New speakers with old Ford head unit.

[cjhillman]

Hey,

I want to upgrade my Escorts sound system but would like to keep it as a period tape deck... i have loads of tapes and like cassette adapters, the speakers just sound awful


My idea was to buy these from Halfords www.halfords.com/sat-nav-audio/car-audio/sound-systems/edge-ed306-v2-component-car-speakers

then i realised my head unit probably cant power them ( not sure what wattage on these old ford RST21P units are)... now I'm looking into amps and its maybe just getting a bit mad. I am a musician and love my music though...


Any ideas what i could do? I've got two 30watt speakers sat on the back seat at the moment and the head unit is distorting them!?!

[bortaf]

Most head units distort over 3/4 ish on the volume scale IME, get a later granada R/C / amp setup, i did that in my cortina and made the same (aftermarket) speakers sound way better

[steveo3002]

they'l work off the old headunit no bother

[cjhillman]

I started looking up sellers on gumtree selling the Edge Amps and speaker + subs. Might seem mad but I could install something like this with my cassette deck couldn't i? www.gumtree.com/p/in-car-audio-gps/edge-12-sub-amp-and-speakers/1085225538

Never botherd other than changing head units in my old cars... Really like my tapes and stuff tho

Just though if I was gonna buy speakers and an amp I could buy a second hand set like this?

Thanks stevo for the heads up btw mate!

[ChasR]

Damn, people do like to make life awkward .

You are right in that the sound will not sound great. Christ, I improved the system in the BMW by simply changing the HU!

The rear speakers are sat on the back seat? It is small wonder that they are distorting? Before you go changing the HU I would relocate them first (at the very least to the stock positions at the rear if the speakers are at the same size as what is already present.

I would also look for another set of speakers. The Alpine Type-E speakers are designed to be OE replacements and mounted well they are not too bad. DLS speakers are not too shabby either (their lesser ranges). The sensitivity from other brands tends to be poor meaning that they are best working off an amplifier.

Deadening the stock positions shall also help. Some people swear by flashing tape but I have had limited success. Bodyline can work well (and it is cheap) but MaxMat is very good and easy to use). Having solidly mounted speakers (with no spaces present around the speaker) will be required otherwise the sound deadening will be pointless.

If that still does get you closer to what you want (It should with any luck!) then I would start to look at different HUs. There are a number of retro HUs out there which are superb but cheap they are not. However, that is not to say that you can not try to keep things looking stock ; Becker HUs sound superb and look very stock . As a matter of fact the Becker I bought almost 10 years ago has been used hard in a car which is used daily these days (when I say daily, I mean it : the car is used for 4-5 hours a day!).

[cjhillman]

Haha I know it's pretty awkward. I love the car as it is... Just no luck with speakers... Did buy some older free standing ones for the parcel shelf on ebay but they are awful lol

It originally had the one speaker in the centre of the dash so anythings an upgrade... Don't want to cut into anything really cus I'll never find the parts again.

I'll have a look for some alpine speakers or some other makes.

[ChasR]

I know that I have an RST but my interior is a little different to most MkIIIs out there for now!

On the basis that my memory is appauling do you mind taking a shot at the front of an Escort. As for anything being an improvement you would be surprised . Most of the time some well installed speakers up front are all you need and it does not always involve cutting things up .

[cjhillman]

I bought a set of the edge ones with tweeters yesterday. Planning on fitting the tweeters under the grill in the dash but trying to find a way of mounting the midrange ones down in the footwell... I though there was a factory made hole for xr3i's etc , turns out theres nothing ... Have to get the mdf out I guess.

The 80s head unit sounds pretty bad with these speakers too so I've been working on a another 90s ford one I have for now to see if it's any better.

I think our car share the same glove box...