What loudspeakers can you recommend?

I want to replace the loudspeakers (both in doors and rear deck) in my 1984 911. I don't want any big conversions, just some loudspeakers of better quality than the original ones. The replacements will have to fit straight into the stock holes. What can you recommend? I really don't know anything about in car stereos. Is it possible to improve the sound quality without going up in loudspeaker size? I prefer to stay with the original sizes for looks and cost reasons.

Hej Mikkel,

You should defenitely be able to improve the quality of your sound system without doing any damage to your interior!
Most major manufacturers offer replacement speakers to fit stock speaker locations.
My personal favourite is Infinity or MB Quart, which both have a very "natural" sound to them.

You should check out my (other) website; I've been in the car hifi business since 1991, selling high-end car audio in Sweden. The address is: www.audiosystems.nu
I don't export to Denmark, but you get a feeling for the available brands (I only carry the TOP-brands! )

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1972 911S Targa
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http://home1.swipnet.se/~w-15567/Eleven.htm

check out crutchfield.com


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Robert Stoll
83 SC
83 944

Mikkel,

I replaced the original speakers in my '84 Carrera with new Kenwood speakers I got from Crutchfield (www.crutchfield.com/). They fit into the original holes in the doors and rear deck. Wiring was very straight forward (no cutting or splicing).

Check Crutchfield's web site to get some other ideas.

Regards, Bruce

Mikkel,
I´ve just recently finished fitting uprated sound system in my ´86 Carrera Coupe.
I´m no hifi expert either, but for 6 months or so before I actually started to build my system I gathered information from the net, books, magazines and fellow Porsche owners. ICE -it really is a world of it´s own...

Being a bit of a purist, I setteled for Blaupunkt (alongside Becker the O.E. manufacturer). I just couldn´t imagine a japanese "Tokyo by night" head-unit with diving dolphins in the purposeful interior of a 911...
Just like you, I had single 5 1/4 " door-mounted speakers. If you want to stay totally original, you can replace them with two-way speakers of the same size, but you do get better results by fitting the tweeter separately. I bought original grilles and frames for 88=>93 models (round ones) which were simple to fit, look Porsche and in my mind are visually more pleasing than the old square ones. The speakers are Blaupunkt XL 213 components and the cross-over fits nicely out of sight in front part of the door-pocket.

At the rear, Blaupunkt CL 215`s were a straight replacements of the originals.

At the same time I also fitted all-new OFC cables. A four-channel amp (Blaupunkt MPA 4) and active subwoofer (Blaupunkt CMS 265) fit nicely under the passenger seat.

The installation looks totally stock and sounds great. I´m sure real experts will tell you about "better" systems, but I think this might be something you are after. I did the whole installation myself (must have taken about 50-60 hours, half of that went for tracing interferences !) And the cost was reasonable too, excluding the head unit and including cables and sundries total was around €1000 !

Hopefully this will be of help,

Mika

I've always thought that a 911 has no need for car hifi since it has the most beautiful music in the rear. However, and this is really on very rare occasions , I prefer listening to "regular" music instead of the aircooled flat six. The original loudspeakers are certainly not the best with what I desrcibe best as "cardbord sound". So without spending too much money I would like to replace those loudspeakers with something slightly better sounding.

I think Mika gets close to my idea. As I will soon start to work at a car dealership that deals with Blaupunkt I will definetely give those Blaupunkt CL 215 some serious consideration. As for the extra tweeters up front I'm not sure. Did any 911/964s come with similar items as stock?

I already replaced the original Blaupunkt radio with a Clarion single cd (no dolphins I'm glad to say) which I got for free. (no I did not steal it :P )

88-89 3.2 and 964´s came originally with separate tweeters, but I don´t know where the cross-over was fitted.
There were also some 964 models with extra speakers in the kick-panels. Was this the hi-fi option?

Just to clarify, the tweeter in XL 213 is smaller than original Porsche (10 yrs of development, probably!) but can easily be fitted with some bits and bobs included in XL 213 kit. When the tweeter is fitted in the original location (window crank hole) with round Porsche grille and the original square grille of the mid-woofer replaced by a round Porsche one, there´s no way of telling it from original.
Mind you these grilles and frames (just simple plastic rings) from OPC cost more than whole XL 213 kit INCLUDING Blaupunkt badged grilles.


Mika

The 84 to 89 coupes that came with the stereo upgrade included a under the passenger seat mounted ampifier and a woofer - tweeter setup with the crossover mounted under the door panel, just infront of the door pockets. You have to pull the door panel off to get to it. I removed all these components an upgraded to Infinity Kappa 5 and 1/4 components. If you don't have the tweeter, I would stick with the combination speaker in the opening.

I keep suggesting the Blaupunkt Toronto Head unit I got from Crutchfield for several reasons: It is MADE in Germany, It had a keycard that when removed makes you stereo unusuable, It looks absoulutely stock with conservative black finish, you can adjust the display colors from red - orange - green, it has good power 25W to power most speakers, It has TONS of features, and it's cheap $289. This unit sold originally for around $600 but because of the cheaper units that Blaupunkt makes in Japan, it didn't sell. Here is a link to a seller that advertises in Panorama, where it is listed to sell for $289. http://www.swstereo.com/page5.html You can try Crutchfield, but they may already be out of them. It also utilizes the same din housing, so you just slide your old one out, wire in the harness, an slide this one in. That easy. I ended up using the 4 channel preamps to a 4 channel amp in my trunk. The infinity speaker require alot of power. If you go with less power hungry speakers, the Toronto has pleny of power, ( even more then my factory with seperate amp!) Without going with an amp, you can change out your entire system for less then $500 and have great sound.

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8 9 9 1 1, The last of the line.

I second 89911's comments in regard to the Blaupunkt Toronto - I personally think it just looks "right" in a 911 (or pretty much any european car). No funky lights or displays and sympathetic styling to our cars. It is fully featured too.

I would also recommend a small(ish) amplifier (under the seat I guess). Basically the tiny amps inside the head unit are physically unable to provide much power (about 10-12 watts RMS is the max), and when those little amps distort the stereo sounds crappy and the speakers' lives are shortened. If money permits a (honest) 25+ watts RMS per channel amplifier will give a bit of extra volume but way less stress. It is pretty logical - do you want an amplifier run on the edge of clipping (the distortion you hear) or one that is only half way there (think of it like 6,000rpm or 3,000rpm)?

Pretty much the most important thing, however, when installing stereo stuff is how well it is installed. Basically you need to make sure the speakers are VERY securely mounted, and to the best extent possible that the door is pretty well sealed. You don't want vibration, and you don't want the front wave from the speaker being interfered with by the back wave (ie what is playing into the door cavity). This weakens the bass and midrange significantly.



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Cameron Baudinet
1975 911S

Yep, that Blaupunkt Toronto sure looks nice ! (actually I have it´s almost identical sister-model München 126 )

This generation of Blaupunkt head-units look just soooo right for a 911, as if they were designed for it.
They´ve been out of production for a couple of years now, so it´s time for sell-out bargains or sourcing a second hand one.
I bought mine a year before I finally got my 911 (talk about finding a car to match the stereo...).

Currently I´m looking for a New York 127 model, which has basically every function one could wish for plus some more and sat-nav option too!

89911 and CamB, you´ve got TASTE!


Mika