[kenfowler]

Hello,

I've posted in the electronics section but this section seems a little faster. I want to upgrade my speakers sometime soon and am not really wanting to add an amp or sub, mainly due to the prices of the small sub boxes and all. Plus I may be needing to spend money on other common lotus issues (dash cluster...2nd gear synchro :facepalm)

Right now I just want to turn up my music loud enough to hear without the front speakers going boom lol will upgrading speakers make a big difference without adding a sub/amp?

I've read about the front speaker mod but I don't want to cut into my dash since it is covered in suede/alcantara. I think that cutting would ruin that.

Any suggestions? I've heard the JL C2s are pretty nice, but was wondering if there were any other options that can be turned up extra loud and sound okay? My head unit is a Pioneer AVIC-z140bt.

Thank you.

 

[Swic]

I have 5.25" front speakers and 6.5" rear speakers. I don't know how bad the stock setup is, but I do know that my current setup sounds pretty good! No amp, though I will likely look into it in the future

 

[Wubot]

You can upgrade the speakers. Get the ring adapters that someone sells on the forums to upgrade to 5.25" speakers up front. Also get the Alpine Amp for the speakers that fit in behind the deck/steering wheel column. Look into the KTP-445A for Alpine Head Units, and KTP-445U for a universal one. I have it, and it sounds pretty good, but I also had a sub installed behind the seats.

 

[kenfowler]

Yeah, I don't think I can do the ring adapters. check out the picture of the dash. I think I'll have to find some bad-assss 4" speakers...if they exist. But I haven't looked, maybe the previous owner had the kit put in already???:crazyeyes these speakers look bigger than 4" but maybe I'm wrong...

 

[Patiotray]

Those look much bigger than stock to me. I have upgraded 4" Polk speakers in my recently purchased Elise and they do not make a big improvement, even with a really good Kenwood head unit. I will no doubt be adding a subwoofer at some point.

 

[kenfowler]

Really? I haven't given em a second look. Just figured they may have been stock. The previous owner said that he had Polk speakers put in but I don't think they're polk. The back definitely aren't. but it's fine either way. I wish I had a way of figuring this out easier lol

EDIT: Verified from the previous owner that the speakers are in fact larger than stock. Is there any way to measure them without popping them out?

 

[wadesun]

Focal 4" speakers

I had stock Blaupunkt speakers with the Elise, both front and back. The fronts make the most difference, I bought Focal 4" speakers for the front since I didn't want to cut or fiddle with any ring adaptors, they sound good when loud, much better than the crappy sounding 4" front Blaupunkts. Based on this, I went ahead and bought 5.25" Focal speakers for the rears, but did an A/B comparison and didn't notice much difference, so I returned them. But still, my system lacked the "Rumbling BASS". So, since I drive alone 90% of the time, I strapped my bass-amp (Yorkville bx-50) to the passenger seat and took out the passenger rear speaker, spliced and soldered a 1/4" music cable to the output, and used an AC inverter for powering the bass-amp. The thing now kicks out more low-end than any sub-woofer I have heard!

Hello,

I've posted in the electronics section but this section seems a little faster. I want to upgrade my speakers sometime soon and am not really wanting to add an amp or sub, mainly due to the prices of the small sub boxes and all. Plus I may be needing to spend money on other common lotus issues (dash cluster...2nd gear synchro :facepalm)

Right now I just want to turn up my music loud enough to hear without the front speakers going boom lol will upgrading speakers make a big difference without adding a sub/amp?

I've read about the front speaker mod but I don't want to cut into my dash since it is covered in suede/alcantara. I think that cutting would ruin that.

Any suggestions? I've heard the JL C2s are pretty nice, but was wondering if there were any other options that can be turned up extra loud and sound okay? My head unit is a Pioneer AVIC-z140bt.

Thank you.

 

[aschen]

When I had an elise I upgraded the fronts just to some cheap take off alpines from an exige. The difference was quite big.

The stock "blue points" must be the worst speakers in modern times. Actually I think they were chosen for light wieght, the magnets are tiny

 

[kenfowler]

I suck. I can't even figure out how to pop off the metal cage around the front speaker lol I assumed it was the two holes in the cover

 

[gooberschnot]

I suck. I can't even figure out how to pop off the metal cage around the front speaker lol I assumed it was the two holes in the cover

I used a needle nose plier and pry/rolled thme out like a can of spam. I tried replacing just the fronts before as well as the rears. There just isnt enough acoustic volume for any bass no matter what you use. Adding a pdx5 and a jl sub made all the difference.

 

[sturgeongeneral]

Upgrading the speakers will help but I don't think that it will be enough without an amp.

 

[JamesAllen]

Upgrading all my speakers, head unit and a self powered sub were the first (and only) mod I did on my car for years. The difference was day and night.

After a couple years, the sub died. It was like I instantly switched from drinking Guinness to Busch N/A.

Moral of the story: Get a sub. Mine was cheap, self powered, installed easily between/behind the seats and makes a world of difference.

 

[kenfowler]

These aren't four inch right?

 

[kenfowler]

Upgrading all my speakers, head unit and a self powered sub were the first (and only) mod I did on my car for years. The difference was day and night.

After a couple years, the sub died. It was like I instantly switched from drinking Guinness to Busch N/A.

Moral of the story: Get a sub. Mine was cheap, self powered, installed easily between/behind the seats and makes a world of difference.

What kind. Did installation require running cables everywhere and removing the dash or seats?

 

[JamesAllen]

What kind. Did installation require running cables everywhere and removing the dash or seats?

No removing the dash, but I think the passenger seat came out. Power to the battery went through the access panel already in the firewall. No cables that I can see, but that's what I paid Best Buy $99 for

 

[Viggen]

You are at the limit of the deck..... Personally I would deal with what you have then do it right when money is more willing. Alpines power pack that was mentioned earlier does help and is a simple and cheap way to improve sound. They are $150 ish and do not need any extra wires run..... However not close to the sound of a solid conventional amp. But then you have to buy power, RCA, etc cables.....

Putting better quality speakers in and leaving everything else the same will only have a slight change in sound mostly due to different sound of the speaker itself and the same issues of not going loud enough. If your present speakers aren't blown.... The new speakers will more then likely pop and make funky noises at the same volume...... Just not enough power in the deck

Save up..... Get a solid amp that pushed at least 50w RMS (I prefer 100+ w rms) x 4 preferably with a built in xover so you can cut the bass out of the dash speakers so they do not play below 100hz or so...... I feed my 6.5 component set over 200w rms from a pheonix gold elite amp.....

 

[dma550]

just doing speakers will be a big disappointment. I did mine on my 05 elise before and my 06 exige just now. While the JL speakers no longer struggled to reproduce bass notes, they were actually too bright without the ability to turn them down. And, the HU was going into clipping to support them, sounding awful and at full distortion at volumes they were cabable of reproducing.

I went with 5.25 adapters and the JL's. I immediately went with a alpine PDX.5 amp and better head unit. Do yourself a favor, do them all at once. Otherwise you'll be taking speakers out to re-run speaker wires which is no fun.

 

[kenfowler]

money really isn't a huge issue right now. I can pay for the parts. I just don't trust the "audio express" types of places or best buy. They're not going to pull out seats and everything. And that is what needs to be done. On the same note, I don't want to pay a custom audio shop $1k to install the sub and amp.

 

[kenfowler]

just doing speakers will be a big disappointment. I did mine on my 05 elise before and my 06 exige just now. While the JL speakers no longer struggled to reproduce bass notes, they were actually too bright without the ability to turn them down. And, the HU was going into clipping to support them, sounding awful and at full distortion at volumes they were cabable of reproducing.

I went with 5.25 adapters and the JL's. I immediately went with a alpine PDX.5 amp and better head unit. Do yourself a favor, do them all at once. Otherwise you'll be taking speakers out to re-run speaker wires which is no fun.

I have a really nice head unit right now. The rear speakers seem nice as well. Just the fronts seem blown.