Sound Systen

Hi all

Recommendation - Has anyone used a company to upgrade their speakers, just the speakers I’m happy with the new 8” Screen, it’s a little bit flaky but I like it, just want to go up to 11 now and then.

Recommended - I used roger.donoghue@solarcampersolutions.co.uk to put a single panel on my new 6.1 Beach and Roger was brilliant, a bit of a trek getting down there but it’s great, the app is good and stable and really easy to know what’s happening. Of course all the better for this amazing sunshine so thank your Solar Camper Solutions

www.solarcampersolutions.co.uk (not related or affiliated in anyway just great service)

Thanks all,

bagel.rhodes said:

Hi all

Recommendation - Has anyone used a company to upgrade their speakers, just the speakers I’m happy with the new 8” Screen, it’s a little bit flaky but I like it, just want to go up to 11 now and then.

Recommended - I used roger.donoghue@solarcampersolutions.co.uk to put a single panel on my new 6.1 Beach and Roger was brilliant, a bit of a trek getting down there but it’s great, the app is good and stable and really easy to know what’s happening. Of course all the better for this amazing sunshine so thank your Solar Camper Solutions

www.solarcampersolutions.co.uk (not related or affiliated in anyway just great service)

Thanks all,

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Alpine do a set of speakers design for the T6 / 6.1

there are a few vids on YouTube : Advance in car Tech, Transporter HQ etc

T6 forum also.

Absolute5 get regular mentions on the forum here

Have a look at this thread

I had Advanced In-Car (Poole) fit the Alpine SPC-106T61 upgrade. It is definitely a sound upgrade, but quite an expensive one - its not 'night-and-day' as the factory speakers are reasonable and there's no amp upgrade. Speakers are much heavier though and so if you like to pump it up there's little if any distortion up there. The whole sound experience is more detailed too. I don't regret spending the money, but perhaps was expecting too much for the £698 (inc £199 for stage 1 sound deadening).
They also upgraded the sound deadening in the doors, which in hindsight I wish I'd gone for the stage 2 as I sometimes still get a bit of reverb at low frequencies and medium volumes. AIC reckoned the lighter 6.1 door cards are a problem in that regard.
I'm now considering the related sub upgrade, which would definitely need the sound deadening further upgrading...

66tim99 said:

I had Advanced In-Car (Poole) fit the Alpine SPC-106T61 upgrade. It is definitely a sound upgrade, but quite an expensive one - its not 'night-and-day' as the factory speakers are reasonable and there's no amp upgrade. Speakers are much heavier though and so if you like to pump it up there's little if any distortion up there. The whole sound experience is more detailed too. I don't regret spending the money, but perhaps was expecting too much for the £698 (inc £199 for stage 1 sound deadening).
They also upgraded the sound deadening in the doors, which in hindsight I wish I'd gone for the stage 2 as I sometimes still get a bit of reverb at low frequencies and medium volumes. AIC reckoned the lighter 6.1 door cards are a problem in that regard.
I'm now considering the related sub upgrade, which would definitely need the sound deadening further upgrading...

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Hi 66 - thanks for your detailed response. They do have an amp on there with Woofer, I don’t need the woofer, so wondering if you could just do the amp upgrade with the front and back speakers. I’ve just got a new 6.1 Beach and I really want high quality music, I don’t need crazy bass or loud, but just bigger than now. Did you upgrade the head unit or keep that the same.

Try Absolut5 in Andover. Very helpful and solely focus on T5s and T6s.

bagel.rhodes said:

Hi 66 - thanks for your detailed response. They do have an amp on there with Woofer, I don’t need the woofer, so wondering if you could just do the amp upgrade with the front and back speakers. I’ve just got a new 6.1 Beach and I really want high quality music, I don’t need crazy bass or loud, but just bigger than now. Did you upgrade the head unit or keep that the same.

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Same head unit.
I don’t know what an amp upgrade would do to the factory speakers. Suspect they couldn’t take much more without distortion.
Happy with the added detail from the tweeters, I don’t need more volume, but if I could free the door speakers to mid-only and add the warmth of a sub I think I’d have all I need.
Very interested to hear about any rear speaker upgrade you find. It’s just dawned on me that the replaced factory door speakers might have fitted (I don’t think so - too deep?). Unfortunately I gave those away on here and I think the guy fitted them to his Polo…

I’ve got the same Alpine upgrade as @66tim99, also fitted by Advanced in Car in Poole and I had a Kenwood PSW8 powered sub fitted by Absolut 5 (connected to the rear speaker loom). The combination is worth it in my opinion, in fact I would go as far as to say the more noticeable upgrade of the system is the addition of the sub, because the output from the head unit is inherently bright sounding. Its not about crazy bass or volume, more about getting the full frequency range to hear bass, drums and lower frequency instrument tones properly. There is no point in adding more powerful amps without upgrading the speakers, given they already get ragged at higher volumes, and would imagine they would get damaged if driven harder with little discernible increase in sound quality at moderate volumes. The speakers are the weak link, they are really budget items and a bit crap if you want decent sound - when you get them out you can tell. When replacing door speakers, definitely pay the extra £200 for sound deadening, it really helps. At the end of the day its a van, and you are going to struggle to achieve audiophile sound quality, especially on the move. But I am happy with the upgrades I have had done for about £1000 in total. Because its a van, I am not sure its worth spending a lot more - the law of diminishing returns would kick in. For the same reason I don't intend to upgrade the rear speakers - if you are driving with passengers and can actually hear them, your passengers are going to be deafened with their heads so close. So, in my view, no practical benefit. Hope this helps!

66tim99 said:

I had Advanced In-Car (Poole) fit the Alpine SPC-106T61 upgrade. It is definitely a sound upgrade, but quite an expensive one - its not 'night-and-day' as the factory speakers are reasonable and there's no amp upgrade. Speakers are much heavier though and so if you like to pump it up there's little if any distortion up there. The whole sound experience is more detailed too. I don't regret spending the money, but perhaps was expecting too much for the £698 (inc £199 for stage 1 sound deadening).
They also upgraded the sound deadening in the doors, which in hindsight I wish I'd gone for the stage 2 as I sometimes still get a bit of reverb at low frequencies and medium volumes. AIC reckoned the lighter 6.1 door cards are a problem in that regard.
I'm now considering the related sub upgrade, which would definitely need the sound deadening further upgrading...

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Tim - do you mean that you get buzzing vibrations in the door cards? I think you will find adding a sub will diminish this, because it does all the heavy lifting at the lower end and with a bit of tweaking of the EQ in the head unit you can reach a happy medium where the door speakers are moving less air and so not resonating the plastic surfaces.

GrahamB said:

Tim - do you mean that you get buzzing vibrations in the door cards? I think you will find adding a sub will diminish this, because it does all the heavy lifting at the lower end and with a bit of tweaking of the EQ in the head unit you can reach a happy medium where the door speakers are moving less air and so not resonating the plastic surfaces.

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Also @66tim99 - I put things in the door pockets. I stash water bottles, polish, bike toolkit etc in there, all padded with spare microfibre cloths. All adds weight and reduces movement (same principle as the dynamat).

I have fitted the Alpine SPC-108T6 component speakers to my T6 and they have made a huge difference to the sound, even from the headunit only. I may add an amp which will bring them to life even further at some point but for now I'm happy with the result. I do have a Kenwood head unit though so slightly more power than the standard head unit.

​

GrahamB said:

Kenwood PSW8 powered sub

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Looks good, and much cheaper (£200) than the Alpine SPC-D84AT6 (£499). I see both have a 20cm woofer, but the Alpine has a 550W amp (Kenwood 250W). Could the Alpine be worth it?

GrahamB said:

buzzing vibrations in the door cards?

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Yes - its rare but on some tracks the buzz is annoying. And that's a good point - the sub bass will be produced under the seat rather than in the door.

66tim99 said:

Looks good, and much cheaper (£200) than the Alpine SPC-D84AT6 (£499). I see both have a 20cm woofer, but the Alpine has a 550W amp (Kenwood 250W). Could the Alpine be worth it?


Yes - its rare but on some tracks the buzz is annoying. And that's a good point - the sub bass will be produced under the seat rather than in the door.

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The difference being that the Alpine amp would power all your front speakers as well as the sub I believe, so that would potentially be a further upgrade. I don’t honestly think the power rating is the biggest factor, there is more than enough with either option. But one thing I like about the Kenwood is having separate remote control of the sub to dial in as much bass as I want. No doubt the same can be achieved with EQ controls in the head unit with the full Alpine setup, but it means diving into the menus.

Looking at these speakers are the easy to fit?

Betty67 said:

Looking at these speakers are the easy to fit?

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Assuming you mean the Alpine front speaker upgrade, I got it done professionally. Getting the door cards off isn’t too difficult to diy the main speakers but I think fitting the tweeters into the A pillar which means working around the blinds is a but more tricky. I didn't fancy doing that in what was then a brand new van but I guess it depends on your competence and confidence in these aspects. The speakers are plug and play so easy if you’re ok with the bodywork aspects. One thing I would say is while the door cards are off, fit dynamat or similar sound deadening insulation. Well worth it.

I did mine, there's a couple of online videos showing how easy it is.
The only thing to watch is that you will probably break a few of the door trim clips so its worth getting some spares in before you start.

On a scale of 1to10 Is the sound quality a vast upgrade and worth the £300

Betty67 said:

On a scale of 1to10 Is the sound quality a vast upgrade and worth the £300

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6
Yes

There is a noticeable improvement in clarity. But with the door speaker still driving the bass, if you like it loud, you’ll need a sub. Alpine do an under seat complementary one. I didn’t bother and slightly regret it. If I pump up a bass heavy tune the door card can vibrate a bit (I did upgrade the door insulation).
Still, I took mine to Poole to have it fitted and played the same tune when I picked it up as when I dropped it off, and it put a smile on my face.
If you’re tight for cash though, it’s probably not good enough…

Betty67 said:

On a scale of 1to10 Is the sound quality a vast upgrade and worth the £300

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Yes its worth it. I’d also give it a 6 for the speaker upgrade alone. Mainly for better detail and instrument/vocal separation. I went a slightly different route and fitted a powered sub first which made a bigger difference to overall sound quality, then added the Alpine upgrade and I am very happy with the final result. I’d give it an 8. The combination cost about £1000 including fitting by Absolut5 and Advanced In Car. I didn't bother with changing rear speakers. As @66tim99 says, without a sub you can get the door speakers buzzing the plastics depending on what you’re playing, but a sub does all the heavy lifting at low frequencies and bass and drums become much more punchy. It depends what you like listening to and at what volumes but given the stock system is inherently bright sounding anyway, I think a sub would be top of my shopping list if I were to do it again.