Want to upgrade the speakers in my Golf Mk3 – nothing boom boy like, just speakers that'll fit in the current fixings and wiring.

I'm guessing going with component speaker set is worthwhile? That would do the dash tweeter and front door speaker, and then just keep the rear door speaker + tweeter as standard?

Any recos of speaker sets <£100?

Cheers

I've got some new Kenwoods in a box at home. I bought them for a car which died before I fitted them.

If it turns out you need 6x4s, let me know, and I'll dig them out and send you the details.

They are 6.5" speakers. I would go for something like Focal component speakers upfront, and keep the rears standard.

Components are worth it, if you can be bothered to hide the crossovers, wiring, and make the tweeters fit like they were done by the factory.

I've been using infinity Kappa components in my VW and they sound pretty good to me, get them off the bay for good prices.

+1 for infity's. Running 9623i's (I think, can check exact model number) in both my golf mk3 and T4 and they're great for the money (50 quid). Sounded a lot beefier than the alpines for similar price despite always having alpine kit in the past.

I used to have 6x4s in my old car, they sounded ok but distorted easily. I bought some thicker (but cheap) speaker wire about 4sq mm and used it to bypass the factory fitted speaker wire and it sounded like I had a whole new stereo system 🙂 A huge improvement! So basically, it is worth running new cables to go with your new speakers even if they are budget ones. Downside with door speakers is often the wiring runs through a flexible gland thing that makes rewiring that section a pain…on my car a flexible loom linked the door electrics to the main wiring loom, it plugged into sockets in the door and door frame so to do it properly you'd have to terminate your new fatter wiring on the sockets either side, or joint into the existing wiring close to the sockets each side. I did a bodge job and just left the wiring visible between door and car, bypassing the loom thingy. For the rear speakers I just pulled the rubber door surrounds off and tucked the wiring under the floor carpet.

great – thanks all

And last qn, are component speakers a great advantage over co-aials (bearing in mind it's an oldish noisy-ish car)?

mate trust me on this –

you want these comps
http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/spl-dynamics-sd-6-2.html

you want to unplug or fade out your rears completely

you'll need an amp if you want it sounding half decent because your headunit wont power it anywhere near enough

go for a 2 channel amp or 4 channel if your considering a sub in the future… ive got a 4 channel jbl amp powering those speakers and a 10" cheap vibe sub.

you could get away with a 10guage wire kit £10 – amp £80 second hand but mint and £70 for the sub + the £70 for the speakers… to be honest if you want it any better thats your best option 110% positive.

btw.. coax's are pretty crappy its all bodged into one and not too great, if your on a uber budget then yeah maybe (only consider if your not amping)

if you really dont want the amping costs then the best things to look at will be alpines speaker range thats designed to run from the head unit… see here…

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/alpine-spe-17c2.html

but your standard golf headunit will be sending out crappy signals anyway so at minimum id advice a headunit and front speaker change!

having speakers installed in the rear messes up sound staging and makes it sound confused and whack.

oops and me again 😀 you'd hide youre tweets in the place of the dash speakers, its an easy job just a little bit fiddley the first time..

personally car audio is really expensive and if you dont do certain steps it can be pretty pointless as you wont benefit from the upgrade / speakers