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[JayUK]

Hi all,

I'm planning on upgrading the system in my ex-polizei 2003 3.2. I'm assuming it has the basic system in there at the moment. There was no HU but not a problem as I put a sony mp3 HU I have in.

From what I've gathered on here, most people agree that the speakers in there are pretty good, and with them being quite thin it's better to keep than change them - Is that the case with an ex-plod?

If they're ok, I'm thinking the first thing to do is put an amp in. New to all this, so what sort will I need? just a 2 channel to drive the fronts or a 4 to cover the rears as well?

Any suggestions gratefully received!

[Kevin Wood]

Standard door speakers aren't bad, if that's what you've got. It's always better to use a stand alone amp as this is the weakest part of any head unit and not using the amps helps them run cooler. I would fit a subwoofer and drive that and the front speakers from the amp. Rear door speakers can be left on the head unit amp as they don't really contribute much.

Using a subwoofer is a good idea because the door speakers aren't capable of going down very low and removing this end of the spectrum using an active crossover allows them to handle a bit more power in the range in which they will work! You do need to be careful how hard you drive them from an amp. The standard fit speakers can't handle a lot of power. Don't ask me how I know

Kevin

[Kevin Wood]

Just to expand a little I fitted a power amp in the cubby hole on the driver's side of the boot (with first aid kit symbol on). I routed a power cable down the passenger side of the car from the battery through the rubber grommet in the cabin filter area and down under the plastic sill panel trims, through the spare wheel carrier and across the back of the boot under the plastic trim there. The preamp and speaker cables I routed down the drivers side of the car, again under the sill covers, to behind the head unit where I connected the front speaker feeds into the car loom.

There's a howto on this in the howto area.  

One tip I discovered is that rather than fitting an extra fuse holder by the battery the positive distribution fusebox above the battery has a spare slot in it. Just get a maxi-blade fuse rated appropriately for your wiring, plug it in, and get an extra spade connector to fit the other side of the fuse and you're away. Battery connection made!

Might be worth checking you've got speakers in there beforehand but whilst the plod may have skimped on the radio I doubt they'd have had cars made without door speakers.

Kevin

[JayUK]

Didn't even think of looking in the how-to guides!

Will take a look through, thanks for the info!

J

[Kevin Wood]

This is what I was thinking about: http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1155497777 Except that's talking about upgrading a BOSE system so you'll have to run extra wiring from the head unit. Principles of how to run the power cable back, etc. are the same, though.

Kevin