Plug and play speaker replacement?

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.

Ross Tait

Active Member
Posts
207
Location
Edinburgh
Hey folks, I’ve had another speaker go now ‍♂️ thinking I’m probably best to just replace them as they are pretty tired anyway. Does anyone know of any decent speakers that are a pretty straight forward swap for the standard ones for a reasonable price? I would probably even replace all 4 if I can do it within say £100.

Any input appreciated,

Thanks
 
A standard 6 1/2 speaker fits in the door aperture, so is long as the replacement isn't too deep, you can fit pretty much whatever you like. You will need to drill the screw holes for a replacement standard speaker (a 3mm hole), but it's easy enough, and the terminals will need changing too, which again is easily done.
Using a standard speaker means you could do all 4 for under £40, if you use something like the JVC CS J620X, which spund ok for the money.
Reviews say they're bad on bass, but I never found that at all, which leads me to believe the some installations aren't wired correctly.

I installed these JVC speakers in my TD4 SE, adding additional sound proofing at the same time, which sounded better than the standard speakers.
20170713_193743.jpg
 
A standard 6 1/2 speaker fits in the door aperture, so is long as the replacement isn't too deep, you can fit pretty much whatever you like. You will need to drill the screw holes for a replacement standard speaker (a 3mm hole), but it's easy enough, and the terminals will need changing too, which again is easily done.
Using a standard speaker means you could do all 4 for under £40, if you use something like the JVC CS J620X, which spund ok for the money.
Reviews say they're bad on bass, but I never found that at all, which leads me to believe the some installations aren't wired correctly.

I installed these JVC speakers in my TD4 SE, adding additional sound proofing at the same time, which sounded better than the standard speakers.
View attachment 228773


Hi there, thanks very much for the detailed response. Pretty sure I’m fully armed for this one now. I did do a search online and found a pair that were supposedly for this particular freelander installation, came with wiring adaptors for the door harness too which is handy. Can’t remember exactly what brand they were but they were a good manufacturer and boasted 300watt output peak which is probably why their £45 a pair. I think I might try them or similar out. I don’t have the space for a sub unfortunately as the cars full so can only go the 4 powerful speakers route. Already have a decent modern touch screen head unit with Bluetooth and that stuff. I’ll be sure to check the depth of the speakers as loud and bassy usually means a big magnet.

Thanks again, I’ll update when I get something nice. :D
 
A claimed 300 Watts is irrelevant. I can guarantee they'll fail very fast if a proper 300 Watts was put through them. Frequency response is far more important, than any BS power claims.
As for wiring adapters, it's not complicated, it's 2 wires which need different connectors fitted, which is good, as the original speaker connectors will be corroded anyway.
 
Last edited:
A claimed 300 Watts is irrelevant. I can't guarantee they'll fail very fast if a proper 300 Watts was put through them. Frequency response is far more important, than any BS power claims.
As for wiring adapters, it's not complicated, it's 2 wires which need different connectors fitted, which is good, as the original speaker connectors will be corroded anyway.


Hey, well it is to me actually. The power output is akin to the volume you’ll get and I am looking for louder and bassier speakers. I dunno what the standard ones are rated at but I know a need a lot more lol. Also I know a lot of companies exaggerate the capabilities of their products and some down right lie let’s face it. But I tend to find the bigger better known brands are fairly trustable. If they say the speakers can handle 300 watts maximum which I would assume is 150 per speaker then I know I’ll get a lot more volume and bass than what I have already by a few fold so it’s a guide of some kind. I don’t intend to amp them up as a decent head unit will usually supply the minimum rms input needed to make them sing. But I do know what you mean. The ones I spotted are JVC’s of some sort from memory I think the freq response was 30-22k hz so probably a greater range than my hearing lol. I’m gonna check the reviews on them first anyway as I wouldn’t wanna get stung £45 a pair for something less than suitable.
 
I'm sure you know this, but just to clarify...a 300W speaker will be no louder than a 50W speaker if fed by a 40W amplifier !

You are right in some ways but also wrong at the same time there matey. I get what your saying but it would be factually incorrect to state or think that a standard original speaker vs an upgraded one, both powered by the same headunit will have the same bass, clarity or volume because they will not. The upgraded speaker will produce more of all of these. Granted volume will not be significantly greater without amplification but I’m not opening a night club in my landy I’m just upgrading the speakers to clearer, bassier and a bit louder speakers. If you think a 25w speaker won’t crackle and will produce the same volume as a 300w one powered by the same device then your either mad or don’t understand audio.
The 300w unit will be at best receiving its nominal input from a headunit alone where as a standard 25w speaker is already overpowered by the 50w per channel headunit and will likely crackle up at half volume lol. I’ve fitting all kinds of ice for twenty years man, everything from headunits to TVs in the headrests.
 
The power output is akin to the volume you’ll get and I am looking for louder and bassier speakers
Not at all. It's the efficiency of the speaker that determines how loud it is with a given input power. This is measured in dB at 1 Watt, 1 metre distance.
It's not uncommon for very powerful speakers to be very inefficient, so on a small amplifier, they actually sound quieter than a more efficient, lower power handling speaker.
If they say the speakers can handle 300 watts maximum which I would assume is 150 per speaker then I know I’ll get a lot more volume and bass than what I have already by a few fold so it’s a guide of some kind.
There's no guarantee they'll be louder at all, but they should have a better frequency response

You are right in some ways but also wrong at the same time there matey. I get what your saying but it would be factually incorrect to state or think that a standard original speaker vs an upgraded one, both powered by the same headunit will have the same bass, clarity or volume because they will not.
There's no guarantee the replacement speakers will sound louder, just because they claim to be 300 Watts. They should sound better, but that's very different to being louder.
The cheap JVC speakers I fitted to my FL1 were better, but they weren't louder for a given position on the volume control. Ultimately they had better clarity, simply because they had stiffer polymer cones, rather than the pulped paper cones of the factory speakers. This enabled them to provide more solid bass, but eventually the amplifier distortion covered up any gain in clarity.

The only true way to improve bass, is to install a sub, which I did, on 2 FL1s.

I’ve fitting all kinds of ice for twenty years
well it is to me actually.
If you've been fitting ICE for 20 years, why did you say you'd struggle with 2 speaker wires. :confused:
 
Last edited:
Not at all. It's the efficiency of the speaker that determines how loud it is with a given input power. This is measured in dB at 1 Watt, 1 metre distance.
It's not uncommon for very powerful speakers to be very inefficient, so on a small amplifier, they actually sound quieter than a more efficient, lower power handling speaker.

There's no guarantee they'll be louder at all, but they should have a better frequency response


There's no guarantee the replacement speakers will sound louder, just because they claim to be 300 Watts. They should sound better, but that's very different to being louder.
The cheap JVC speakers I fitted to my FL1 were better, but they weren't louder for a given position on the volume control. Ultimately they had better clarity, simply because they had stiffer polymer cones, rather than the pulped paper cones of the factory speakers. This enabled them to provide more solid bass, but eventually the amplifier distortion covered up any gain in clarity.

The only true way to improve bass, is to install a sub, which I did, on 2 FL1s.



If you've been fitting ICE for 20 years, why did you say you'd struggle with 2 speaker wires. :confused:

Ok so here’s the best way to clear this up. This is my situation, the standard speakers are shot for various reasons. The headunit isn’t standard and puts out something like 50w per channel. The speakers can not handle this much power infact not even close to it. I don’t even get half way through the total volume numbers and already they can’t handle the bass even with it turned down. So in my situation I’m not even getting full use of the amplifier within the headunit. So when I put speakers in which have much greater capabilities in every way I will then be able to turn my volume up to higher numbers (but obviously not the top) without the speakers crackling and therefore I will get better quality sounds and at higher volume than before because these speakers will take more than the standard ones. I’m pretty sure we can agree on that.

And as I said before, I do get what your saying and your theory is all correct, just not in my circumstances. But in my situation with what I have and what I intend to do I will infact get louder, bassier and clearer music just by putting better speakers in. If the headunit was standard with low output I wouldn’t expect any real change just with new speakers but this isn’t a std headunit.

I wouldn’t have any problems connecting two wires matey, I’m not sure what gave you that idea. I maybe can’t be arsed dealing with wires and would prefer to just plug and play. But for clarity I’m a fully qualified car mechanic for well over a decade, also welder and fabricator in the garage for the last 5 years, lead diagnostic tech at the garage too as I have great interest in a lot of technology and hands on skills and have a good collection of dealership diagnostic software, also last December I qualified as an MOT tester and started doing the work in January. Although like many folk I often can’t be arsed doing anything to what is my work car. I’m not an audio specialist by any means but have fitted so much audio gear in the last two decades I’m pretty good at it.

These are the ones o seen online below, if the rated specs are accurate then I’m sure I’ll get more out of these than the soggy wet paper mess that’s crackling away inside my door.
 

Attachments

  • 5C9253B6-1F2F-486F-B1F7-8BF36FBC3412.png
    5C9253B6-1F2F-486F-B1F7-8BF36FBC3412.png
    78.6 KB · Views: 54
  • 7F89D237-FB87-427A-BC86-16A968149A0C.png
    7F89D237-FB87-427A-BC86-16A968149A0C.png
    36.3 KB · Views: 63
The headunit isn’t standard and puts out something like 50w per channel.
What model is HU is it? If it's a good one, it'll contain a bridging amplifiers. A good bridging amplifier will l produce up to 24 Watts RMS (that's the maximum possible output on a 14.4 Volts supply), although distortion will have set in at that power level, but it should see a pretty distortion free 18 Watts per channel.
The speakers can not handle this much power infact not even close to it. I don’t even get half way through the total volume numbers and already they can’t handle the bass even with it turned down. So in my situation I’m not even getting full use of the amplifier within the headunit.
The standard speakers will handle 15 Watts RMS, and don't generally create distortion until the they start to produce around 102dB @ 1kHz. At 40Hz speaker distortion sets in at around 96dB, however this is impossible to accurately measure in the vehicle (and I have measured the full frequency spectrum on the standard FL1), as the door itself rattles and buzzes, so completely ruins the sound quality. This is the reason I added a good layer of sound proofing to all doors, which made as big an improvement as the replacement speakers.
I wouldn’t have any problems connecting two wires matey, I’m not sure what gave you that idea.
Err because you said.
well it is to me actually
I maybe can’t be arsed dealing with wires and would prefer to just plug and play.
I'm trying to help you here. I agree that putting speaker specific connectors on means cutting off the old ones, getting out the soldering iron to solder on the correct connectors is a pain, even crimping connectors is a pain, but the simple matter is, the original speaker plugs corrode badly, so you'll likely get a low quality connection, which isn't going to be helpful, when you're trying to get power to the speaker.

Oh and while those speakers on paper look like a good improvement on the LR ones (wouldn't be hard really) they are rated at 30W RMS, which is a much more realistic figure. ;)
Screenshot_20210124-084638_Samsung Internet.jpg



I have nothing to prove, so don't participate in willy waving competitions. ;)
 
Back
Top