New loudspeakers for 1985 Excel

[CJG in WOB]

Hi, I’ve just joined the fold with a 1985 LHD Excel, originally delivered in Sweden but now in Germany…

My car still has the old interior, and has a Blaupunkt Boston SQM 24 and four original-fit Blaupunkt speakers. At present, the sound is tinny and awful…

I would like to retain the original head unit and have it fitted with a Bluetooth module (alternatively, I suppose I could buy the new DAB / BT version of the Hamburg, but the very poor reception on a current “retro” Bremen in another car has put me off this course). Either way, the grotty 39-year-old Blaupunkt speakers will have to go. I would, however, like to retain the original grilles for the sake of authenticity (no 2024 bling, please!). My understanding is that the fronts are 90mm and the rears 100mm. Is this correct? If so, I am thinking about this combination:

Front: Alpine SXE-0825S
Rear: Alpine SPG-10C2

Would this be suitable? Does anyone have a better suggestion?

BTW, my head unit only has single left and right outputs, so I presume the front and rear speakers are connected either in series or in parallel. Output is 10 WPC.

[Pete Boole]

Congratulations on your new Excel, and welcome to the forum . I've also been pondering what to do about music in my Elite - currently being restored. I need to do more research but I wondered whether mid/high coaxial speakers in the front could be used with bass drive units in the rear, given that bass frequencies aren't very directional. It would need a good crossover and maybe some digital sound processing to integrate it all but could sound pretty good without filling the doors with huge drive units.

Pete

[Hawaiis0]

Welcome.

Two topics of interest for you

viewtopic.php?p=101311#p101311

viewtopic.php?f=36&t=12505&p=100617&hil ... er#p100617

Stu

[CJG in WOB]

Thanks!

BTW, is it absolutely necessary to remove the door cards to change the front speakers? If so, how do I do this on an early model (early 1985, old interior)?

[barker_001]

Hi, I wrote the posts about fitting the new speakers and Bremen DAB Stereo. Provided you have the same front speaker grilles as me (these were standard on the later cars), the Alpine SXE-0825S speakers fit perfectly for the front. I'm not sure if earlier cars had something different though? Almost any 100mm would fit in the back, I went for the matching Alpine SXE-1025S. The sound is certainly very clear, but don't expect earth shattering bass from such small speakers.
Interestingly, my DAB Bremen has very good radio reception on both DAB and FM, I'm very pleased with it. I used a DAB/FM splitter / booster so I could keep the original aerial. It also has a subwoofer connection should you decide to add one with a separate amplifier.
The door cards come off quite easily. Remove the inner door handle surround (one screw), you will need to wiggle this to release it but be careful, they are rare. Two self tapping screws along the bottom edge of the card and one on the rear close to the latch. Then pull the card inwards at the bottom, to release it from the door moulding, then push it upwards to release it from the top edge. Once the card is released you will need to disconnect the speaker and electric window cables - again care is important since the electric window switches are also on the rare list! It is not necessary to remove the grilles from the card (if indeed they are the same as mine), the speaker can be removed carefully from the rear.

And welcome to the madhouse, by the way!

[rbgosling]

...Remove the inner door handle surround (one screw), you will need to wiggle this to release it but be careful, they are rare....

(Ahem...) viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12055

[CJG in WOB]

Thanks!

In the end, I ordered the Alpine replacement speakers together with the new Blaupunkt Hamburg SQM 23 DAB, which looks identical to the factory-fit Blaupunkt Boston (and looks more appropriate in the early Éclat-style dash than the Bremen, which was introduced in 1986, a year after my car was built).