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I have previously posted here about how to replace the factory Kenwood speakers in the front doors with FOCAL ISU130 2 way component speaker system ( comprising a door mounted 5 inch woofer and separate surface mounted tweeter - £150 from Car Audio Centre ) - and also how to generally improve on the abysmal audio transparency and installation of the factory set up in my 2020 CX.
This post now completes the upgrade by showing how to replace the factory rear Kenwood speakers with FOCAL ACCESS 130 AS 2 way component system - £100 from Car Audio Centre, and also an ultra compact subwoofer - the PIONEER TS-WX010A Ultra Compact Space Saving Active Subwoofer with built-in Class-D Amplifier - £115 Car Audio Centre.
The first steps to replace the rear speakers is to remove your side screens, remove your headrests, slide both seats forward, and release the hood. You should now be able to swing it forward to expose the rear tub for better access to the rear bulkhead.
Next remove the rear "parcel shelf" carpeting lifting it away from its pop studs. You can now remove the four allen bolts holding the base of the bulkhead.
Next you need to detach the top of the bulkhead by pulling it free - it is held by 4 plastic plugs that friction fit into 4 retaining holes in the upper tub wooden frame. It is not easy. The plugs have tremendous grip. I slipped an aluminium plate into the interface of the bulkhead and cockpit edge and lever yanked with a screwdriver adjacent to the plugs.
Once the bulkhead plate is free you can ease it forward to expose the void behind it in which the Kenwood amp and a spaghetti of wiring are exposed. You will also see how the factory Kenwood speakers are mounted on to a wooden block which in turn is secured to the bulkhead plate via the 5 allen bolts that also secure the aluminium grille to the front of the bulkhead plate. Inexplicably the bulkhead cutout for the speaker is 4 inches for a 5 inch speaker, and likewise the hole in the wooden block is 4 inches diameter rather than 5 inches. Combine this with a "solid" centre section of the perforated aluminium speaker grille - and the acoustic transparency of the factory installation at the rear is more or less as appalling as it is at the front. No wonder the sound of the factory set up is so muddy and wooly. It is difficult to imagine how such a compromised set up ever got conceived and approved. Any decent local car audio shop could have advised MMC toward a much improved installation even with the rather modest components they chose to install.
In theory, I had hoped it would be simple to just replace the factory Kenwoods with the Focal woofers, wire in the Focal cross overs and tweeters and bolt in Pioneer Subwoofer patching it into the signal feed with RCA Y connections/ - and wiring into the fuse board for a power feed.
I am not going to bore you with the detail, but the factory 4 inch aperture in the wooden block fouled the FOCAL 5 inch speakers - and I had to laboriously file enlarge it. Then the FOCAL speaker magnet just fouled a crossmember at the rear of the void. So I had to remount the speakers, the wooden block and the aluminium speaker grilles around 5 mm lower to allow the magnet to clear. I should also add that I drilled a series of 8mm hoiles into the centre section of the speaker grilles to improve acoustic transparency, and also foam enclosed around the speakers to project the sound forward and out rather than to dissipate in the void behind the bulkhead.
Lastly, I simply mounted the subwoofer to the centre rear of the bulkhead without bothering to perforate the bulkhead.for audio transparency - because for bass this is less critical.
#Now some praise for MMC. What a beautiful fuse box! Under the carpet at the end of the passenger footwell. A model of clarity and accessibility. Easy to use piggy back connectors to wire in a 10 amp power feed for the subwoofer and a 2 amp feed for its on/off switch.
I have to say I would not take on this upgrade lightly! It is not simple. And I only saw it through because once committed there is no turning back. But the results are fabulous. The sound is awesome particularly given the space constraints in a Morgan. The little subwoofer gives me all the bass I want and need and a very well rounded sound with sparkling clear treble from the separate tweeters, The upgrade has cost around £400 in total - a very modest outlay for the transformation in sound quality.
