Newbie - Help on Mk3.5 Cabrio speaker upgrade

[seanbeer]

hi and Merry Chritmas everyone,

I just bought myself a 1999 Mk4 (3.5) cabriolet, it has its a Kenwood HU which I find to be good enough for my purpose and I think i would like to start the upgrade from doing the speakers first.

There are 6 locations with speakers at this momoent, pair on the dash, pair in front door, and pair at the back.

now my questions:

1. Are all grilles removable without removing any of the panels and hence easy DIY swapping possible?
2. I have read that if speakers that are too deep are installed at the back in particular, they might foul the back windows on the cabriolet, so would it be possible to find any after market stuff that is same depth of the original?
3. if i choose to have components at the front, is easy DIY possible? where is the best place to hide the X-over?
4. not many info on the cabriolet, should i just look for info for MK3s? are they excately the same for the front speakers?

many thanks guys.

btw, i am from Hong Kong. 

[tommk3cab]

1.
yes they are all removable, the ones in the dash can be tricky to get out without breaking.
2.
you do need to be careful of depth, some shallow speakers can be had for relatively cheap. Don't worry too much about the rear speakers though, concentrate more on the front.
3.
components would be the way to go if you wanted to amp them, if not just go for coaxes. You can get comps designed to run off small amounts of power but you are neer going to get amazing results from a true, absolute maximum of about 25w from the HU.
4.
I think they are the same, if not very similar, I have a MK3 convertible and I have been in a few MK4's and they look no different inside to me, I have never torn one apart though so I can't say for sure.

[seanbeer]

Thanks for the info.

by MK3s, i mean should i look for info for MK3 non-cabriolets.

anyway, while sitting in traffics, i pop opened the dash cover and there is a tweeter there, so i suppose there is only mids in the front doors. may be i will just upgrade it to a set of comps.

i did that in my old fiesta with similar powered HU, and i find the result good enough for me, so it should also work for me this time, if there is no drop in coax for the back i will just leave it as it is now.

now, let's do some christmas shopping.....

[tommk3cab]

Thanks for the info.

by MK3s, i mean should i look for info for MK3 non-cabriolets.

i did that in my old fiesta with similar powered HU, and i find the result good enough for me, so it should also work for me this time, if there is no drop in coax for the back i will just leave it as it is now.

sounds good to me, but it is xmas eve, everything sounds good to me;)

by MK3s, i mean should i look for info for MK3 non-cabriolets.

yeah, the mk3 non cabrio's should be the same as the cabrio's, at least for most bits, except window seals and things.

[seanbeer]

yeah, just checked, all grilles come off easy.
the front speaker has to be shallow, 6.5cm depth max otherwise it will touch the eletric window unit.

and for the back, u are right, leave them alone for now, perhaps.

and i didn't manage to take the tweeter unit out. but i konw what i want, a comp for the front and a new unit that will control ipod. i think i will let the shop do it.

[tommk3cab]

i didn't manage to take the tweeter unit out. but i konw what i want, a comp for the front and a new unit that will control ipod. i think i will let the shop do it.

to get the tweeter pod out you just need to turn it, it can be quiet difficult. you need to grip it tight and turn it one way or the other, I can't remember which way for sure.

My old comps were a bit deep so I had them mounted magnet out, its fine if you don't kick them.

[seanbeer]

thanks again.

don't think i can do a set of comp by myself coz i wouldn't konw where to hide the x-over.

btw, do u konw where the stock x-cover is or does it have one? say if i just changed the door to coax, does signal going there has the highs cut off?  from what i can hear, the tweeter seems to have to handel the mids too coz i can clearly vocal from the tweeters

[madgti]

hello

[tommk3cab]

thanks again.

don't think i can do a set of comp by myself coz i wouldn't konw where to hide the x-over.

btw, do u konw where the stock x-cover is or does it have one? say if i just changed the door to coax, does signal going there has the highs cut off?  from what i can hear, the tweeter seems to have to handel the mids too coz i can clearly vocal from the tweeters

sorry, I was AFK for a few days.

anyway. If you are planning on running a component set from the head unit then you can stick the xovers anywhere, as long as they don't get too wet ( so sat in the bottom of the door is a no-no)

As standard they do not have a crossover, all they have is a capacitor in the +ve line of the tweeter, if you get the tweeter pod out you will see this pretty easily. The wires which do not 'run through' this capacitor are full range wires which go down to your door speakers.

[seanbeer]

all done all done. the shop where I bought all the stuff installed for me as well.

a sony head unit (very entry level one) but comes with an ipod connection lead at the back which is now hiden in the grovebox, the head unit can take control of the ipod as well as charging it up, lovely !

Pioneer TW-A1720C installed at the front , little cross over near where the tweeter is.

some unknown brand component at the back, the brand is called "Twister", the shop took its time and find this can be fitted to and affordable comp for me.

next step if i am gonna do it, is an amp to drive the front and a little sub.
or perhaps just an active sub. not sure.

to save space , i  think i wanna to go free-air and just has the sub mounted to the back of the back seats. will that work?