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No budget as such but not much choice as I didn't like the sound. The Sub is about $500. The Focal's were $540 per set. Front and rear that's 2 sets plus installation.
Well there are no Burmester speakers or any other Burmester hardware in the Burmester system. Same dinky speakers as in the Audio 20 but more of them, and an external amp.
I'd say for your $1k you could do the JL dual 8" sub box, the 300 watt JL amp, and a set of Focal KRS100s in the front doors and be very happy. I'd recommend the twin 8" versus a single 10" or 12" because the A20 has almost no midbass drivers. It's hard to tune a 10 or 12 to both play up into the midbass range and still hit hard without getting loose and boomy.
Just not keen to put something in the boot but undecided. I am sure the dual JL's would be very nice. Why are people suggesting to only replace the front speakers with the KRS 100's? It is cost? The back speakers are right behind me and I tend to use the fader so I have surround sound and not just the front. Then if you turn up the volume the back will probably distort that's what I noticed before I replaced the front.. What I have also noticed in the last couple of days is that the KRS 100's "added" some bass to the sound. Open to further thoughts.
Just not keen to put something in the boot but undecided. I am sure the dual JL's would be very nice. Why are people suggesting to only replace the front speakers with the KRS 100's? It is cost? The back speakers are right behind me and I tend to use the fader so I have surround sound and not just the front. Then if you turn up the volume the back will probably distort that's what I noticed before I replaced the front.. What I have also noticed in the last couple of days is that the KRS 100's "added" some bass to the sound. Open to further thoughts.
The A20 has a single 5" ish woofer in the passenger footwell. Just not enough to handle the low end. The KRS, like any 4" woofer is essentially a mid range speaker. While you can, with a DSP amp, tune them down to 400 htz, on the factory HU with no EQ they're not going to be bass producers at all, and they're more power hungry than stock. The factory HU will drive them but ultimately they want 50 watts each.
The rear doors have a depth issue and won't accommodate the KRS100. I don't believe the A20 has a surround function. The rears are for back fill, playing the same signal as the fronts rather than a delayed surround. (I think).
Have a look at the JL sub in my car. It's about as unobtrusive as it can be. (Link in sig).
Thanks. Focal refer to these as a woofer but you are correct in that they are a mid. I just felt that they had more depth than the originals. OK re dimension on speaker.The installer suggested bridging the tweeter over the midrange. Effectively turning it into a two way. This will fit as the front and back were the same thickness / depth. Could the JL be mounted under the back shelf?
Thanks. Focal refer to these as a woofer but you are correct in that they are a mid. I just felt that they had more depth than the originals. OK re dimension on speaker.The installer suggested bridging the tweeter over the midrange. Effectively turning it into a two way. This will fit as the front and back were the same thickness / depth. Could the JL be mounted under the back shelf?
The Focals come out of the box as a two-way, with their own crossover. Your installer just needs to take the leads to the existing 4", run them to the crossover and then from the crossover out to the woofer and tweeter.
Bridging refers to combining two channels on an amplifier into one, doubling the power.
The rear parcel shelf isn't really set up to accommodate a sub. You're going to be stuck with a box I'm afraid.
Yes. Aware of the crossover. I think he used the term bridge to explain mounting of the tweeter over the mid then placing behind the grill. Do you think it's still a good idea to replace the ones in the back door. I just sort of think what a waste of two grills to leave the originals in the back. Thanks for your views on all of this.
Yeah the front doors are already set up for tweeters in the mirror sail panels. Pretty easy install. Not sure what you're saying with respect to the rear doors. There are speakers back there now. They're not great but for fill they serve their purpose. You could upgrade them at some point but for your $1k budget the sub/amp and Focals will eat that all up.
In terms of upgrading the sound dramatically by just replacing the existing door speakers, it's not going to get you there.
I don't think there's a need for two sets of tweeters. There's too much high end sound anyway. I'm still struggling to find a perfect setup for my system.
As for the Focals they can go down to 250Hz but that's still miles away from any kind of bass.
I replaced the stock sub with an 8" woofer and the difference is huge. Search for the "How to upgrade the base sound system" thread, there's a lot of data there
Although Vladarth also added a Match DSP amp. The factory HU is probably not enough to drive the upgraded Frontbass woofer. Unless you need the trunk/rear seat pass thru often I'd do the small sub amp and box.
If trunk space is an issue, I've used the Infinity Bass Link powered sub before. It has a relatively small footprint, a 250 watt amp with a 10" speaker and a 10" passive radiator. It accepts speaker level inputs and has auto power sensing.
Guys. Thanks, I will read the other threads. I am torn between having nice base in the boot or compromise / leave as original as possible and just replace the base in the footwell. The installer said if you are not happy will take it out again. Cheers
Guys. Thanks, I will read the other threads. I am torn between having nice base in the boot or compromise / leave as original as possible and just replace the base in the footwell. The installer said if you are not happy will take it out again. Cheers
Maybe it's time to upload photos on trunks to show how much space a sub takes.
As Mike said, I added a DSP amp, and this is the only way to go with the W205. Just look at the input equalizer curve I had to use to get an input that the amp can work with.
So for people who only upgraded to Focals in the front, try reducing the 315Hz, 1,25KHz and 14KHz in an app or any other kind of equalizer you can use.
Maybe it's time to upload photos on trunks to show how much space a sub takes.
Yeah, pics have been up on the blog for a couple of months. This Dual 8" JL is about 6" deep and fits perfectly between the rear wheel wells and up against the rear seat back.
I went to the local MB dealer today, and yes, you're right. They confirmed that the amp is integrated into the HU. The strange thing for me is (as I wrote above) that the HU has a standard 4 channel ISO connector with 5 pairs of wires coming out. The 5th pair seems to be the woofer connected to the FL+ and FR-.
But back to what you said, shouldn't the resistance be 4ohm when you measure at the ISO connector (which should in theory be connected directly to the speakers)?
I am planning to install a Focal bus 20 active sub in the trunk. Can I just connect the hi-level input on the focal to the HU´s RL & RR +/-? Without getting any problem with the HU?
OK, do you use FL+ and FR- on the active sub input? (Same as out from the hu)
There should be a single channel out of the HU for the single Frontbass signal. You'd want to identify and splice into that, and then just use a single channel on the sub amp.
There should be a single channel out of the HU for the single Frontbass signal. You'd want to identify and splice into that, and then just use a single channel on the sub amp.
Readed in another thread that the single front bass signal is from FL+ and FR -, I dont know why MB does that.
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