Speaker Replacement using Original Grilles and Mounts

[barker_001]

I've just fitted a set of Alpine speakers to my Excel within the original grilles, thus maintaining the original appearance but gaining some modern power and clarity to the sound. In fairness the original rear speakers weren't bad, but the front ones, an awkward 3.5" size, were shot. So I bought a pair of Alpine 10cm SXE-1025S for the rear, and the 8.6cm SXE-0825S for the front. The speakers were £63 for both sets, from Dynamic Sounds.



The rears were a like for like swap, just screwed into place behind the grilles. The fronts were a bit more involved. I removed the door cards, although there's no need to actually remove the speaker grilles from the cards. The old speaker needs to be removed from the black grille, it is held in place with 3 small clips which are glued in place. These must be removed, break the glue bond and carefully lever them off. The Alpine speakers have two small mounting brackets as part of their frame, these need to be removed. Rather than risking swarf getting into the magnet, I just levered them back and forward until they broke off.



The speaker then fits perfectly into the black grille, make sure it is pushed all the way home, it is retained by the two silver spring clips on the back of the speaker.



The Excel speaker cables fitted perfectly onto the connectors, and then I refitted the complete door cards.





Soundwise, the treble and clarity is noticeably improved over the old speakers, bass levels are about the same. 3.5" and 4" speakers were never going to deliver earth shattering bass though, that would need a subwoofer too. But these are more than good enough for my planned DAB radio upgrade when I get round to that!

[rbgosling]

Thanks Bryan - my front speakers are also totally shot so I need to do this, it's good to have a recommendation of speakers that fit and sound at least OK-ish! With the noise of the engine, wind and road that makes it into an Excel cabin, it's never going to be a perfect acoustic environment, but it'll be good to have some decent volume without distortion!



Interestingly I have a totally different grill for the front speakers, mine is a black metal mesh rather than that plastic with holes style, so I'll have to see if I can fit mine the same way you did or need to adapt differently.

[barker_001]

Thanks Richard, you're right about the Excel cabin not being the quietest of environments - that's one reason I didn't want to spend a fortune. Strange that your front grilles are different - but equally strange that mine didn't match front to back either - the rears being metal mesh and the fronts being plastic grilles. All the speakers they contained appeared to be the original "Eurotech" items. The front ones had the model number 19-SM59-08ETD (D8703) on them. If yours has the same speakers behind the different grilles, the Alpines should fit. Interestingly Eurotech still make speakers for Bose so they were probably a quality item back in the day.

[rbgosling]

These are what my grilles look like - a bit dented from over the years! No idea if they are original or someone has previously replaced the speakers.

[barker_001]

Looking at the distance to the ashtray and the bottom of the door compared to mine, they look slightly bigger and have 4 mounting screws behind the grilles. That being the case, the larger (and better sounding) 10cm Alpine speakers may fit.

[KevW]

I agree, they look like larger aftermarket speakers

[rbgosling]

Good spot. When a speaker is referred to as “10cm”, what dimension is being measured? That would help me confirm the size of my existing speakers prior to ordering replacements.

[barker_001]

The 10cm is the overall diameter of the speaker. Just as important is the spacing between the screw holes, which is slightly less - although as you can see on this diagram, the screw holes in the speaker are slotted so you have some leeway. Most 4" / 10cm speakers I looked at were very similar, it was the 3.5" ones that were tricky. I would take out one of the existing speakers and compare it with the Alpine - assuming you go with them.

https://www.dynamicsounds.co.uk/alpine- ... eaker.html

[StevoXL]

Thank you Bryan, very useful post , one if my front speakers is dead and the others sound terrible. Not expecting audiophile performance, but I think I will take the same route:-).

[barker_001]

Thanks Steve. Somebody on one of the Facebook groups fitted the 3.5" Alpines too. They improved on the fitting by adding 3 blobs of what looked like silicon adhesive to help hold the speaker in and prevent any vibration - a blob each on the silver spring loaded brackets and another on the speaker frame at the 6 o'clock position. If/when I take my door cards off again I'll add some adhesive myself.