Will upgrade all speakers and add a sub

[Alansurfer]

I had real trouble trying to get the tweeter covers out. Interested to see if that makes the final cut of your video. I gave up, for now....

The tweeter cover is tough to pry out, I put a bit of gorilla tape on the dash to protect it then used a small flat blade screwdriver to lift the corner to get a plastic pry tool in, then it takes a very hard pull to remove it. It’s very flexible so it won’t split or pull the tabs off. I can’t post the video here so here’s some screen shots, I will post the YouTube video here once it’s all done (early next week)

I made a little insert in the tweeter covers for the wire and used nano-tape to place them.
View attachment 15332
View attachment 15333
The original speaker rings are 34 mm. Ideally, You want to find an adapter with this height and three mounting holes. Alternatively, find an adapter of less height and add a spacing ring.
View attachment 15334
View attachment 15335

Bonus information: The output signal to the rear speakers from the stock amplifier is low-pass filtered. So, if you are replacing the rear speakers, you should not choose three-way co-axial as I did, but just woofers.

Re the rear speaker output:
I couldn’t use my planed mid-bass drivers as one had a damaged (jammed) voice coil so put some coaxial Vibe’s instead.
I seem to be getting full range from my rear speakers, tried several different test tones and can hear all the way until my own hearing drops off (I’m 52 so have a bit of high end loss ). I will test some more next week.

 

[stephenw]

I've had some success with these speaker rings, designed for a Vauxhall Zafira, but they're quite similar and under a tenner:

Vauxhall Zafira Front Door Speaker Adaptor Rings Spacers Kit 165mm 6.5" | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Vauxhall Zafira Front Door Speaker Adaptor Rings Spacers Kit 165mm 6.5" at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

Left door

Right door

I used washers and/or drilled a extra hole in the tabs to get these on, but the depth and size is good. If you play around with the rotation before you fit the speakers (as I didn't) you might get easier results, but I'm happy! For the cabling I just slid bare wires (ripped from the supplied Vauxhall plug) into the factory connectors and taped them up, seems OK, and the sound is SO much better (even though my Alpine's are a bit battered)! The OEM speakers are definitely a weak link - the amp is actually not bad (even on the SE).

Next up I want to install the matching tweeters in the footwells - I'm not a fan of them in the top of the dash - but I've had a look and the cable runs look easy from there downwards (but what to do with the crossovers...).

 

[rayzfun]

if anybody is interested and if I'm not allowed to post please remove. I was going to add an amp and rear speakers to my MG4 SE, unfortunately the MG was rejected and sent back to the dealers. I therefore have a brand new and unused Kenwood KAC-M1184 4 channel compact amplifier 400w 45w x 4 if anybody is interested. Cost £130 new.

 

[tsedge]

if anybody is interested and if I'm not allowed to post please remove. I was going to add an amp and rear speakers to my MG4 SE, unfortunately the MG was rejected and sent back to the dealers. I therefore have a brand new and unused Kenwood KAC-M1184 4 channel compact amplifier 400w 45w x 4 if anybody is interested. Cost £130 new.

@rayzfun see the Free Classified sub forum for selling items, please post there.

 

[Alansurfer]

Finally got the YouTube video up of my speaker install so will post here to help the with the knowledge base.

 

[richlove]

Fantastic job, installation and video, thanks for sharing! Tempted to have a go at this, not fitted after-market speakers since days of youth! Sounds decent just from the video, though as you say, hard to tell the full effect.

So, all in all, worth the cost and effort?

 

[Alansurfer]

Defin

Fantastic job, installation and video, thanks for sharing! Tempted to have a go at this, not fitted after-market speakers since days of youth! Sounds decent just from the video, though as you say, hard to tell the full effect.

So, all in all, worth the cost and effort?

Yes definitely worth the effort, cost was minimal as the speakers were new unboxed from eBay, £29 for the rears and £34 for the fronts. Its been a while while since I've done an upgrade like this too, my usual builds are an empty van I'm turning into a camper or custom home systems.
If you want to keep it simple upgrading the tweeters makes a good improvement. A big improvement is vocals and horns in jazz are so much clearer, the sound deadening also is well worth the effort.

 

[Rolfe]

I've just been for a run in my SR, playing the USB on to which I'm importing the CDs I was listening to in my old car. I've listened to this particular CD a lot in my Golf GTi, and I was surprised by how much more detail I was hearing in the recording today. The quality of the voices, the articulation, the diction - all were significantly better than before. I had thought something similar about the radio sound when I first got the car a couple of weeks ago.

I wasn't expecting this, because although the GTi's sound system (like the GTi itself) was nearly 14 years old, it was a good system. I wasn't expecting the MG4's sound system to match it. And realistically, maybe it doesn't. What I was hearing was very probably the detail in the music that had previously been drowned out and obscured by the noise of an ICE.

So don't knock it. We're probably able to hear anything we play in the car much better now, with much more subtle detail. Think about that before you start overloading the thing with powerful speakers.

 

[stephenw]

Some may find this useful - I found the correct connectors to attach to the OEM tweeter plugs. They are called DJ7022Y connectors (though this sems to cover a few variants) but I found the right ons here:

Car Audio Dedicated Instrument Panel Tweeter Plug Connector 2P DJ7022Y-1.8-11/21 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Car Audio Dedicated Instrument Panel Tweeter Plug Connector 2P DJ7022Y-1.8-11/21 at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

Handy if you don't want to cut the factory plugs off! I would recommend buying a five pack as the pins are a tad tricky to crimp so get some spares, and delivery takes a while, like 4-5 weeks (to the UK).

Here's one clipped on (before pins/cable added). (You will need slim cable similar to the factory gauge as thicker stuff won't fit):

 

[richlove]

Some may find this useful - I found the correct connectors to attach to the OEM tweeter plugs. They are called DJ7022Y connectors (though this sems to cover a few variants) but I found the right ons here:

Car Audio Dedicated Instrument Panel Tweeter Plug Connector 2P DJ7022Y-1.8-11/21 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Car Audio Dedicated Instrument Panel Tweeter Plug Connector 2P DJ7022Y-1.8-11/21 at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

Handy if you don't want to cut the factory plugs off! I would recommend buying a five pack as the pins are a tad tricky to crimp so get some spares, and delivery takes a while, like 4-5 weeks (to the UK).

Here's one clipped on (before pins/cable added). (You will need slim cable similar to the factory gauge as thicker stuff won't fit):

View attachment 17202

Thanks for this. Out of interest, have you purchased after-market tweeters that are a straight swap?

 

[RN88R]

Thanks for this solution!

 

[drivethru]

Nice work

 

[nerfmg]

Is the sound quality noticeably better than the trophy speakers? I thought they did an alright job

 

[stephenw]

Thanks guys. I had some existing Alpine tweeters that match the mids I fitted earlier. I also re-located them to near the mids just inside the footwell as I much prefer that soundstage. (Years ago a pro advised me to use that location with the left tweeter pointing at the drivers left ear, and the right one at the passenger’s right. It really works, I’d say give it a try). I just stuck them in place with a wedge of blu-tac which allowed me to point them appropriately, was easy, surprisingly secure and you can’t see the blue backing very easily as the tweeter mostly covers it.
I haven't heard the Trophy speakers, but I'm sure some half decent brand replacements will be superior. My Alpine setup with just the mids and tweeters blows the factory (SE) units out of the water. It has to be said though that the SAIC amp and cabling is surprisingly good - credit where it's due!

 

[mannydhanoa]

I haven't seen any other threads or videos on this so I might be a first. I will upgrade all 6 speakers in my Trophy (Luxury in DK) with Pioneers. I have ordered this:
Pioneer TS-A1600C for front doors and dash tweeters
Pioneer TS-A1670F for rear doors
Pioneer TS-WX130DA - Subwoofer

View attachment 14294
The doors should be easy. Also, the tweeters are going to be simple (see picture). However, connecting the sub might be challenging. I haven't found any instructions on how to get to the head unit in the MG4, so if any of you have tips, I'm all ears.

I will update this thread when I get the speakers and start the install.

View attachment 14293

I added a kicker key and sub to my trophy and wow the sound system is a beast now

 

[richlove]

Thanks guys. I had some existing Alpine tweeters that match the mids I fitted earlier. I also re-located them to near the mids just inside the footwell as I much prefer that soundstage. (Years ago a pro advised me to use that location with the left tweeter pointing at the drivers left ear, and the right one at the passenger’s right. It really works, I’d say give it a try). I just stuck them in place with a wedge of blu-tac which allowed me to point them appropriately, was easy, surprisingly secure and you can’t see the blue backing very easily as the tweeter mostly covers it.
I haven't heard the Trophy speakers, but I'm sure some half decent brand replacements will be superior. My Alpine setup with just the mids and tweeters blows the factory (SE) units out of the water. It has to be said though that the SAIC amp and cabling is surprisingly good - credit where it's due!

I'm pretty interested in doing something similar to this, just a minimum fuss upgrade to the SE setup. Would you mind giving a quick summary of what you've done? From what I understand:

• swapped out the 6.5" main speakers with some Alpine units using a Zafira speaker ring to fit
• removed the existing tweeters, rerouted the cable with some new connectors (?) toward the footwell, and attached the Alpine tweeters

 

[Spaniard]

Is the sound quality noticeably better than the trophy speakers? I thought they did an alright job

Even my Dacia Sandero came with a much better sound fidelity than the Trophy... by far. Good to know (and relief) that main bottleneck are the speakers and not a narrow amplifier.

 

[stephenw]

I'm pretty interested in doing something similar to this, just a minimum fuss upgrade to the SE setup. Would you mind giving a quick summary of what you've done? From what I understand:

• swapped out the 6.5" main speakers with some Alpine units using a Zafira speaker ring to fit
• removed the existing tweeters, rerouted the cable with some new connectors (?) toward the footwell, and attached the Alpine tweeters

Hi Richlove,
Yeah that's about it, so far I've fudged it slightly by running the door speakers direct from the factory amp cabling. Strictly these should go via the cross-overs but I'm getting away with it. However for the tweeters you will need to use cross-overs, unless they come fitted with a simple capacitor filter in-line - I just duck-taped these to the back of the plastic above the footwells. You'll need a trim tool set to get the door cards off as that's quite difficult, esp the first time. The plastic clips are attached to the card and snap into holes in the metal of the door, so look to prise the plastic from the metal, not from the door card and that will help. I didn't add sound insulation as advocated elsewhere, but that might be a good idea while you're at it as it's inexpensive.
If you want a really easy fit then get door speakers with integrated tweeters, but the sound stage won't be quite as good.
Good luck!
Stephen

 

[mannydhanoa]

I had a kicker key amp and sub installed on mine. The amp was installed next to the head unit under the dash (behind glovebox) and the sub is in the boot (downward firing) so I can still store whatever I want on top of it - highly recommend for anyone that enjoys bass.

 

[Mkycdf]

I had a kicker key amp and sub installed on mine. The amp was installed next to the head unit under the dash (behind glovebox) and the sub is in the boot (downward firing) so I can still store whatever I want on top of it - highly recommend for anyone that enjoys bass.

Do you have any pics of your sub installed?