Hi folks,
I need an advice from you.
I have a Renault Clio MkIV with some really lousy 5.25" speakers, two in the front doors, two in the back doors.
Renault has made some "Bass reflex" enclosures for the front speakers (plastic oval box with the port) and they actually help with the bass from the toy speakers, but it all sounds cheap and boomy.
Would changing the speakers to some quality ones (Focal, DLS...) and (optionally) pluging the port help? I don't expect miracles and the deep bass, just want the sound to be clean and tight.
I could get rid of the bass reflex enclosure and put 6" speakers with adapters, but I don't have a clue if the untreated door would be better choice. The advantage of Renault idea is that the doors are really not rattling as they normally do with the factory speakers.
Thanks a lot in advance!
I need an advice from you.
I have a Renault Clio MkIV with some really lousy 5.25" speakers, two in the front doors, two in the back doors.
Renault has made some "Bass reflex" enclosures for the front speakers (plastic oval box with the port) and they actually help with the bass from the toy speakers, but it all sounds cheap and boomy.
Would changing the speakers to some quality ones (Focal, DLS...) and (optionally) pluging the port help? I don't expect miracles and the deep bass, just want the sound to be clean and tight.
I could get rid of the bass reflex enclosure and put 6" speakers with adapters, but I don't have a clue if the untreated door would be better choice. The advantage of Renault idea is that the doors are really not rattling as they normally do with the factory speakers.
Thanks a lot in advance!
This is the enclosure and the factory speaker, you can roughly see the size of it
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Deaden the enclosure. Outside and inside. Deaden the whole doors will help a lot.
Changing the speakers to a more serious driver will help too a lot, but without deadening it may get worse...this one, the stock one, is a fullrange joke.
Your HU settings affect the sound a lot too.
If change the drivers, and deaden the doors and the enclosure, putting a dedicated amplifier will take this to another level - but it all depends on the budget.
Sound is a complex of complex stuff...that's why there is no easy and cheap fix...
Changing the speakers to a more serious driver will help too a lot, but without deadening it may get worse...this one, the stock one, is a fullrange joke.
Your HU settings affect the sound a lot too.
If change the drivers, and deaden the doors and the enclosure, putting a dedicated amplifier will take this to another level - but it all depends on the budget.
Sound is a complex of complex stuff...that's why there is no easy and cheap fix...
There is no such thing as BEST speakers or BEST sounding...it's purely subjective perception to the ear of each individual...and no, the low line of JBL speakers are immense cheap China made speakers and are far away from at least normal sounding...
If the mate is going to change the speakers - best chance is to hear before buying....
If the mate is going to change the speakers - best chance is to hear before buying....
Both posts above are correct: I replaced my OEM tweeters with a pair of JBL Club 750T, and they sound much, much better. It's also true that today's JBL's don't even remotely ressemble those of the era of signor Martini, AKA James Bullough Lansing. But then again, the OEM trash fitted to even upper-end cars like mine are so horrible anything can better them.
Zung, I see from your picture that you have a C-class Mercedes. Do you only switched the speakers to get a enjoyable sound, or do you needed more additions? Last week I picked up my new B180. It is equipped with the new 2019 internet enabled entertainement system, it even came with a 12 month Tidal HiFi subscription free of charge. Nice head unit with many capabilities, and the system sounded good when I heard it at the dealership on the demonstrator car. Turned out that the demo car was equipped with the optional upgraded speakers package. The stock speakers on my car are unfortunately far worse. They are so bad that I thought of a malfunction at first, they have boomy low and nasty high ends, worse than the Ford Fiesta factory speakers (just to get a reference). If a speaker upgrade will solve the issue without modifications to interior panels and electrical systems, that will be a great news.
Long story, and slighly off topic...
Let's start with the good news: congrats, you made a good choice with the B Class, it's got the latest and greatest instrumentation. I went to the Geneva car show in March and checked the S, E, and C Class, and they all have the old instruments; the horrible truth is MB has an inventory rotation of 10 years! They start the upgrade with the A & B, the others to follow. Well, you can say it's democratic.
My previous MB was a company car, so I ordered the €1500 Burmeister audio, and it was OK-ish. Because I have to pay for my current car, I've got the stock audio, and it's as horrible as you said, possibly even worse. Luckily, the problems I have are mostly in the upper range, so I replaced the tweeters with some JBL's, and they're OK: a bit sibilant, but bearable. I think the Focal's can be better, maybe I'll try them some day. And some day, I'll tackle the woofer, but that's a lot more work.
I don't use any of the the MB front-end; I have a little Fiio DAP that has this nice in-car feature: engine on, sound on, and the other way around, and I can play Hi-Res audio. I hope you've ordered the Aux-in feature, I don't think it's stock.
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I think it depends on your personal taste in music. If you are looking for decent bass response most speakers that are fed low wattage will sound better in a ported box if it is close to being tuned properly. There are some good sounding free air speakers out there but that all has to do with mechanical dampening as to whether they will sound good or not out of an enclosure. As a general rule, the stiffer the cone and suspension of the speaker the better it will sound free air. If you are not using an external amp to power them then in my opinion I would use the enclosure that is already in the car.
David
David
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You're probably looking at similiar performace with the 5¼" sealed in the enclosure or the 6½" directly in the doors. I like the idea of door speakers being enclosed, separated from the weather a bit. Most all of the 5¼" I put into factory door enclosures had much better midbass performance than the same speakers in open door installations- I did a lot of them way back when.
You already have both? Unless the Hertz are far superior, I'd put them in the back and
put the boxed DLS up front with my ears.
You already have both? Unless the Hertz are far superior, I'd put them in the back and
put the boxed DLS up front with my ears.
If you're working by the seat of your pants like this, minimize your variables. Seal the port up tight. If anything, the box is probably a little small for the 5¼", and a port won't do anything positive there. What it will do, aside from possibly increasing midbass boominess, is unload the speaker below port frequency so you reach xmax quickly without producing any useful output down there..
It looks round... cut a piece of wood if you can, screw it in from the sides. Use a bead of rope caulk between it and the tube, or a fillet of silicone-type caulk around the joint.
It looks round... cut a piece of wood if you can, screw it in from the sides. Use a bead of rope caulk between it and the tube, or a fillet of silicone-type caulk around the joint.
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