Speaker upgrades for Tuscans

[msmit660]

I know a number of Tuscan owners have had their speakers upgraded by Carl Baker, so I wanted to findout if the standard stereo was suffient to drive the upgraded MB speakers and did they notice any improvement by just doing this?

And where were the crossover units located during the installation, because I don't want any unsightly boxes seen from inside the car?

Does anyone have any pictures of their speaker upgrades?

[tcant]

Carl Baker did my speaker upgrade. He did a really tidy job but I did not try it with the existing head unit. I had the factory head unit with the 6 stacker in the boot which I asked Carl to replace with an Alpine head unit with ipod interface. I was driving through europe at spirited speeds with the roof off and could hear the audio clearly above the wind noise and the CCC's.
It is a very loud system but does not distort until pushed way above comfortable listening levels.

Some pics of the install below:







I hope that helps!

[pete]

I've been meaning to post pictures of mine for ages. I did my upgrade myself, and it consists of:

• Pioneer DEH-77MP head unit; venerable, but looks and sounds fantastic

• 3.5" Infinity front speakers, mounted in custom enclosures on the dash shelf, and running off the head unit. As far as I remember these are high-passed around 120Hz using the head unit's cross over, just to bring some of the stereo image forward.

• Genesis Profile 4 amp in the boot. Not so powerful on paper, but very small and light, and plenty of "real world" power

• MB Quart Reference 10cm components in the rear side panels, driven off two channels of the amp, and with crossovers hidden in the side panels. There's no real point in having components in this location, I could have just used coaxials, but I got a great deal on these. I know the location is rubbish for stereo imaging, but the hifi is somewhat secondary, and there's bugger all room in the doors without a lot of fabrication work.

• A pair of Genesis Profile 6x9 subs mounted in a carpeted MDF panel at the back of the cabin, which is very securely mounted to the original fibreglass panel. The subs are 8 ohm, unusually, so they run in parallel happily off two channels of the Genesis in bridged mono. No point having subs in stereo in this small a space!

• Pioneer CD changer and DAB module, mounted where TVR original stuck them.

It sounds great, or rather as good as you can expect with the amount of wind, road and engine noise in a Tuscan. It certainly goes loud enough to be heard at speed with the roof off, and there's almost zero distortion, which is a testament to that little Genesis amp. Pictures here:

[msmit660]

Thanks Guys, some very interesting and different installations.

I can see where the amp is installed on Pete's car, but where is the crossovers normally installed on a MD Quart installation and what settings have you tried configuring your tweeters to?

[BDM]

Pete how did you earth your install? Are you using an isolator to stop alternator whine or do you have good earths? Where did you stick the crossovers?

Interested in how easy an install is on a tuscan as ive done all my cars myself... Would like to do the same with this one.

[pete]

BDM said:

Pete how did you earth your install? Are you using an isolator to stop alternator whine or do you have good earths? Where did you stick the crossovers?

Interested in how easy an install is on a tuscan as ive done all my cars myself... Would like to do the same with this one.

I ended up running an earth all the way back to the battery - fortunately no evidence of alternator noise or ground loops. The alternative is to use the earth from the fuel pump, which is just under the boot on the chassis.

Crossovers are velcro'd in place in the void between the outer wing and the inner trim where the components are mounted. No problems with them so far. If I remember correctly, I used the -3dB attenuated connection on the crossover for the tweeters; it was way too bright on 0dB.

The Tuscan is really easy to work on. If you pull the carpet away from the inner sill, you can route cables easily through the cabin, then loosening a few screws allows you to route the cables under the seatbelts and up behind the side trims (where my components are). That space is open to the boot; you can feel the rough fibreglass of the inner wing if you stick your hand up above where the roof release handles are. The most complex part of the job was keeping all the cables behind the head unit tidy enough that it would fit back into the pod! Well, that and getting the shape of the MDF sub panel right...

Pete

[RPE11Y]

[/quote]Well, that and getting the shape of the MDF sub panel right...
[/quote]


Yeah, I've been thinking about that one too - how did you do it, and how did you fix it?

[pete]

RPE11Y said:

Yeah, I've been thinking about that one too - how did you do it, and how did you fix it?

Lots of measurements to get a horizontal and vertical profile, then a cardboard template which started out a bit oversize and was gradually trimmed with lots of trial and error.

The panel is spaced off the rear bulkhead with various wooden constructions! It's then screwed to the bulkhead using self-tappers put in from the boot above the petrol tank, with washers to spread the load on the fibreglass. The MDF is covered in sound deadening material on the back and carpet on the front; it's also a very snug fit, so it doesn't vibrate too much. If anything it doesn't need the screws as it's so tight, but I wouldn't want it to make a bid for freedom under heavy braking.

Not hard to do, just take your time and mock it all up in cardboard first.

Pete

[BDM]

Sorry how did you get the cables from the cabin into the boot?

How did you get the cables in from the battery compartment?

Thanks mate

[pete]

Cables from the cabin from the boot are easy - there's a space all the way from behind the panel where the standard speakers are all the way to the top corners of the boot. Take a speaker out and push a piece of wire through, you'll see what I mean.

To get power and earth to the battery I enlarged the existing hole in the passenger footwell, then resealed it with sikaflex once everything was wired up and working. One concession to practicality is mounting the fuse holder for the amp on the inside of the footwell, not on top of the battery; it's only a matter of a few inches more unfused wiring.

Pete

[dvs_dave]

I went a slightly different route although I believe is just as effective. Crucially it's very simple, very light weight (silly having a big heavy sound system in a light weight sports car, no?) and was very cheap.

I am running the standard speaker locations (with dynamat) but have added some small midrange/tweeters on the dash in much the same way as others have done. The side and front speakers are run off the head unit (Alpine ipod media reciever) and high passed at 80hz to keep them distortion free at high volumes.

For the bass, I installed an active sub under the carpet in the passenger footwell against the battery compartment bulkhead. here it is totally invisible and only reduces the already deep footwell depth by 65mm which is negligable. As the battery is located just behind, wiring it to the battery and connecting it to the head unit sub pre-outs was a cinch.

I elected to go for a Mutant MT-5AS sub (excuse the MaxPower link) as I found it re-branded as a Ripspeed unit in Halfords for £39.99!! (Ripspeed PSR-135A).

It was well worth a punt at that price. Once installed and properly adjusted, I'm amazed at to how good it sounds. It really has a lot of power and it gives suprisingly deep, solid and punchy bass. It really is a massive improvement.

Now that I know this is a great location for a sub, I have found a much higher quality and more powerful unit made by Clarion (SRV-313) which will fit in the same space, so that's the next upgrade to make on the car audio front.


If you want silly boy racer Earth shaking bass this isn't for you, but if you just want good quality realistic sound just as the composer intended (the measure of any good sound system), then this is hard to beat for the simplicity and price.

[BDM]

Hmm i like the info guys... Seems like an easy job compared to my Porsche... Tweeter wise in the door cars? Enough space there? How have people attached speakers there?

Sound proofing wise? I guess even if you had a small 8" sub all your going to get is alot of rattling...Lol...

Can see that most people who have this Carl Baker set up are just running a 3-way component set up.

Are there holes in the back of the shelf or have people made them?