Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Aero 8, 2012< Plus 8, SuperSports, Coupe & Aeromax Plus 8 Speaker Upgrade

Well done, Peter. A sensible upgrade - and a good bit of shame to Morgan for sticking such rubbish in such an expensive car. Someone must sign off this sort of decision!

The speakers in my S3 are just round ones but the sound quality is ok and the S3 speakers are mounted in a much better position than the S4 which had the bulkhead moved to accommodate the repositioned fuel tank. The stereo is a £100 (max!) unit for which I was charged £395 or similar at the time of purchase which didn't exactly impress but that was probably the dealer rather than Morgan...

Radio reception sometimes ok and often hopeless so generally listen to CDs and as the silly unit doesn't have Bluegum (Bluetooth for the over 50s) I sometimes think about upgrading the unit but then realise how little I'd use it over and above what's already there.

I have several questions for the forum, but didn't want to start another audio upgrade thread.

Upgrading my S2 as well. The factory stock system is horribly scratchy and distorted at a volume required to understand talk radio at 65 mph with the top down.

I know nothing about audio systems.
My goal is to have better sound volume and quality and not spend a fortune.
I don't want to carve up the backboard too horribly, but I do not think anything in a 4-inch package will do the trick.
I have no idea where to start, but taking it apart seemed like good idea!
I appreciate any tips or words of wisdom.

Once I sort it out I will put an update on this thread.

I have a this this Sony head unit. Sony states "Output Power: 52W x4 High Power-23.2 watts per channel minimum continuous average power into 4 Ohms"

The speakers are "VDO HSP 1021" 4" speakers what have a 5" grill face.

Pics for reference
Factory speakers and mount:


Mounting board from behind the parcel shelf:


Factory speaker installation:


Stuff located behind the mounting board:

I had a look at the speakers provided by MMC. VDO HSP 1021 seemm to be an Eastern European brand from the mid 2000s and there is nothing about them in English on the web. VDO are not recognised as a supplier of in car entertainment, but are known in the boat world....

So, replacing them with a good quality Pioneer unit, such as Pioneer TS-A1723I units at about $65 a pair is a good starting point. There are probably another pair in the footwells. Replace these too.

I'd also replace the head unit with an Alpine unit.

The only problem with all aeros seems to be the antenna. Morgan have fitted an amplified "hidden" unit and it isn't very good. Replacing this needs a car audio specialist, especially if you are not very experienced.

Good luck...

As Peter said the standard speakers are nasty, same cheap stuff in my 3.7 Roadster. I replaced with a pair of 5" JBLs with seperate tweeters, about £70, huge improvement, JVC do an excellent multi media head unit with DAB for about £120, with hands free.

The system in my 3.7 was pretty horrid, but the 8 sounds very good.... I'm not sure if anything's changed between Peter's build and mine.

Thanks for the info Peter! No front speakers in the S2, but I'd consider installing them if it's possible to do it in a manner consistent with the S3/4.

Would a (very) small subwoofer compensate for two relatively small speakers?

The car will be in an audio shop Saturday, I'll post their assessment/estimate here.

No the sub woofer would handle low bass up to say 180hz, the rest of the music would still go through the VDOs and distort. Best to replace them with a larger a better speaker. IMHO.

As Adrian says...

If you are going to go further than simply replacing what is supplied by MMC I'd consider the following:

1. Replace the 2 x 4"(100mm) units at the back with 6" units.
2. Fit tweeters at the front, either in the upper doors or ends of the dash
3. Fit a sub woofer in the passenger footwell.
4. Replace the head unit with a new Pioneer one: if it is possible one with a satellite radio receiver. In Europe DAB is the way forward for car audio, in N America it seems DAB hasn't caught on but satellite radio has.

Let us know what you actually do!

Peter

I can't comment on Aero based cars but having taken my 4/4 4 seater to a car audio specialist who has done old Astons, I went with a new system which included a Sony powered sub woofer under a false panel in the passenger footwell, it shortened the footwell by about 150mm but boy what a difference it's made to the sound

It can be cranked up LOUD with no audible distortion, full frequency range

I think the powered sub with frequency crossovers is the key

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