The Elise radio fitting kit provides just two speakers although they are 160mm in size, which gives some scope for good quality sound. The standard items are Alpine SPE-1620's and by all accounts these are adequate speakers but a look at the specifications shows that the frequency response only starts at 55Hz. The 100mm Kenwoods in my MR2 start at 45Hz and the 160mm subwoofers start at 30Hz. I'm not impressed. Saying that, the mounting depth available is, apparantly, quite shallow on the drivers side where the fuel filler pipe intrudes on the space behind the speaker pod. However, for improved sound quality, I'm quite willing to use a spacer on the drivers side to make more depth available - especially as the speakers aren't in a particularly visible location.

My current favorite for a speaker replacement is the Kenwood KFC-PSR700 which use a pair of very lightweight magnets (23g each, I might even save some weight doing this!) as part of Kenwood's DualMags technology. The mounting depth required is 60mm, although the magnets are in a relatively narrow enclosure. The frequency response is 30Hz-30kHz and my local dealer, Network In Car of Baldock also recommend them. I'm hoping that a pair of these speakers will provide a suitable level of sound quality to negate the need for a separate subwoofer or further speakers in the doors/dash. My only concern about the speakers (apart from the cone colour) is that the cone is 165mm rather than 160mm, however by looking at the picture of them, it appears that the mounting holes are the same as a standard 160mm speaker. I hope to confirm this the next time I visit a car audio dealer.

24th November 1999

I spent some of yesterday replacing the standard Alpine speakers, when I wasn't dealing with problems. The speakers came out easily enough and I was glad to see that the connections were standard spade plugs. With my recent misfortunes (see previous link), I've decided to do this on a budget. I installed the Kenwood KFC-W1602 woofers that I had previously used in my MR2. I needed to use both spacers on the driver's side speaker to clear the fuel pipe and I could really do with a third. While these 1602's provide adequate bass, I knew I would have to add some tweeters to provide the high-end. The frequency response of the speakers is 30Hz to 7kHz. So I would need a tweeter that started quite low.

A quick trip to Network In Car of Baldock came up with a pair of Infinity Reference 110T tweeters for £35. The frequency response of these is 2.5kHz to 21kHz which looked like the best ones on paper and also came with an inline passive crossover to stop them trying to drive bass-notes. As with many tweeters, they come with a number of accessories to facilitiate surface or flush mounting. A decent location, I thought, was to mount the tweeter on the black metal strip just next to the seatbelt anchor. A small pad of double-sided adhesive and they don't look too bad. The only problem is the bright yellow cable that contains the crossover.

My first listen to the new setup was very encouraging but it wasn't until my normal drive into work that I noticed a couple of problems. Firstly, the volume need to be turned up much higher than before to drive the 1602's properly and secondly there's a gap in the frequency response. I could barely hear Johhny Marr's jangly guitar! The first thing I'm going to try is to bypass the inline crossover in case it's not even trying to drive anything below 4kHz. The new system is still an improvement on the original Alpine's but I could really do with a small two-way speaker to handle the mid-to-high end frequency response. I think I could find space for an 80-90mm speaker in the same area as the existing speaker pod. But maybe I should bite the bullet and get the Kenwood DualMags KFC-PSR700's.

1st December 1999

I've figured out what's wrong with the wooofer/tweeter setup. At low volume when the car is stationary it sounds great, but at speed with the volume turned up mid-range suffers and all you can hear are the upper and lower frequencies.

Whilst still in budget-mode, I've removed the tweeters and fitted the 100mm mid-range, two-way speakers I originally bought for the MR2. These are Kenwood KFC-HQ105 speakers with a frequency response of 45Hz to 30kHz. As always, the problem is where to put them and how to fix them. And as always, I've gone for the easy option - at least until I know it all works. For the moment they're attached to the bulkhead behind each seat with Velcro (great stuff!) and take a feed from the existing woofers.

The system now sounds great and requires less volume than the woofer/tweeter setup. I've returned the tweeters to Network In Car or Baldock who were quite happy to give me a refund. I picked up a roll of Dynamat while I was there to put behind the woofers so as to help the bass response. I probably won't get round to fitting it for another couple of weeks.

I still think that all this is temporary until I can justify spending £100 on the PSR-700's - I'm feeling really guilty about the weight. I must have added about 2kg in speaker magnets alone!

26th March 2000

Well, I've finally got round to getting the PSR-700's. The extra pair of speakers looked awful and were taking up too much room on the "parcel shelf". So before my recent trip to Le Mans I decided to do the job properly. Dispite the 5mm difference in diameter, the PSR-700's look considerably bigger than the 160mm speakers I removed. They are also half the weight of a "traditional" 160mm 2-way speaker.

Before I got started with the speakers, I removed the roof and rear window - access to both speakers, especially the passenger side (because of the immovable seat) is very difficult. It's useful to be able to put your arm through the rollover hoop. For what it's worth, I layed a small section of Dynamat inside the speaker pod behind where the speaker sits. I also stuffed some fibreglass insulation in the driver's side pod but gave up when it started to get everywhere!

With the speakers being that little bit larger than the standard units, the mounting holes were out of line. Also, the Kenwood's have four screw holes whereas the speaker pods only have three. I would need to make four new holes around the circumference of the speaker pod. That said, the standard speakers will still cover these holes if required. To make the holes, I offered the new speaker up to the pod and used two sizes of drill bit (using my hands, not a drill).

This left me with one more problem. The new speakers require a larger hole than that provided by the speaker pod to fit flush. I really ought to have thought of this but an extra 5mm doesn't seem that much... But as I expected, the driver's side speaker would need spacing to make enough depth available in the pod. With the speaker raised, the pod aperature was no longer an issue, although this was required on both sides. I made the spacer by carefully cutting 3 rings of Dynamat (~9mm) and layering them on the underside of the speaker mounting rim. Once the grill is fitted over the speaker the spacer is quite well hidden.

Only one other modification was required. The PSR-700's come with two crossovers on each speaker; one for the woofer and one for the tweeter. A special cable was provided for a single amp connection which meant I had to join that with the existing factory cable, removing the standard connectors.

In operation they sound pretty good. Not as good as the four speaker setup I removed but then that's not surprising. Bass response is strong, as is the top-end and they love to be turned up really loud. I think there's a small gap in the upper middle range where response is a little weak but compared to the standard items they're in another league. I think it's the best you'll do with just one pair of speakers. And after liberating space on the parcel shelf I'm quite pleased with the overall result.

Radio reception is absolutely dreadful. The radio is unusable and what's more, the aerial seems to make no difference. Tuning into a local, good strength radio station and then unscrewing the aerial makes no difference to the level of interference. Following Robert Collingridge's suggestion of grounding the aerial made a little difference but not so much as to make the radio usable.

Another idea is to create a more conventional FM aerial to separate a connection from the aerial base to two diverse points. To try this, I've run speaker cable to both sides of the engine bay. This does seem to make a noticable difference but it's still not enough. Perhaps a ground to the chassis would have a greater effect.

Liam Crilly © 26-Mar-2000