Speaker Upgrade

 I won't go into the procedure of removing the door trim as this is already adequately covered by Colin Sato. I recommend printing his instructions and taking them with you when you do the install.

Click on the thumbnail to see a larger picture

It's not hard to see the difference between the standard speakers and these Sony XPlod HS -635 replacements. They cost $AUD250

The view from the back says even more. The standard speakers are 15W rated and have much lighter magnets than the Sony's.

This is the speaker basket before modification. It is very shallow and restricts the depth of the speaker which can be mounted.

These are pictures of the standard speaker basket after modification. The back has been cut out with a coping saw and only the weather shield at the top has been left.

The speaker mounts nicely in the modified basket. The original screws and screw holes match with holes on the Sony speaker. I had to cut away some of the basket at the botton to allow for the speaker connections.

Woofer connected, but not yet mounted. The standard wire is pretty bad so I used the wire supplied with the Sony speakers and threaded it through the rubber tubing between the door and body of the vehicle. This was no easy task and involved securing the speaker wire to a piece of stiff wire (actually a butchered coat hanger) and carefully forcing it through the rubber tubing. You can put your hand between the door and body and help guide it through the tube and into the body of the vehicle. Take your time!

The left woofer mounted in the basket in the door.

A close-up view of the speaker through the grill. Honestly, I didn't just chose these speakers because they're red!

This is a view of the passenger side after installation

The tweeters were mounted in their pods on top of the dash. The reasons I chose this install rather than mounting them in the door is threefold. Mounting the tweeters in the door means they are too low and therefore blocked by the passenger. Secondly, I didn't want to visibly modify the trim. The pods are secured only with strong double sided sticky mounting pads. And lastly, I can try this install, then perhaps try something else later without leaving nasty holes. See, not entirely Burke and Wills.

These are not expensive speakers. None-the-less the improvement is dramatic even with the stock head unit. After I had finished the left side I tried the system out and moved the balance from left to right to compare the difference. The improvement is phenomenal.

The system produces much more bass with less distortion, and the highs are rich and crisp. Because of the high mounting of the tweeters L-R stereo effects are much more pronounced and give a very realistic spacial effect.

Stay tuned: a Sony CD Tuner (CDXM700R) with Pinky's Aftermarket Dash Controls is on it's way.