maestromaestro

I am going to get the speakers upgraded in my 97 cab, which has the HiFi option.

My plan is not to bother with a 3-way component system, but take the 2-component route. Ideally, the 5.25" woofer should take similarly-sized after-market speaker.

However, I am told that not all of those may fit. I have been thinking about MB Quart speakers.

Anybody could share their stories re: fitment of the after-market 5.25" speakers into the existing 5.25 woofer space? If I need to do some carving, I may as well then bite the bullet and do the 3-way system with a 6.5" woofer...

While you are at it, perhaps some recommendations on the amp/head unit? Certainly, the slimmer the amp, the better - I have GT3 seats in there, so the clearance might be an issue (don't know for sure, have not checked...).

Thanks!

VMXWinn

Are you going to remove the door pockets and retro fit the standard door pocket for the two way system? Also I would go with 6.5" component system. You will get a little richer fuller sound with the larger speaker.

bart1

Best option seems to be to remove the hifi boxes and use the existing 6.5" hole behind them, as well as the tweeter pod on top of the door. Check out www.caraudioinnovations.com

brucec59

Have not done it myself, but as I understand it, you can leave the plastic egg-shaped hi-fi cover in place while mountiung the speaker in the larger hole in the door.

Curious what your plans are for the rears. Mine are turned off. To my ears, they only muddied things. I'd really like to find a rear shelf that has no speaker holes, but it seems this doesn't exist outside of RS, but I need to keep my rear seats.

dlee888

After searching the site and reading up on various threads, I came to the same conclusion as those who already responded. My car has the Hi-Fi set up also and have decided to do away with the Hi-Fi pods and just mount the 6.5 component speakers into the door. I'm going with the Focal 165 VR's.

The install will be done this week. I'll post some pictures once it's done.
For the rears, I went with the Polk DB461.

Good luck!

95_993

I went with the FOCAL 165 VR (6.5"). Great improvement in sound quality and a pretty easy install as well.

maestromaestro

It is my understanding that the standard size for the speakers - just a straight swap is to use 5.25" rather than 6.5", which require making a larger hole.

For the cab, I don't think that, what with the wind noise, I would be able to pick the subtleties very much. So, this is about a bit more wattage to overcome the noise.

As to the rears, I will use the stock ones, and drive them from the head unit (TBD), while the two-component speakers will be driven by a 2-channel A/B amp.

Am I missing something here on the size issue?

bart1

Take the plastic housing off the door that is currently mounted there and you will see a 6.5" hole.

DAS LINKS:

(good thread, but regular door) https://rennlist.com/forums/993-foru...many-pics.html

https://rennlist.com/forums/993-foru...fi-option.html

Look at e9's pics: http://www.caranddriver.com/features...ou_die-feature

cosmic_993

the speakers in the Nokia hi-fi pods are 5.25" and 3.5". the two compartments for each speaker are separate. Wiring into the existing box might be the harder part unless you drill a hole.

M. Schneider

OP -
You will find a refined audio solution with the Evolution Series model C5-525 Component Systems by JL Audio. The 130mm low-mid woofer has the 993 HiFi option's woofer frame architecture - simply twist the new C5-525 CW woofer left or right of the original screw holes. This will make sense when you undertake this simple installation. The soft fabric tweeters of the component package will fit inside the 993s tweeter pods. This takes a little modeling to do; a 4 on a 1 to 10 scale. In this upgrade arrangement the HiFi options mid-range driver is simply disconnected***, but only if the C5 525-XO crossover is utilized. The audible improvement is significant!!!; CDR-210 radio, HiFi option, CD changer - all OEM 993 production components.

The OEM's HiFi enclosure is a Transmission Line loaded bass reflex type. That said be sure to place its interior padding deep into the exiting pathway for best low frequency loading. The C5 525 CW mid-low woofer is a Kurt Miller Company design, made in Germany as is the tweeter. This 4 ohm LF driver has a broadband RMS rating of 75W RMS and a claimed response of 53hz to 25khz +-3db. (I’m sure the LF rating is assisted by the XO steep roll off down around 50Hz. (I'm sure it’s a steep roll off like -6db down 40 cycles)

I purchased the JL Audio (German made & authored) Evolution Series C5-525 Component System kit from Sonic Electronics online for $279.00 shipped on their nickel. Well worth the transformation to the 993s HiFi option. It sounds dam good if you can believe it; and by believe it I mean not the spkr kit itself, but rather the 15 year old Becker / Nokia front end driving the spkr kit. The combination sounds very musical, dynamic and with a solid bottom end.

*** I've replaced the 993 mid-range with a Dynaudio 3" dome mid-range sourced from a MY08 VW EOS equiped with the Dynaudio DSP/HiFi speaker option. This swap is less than easy. The Dyn mid-range is one of the best available.

Most would stop here when pursuing to upgrade the HiFi of our cars - not bloody likely. I've laid out a fully active P99RS HU & Dynaudio based system. It’s only a matter of time before the components are installed as there purchased, gift wrapped and under the Christmas tree. There's a Santa right... I'm utilizing the TL bass reflex enclosures loaded w 5.25 inch Dynaudio (or a B & O driver) and Dyn loaded w/ 7'' low frequency drivers positioned at the rear of the doors - the map pocket cavity is used having an OEM grill. Other than this door pannel modification the install is stealth using the OEM HiFi locations.
In this arrangement the door cavity will be one enclosure and the HiFi options enclosure is the other. LF, LF-mids, Mid-range, tweeter. All active with discrete amp's and full bore DSP. Understated HiFi elegance. It will sound sweet...

For you rational types - install the Evolution Series 130mm/5.25" C5-CS JL Audio solution - you will thank me.

destence

I'm interested in using the JL C5 – 525 speakers in the original hi-fi enclosure. The speakers come with two crossovers. My question is what did you do with the crossovers... where did you position them and how did you wire them .

Doing away with a hi-fi enclosure and using MDF to attach the larger speakers and crossover modules seems like a viable option, but I want to carefully explore both approaches before deciding. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

maestromaestro

PM me with your email - I have some pictures to share, if you're interested. In a nut shell, I mounted the bass speakers on a particle board and put it behind the door panel, removing the old crappy (with crumbling rubber) Nokia speakers. The x-overs were mounted under the passenger seat. I installed a new amp (mounted it on a hinged MDF above the spare wheel in the well) and routed the wiring harness through the firewall - yes, drilling...

I also removed the tweeters and, lo and behold, the speakers I bought almost fit in the original plastic enclosures (careful surgery was required with a dremel tool and exacto knife, but it fit and the whole thing looks OEM).

I discarded the midrange speakers. I used German-made MBQuarts after much poking around - they are a good value, and with a bigger amp, you can actually use the speakers with the top down.

Replaced the rears with Polks (the OEM were trashed as well, from age).

pp000830

Here are my opinions / notes:
Adding /replacing the existing power amp will make the biggest contribution to sound quality once you replace the speakers as the OE system and most any head unit with speaker connections is grossly under powered. I replaced the speakers and the power amp under the seat with an Alpine 50W RMS/chan. 4 ch. amp

For the Premium system as in my car I jettisoned the boxes under the door speaker covers and replaced them with 5-1/2” two way aftermarket speakers in conjunction with one inch extension rings. I would not recommend the least expensive aftermarket speaker as they use a simple capacitor as a cross-over and can sound harsh. An alternative is to just install a woofer in the door and use it in conjunction with an aftermarket hi-low signal split passive cross-over and the existing OE tweeter up by the window. I covered up the new stuff with the existing padded OEM Premium speaker cover. Looks stock and sounds much better.
o For the rear original Premium Sound speakers getting a speaker with a proper fit is a challenge. Instead of replacing the entire premium speaker fixture I just replaced the internal four inch speaker with an aftermarket coaxial one and disconnected the existing tweeter. Had to drill new speaker mounting holes in the existing rectangular fixture and calk the edges to seal the new speaker frame in once the speaker was screwed to the fixture. Once the fixture was remounted on the rear deck it looked stock as well.
The wiring diagram in the 993 Shop manual is clear and concise as to how the existing speakers are wired making it easy to tap the new speakers into the existing wiring harness. The upgrade can cost less than $100 using four inexpensive two-way speakers or the sky is the limit through Best Buy, Crutchfeild or other suppliers depending on what level of sound quality you desire.

maestromaestro

I agree. The Becker head unit is insufficient to drive anything that the OEM speakers, and these have crapped out by now, for sure. Look for speakers with cross-overs included, it's just easier. You can certainly add a whole host of bells and whistles - a capacitor, etc. There is a fair bit of noise even in coupes, so, IMHO, the finer aspects of a high end hifi are lost, as you have to crank the volume to compensate for the ambient noise, so the stage is not going to be pristine... In my cab, this is completely unnecessary.

One of the challenges was to accommodate a subwoofer, and here my solution hasn't been as elegant; I ended up hanging a bazooka sub from the cross member of the roll bar I have in the cab. Utilitarian route, but works quite well. I have been thinking about 'deleting' the rear seat, which now - because of the roll bar has become completely nonsensical, and then, maybe a custom box could be installed - but, this is in a distant future, in a galaxy....

M. Schneider

My suggestion is to seek out a car audio professional in your area. Creating solid 2 way "active" speaker arrangement in the front doors has never been more affordable or easier to execute; A (490) HiFi speaker optioned 993 will utilize much of the existing wiring; its stealth all the way. A pleasant dynamic stereo that images very well in addition to having an intelligible musical presentation at both low volume and high volume levels alike.

Low frequency system gain (bass) is present in most if not all automotive interiors, (confined boundaries) and our 911 (993) have a great deal of LF gain in the 125hz and below region. An automotive HiFi system actively controlled (DSP filtering) goes a long way here, taking advantage of the 993 acoustic environment . . . . Automotive 12V aftermarket DSP filtering has come a long way, its not as $ expensive or choice limited as it once was. What is expensive is the common place passive, inefficient, woofer/tweeter arrangement passively XO @ 4Khz. Passive HiFi solutions for the coupe/cab 993 are IMHO a waste of time and money. Go active HiFi. My $.02

Having familiarized myself with the cabin acoustics of our 993's over the last couple of years, er decade .... and as the the original ordering owner of this 993; having ordered the HiFi speaker option (#490) and passing on the more robust/expensive "digital" HiFi option of the day. (Both options external amplification utilize a "of the day" Phillips TDA 1552q IC (approx. 12w RMS @ 4ohm @ch 20hz -15khz in a BTL Class B arrangement, THD 0.5% @ 13.2v) Providing mediocre sonic's even for the early '90's decade time frame.
However the #490 HiFi speaker option can be salvaged using many of todays "off the shelf" components for enhancements.

An active speaker system will knock your socks off, its about acoustic control,, er filtering. .... Not brand names, nor the gross amounts of output wattage or whichever whatever marketing pamphleteer sold the equipment. It just ain't.

A solid, active HiFi system designed & executed well goes a long way. .. Its pleasant, detailed, images well and dynamic throughout a wide volume range.