Speaking about that....

... some pun about speakers?

After fitting my pimp AF head unit I decided to go and buy some speakers too. Lets see how exciting that is!!!

The standard speakers performed nicely with the uprated headunit but as ever, I knew I could do better. The speakers were old so would probably give in soon anyway. 

I shopped around (very little to tell the truth) to find the best balance of performance and cost. I intend to add more speakers in the near future so they didn't need to set the world on fire. The OE speakers on the Daily are 4"x6" in size which aren't hugely popular as a choice these days but there is still a fair amount out there in the after market world. The Alpine sxe 4625-s had come up on forums as a basically bolt in option which along with their fairly low price tag, made them pretty appealing.Reviews were fairly middle  of the road 


to positive at best but I wan't expecting my mind to be blown for £27.

They arrived in a couple of days in a refreshingly slim box that not only transported the aforementioned speakers but also had a perforated template should you need to cut out a hole for them which would be helpful. We obviously wont need that as these are basically plug in items.
The OE speakers came out of the van with the covers removed and 4 torx screws each, no real fuss here.

 The plug for the OEM speaker is a Euro style two pin block connector. I could have chopped this off and stuck some spade connectors on but I wanted this to be reversible for now (I might not like these speakers after all) so instead depinned the OE plug and used the now free to roam terminals as connectors on the two speaker terminals. I then insulated and secured this with electrical tape.
I used the purple/red lead as positive (depending on the side) and this worked fine. No idea if this is right but it works so must be. My music isn't playing backwards so far.
The speaker then simply slots in the hole and you are basically done. Well except they don't just slot in.
The Alpine speakers are a touch more bulky at the back than the OEM ones so I dug out the Dremel and cut the aperture big enough for the speakers with the aid of the template I thought I didn't need.
This wasn't too painful and after my small amount of additional effort the speakers screwed in fine with the factory screws.
Take a picture, stick the cover on and job done (well best do the otherside).

 The end result is as middle of the road as the reviews I had read imply. The speakers perform well in the mid range and high tones (as the OEM ones did) with a bit more control of base whilst playing my go to test song: "Massive Attack - Paradise Circus". It is important to not loose sight of the small size of these speakers still and their price so I wont say they are bad at all. 
They are still bedding in so I haven't pushed them hard yet. I will update the "reviewee" part of this blog entry once I have seen how they do once they are bedded in.
I know; it's upside down, shut up.

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