Proven simple audio upgrades

[S18 RSG 429]

Hi all,

After a morning of effectively banging my head against a wall, searching through all the forums trying to find a simple answer to a simple question, I've given up in the hope that someone here can help.

Basically, I'm looking for the simplest, cheapest option to upgrade the sound quality of the 86.

We all know how poor the standard sound system is, so could anyone point me in the direction of a simple solution. 

I don't want to spend too much time/money on this, as honestly it's not that important to me, but I figure it's a worthwhile job I could get done on a cold, wet weekend while waiting for the good weather to return.

Look forward to your responses

[Paul 442]

I find that the best way of improving the sound in the cabin is simply revving the engine harder.... 

[rob275 1817]

It's a bit of a difficult one really... Ideally you would want to incorporate an amp to drive some better speakers. @suggestable discovered these http://www.focal.com/en/dedicated-driverspeaker-kits/520-is-165-toy.html which are simply plug and play. Relatively good value and could be worth giving them a punt. Sarah is also amplifying hers though, but that's always something you could add later.

Sound deadening in the doors is handy, it will prevent any annoying rattles and help with that sound quality you are after. Mocking up some MDF baffles can be handy to soften panel vibration also.

[S18 RSG 429]

I read through the other thread, where @suggestable mentioned those speakers.

To be honest, they're probably gonna go on order fairly soon, just wanted to know if there was some kind of known path that's proven to be a great upgrade for cheap (like the panel filter power increase).

[Church 209]

Sound deadening .. then it's worth to do it thoroughly, not just doors .. but that probably will add noticeably weight, no? I'd prefer to enhance sound without any worsening for main car function, even if slight. Also somewhat used by now to less sound insulatation and louder road noises in this car for that to be felt as big drawback. "Because racecar" [tm]

[Tareim 343]

where exactly can you buy those Focals from? as I can only find american & aussie sites which would be killer on the import

[rob275 1817]

48 minutes ago, Church said:

Sound deadening .. then it's worth to do it thoroughly, not just doors .. but that probably will add noticeably weight, no? I'd prefer to enhance sound without any worsening for main car function, even if slight. Also somewhat used by now to less sound insulatation and louder road noises in this car for that to be felt as big drawback. "Because racecar" [tm]

Maybe 15kg if that, nothing in the grand scheme of things as it's sprung weight.

1 minute ago, Tareim said:

where exactly can you buy those Focals from? as I can only find american & aussie sites which would be killer on the import

They will have a re-seller in the UK who can get them I imagine. Not looked though

[Test Drives Unlimited 278]

Most Sound Specialists will stock Focal Products

[S18 RSG 429]

Well, as per recommendations, and partly due to my impatience, I ordered a set of the Focal speakers we discussed yesterday. Bought them from Amazon, and will be with me tomorrow. Also ordered an extremely compact 4 channel Amp to go along with it. Should all be here ready to fit over the weekend, and I'll report back with findings after the deed is done.

Thanks all.

[Church 209]

Will you be using them with stock Touch headunit? If so, if you don't mind, try out first with only amp but speakers left stock. I had theory/wondered if stock HU can be somewhat saved with help of amp, due unamplified enough outputs, hence lot of distortions at normal loudness level. On my '99 corolla's two oem speakers in doors sound was WAY better after installment of alpine mp3 HU with amplified 2x45W outputs then multi-speaker stock sound system in these coupes, hence i wonder if one can noticeably enhance sound with changing/upgrading as little as possible.

[Lauren 2259]

Church, the stock front speakers really are very poor. Sure you could try it, but I don't think you can really drive them any harder. 

Unfortunately there is nothing particularly good about the stock system. But I do think changing the front speakers is the first thing I would do if I was trying to do it as cheaply as possible. I don't think there'll be a benefit from an amp until you've changed the front speakers. 

[Church 209]

Lauren: i doubt that those two door speakers of that corolla wear of high class too :), yet they sounded acceptable with normally amped input after simply installing relatively cheap headunit, hence i'd love to hear if stock sound can be improved too for cheap. Sound doesn't have to be the best in my book, there is no limit how far audiophiles can go. It just has to be 'good enough', preferably by paying less, hence i'd love to hear more input from others trying out multiple upgrade paths. If stock speakers in modern car are really beyond any saving, so be it, i'll have to pull trigger on more expensive purchase. Question being - are they really THAT bad or they underperform with T&G?

[Keethos 842]

I'm sure I've read a long time back that it was recommended just to change the head unit first but as I said, it was a long time back. Let us know how you get on with just upgrading the speakers.

[Ade 517]

I'm an audiophile at home. First priority is the source then the amp and then the speakers. You'd be surprised how good a fairly crap speaker can sound with a good amp. "Upgraded" speakers can often make it worse as the headunit struggles to power them and distorts as a consequence.

If you put big low sensitivity speaker in you need to amplify them. Those focals are designed with plenty of sensitivity so that a low power headunit can drive them to an acceptable SPL.

Church you'll definity benefit from a better headunit. Then some sound deadening but if you're going to effort of taking off the door trim you might as well spend £50 on a set of speakers.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

[S18 RSG 429]

Well, as there are clearly still some questions, I'll try and take some time to do some testing while I'm in the car.

Step 1: Sound deadening. This is the cheapest and easiest mod, and realistically should make a noticeable difference.

Step 2: Fit the amp with stock speakers.

Step 3: Swap out the speakers for the new Focal items.

To answer a question I glossed over, yes, the head unit will end up getting changed, just need to find something OEM looking with good navigation software, DAB etc. and I'll pick one up. As I said initially, this is just something that's been bugging me since I bought the car, and shouldn't be too expensive or difficult to improve.

At the end of the day, a car will never be a match for listening to music at home, and that's why I've invested well into four figures on my home audio setup, but for the times I am listening to music in the car, I'd like to at least enjoy it, not have some distorted, completely flat version of my favourite songs

[Rich 378]

Is there a handy idiots guide to sound deadening anywhere?

[S18 RSG 429]

There's a lot of information around the web, if you're really interested, you can probably find a Youtube video or something explaining it.

I'm an electrical engineer, not a sound engineer, but I'll try and explain.

In terms of some principles of how/where to soundproof, it's all about finding a good balance. In it's purest form, the idea of sound deadening is to absorb noise (imagine distortion as noise). A good example is between the inner and outer skins of the door panel. Without sound proofing, a sound wave between those two panels will effectively bounce off all the metalwork, creating 'noise'. Introducing even one layer of sound deadening means that the sound wave causing the noise will be absorbed, resulting in less unwanted 'noise', and therefore better quality sound.

The balance, in this case, is being careful not to go overboard. I don't believe there is a particular audible downside to OVER sound proofing, however, in a car, going too far adds weight. A sheet of dynamat the size of a car door weighs around 1kg (maybe more). You can quite easily imagine how someone could go overboard with this, and plaster every panel in soundproofing, adding significant weight to the car.

For the sake of getting a noticeable improvement in a car as small as ours, simply covering under the door cards would go a long way. The more you add in various places around the car, the quieter the car will be inside. You will help to reduce outside noise, as well as unwanted rattles etc. but again, remember that every panel you soundproof adds weight.

[Tareim 343]

11 hours ago, S18 RSG said:

To answer a question I glossed over, yes, the head unit will end up getting changed, just need to find something OEM looking with good navigation software, DAB etc. and I'll pick one up. As I said initially, this is just something that's been bugging me since I bought the car, and shouldn't be too expensive or difficult to improve.

The Ca-Fi Dashlinq 4 looks fairly OEM and if you get the Toyota Universal one it will fit the hole in the dash without the need for the ugly fascia panels

[Church 209]

I wonder if audio output of said dashlinq is really on par with that of pioneer/alpine/sony and alikes .. though native android, native better navi, torque app, bits sounds nice, i wouldn't like to change one subpar sound to another. And i wonder at what extent to this dashlinq is possible to connect/reuse other existing goodies, like backup camera, handsfree mic, gps antenna and so on ..

[Lauren 2259]

You want to soundproof on the inner side of the outer skin of the doors. That's where mine is, not on the door panels. 

When it comes to head units you get what you pay for. If you go for some cheap Chinese crap, then really that's what you are going to get. The head unit is what outputs the sound, so having something decent is key really. I went for an Alpine INE 925R. 

[Tareim 343]

2 hours ago, Church said:

I wonder if audio output of said dashlinq is really on par with that of pioneer/alpine/sony and alikes .. though native android, native better navi, torque app, bits sounds nice, i wouldn't like to change one subpar sound to another. And i wonder at what extent to this dashlinq is possible to connect/reuse other existing goodies, like backup camera, handsfree mic, gps antenna and so on ..

mine came with a gps antenna to connect up which works great (it's hidden behind the removable pannel on the passenger side) has inputs for a reverse cam, not sure about a handsfree mic, I just use the mic on the unit itself, sound quality for me is good enough better than the stock unit

 

52 minutes ago, Lauren said:

You want to soundproof on the inner side of the outer skin of the doors. That's where mine is, not on the door panels. 

When it comes to head units you get what you pay for. If you go for some cheap Chinese crap, then really that's what you are going to get. The head unit is what outputs the sound, so having something decent is key really. I went for an Alpine INE 925R. 

the dashlinq isn't cheap, it's a proper decent unit

[S18 RSG 429]

I've seen the Dashlinq unit, looks good. Was very tempted to buy the one that was in the for sale section recently. Likelihood is I'll end up going for an Alpine/Pioneer unit, but the idea of a unit that's designed to fit in the standard hole is quite appealing. I've seen quite a few aftermarket installs, and without meaning to offend anyone, they can look dreadful.

@Lauren - I certainly won't be buying any of these cheap Chinese units. My dad bought one for his camper (he wanted a reversing camera, DAB and sat nav so it was ideal), but I don't even like the interface of it. They scream aftermarket as soon as you start using them, and that's not my intention. I'll have to do some proper research first though.

[Ade 517]

Ca-Fi Dashlinq is tempting as it can run torque for trackdays...

[Lauren 2259]

I guess in terms of head unit, the choice is with the buyer, but I wouldn't touch something that isn't a decent brand. I think a head unit that interfaces properly with Android or IOS is appealing, but until Alpine and all that release something, I'll wait until then. 

The torque app is sort of useful for monitoring oil temps on track, though you don't need a head unit to know that. I found that once I knew where the oil temps would get to it would of course be the same everytime, so once you know, that's it really. 

[Tareim 343]

you can have a look at my dashlinq at Japfest or the hotel night before if you want (unless there is a meet sooner) it's really decent for a relatively unknown brand and it certainly can pump out the bass on the standard speakers