, that experience would have been a return
trip for some to Halfords, to select and have new speakers fitted.
Anyone know what their staff response and typical costs incurred to sort
that out? Profitable?

--
Adrian C

Adrian C wrote:
I've just spent an entertaining day outside (I like this stuff)
fitting a new car radio in prep for a dreaded travelling job driving
for two months along it seems all the motorways in England.

Well if you pass Jct 37/38 of the M1 call in for a cuppa.

--
Adam

"Adrian C" wrote in message
...
I've just spent an entertaining day outside (I like this stuff) fitting a
new car radio in prep for a dreaded travelling job driving for two months
along it seems all the motorways in England.

The original Grundig stereo in the car (Skoda Octy) wasn't that bad (great
cassette!) but there were some features I needed in the replacement like
MP3 and iPod playback, so I plumped for a cheap Kenwood CD thing from the
local Halfords "Half Price Sale".

And to do the upgrade job "er properly, brother" I had some fancy
'component' speakers left in the garage (woofers, tweeter and a crossover)
removed from a previous amplified car (I was young...), so in they went
(long job) replacing the original speakers in the front doors. Had to find
somewhere ingenious for the crossover modules.

Now, I still had the original radio in there while fitting those speakers,
and as a goodbye test to that old thing, I decided to see if the
components made any discernable difference. Er, nope. In fact worse. A lot
worse. Muddy distorted bass, barely any treble. Oooo. Poor old stereo is
clipping - it just don't have the oompfh.

So, I wandered over to an American supplier of these high quality but
understandably low efficiency speakers and read "Just replace your
original speakers with these. You'll honestly be amazed by the
difference!". Yup. That's US marketting for ya. The shop keepers must keep
baseball bats handy for defence from their returning customers.

Anyway, with trepidation (that is, praying that I won't need to eventually
install hundreds of watts of amplification in the back of the car) I
installed the new stereo.

It powered up and played a MP3. It sounded fine. Music as expected. Hey,
the sun is shining. Beer... ;-)

I could have just left the stock speakers in there and just swapped in the
head unit. The job that non-DIY folk would hand over Halfords £25 to just
expertly unclip ISO leads and fit their new toy.

I'm just thinking that with this car (and presumably similar in the
VW/Audi group) that wouldn't have been a satifactory experience either.
With the new head unit a short stab of bass would have pulverised those
old high efficiency OEM speakers.

And in a similar situation, that experience would have been a return trip
for some to Halfords, to select and have new speakers fitted. Anyone know
what their staff response and typical costs incurred to sort that out?
Profitable?



My old gamme unit in my golf is not to shabby tbh. Although I like to keeo
things stock I tried finding something a little more powerful like a beko
unit but keeping he oem look without the beastie hanging out 5 inches and
having so many neons it looks like an alien landing strip I was impressed. I
also amped it I'm still whats considered as young pre 40 I also do a lot
of motorway driving, not sales thank god.

When I changed the speakers for a beautiful set of alpines jobbies the only
issues I had were drilling the ****ing rivets out of the old speakers. Also
I had to put in a speaker adapter to fit and hold it in place, I used some
small self tappers to secure it and left the rive gun in the attic. I think
it was 16.5" similar size in the octavia.

I wouldn't trust the spot faced youth to touch my car, let lone take a door
card of and change speakers. Imagine the difficulty there iq will face when
connecting back coloured coded leads.

"ARWadsworth" wrote in message
...
Adrian C wrote:
I've just spent an entertaining day outside (I like this stuff)
fitting a new car radio in prep for a dreaded travelling job driving
for two months along it seems all the motorways in England.

Well if you pass Jct 37/38 of the M1 call in for a cuppa.



Adam, I know where I'm heading right now for a cuppa

Pete wrote:
"ARWadsworth" wrote in message
...
Adrian C wrote:
I've just spent an entertaining day outside (I like this stuff)
fitting a new car radio in prep for a dreaded travelling job driving
for two months along it seems all the motorways in England.

Well if you pass Jct 37/38 of the M1 call in for a cuppa.



Adam, I know where I'm heading right now for a cuppa

You would be welcome.

I have met some of regular posters when I travelled the country.

Not met a bad one yet.

--
Adam