Speaker upgrade

[TheTree]

Hi

I finally put together a page on the Speaker upgrade I have done!

P38 Range Rover Speaker Upgrade (http://p38.hts.com.au/speaker_upgrade.html)

It sounds much better than the rather tired original speakers though you also need an upgraded head unit to really hear the benefit.

Steve

[banarcus]

Hey Steve, I'm pretty keen to have a listen to your setup when I get my P38 running again. I like what you have put together and myself would like to retain a split 3 way system as well. The standard speakers leave a lot to be desired but I was surprised at the amount of power the door amps had.

Mark

[p38arover]

I must be the odd man out, I find the standard system to be very good.

[daf11e]

I find the system in my 2000 to be an excellent sound also.
Or are we talking earlier models?

[glenhendry]

Great write up. My 2000MY HSE sounds great stock, but this type of knowledge for other users is invaluable.

[Keithy P38]

I echo the above! Awesome write up! Have not an issue with either of my P38's sound quality.

I did, however, replace all the speakers in my blue one as the old cones had worn out.

For a factory sound system from the late 90's I think it's still better than a lot of offerings today!

Cheers
Keithy

[TheTree]

Hey Steve, I'm pretty keen to have a listen to your setup when I get my P38 running again. I like what you have put together and myself would like to retain a split 3 way system as well. The standard speakers leave a lot to be desired but I was surprised at the amount of power the door amps had.

Mark

Mark

No problems mate, I wouldn't mind having a look at the massive engine swap you are doing !

Steve

[TheTree]

I must be the odd man out, I find the standard system to be very good.

Ron

The standard sound system is pretty good for sure, as long as your speakers are not seized and warped like mine were !

So the choice came down to second hand genuine speakers of an unknown provenance, a recone or getting new speakers.

Steve

[TheTree]

Hi

I would say that if your speakers are in good shape then a head unit upgrade would be the best way to improve the sound.

I did think at one point when I was doing the crossovers "is this really worth it" but I was very pleasantly surprised at the difference it made having a proper crossover for the mid/tweeters

Steve

[p38arover]

I did the head unit change a few years back. The biggest problem was interfacing to the door amps. The interface unit I bought from the UK simply didn't and couldn't work so I had to redesign it. See http://www.aulro.com/afvb/p38a-range-rover/132209-nexxia-radio-fitting-kits-p38a-4.html

[banarcus]

Most of my speakers are buggered with the subwoofers rotten all the way through. For my aftermarket head unit I used ISO to Kenwood but had issues with the amps too. Found out if I grounded the amplifier enable wire with the power antenna wire all was good.

[TheTree]

I did the head unit change a few years back. The biggest problem was interfacing to the door amps. The interface unit I bought from the UK simply didn't and couldn't work so I had to redesign it. See http://www.aulro.com/afvb/p38a-range-rover/132209-nexxia-radio-fitting-kits-p38a-4.html

Ron

I read that thread and the on on rr.net

I originally bought the passive cable before reading those threads and of course it didn't work

I noticed however that nexxia now have an adaptor which uses high/low convertors so I bought one of those off ebay and wired them up in a proper balanced configuration i.e. brought all the earth connections back to the head unit and connected them to a single point there

Then I adjusted the output level on the convertors and it worked perfectly :p

Steve

[TheTree]

Most of my speakers are buggered with the subwoofers rotten all the way through. For my aftermarket head unit I used ISO to Kenwood but had issues with the amps too. Found out if I grounded the amplifier enable wire with the power antenna wire all was good.

Hi

The HK door amps require a higher impedance input, so the RCA line output is too low and the speaker output is too high, although it will work

Hence the attenuator described here is required for the best sound from the speaker level outputs

Aftermarket Head Unit Adaptation for Range Rover 4.0/4.6 (http://www.rangerovers.net/rrupgrades/entertainment/headunitadapt.html)

However this only seems to work well with the 99 on Alpine head units, the earlier Clarion units need a bit more voodoo applied to them !

Regards
Steve

[p38arover]

I noticed however that nexxia now have an adaptor which uses high/low convertors so I bought one of those off ebay and wired them up in a proper balanced configuration i.e. brought all the earth connections back to the head unit and connected them to a single point there

Do you think Nexxia saw my thread and solution? I wonder if they'd swap the old for the new?

Do you have any info on them Steve, apart from what's on Nexxia's website (off noe to have a look there).

[TheTree]

Ron

Not sure if they saw your thread, in the end I finished up buying a coupe of these units with adjustable output

Speaker TO RCA Line Level Converter Adaptor High LOW | eBay (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Speaker-to-RCA-Line-Level-Converter-Adaptor-High-Low-/260699716501?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item3cb2e9fb95)

If i was doing it again I would buy a dual channel one to save space

I hacked the original nexxia lead because I could nit find one of those 10 pin ISO connectors anywhere

I'll do a write up in the next few days

Steve