Mk1 MR2 audio

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Discussion

Heaveho

Original Poster:

5,307 posts

175 months

Monday 4th May 2020
quotequote all
I'm trying to strike a balance between keeping my '88 MR2 as visually original as is reasonable whilst making as much of it as possible. The audio is not something I intend to change dramatically, so it still has the factory head unit supplemented by the optional Toyota period single play cd, which I intend to keep. I've changed the only speakers the car has in the front, these being 4" items in the dash. They're now Hertz items, and for the size they're decent enough.

The rear speakers are a complete waste of time, 3.5" mounted at head height in the rear. I've disconnected them. To get a little more bass, I've made up some boxes, copied from plans from a forum, which sit on the floor behind the seats. The question is, should I just use these for dedicated bass speakers, or 6x9s, which won't have the depth of bass and will not transmit much in the way of high frequencies from that location. The other problem being that the factory head unit is quite low powered, and may not have the juice to make a bass speaker work properly. The boxes can't take a speaker of more than 8" diameter.

Thanks for any advice.

gmaz

4,414 posts

211 months

Monday 4th May 2020
quotequote all
Get an under-seat sub with its own power amp

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/subwoofers/amplifi...

Heaveho

Original Poster:

5,307 posts

175 months

Tuesday 5th May 2020
quotequote all
gmaz said:
Get an under-seat sub with its own power amp

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/subwoofers/amplifi...
I thought about that, but I don't think the head unit has any pre outs.

Murph7355

37,760 posts

257 months

Thursday 28th May 2020
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If you want to use the car why not just replace the head unit but keep the original wrapped up in a box for if you ever need to sell?



Bobberoo99

38,712 posts

99 months

Thursday 25th June 2020
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Heaveho said:
gmaz said:
Get an under-seat sub with its own power amp

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/subwoofers/amplifi...
I thought about that, but I don't think the head unit has any pre outs.
It doesn't need pre-outs, you can run most add on active subs from the speaker level outputs for the rear speakers, and still run the rear speakers too. OR if you wanted to you could run the speaker levels through a four channel booster amp, would mean a bit of rewiring but the improvement would be dramatic. Why do you say a pair of 6x9s wouldn't improve the quality of sound from the floor mounted position? I think if you ran a four channel booster amp you'd be surprised by the quality of sound.

Om

1,780 posts

79 months

Thursday 25th June 2020
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On my Mk1 MR2 I had a single 12" sub in a shallow enclosure behind the passenger seat with the amp mounted behind the drivers seat, then replaced the standard speakers with good quality aftermarket replacements.

The sub and amp could be removed in a few seconds if needed. You dont need much more in a cabin as small as the MR2.