Easy to fit...

Ok not read the rest of the thread in detail.. but!

Sub: If you can afford it I would recommend it, the front speakers in my car would sound too weak without it.. but you will need an amp for this. If you have a limited budget and don't plan on playing it loud then yeah you can go for a cheap one from a good brand (don't go for a cheap one from a crap brand though). 10 or 8 inch are good at this price level.

Cable: Personally I would replace the cable. The OEM cable in my car was incredibly thin and not up to spec really. Also remember you will have to wire up a crossover, so you WILL need cable for that.

Speaker quality: Expense doesn't just buy volume, it buys sound quality. Just because some speakers are rated to 150w doesn't mean you can't run them off 30w quite happily.

Basically a good guide to getting 'decent' car audio is to look for manufacturers who are honest about their specs. If you see an amp which boasts 1000watts for 50 quid, it will be crap. Better to go for something which quotes 75watts for 80 quid.

If I think of anything else I will add later ;)
 
Most speakers will come with cable, especially components that need it.

For a 300~400 quid install, its really pointless going to the time and effort replacing cable. mine sounds just fine with the OEM cable and is, I imagine, the sort of setup the OP is after
 
iaind said:
Most speakers will come with cable, especially components that need it.

For a 300~400 quid install, its really pointless going to the time and effort replacing cable. mine sounds just fine with the OEM cable and is, I imagine, the sort of setup the OP is after
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My JLs didn't.. had to buy a seperate wiring kit :(

OP: You have done the worst thing by getting into car audio! I had a budget similar to yours initially, and ended up spending over 1k! :D
 
You will need to build a box out of MDF. You MAY be able to buy a suitable one, but you will probably just find it easier to build one yourself.

The manufacturers website should contain have specs for optimum cabinet building :)
 
Amoeba said:
My JLs didn't.. had to buy a seperate wiring kit :(

OP: You have done the worst thing by getting into car audio! I had a budget similar to yours initially, and ended up spending over 1k! :D
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car audio is so bad. ive put lots of money into it before and i still get urges, worst addiction evar.
 
Amoeba said:
You will need to build a box out of MDF. You MAY be able to buy a suitable one, but you will probably just find it easier to build one yourself.

The manufacturers website should contain have specs for optimum cabinet building :)
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Matt82 said:
car audio is so bad. ive put lots of money into it before and i still get urges, worst addiction evar.
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This is insane now....Have to build a case for the thing. Oh christ. BUDGET BEING DESTROYED BY THE SECOND...

Right so far:

Head Unit: PIO-DEHP5100UB
Amp:
Front Speakers:
Rear Speakers:
Sub:
Cabling:

Please post away with suggestions using template above, as I still have absolutely no idea. :(
 
TheDean said:
That looks huge, and totally blows my budget.....I'd rather just get a cheaper 8" one - Any suggestions? Also - where am I going to put the damm thing?

This is so complicated...:(
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Its not that big and is active, so its a lot cheaper than sub + box + amp
 
iaind said:
Its not that big and is active, so its a lot cheaper than sub + box + amp
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So if I got that one I wouldn't need an amp? But I take it it would need it's own power supply? Where would I run that from?

EDIT - Thinking Co-Ax speakers may be the way to go. But should I get 2 x sets of 2 of the same? one pair for front and one pair for back, then Sub in the boot?
 
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TheDean said:
So if I got that one I wouldn't need an amp? But I take it it would need it's own power supply? Where would I run that from?

EDIT - Thinking Co-Ax speakers may be the way to go. But should I get 2 x sets of 2 of the same? one pair for front and one pair for back, then Sub in the boot?
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Thats right - no amp needed as it has one built in. Power would be from the same place as a normal amp - main lead from the battery and a feed from the stereo to tell it when to switch on.

Speakers depends on how much work you want and what the car already has - I'm guessing it just has single speaker grilles in the doors and no high mounted tweeters. Coaxes would be just fine, a decent pair for the front and dont bother with rear speakers

This spec is made of win:



FLI Audio FT10 Active FLI Audio FT10 Active*
£87.99

Alpine CDE-9882Ri Alpine CDE-9882Ri
£159.99

Vauxhall front speaker adaptors (13cm) Vauxhall front speaker adaptors (13cm)
£11.49

ISO to DIN Aerial adaptor ISO to DIN Aerial adaptor
£1.99

Diamond Audio D363.5i Diamond Audio D363.5i*
£126.99
Sub-Total: £388.45
 
Sounds like your pretty much set on the head unit and speakers but just some fitting advise from when i had a Corsa B -

The head unit will be pretty easy to fit; if you have the original OEM (Grundig from what i remember) unit then you can use some large nails instead of HU release keys, which worked ok. And then just use an adaptor block, took about 20minutes to fit my pioneer.

Fitting the front speakers will be a little bit of a ball ache though. You will need some speakers adaptors if you're going to fit 5/6/6.5" speakers and you can either buy these or make them using MDF (personally MDF is a hassle but up to you). You will also need to make sure the magnet of the driver is small enough to fit through the hole in the door (it's only a few inches wide) otherwise you're going to have to start cutting away at the hole to widen it (this was one of the problem i had). And once you got the magnet through the door, the whole driver assembly might be too long and foul the window runners (another problem i had) - so you'll have to add rings to the speakers adaptors to bring the driver out or change speakers.
You might also have problems with the door pockets (where the speaker grill is), i had to sand the back struts on the speaker grills to get it to sit correctly over the speakers.
If you are looking at component speakers (ie: tweeter + driver + crossover) then wiring within the door isn't too bad, although i recommend flat speaker cable and using a glue gun to stick the cable to the inner skin. The tweeter will require you to cut the tweeter cover on the door handle, which is fairly straight forward.
As for the crossover, i didn't want mine on show (wanted the whole setup as OEM looking as possible) so i cut out the foam behind the hand rest area of the door (bottom of the door handle) for a snug fit around the crossover.
If you're planning to rewire from the crossover to the head unit, then this IS a job and a half. It's a door off affair to drill through the spare pins on multi-connector to feed the cable to inside the car. Then you have to route the cabling. Personally, if you're planning to amp the components then do it otherwise i wouldn't bother. Audible you won't notice any difference.

As for getting a sub, unless you're planning to start sound proofing panels i wouldn't really bother as things rattle in a Corsa, badly! (My components would rattle the door cards alone :() Personally i would just stick to a decent set of components and head unit, then perhaps amp the components when money allows.

Hopefully this will be of use to you; any problems then give me a shout although i would recommend that you look over on www.corsasport.co.uk in the Help Zone section, plenty of ICE help to be had :)
 
Thanks very much for that Visibleman - Lots to think about, and I'll see if I can get some photos over the weekend of the headunit and speakers etc - then we can see EXACTLY what I need for the fitting guy. I'm now thinking that with your experience, it's best that I steer clear of a sub then, at least for now.

Would you think that components in the front would be more than adequate, and thus, no need for coax's in the back? Or would it be best to have the components in the back so the tunes are coming from behind you? Generally there won't be people in the back...
 
Wouldn't worry about speakers in the back (certainly not coaxes if you do), just think about yourself as you're the one that will always be in the car. So spend the initial money on the front stage, head unit and components. Any left then save/buy an amp for the components which can be installed under the seats, saves having to wire it all to the boot (in either case, remember to not run speakers cables alongside the power or remote cables).

As Janesy B said, the main driver is pretty low in a corsa (like most cars tbh) so with components you might find it a little top-end heavy with the tweeters being in the door handles, EG, especially when a passengers legs are in front of the driver (i never found it too bad with my components though, crossovers usually have a few adjustable settings too).
But there’s not a lot you can do either way, plus a car is a bad environment for serious music listening anyways (drivers seat is way off centre etc).

The PIO-DEHP5100UB is a good head unit though so you won't have any problems there (although double check that you don't need the CD-IU50 cable and that you can use a standard ipod usb cable, will save you a few pounds if you can).
And all of the speakers mentioned are pretty good but the 60w DLS's would be my choice with the increased sensitivity at 1w/1m. Although you're likely to hit the distortion of the pioneer way before it’s quoted 50w output (one reason why it's worth spending a little more on the head unit if planning to use the internal amps).

Oh and remember you'll need an aerial adaptor (Vauxhall to standard connector), likewise you'll need a wiring harness for the head unit and speaker adaptors obviously.
 
One thing to bear in mind for the future, if you do ever consider getting an amp and sub - don't skimp on the quality of the wire supplying power to the amp. A friend of mine set up a large amp and sub in the boot of his corsa but used decent, rather than good, wire - it had the unfortunate effect of draining so much power things actually stopped working while it was on - I seem to remember indicators not working at the same time as the music, for example! He rewired it with better wire and the problem went away.
 
Wire cannot cause excess power drain, its physically impossible.

Chances are if it was cheap wiring, the insulation wore away somewhere and was touching metal.

If you're careful, cheap cabling is fine and really is just snake oil at this price range
 
I don't know if you're already set on a HU but I had this (In green) for 12 months in a Fiat Punto and it was brilliant, for £110 it did everything I needed it too, including Ipod control and charging. Was cheap, easy to fit and would certainly get one again if I needed Ipod control in an 'older' car.

Didn't look chavvy in the slightest either as that was one of my main concerns when buying a HU.
 
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