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Discovery 300Tdi speaker upgrades


geoffbeaumont

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Following this afternoons muppetry, I was wondering what Land Rover do on their higher-end stereo options for the 300Tdi Discovery? They can't fit a bigger speaker in the same space as there simply isn't room - I know they use pillar mounted tweeters which takes care of the high range, but what do they do about low range? Are there surface mounted woofer enclosures like on the Range Rover Classic, or do they just rely on the sub in the tailgate?

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You could go for a 4" mid with a tweeter in the pillar but unless you want to hack the rear pillars about not alot will fit. Just out of interest what have people "upgraded" thier speakers to?

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4" is what's already there, fitted by Land Rover. I guess I could shell out for better quality speakers the same size (they're only cheapy cardboard cone ones), but I'm not convinced the benefits would be enough to justify the cost - something that size is never going to have any base and I've already got separate tweeters to go in.

The Infinity speakers I was going to fit in the doors are 5 1/2" with a separate tweeter in the centre. There's no way these are going into the doors. There are only two places you can mount speakers, in front of the latch handle (where the 200Tdi has them - think you could still fit one here) and above the front of the grab handle (where the 300Tdi has them), but 4" is the biggest that will fit in either location. In theory you could fit a 5 1/2" in the 300Tdi location, but it'd have to have a magnet no bigger than that on the standard speakers (2 1/4" - for comparison, the Infinity 5 1/2" speakers have a 3 1/2" magnet).

There's room for the 5 1/2" speakers on the surface of the D-pillars, and I think it may be possible to modify the mounting brackets enough to take them, or more likely make up new brackets to go on the same mounting points. I need to have a look behind the trim tomorrow and make sure they won't foul anything (before cutting anything, this time :rolleyes:). I didn't really want to put them in the back as there's a sub going in there anyway so the rear speakers shouldn't really need much bass. In fact, the drivers in the Discovery sub are only 5 1/2" themselves.

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with a bit of fettling you can just about away with 5 1/2" speakers in the front doors as well but it's tight, and i dont have the part number to hand but land rover do a set of A-pillar covers with a tweeter already in each which hopefully (did last time for me) plug straight into wiring already in the pillar

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My D2 has the highline 11 speaker option:

Tweeter in each A post (2)

Door speakers in front doors (2 each door - 4)

Door speakers in middle doors (2 each door - 4)

Sub in the rear door

The sound is not "wikkid blingin" like a Nova would be but damn good when you wind up the volume for a bit of a blast, very balanced.

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with a bit of fettling you can just about away with 5 1/2" speakers in the front doors as well but it's tight,

How did you manage to fit them? Did you get ones with small magnets?

and i dont have the part number to hand but land rover do a set of A-pillar covers with a tweeter already in each which hopefully (did last time for me) plug straight into wiring already in the pillar

The wiring is only there if the truck didn't start out with a base spec stereo like mine.

Mines an ES (so reasonably high spec) and has the tweeters on the a pillars as standard and 4" speakers in the doors and rear pillars plus the sub in the back door.

Not sure if that helps,

Okay, that confirms my suspicions - Land Rover just didn't cater for upgrading the front door speakers. How does it sound? Is it okay in the front or a bit bass light? I'm not after competing with the local all-base-and-no-engine brigade, just want a decent sound balanced across the frequency range.

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Mines an ES (so reasonably high spec) and has the tweeters on the a pillars as standard and 4" speakers in the doors and rear pillars plus the sub in the back door.

Not sure if that helps,

Pete.

The speakers still have paper diaphagms in a ES and although they sound very good, its not untill u fit 'decent' loudspeakers that u notice the difference.

I replaced my front and rear speakers with Pioneer TS-G1 1049 (still retaining the existing covers) and put a boxed 10 inch sub in the boot, picking up the signal and the 12v switching power for the 100watt amp (located under the front passanger seat) from the backdoor sub.

A two way switch is used so I can switch the 12v back to the door amp when the 'sub in the box' is removed ti give space in the boot when needed. 12v is the green wire at the backdoor amp and the signal wires are the black and white also at the amp.

Cables from the door amp followed the existing wiring through the door edge tube then under the boot mat to the amp underneath the seat and the power cable for the amp is from the battery via a existing hole in the bulkhead then under the dash and under the passengers carpet to the amp.

The existing head unit is adjusted with the treble /base control so that the speakers handle the high and mid range and the 'sub in a box' set at 100db handles the lower mid range and the base signals.

Sorted..

For loudspeakers etc http://www.caraudiocentre.co.uk/

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  • 1 year later...

I have a 300 tdi with 4 speakers plus the 2 in ther pillars.

Changed all four for gas ALPHA425X 4 inch speakers.

It makes a difference however not that it is worth the money.

I'm going to try to fit 4x6 or 5,25 inch speakers on the back. Plus a standard woofer instead one of the jump seats.

However fitting bigger than four inch speakers on the front with out major remodeling isn't that easy i think.

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i had 6x9 speakers in the rear of my last 200.. just took out the crappy cardboard panels in the rear pillars and made some out of mdf.. only problem was i was having 6 passengers one night and just flicked the rear seats down without giving it any thought and smashed the tops off them!!

just made some more mdf panels for some 6 inch kenwood things which are still in there now..

in this one i am going for 4" vibe components in the front with 6" vibe components in the rear with tweeters and crossovers all round and a 12" jbl sub in the boot...

not bothered about loud music.... it just covers up the ghastly noises the car makes!!

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I have upgraded my 300tdi with kenwood speakers and amps and Bluetooth headunit. A roof mounted laptop media centre is the thing im working on now and is nearly finished hopefully!!

I replaced the Std front door speakers with 4inch tweeter cones and then also mounted 4inch woofer cones inside the pockets so got 4 speakers in the front.

In the rear doors i took out the electric window switches and put 4inch tweeter cones there as there was no speakers in these doors. The windows switches are now just below the the grab handle.

In the rear pilars I replaced the speakers with 5.25inch tweeter cones.

And in the boot I have made a wooden box to house the amps and got a removable subwoofer on top.

I am making an mdf frame to house 2 6x9s in the boot door.

So far i only have an amp powering the sub and the original speaker positions are powered by the headunit and the sound quality is amazing as it is, Cant wait to hear it once i put the other 2 amps in to power all the main speakers and the 6x9s.

I have also put in all new speaker cables all round so i dont have to butcher the existing wiring etc.

See the photos attached of the subwoofer and amp housing. I will take some more photos of where i have placed the other speakers if that helps anyone.

Regards Michael

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It's a difficult task putting a proper in-car system into a Disco without compremising the load space...as Vavu has demonstrated.

I've done quite a few mods to the sound system in mine and have found that the best standard fit speakers for the front doors are the JL Audio brand. I've tried Kenwoods and Sony's in the doors.....binned them all eventualy.

Rears are slightly easier because you can use spacers to bring them out a bit. I use Infinity Kappas II's in the rear pillars which are component speakers with cross-overs.

I've just purchased a new system for mine which cost more than the truck is worth! (not kidding either) So the current three amp system will get taken out and the new Rockford Fosgate one will go in over the summer.

Being a three door I don't have the dicky seats in the rear so will use that space for two subs. The 3 new Amps will be under a false floor like Vavu's but with two cooling fans.....pushing and pulling for airflow.

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The first bit to replace is the head unit. The L/R one is a real case of building down to a price.

I went for one from DABonwheels which has improved the sound no end, five Bluetooth channels (still wondering what to do with the other four) high quality stereo radio and the ability to add more components as I want

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Without wishing to hijack this thread or drift too much off topic - I was wondering if anybody has recommendations to satisfy my needs in a radio/player (what you would call a 'head unit' is it?):

  • MP3 player plug in
  • Bluetooth hands-free phone
  • NO shell-suit styling :angry:
  • Less than £150

Ultimate sound quality is probably not too important to me since I have industrial deafness anyway to a degree that I can't really appreciate the nuances of a good system :( and (because I am trying to take care of what hearing I have left) power beyond 50W would be a waste...

Regards

Roger

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Without wishing to hijack this thread or drift too much off topic - I was wondering if anybody has recommendations to satisfy my needs in a radio/player (what you would call a 'head unit' is it?):
  • MP3 player plug in
  • Bluetooth hands-free phone
  • NO shell-suit styling :angry:
  • Less than £150

Ultimate sound quality is probably not too important to me since I have industrial deafness anyway to a degree that I can't really appreciate the nuances of a good system :( and (because I am trying to take care of what hearing I have left) power beyond 50W would be a waste...

Regards

Roger

Roger

I have and highly recommend the Kenwood KDC-BT8041U

It has Bluetooth Handsfree and comes with an external microphone

Prior to this I had a couple of other Sony Bluetooth head units with built in microphones for hands free and the sound quality for calls was poor as everyone said they could harldy hear me. So after quite a bit of time back and forth from halfords we established the discovery is noisier than most vehicles and drowns out the sound of the inbuilt microphone and they eventually upgraded me to the Kenwood Head Unit and the Call quality is fantastic. Wish I had gone for that one first time round would of saved me alot of hassle!!

The Kenwood HeadUnit has alot of other features which you dont have to use but I find very useful, It can be set to automatically download your phone book, so you can leave your phone in your pocket and still make calls and also see who is calling etc

It has a USB connection as well for Ipods/MP3 players or just put your music on a normal USB stick

I feel its a nice looking unit that isnt in your face but the controls and displays are clearly readable.

Unfortuantly it is £159 on the halfords website at the moment, But if you print off the page on the website they will match the price in store!! I know its at least £10 more than you wanted to pay but I made the mistake of going for what I thought was a good unit at a good price with the Sony units and was very dissappointed. I paid £179 for the kenwood one in the end I believe and still feel its worth every penny of that. I have had it since August last year so it has had a pretty good testing

Link to product on halfords website, You may be able to find it cheaper elsewhere.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/...tegoryId_165474

Kind Regards

Michael

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Roger

I have and highly recommend the Kenwood KDC-BT8041U

<...>

Link to product on halfords website, You may be able to find it cheaper elsewhere.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/...tegoryId_165474

Kind Regards

Michael

That looks absolutely perfect Michael, many thanks for that. I have had a trawl around and the Halfords price looks good to me so all I need now is for HM Govt to decide whether I get my piddling bonus this year :o

TTFN

Roger

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Just attaching a few photos of how I did the speaker upgrages in the doors.

As you can see in the front doors i have replaced the top speakers with 4" and added another set of 4" speakers in the pockets at the bottom.

In the rear doors i have put 4" speakers where the electric window switches were and moved the switches to just below the handles. To put the speakers in the rear doors I had to cut a little bit of the door metal away but other than that it was quite easy to do and the switches have enough cable length to move them.

Regards

Michael

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i have 2 sets of speakers in the front door. 4" and 2 in the bak

came with aftermarket ones already fitted to the bottom when i bought it, and standard ones disconnected, so i got replacements for standard and sounds quite good, although the rear pillar speakers let it down a little as they rattle in bassy songs.

i had a thought, why dont you fit some speakers undeneath the front seats, then they could be quite big and pikeys wouldnt see them :ph34r:

mikey

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Just attaching a few photos of how I did the speaker upgrages in the doors.

As you can see in the front doors i have replaced the top speakers with 4" and added another set of 4" speakers in the pockets at the bottom.

I can't see much (reads 'none' actually) musical benefit in fitting a second speaker down in the bottom of the door card storage pocket. Your efforts would have been better spent fitting a two way component system with seperate mids and tweeters.

I'm currently undergoing a project with a spare set of front door cards to install 6.5" component speakers in the front doors. It's a lot harder than it sounds and will need some custom made fibre glass facia panels.

Does any one have a picture of a Discovery 300 front door with the door cards removed?

As for fitting speakers underneath seats. This is fine with sub bass because the sound coming from them is non-directional...but from mid range speakers and above it would just be music without any enjoyment to it.

The only benefit is as you've mentioned...out of sight.

If 'out of sight' is what you want then making speakers invisible by way of speaker covers matching fabrics etc might be the answer?

Each to their own I guess.

Thx.

S.

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Hi,

Interesting thread...

I have just binned LR Head and Multichanger in favour of Alpine CDE 9880 (Halfords) which allows IPod and USB Stick connection simultaneously, Rear USB connection so I have a lead that pops out in the coin tray for my stick... £79 upgrade will make it Bluetooth..

...Had Kenwood W707 Ipod unit last and the knob fell off unprompted! although a nice sounding unit... Alpine and Pioneer build quality far superior.

(Thompsons in Macclesfield very good for Kenwood.. Have an Ebay site and can pay Paypal in the shop)

Apart from that I have a Fusion Bass Tube (£79 Halfrauds) which unplugs with one multiplug and 2 RCA leads for easy removal/stealing(!)

The sound is very good, but not 'perfect'... So may just go for 5 1/2" D Pillar upgrade... keep me posted if anyone tackles it with their camera in hand :)

Will keep an eye out for some 4" pioneers for about a tenner Ebay to replace fronts...

(btw Still have all the Standard ES speakers powered up - Rear Door Sub was waste of time for my Metallica CD test!)

BTW Its amazing what a set of Maplin £10 tweeters on the A pillars and a bass speaker can do for ANY audio installation in a car!

Cheers

M

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