Focal speaker upgrade?

[bloom_meister]

Recently went down to my local car audio place (NICE in Norwich) to get my new Business CD radio fitted to replace the horrible bling panasonic the car came with and asked how much to upgrade the front, rear and tweeters on the car already.

Guy told me he would reccomend Focal (sp?) speakers and it would cost about £200 in parts plus labour.

A. Is the cost reasonable
B. Are these speakers any good?

Not looking for the best top quality, just want something thats a nice upgrade over the rubbish thats in the car as standard.

Cheers

Tim

[chu346]

Focal make loads of speakers.

Find out what he is offering for £200:
What size speakers?
Front and Rear if so same speakers in the rear?
What model number?
How much the speakers are on there own from him?
How much the speakers are on there own from somewhere else?

Focal make some of the best car speakers and can cost more than what our cars are worth. just don't get stung for £200 for a £50 set in standard positions with no mods that you can fit yourself!

[bloom_meister]

Focal make loads of speakers.

Find out what he is offering for £200:
What size speakers?
Front and Rear if so same speakers in the rear?
What model number?
How much the speakers are on there own from him?
How much the speakers are on there own from somewhere else?

Focal make some of the best car speakers and can cost more than what our cars are worth. just don't get stung for £200 for a £50 set in standard positions with no mods that you can fit yourself!

Hmm this sounds like good advice, i never even thought to ask what model. They will be direct replacements (eg in same covers) as the original so perhaps not worth paying labour for whats simply a remove cover and plug in job??

Does anyone know the dimensions of the existing front, rear and tweeter speakers please?

Tim

[chu346]

5.25" speakers holes, no standard tweeter holes but can easily be mounted behind door mirrors.

[kam325itouring]

£200 prob get you polyglass components.....

[Heyho]

Focal make well regarded speakers, but running them from a business cd will most likely result in disappointment.

Aftermarket comps nearly always benefit from lots of clean power. You'll be better off with a quality amp to drive them.

[bloom_meister]

Focal make well regarded speakers, but running them from a business cd will most likely result in disappointment.

Aftermarket comps nearly always benefit from lots of clean power. You'll be better off with a quality amp to drive them.

i've got the amp from the BMW premium sound upgrade, wil this help?

[Heyho]

i've got the amp from the BMW premium sound upgrade, wil this help?

I'm not familiar with that particular amp, but I suspect that it it designed with specific speakers in mind.

The problem with installing aftermarket comps is that they generally have a much lower sensitivity than standard speakers. The standard items may not sound particularly accurate, but they do a good job of making a fair bit of noise from not much power.

Your best option would be leave the rears standard, replace the front speakers with decent comps (focal are good, but there are lots out there), and drive them from a good 2-channel amp. About 50w rms per channel should be adequate, but a little more won't hurt.

If you're using a stock headunit, you will probably require an amp with high (speaker level) inputs.