Is it the standard radio/cassette that is crap ?

[Arow]

or the speakers
or both :grinning:

1999 1.3 gx 5 door which I've just bought

Before I start messing with installing other stuff I'd like to know.
I have a reasonable set of 4 speakers which i bought for my previous car
and a standard ford radio/cassette which sounded pretty good compared to this.

I'm not that demanding and don't require oodles of volume and bass, however the onboard radio/cassette standard 4 speaker setup sounds atrocious despite adjusting the parameters.

The previous owners were a very elderly couple, the rest of the car is in excellent condition so doubt if the R/C has been overused or hammered. It's just a grotty sound which is tinny if the treble is turned up & muddy if reduced, or the bass is boosted.

 

[Ceirwan]

Yep the speakers are rubbish IMO, and also aren't to impressed with the radio casette, its not to bad on the radio, but it plays tapes incredibly rubbish...

 

[Arow]

I agree it's particularly the tapes which sound dodgy.

I'll begin by replacing the speakers and take it from there.
I have some pioneers that aren't too deep which I think will fit in the doors o'k
I read the depth available was around 5.4 cm ?

 

[pjg1979]

Well

Personally, I think the speakers are alright for what they are but the tape player itself is pants. I have an MP3 player pugged into the tape deck and I have to increase the volume of the MP3 player to drown out the noise of the tape sensor thing.

Replace tape player first I'd say.

 

[Arow]

Well...........:laugh:
I changed one door speaker yesterday and it sounds considerably better than the one on the other side, the pioneer has far more depth of sound with a smoother response, I'll do the other today and see how it goes.

I'll probably end up doing the lot and using my old player, it sounds o'k with cassettes or cassette adapter, Plus I think I prefer it's controls.

Can't afford anything new at the moment, but having said that I've given up on keeeping up to date with car stereos because I've had too much ripped off in the past. The older and more knackered looking the better.

Even if they are removable I can't be bothered remembering to take a player out with me when I leave the car or overnight.

 

[Willenium]

Get a decent head unit and you'll be amazed how different the sound will be. I'm just running standard speakers with a sub in the boot and it's fine.

 

[Ceirwan]

I didn't find that getting a decent head unit made all that much difference, muddy base and uninspired mid range... replace the lot!

 

[Arow]

Get a decent head unit and you'll be amazed how different the sound will be. I'm just running standard speakers with a sub in the boot and it's fine.

Thanks for the advice Willenium but I've never found that a subwoofer helps the instrumentation of the music I predominantly listen to.

Replacing the remaining micra speakers today has shown me exactly how poor they are and replacing the R/C as well revealed how pants the cassette player is too.

I tried a few different styles of music for testing and it struck me that they have tried to offset the brittle shortcomings of the R/C with some relatively unresponsive speakers.

It all had to go lol :k11green: