Can 4" Coaxial Speakers and under seat Sub sound good?

[Rollin]

I'm pretty clueless about car audio as I've been happy with the standard fit one on my Audi.
I've bought a 35 year old car and the sound is crap. There are currently just two 4" speakers on each side of the dash top. They are made by Pioneer and searching shows they cost about £20 for 2.

I presume that spending more money would improve things so I'm looking for recommendations of 4" speakers. This is the only size that will fit in the dash and I don't want to chop holes anywhere else in the car.

I'd also like to improve the bass and think I can fit an active subwoofer under one seat. Any recommendations for that?

I understand that the compromises will result in a less than perfect result but I'm after a big improvement from what I have now.

Budget is about £300

Thanks

[David Beer]

What head unit are you using, I guess a less than 35yr! Dash speakers are tricky to improve on, you are right to go active sub. What car is it?

[Rollin]

It has a Sony CDX-GT24 which probably cost about £80 and will be changed later. Again, I haven't a clue how much I'll need to spend for something decent.

Car is a W123 Estate. You can see speaker position below

[vx220]

I've had good luck with Pioneer and Kenwood underseat subs (only if you have no other option)

Make sure that the new HU has a HPF for the front speakers and a LPF for the subwoofer

Also, for some Mercs there are replacement door panels with extra speakers from a company called Jennhart (IIRC)

[gmaz]

Yes a underseat sub allows low frequencies to be produced at the lower kind of volumes that a 4" speaker cannot. I had a pioneer that was very good.

Most can take a speaker level input so you can connect the rear outputs to the sub and then balance the fronts against the sub using the fader.

[steveo3002]

small amp + decent 4" speakers would get them sounding as nice as they can

then a sub once you have saved up a bit more

[Bobberoo99]

A lot depends on what sort of music you listen to, if you're into vocal driven music then probably a set on Alpine SPG-10C2's, if you prefer rock/guitar based stuff then Kenwood KFC-PS1095 / Pioneer TS-G1033 / JBL CS742 or if you want something for bass then Rockford Fosgate Punch P142's will be a safe bet, anything by Focal or Hertz will fit the bill nicely, as for hideaway subs, be careful that it doesn't get lost in the space of an estate car, Alpine's new SWE-815 sub is compact and yet packs a hell of a punch, is an active sub so amp built in and will take up very little space in the boot!!! HTH Chris

[Rollin]

I actually fitted those Alpine speakers last week. Also fitted a PWE-V80 under seat sub and a new head unit (Alpine CDE-196)

All sounds much better now!

[Bobberoo99]

Excellent choice of set up, is there anywhere else in the car you can fit speakers in a stock position?

[Tazar]

I have had several older Mercs and I always fit a newer Mercedes head unit such as the Audio 10 made by Alpine or Becker, the Audio 30 sat nav by Becker or Becker units themselves with or without sat nav.

People who have had experience of these units swear by them and wouldn't bother with anything else. I've always been very happy with them. Fit them with very good speakers that are hidden away under the MB speaker grilles and you can have great sound that doesn't look out of place.

I always buy the head units on eBay. There are several guys there selling them. Don't let the fact they may be based in Lithuania or Bulgaria put you off. I was initially suspicious but never had any problems with units I've bought from them. They always mention in the adverts if there are defects or not but mostly they are defect free.

Don't spoil your classic Mercedes with a modern chrome head unit. Likewise the display, get a colour matching your panel lights.

Just my thoughts from a classic car serial buyer.

[RedSwede]

For that situation, I can't recommend one of these highly enough:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JBL-CAR-DSP-iPod-iPhone...

Looking at it you might think it's a gimmick, but it really isn't and there are some seriously well engineered DSP algorithms in it. In your situation, it would of course only work for 3.5mm aux input.

For a classic, a period HU -> Line Out Converter -> JBL MS -> small amp -> 2 stock speakers + underseat powered subs is the answer. With some playing around with tuning, you will get a really good sound, it will look period, won't cost a fortune and be totally reversible.