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| custom90 Member Since: 21 Jan 2010 Location: South West, England. Posts: 19615  
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You can get some very good equipment for 400 especially a Head Unit (HU) All fitment of the radio / speakers is really pretty straight forward full stop in the Defender. A simple change of speakers and HU can make all the difference you may need without a sub or suchlike. Brand preference is down to you really. But personally I would always choose Kenwood & never Alpine due to quality. However Pioneer, Sony & Focal ect are all good brands. Bluetooth on an iPhone shouldn't be an issue at all especially on a new Head Unit. I would suggest you chose a model though with an external microphone to pick up your voice rather than one that has it in-built because with the Defender noise the quality won't be too good.
Any more info / advise let me know.  Diesel$ Live$ Matter. ⛽️🛢️👨🔧🧰⚙️ RED, WHITE & BOOST! 🇬🇧 |
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7th Nov 2012 11:30am |
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| XS Pete Member Since: 13 Jan 2011 Location: Suffolk Posts: 632  
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And on what piece of wisdom is that based? What you actually should have said was 'But personally I would always choose Alpine & never Kenwood due to quality.' Or to put it another way, buy from a manufacturer who's core expertise is stereos, not food mixers, hair straighteners, and cheap electric kettles. 
Pete |
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7th Nov 2012 4:31pm |
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| AndyS Member Since: 18 Aug 2012 Location: London Posts: 595 
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Maybe, as a quick and easy upgrade, you could change the rear speakers for something a bit bigger and more powerful. I know it'll pull the sound towards the back of the car but it's a car, how good is it ever going to get? There are places on ebay that'll sell you a set of speaker pods for six inch speakers, you could fit an inline amp in the speaker cable on the way and hide it somewhere (possibly behind the dash, I think there's a lot of room behind there). Probably with a bit of jig-saw action you could cut yourself some six by nine speaker mounts for the same area (beside the back door), they have plenty of whollop and power to them and could be made to look good with some vinyl covering.
I think that's the way I'm going to go, I spent a lot of money fitting a (Kenwood) car hi-fi to my Mini and it wasn't much better than OEM stuff, a bit clearer and louder but it's a car with a load of background noise so all seemed to be a bit of a waste, IMO. |
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7th Nov 2012 4:58pm |
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| custom90 Member Since: 21 Jan 2010 Location: South West, England. Posts: 19615
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6x9's do pack a punch for their size I will give you that. Trouble is with me I'd want my four regular speakers AND two 6x9's on top of that. The one issue that the Defender suffers from which causes more issues and is highly annoying is the speaker recess hole size being only 10CM or 13Cm on some as far as I know. A good 160CM would be great. The size of 10cm is just simply to small to get much power. Diesel$ Live$ Matter. ⛽️🛢️👨🔧🧰⚙️ RED, WHITE & BOOST! 🇬🇧
Last edited by custom90 on 7th Nov 2012 5:24pm. Edited 1 time in total |
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7th Nov 2012 5:02pm |
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| AndyS Member Since: 18 Aug 2012 Location: London Posts: 595
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Arr, but, you're forgetting that bass isn't directional (I think it is but we'll go with what they tell us) so you could split your system into components, fit your tweeter and mids up front and two 6x9 bass only speakers down the back (or bass and mid if you want a bit more rear fill). Then you should get a good forward sound stage with plenty of clout. If you're only fitting smaller size speakers up front then a bit of a spacer behind the mids and you open up a few more options for yourself. I don't think you'd hit your knee on a speaker that stood a little proud of the panel work beneath the dash.
Putting speakers all over the place normally causes problems with each one cancelling the other out as the phases cross through the car. |
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7th Nov 2012 5:11pm |
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| custom90 Member Since: 21 Jan 2010 Location: South West, England. Posts: 19615
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True, I did consider fitting larger speakers up front as standard but found I didn't like them not being flush and also the magnet size at the back wouldn't fit due to heater / fan ducting. So instead I opted for the mot powerful highest quality 10cm I could find of which I have been please with. Issue with them all at that sive though is naturally due to the small size they are great for highs and mids but sod all bass which is understandable really. That is why I went for a sub too. With the 6x9's they are a good all rounder IMHO and give more bass than you'd expect. In the past I had a pair of Kenwood 250w RMS 500w peak 6x9's and they had plenty of bass to them! Really it's down to the Defender owner and their own tastes really. Diesel$ Live$ Matter. ⛽️🛢️👨🔧🧰⚙️ RED, WHITE & BOOST! 🇬🇧
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7th Nov 2012 5:29pm |
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| mk1collector Member Since: 17 Sep 2009 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 6769 
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In a defender you'd be better off with a mild speaker upgrade at the front and a fortune spent on sound deadening so you can hear them!
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7th Nov 2012 5:49pm |
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| TD5_90 Member Since: 02 Apr 2011 Location: Perthshire Posts: 89 
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I am no expert but this is what I did:
Replaced head unit ( of course ) which means I have some good features now and ability to add to in the future I.e sub and / or amp. Upgraded front speakers to same size but better quality and being a 90 I fitted two 6 x 9's as rear speakers behind front seats. The power and clarity from the 6x9's is great. I just use the head unit to balance the power between the front and rear to keep the clarity. In the future I will add an amp and run another 2 rear speakers and a sub 
I did see somewhere, maybe boltonbits, that you can get 6x9 speaker panels that fit either side of the rear door. |
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7th Nov 2012 6:11pm |
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| Thud Member Since: 21 Jul 2012 Location: London Posts: 667 
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150 on a head unit. There are loads that suit your requirements. Get one with a meaty amp.
125 on front midrange speakers and combine them with the existing tweeters which are not bad at all and well placed. Dont get two or three way speakers in place of the original speakers as all the treble will be directed at your feet not your ears. Disconnect the rear speakers altogether. They will muddy your new better sound and sap your amp stage a bit. Spend the rest on fiberglass matting to stiffen up the pliable speaker baffles and good sound proofing. When funds allow add a small woofer and get more sound proofing. When even more funds allow get the rears upgraded too. Last edited by Thud on 7th Nov 2012 7:59pm. Edited 1 time in total |
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7th Nov 2012 7:21pm |
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| SteveS Member Since: 05 Oct 2010 Location: Devon & Berkshire Posts: 388 
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the one benefit the Alpine head units have is full and fast integrtion to iphone and ipod - im not sure if the other manufacturers have caught up but until recently Alpine were streets ahead (music search, selection, playlist management etc.
Talk to an independent supplier to get their views on iphone integration and reliability - they're fitting hundreds of these things Spending a fortune on a new head unit without replacing the OEM speakers would be a complete waste. As well as replacing the speakers by your knees, the tweeter units - I added a pair of 3 way pioneer pods (the sort you can find on a rear parcel shelf) and bolted them to the top corners of the dog/load guard - you can then unplug the speakers by the rear door altogether Finally I added a miniature sub under the rear seats |
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7th Nov 2012 7:56pm |
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| df1 Member Since: 06 Aug 2011 Location: Ireland Posts: 221 |
Just to follow on a bit, I want to keep the original head, is there any point in upgrading the speakers at my knees ?
Want to keep tidy and original looking, don't like massive speakers. It's a 110 van so only interested in sound in the front, not interested in a subwoofer either. |
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7th Nov 2012 9:11pm |
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| Thud Member Since: 21 Jul 2012 Location: London Posts: 667
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Yes you can upgrade just the speakers although the weenie amp won't make the best of them. Still better though. If you could be bothered you could also add a small speaker level amp too.
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7th Nov 2012 9:16pm |
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| ken Member Since: 18 Aug 2009 Location: Banging Birds with my bitches !! Posts: 4328
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Kenwood HU
FOCAL 100cm plus tweeters 6x9 Loudess.com via alpine 2ch amp Loudess.com 100cm rears FOCAL Sub (active) |
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7th Nov 2012 9:22pm |
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| df1 Member Since: 06 Aug 2011 Location: Ireland Posts: 221 |
So if I just ad an amp behind the dash and put in 2 new speakers would I have any appreciable difference ?
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7th Nov 2012 10:15pm |
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