Audio 20 - 8" Speaker Options

4174 Views 14 Replies 6 Participants Last post by racing_green, Mar 12, 2016

akennedy

Discussion Starter · Jan 12, 2016

All,

My passenger speaker pops/crackles/buzzes quite a bit. As I look for options, I mostly see people upgrade to component speakers, including Focal (not great reviews on crutchfirld), MB Quart, etc. Other options I saw are factory replacement and upgrade to the HK system. These are all very expensive options.

I'm not a big audio buff (mostly listen to sports radio), and just want to replace the simple speaker, so I'm curious if anyone has tried these 8" options? Will they fit and are they the right range? Swe should like a pretty simple question (both 8"), but since I haven't seen people attempt this when searching I figured there may be more to it.

8" Speakers | 8 Inch Car Speakers at Sonic Electronix

Here's a flat option if space is an issue in housing: Audiopipe APMB-8FLT (apmb8flt) 300W 8" Flat Mount APMB Series

Thanks,

Alex

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nguyenphananh

· #2 · Jan 12, 2016

due to space limitation, the woofer will have to be very flat. If you want to upgrade, try to find some high quality speakers (I have been looking into this project for years without success). If you only listen to radio, just buy the replacement OEM speaker, it should be quite cheap.... simple plug and play

coolrunnings

· #3 · Jan 12, 2016

OEM is quite a clever design, due to the lack of space to get a bigger woofer in they have fitted it 'back to front'.... so as mentioned any decent size speaker needs to be slim.

Decent sound and slim design = pricey

Had a similar issue with a knackered passenger speaker. Found OEM one from a breaker cheap, easy swap balanced sound restored......

Seanhump

· #4 · Jan 12, 2016

Those speakers will be too deep

Your best options are going to be a replacement OEM - not that expensive from the main dealer, or a used one from ebay or a breakers yard

I did the HK speaker upgrade (ALL of them!!) , and to be honest even a new HK woofer from the dealer wasn't too expensive ..

nguyenphananh

· #5 · Jan 12, 2016

coolrunnings said:
Decent sound and slim design = pricey

QUOTE]

Infact, there are none.... Back then, there was Hertz space 8 that supposed to fit perfectly. But they don't make them any more.... Believe me, I searched everywhere....

racing_green

· #6 · Feb 28, 2016

The same question, but this side of the pond (Europe). My driver side door speaker is dead. Used (10 years old) speaker with housing on ebay costs ~100 euro :crying:

James Freeman

· #7 · Feb 28, 2016

My drivers side is dead too. Are the HK ones a straight swap? I thought I read they had a lower impedance.

racing_green

· #8 · Feb 28, 2016

James Freeman said:
My drivers side is dead too. Are the HK ones a straight swap? I thought I read they had a lower impedance.

I don't know, but I've sent messages to some audio shops - I'll post the results if they reply. Let me know if you find something!
Anyone has detailed dimensions of the 8" speaker?

racing_green

· #9 · Feb 28, 2016

I found door speakers for R170 [1]. Any chance they are similar enough to those in R171?

[1] Mercedes SLK R170 Front Door speaker kit Slim fit speakers 17cm Car Speaker Packages

Seanhump

· #10 · Feb 28, 2016

racing_green said:
I found door speakers for R170 [1]. Any chance they are similar enough to those in R171?

[1] Mercedes SLK R170 Front Door speaker kit Slim fit speakers 17cm Car Speaker Packages

They're smaller - you'd need to make up a bracket

Reactions: 1

racing_green

· #11 · Feb 28, 2016 (Edited)

Seanhump said:
They're smaller - you'd need to make up a bracket

OK, thanks! Adapter to adapter sounds :wink: bad. I have to open the door, take detailed measurements and maybe design my own adapter.

P.S. I found something interesting [1]. I'm waiting for a reply from the seller if it's really for R170/R171 as the dates are suggesting.

[1] JBL CS762 6 5" CT25MC16 Mercedes SLK 1996 TO 2013 Front Free Speaker Adapters | eBay

Update: the seller is no longer sure if the dates are right

racing_green

· #12 · Feb 29, 2016

I got info that Audison AP8 has been fit to R171 SLK without any problems. The info needs to be verified!!! The price is for a pair.

Four Car Audio

Reactions: 1

James Freeman

· #13 · Mar 1, 2016

Useful information, thank you.

Did an audio shop recommend this to you and if so are you going to go for it?

racing_green

· #14 · Mar 1, 2016 (Edited)

James Freeman said:
Useful information, thank you.

Did an audio shop recommend this to you and if so are you going to go for it?

I lost track of how many requests I sent in Ireland, UK, Italy and Poland. Four Car Audio from the UK (see the link in my previous post) was really good in communication and in digging into the problem and they claim that AP8 was fitted without any problems. It would be great if someone in the UK could verify it with one of their retailers. I will be definitely going for it in a next few weeks and I'll keep this thread updated.

Disclaimer: I don't work for the mentioned company nor I have any vested interest in it. I'm just a SLK owner with a dead 8" speaker in the driver door.

racing_green

· #15 · Mar 12, 2016

Update: I removed door panel to take detailed measurements before buying the Audison AP8 speakers and ... I won't be replacing the door speaker. Some "specialist" that was working in that area before me managed to break 3 plastic studs and forgot to connect the speaker...

I have some photos of the speaker housing with ruler for reference - is it worth to post it?

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