Hello,

I need some advice on an audio improvement i would like to do.
I have heard many times that the Alpine system is very superior to the standard audio system (which i have). I am currently in the ideal situation to change door speakers and tweeters since i can get a great deal on a set of used Alpine tweeters and speakers and because i currently have all the doors disassembled due to another project. So i would like to replace the standard (Philips) door speakers and tweeters with upgraded Alpine door speakers and tweeters. My questions are:

-Is this possible? The dimensions and fitment of the Standard Philips and Alpine are the same, Would it be plug and play? Or will it need different wiring? Or something else to work?
-Will it increase the performance of the system by any means? Or should i make other improvements (Such as the AMP) to even hear a difference? (i am not planning on doing something like this due to finances)

Thank you very much for any advice!

Greetings,

Philippe

 

First question is do you have speakers in parcel shelf as alpine speakers also go in there? They are a pain to remove
also it is not as easy as plug and play to swop
Second question is why put in alpine speakers of 15 years ago when you can upgrade to modern speakers which have better sound if you want to upgrade.

i decided to stay with the old system Phillips which is very good as it is for my needs
good luck

 

The speakers are not the only change to the Alpine system. There's the external amp and the fiber-optic links from the head unit to the amp and CD changer in the trunk. Just changing the speakers is not going to upgrade you to the Alpine system. Changing the speakers is a good way to upgrade, but just the speakers is not going to give you the full upgraded system, which also includes a pair of small subs on the rear shelf, the external amp (connected by fiber-optic cable,) and the "presence" speakers in the dash.

Also, the Alpine door speakers are fairly notorious for a failure in the voice coil wires, which corrode and disconnect the voice coil, so most folks replace the Alpine drivers when possible. It's conceivable that that's why the set you're looking at is available in the first place...

 

External amp and parcel shelf speakers are parts of a premium audio set, You do not need them to build standard Alpine set. To deploy CDC or any other D2B audio unit You need to replace only last part of D2B link placed in the trunk. Anyway, this is pointless, because Alpine or even premium Apline sound is poor, as written above.

 

I was going by the OP's reference to Philips speakers. Are those not OEM? (I've never seen the base system...) Does Alpine make both the Premium and Audiophile level drivers? In other words, the doors are the same between Premium (the base system) and Audiophile (the upgraded system,) and the base system is just missing the dash speakers and subs (along with the amp?)

It may be that the OP has non-OEM speakers and doesn't realize it.

 

The OP is from Europe and has European model which only came with alpine speakers in the Daimler/ sovereign spec (van den platz in US). I think in US all cars came with alpine but I’m not sure.
The Phillips speakers were Oem for regular spec cars.
There is no point doing such a conversion with a load of hassle on such a car for a system which does not merit it.
Stick with Phillips or totally upgrade to something brand new.
I chose to stick with Phillips.

 

Actually I did this last year on my X350 3.0V6 with standard audio.
First, you need to check does your car pre-wired the connector and hides under your front ash tray or not.
Second, your need alpine speakers and Amp of course. they are total 12 speakers including 2 woofers under the parcel shelf. ''the alpine system parcel shelf is different to the standard audio''
The most important thing is to get the harness from a donor car that equipped alpine system, it would be really good help.
And theres different about tweeter harness, you will need the schemastic to modify a little bit.

But according to my experance of using alpine system, the alpine has better treble but weak bass than standard system.
Let me know if you want to know more

 

Thank you all very much for all of your replies! They are very helpful! Based on the information given i decided to not go for an Alpine Speaker only upgrade since i heard a lot that only changing the door speakers does not make much of a difference and is not a simple plug and play.

Under my circumstances i will not be going for a total new audio system or full refurbishment of the audio system since it won't be interesting for me financially (sadly enough).

Thank you all for your help!

Greetings