marret

Hey everyone,

I have started down the slippery slope with a grin on my face. I did the FPB from Gert, just completed the stereo, and the suspension is next.

When I bought the car, the stereo, a Blaupunkt Ontario, looked good, OEM-like. The speakers were original and sounded like it. I wanted to retain the original look and I do not have the hifi option so I replaced the speakers with MB Quart RCE 213s in the front and Kenwoods in the back. I am not an audiophile but I wanted a decent sounding stereo. Once I replaced them I realized I had trouble with the passenger door speaker working intermittently and the CD function didn't work right all the time so I decided to upgrade the headunit. Went with another Blaupunkt, Hamburg this time, that had bluetooth for my cell phone, aux jack in front, rear aux plug for an iPod or Cd player, was relatively low key in looks, and so forth plus Crutchfield had it on sale.




The rear speaker for non-hifi cars install/remove from the top so I pried off the speaker grills, removed the speakers, and dropped the replacement Kenwoods in and installed the black covers. Unfortunately, due to the ridge on the speaker I couldn't use the original grills, but I got speakers in plain black in case. I also damaged one speaker grill that was already cracked due to age. I ordered new ones and may do something different when they arrive. The grills are on backorder until Mar/Apr.


Just as the rear, the non-hifi door speakers remove from the front and there was no need to remove the door panels. I worked the front speaker covers off and removed the front speakers. The MB Quart speakers I bought are components so I installed the crossover inside the door, front bottom corner wrapped in foam and plastic for protection and to make a snug fit. Unfortunately the MB Quart speaker grills wouldn't work without enlarging the speaker hole so I went with the original grills. I needed the original speaker plastic ring to hold the speaker grill so I drilled a pilot hole to get my jig saw in and cut them off the original speakers.



I wired everything up and installed the MB Quart speakers with the original speaker rings. I bought new speaker grills to complete the install.


I specifically bought these speakers because they had 3/4 inch tweeters that through research on rennlist I found would fit in the original tweeter housings. I initially left the originals in, but couldn't hear them so I decided to go ahead and replace them. I removed the tweeters by squeezing at 1 and 7 o'clock and they came off. Again, I did not remove the door panel and used original wiring.


The photo below shows the back of the tweeter.


I removed the old tweeter/interior housing from the outer shell. It is held in by two tabs seen on the outside, 3 and 9 o'clock, of the interior housing. Then I pushed the old tweeter out through the front, separated the old wires and pulled it out.



I cut the black tabs visible inside the housing and dremelled out the edge so the new tweeters would fit. Then I reinstalled the interior housing inside the outer housing and reinstalled them in the car.



Sorry about the width. I need to make the photos smaller next time.

Regards, Chris

vicrossi

How does it sound?

marret

I think it sounds very good and am happy with it. It will never sound great given the current limitation inherent in the setup...5.25 and 4x6 speakers, no amp, etc.

The Eagle

Thanks for sharing this with us. Very helpfull.


~ The Eagle ~
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'96 Polar Silver/Black C4S, manual, litronics, LED's in the positioning lights, alu/leather shifter & handbrake, silver face gauges with alu rings, "GT" sport seats,
full leather interior, motor sound airbox, stainless door sills, with split rear grill and layered with Meguiar's NXT Tech Wax
__________________
'92 Carrera 2 (Sold)
'89 Carrera 3.2 (Sold)

centerpunch

Great info, and great inspiration, thanks.

I just ordered the Kenwood speakers and a new head unit (Sony CDX-GT820IP with built-in iPod control and cable) from Crutchfield, found the MB Quarts new on eBay, and hopefully it will sound good, even over the other "good" noise from my soon-to-arrive LPMMs!

vicrossi

I see you have H&R springs over your HD's, I'm considering either H&R's or M030's to replace the stock US version springs over my HD's. How do you like yours?