Upgrading The Audio System!

February 23, 2006

As I have mentioned in another post I plan to buy the Toyota Aygo in May this year. I have done a testdrive of the car twice and experienced the supposedly "high end audio system" which I thought was utter crap (the sales rep. agreed). My 40 euro creative 2.1 multimedia speaker system connected to my computer offers way better sound quality. :) So I plan to fix this when I get my car. I will buy some new Speakers at my local car audio store. I will probably install the hardware myself or let the store do it. Has anyone any experience in upgrading the audio on the Aygo? Is it easy to do by yourself or is it better to let someone experienced do it?

Anyways, to plan ahead I would appreciate any comments or suggestion regarding:

1) Would it be possible to install Speakers on the parcel shelf? I have seen parcel shelf Speakers on the Peugeot 107 in Peugeots propaganda material, so it should be possible? Or will the one parcel shelf string on the Aygo not handle the load? What do you guys think?

2) Would it be enough to change the 4 speakers and use them with the current amplifier or would stronger stuff be recommended? Such as a new cd/amplifier or an extra amplifier. I am looking for a warmer and more powerful sound with more power on the low to midrange frequencies and I want to be able to play fairly loud.

3) Would it be possible to connect an extra external amplifier or would that require a new cd/amplifier unit in the dashboard?

4) The dimensions of speaker mounts. After reading through the Toyota AIMs (Accessory Installation Manuals) for the speakers in the Aygo I got not much info other than it seemes easy to do it yourself. So I asked a guy on a swedish Toyota forum, he works with installing these speakers on Aygos for the nordic market. His respons was this (translated from swedish):

"Its almost the same speakers in front and back. 13.3 watt in the front and 12 watt in the back. All of them have the same dimensions; 123 mm screw-to-screw with a 98 mm hole in the doors. The maximum depth in the front is 45 - 50 mm and 40 - 45 mm in the doors. The amplifier is a panasonic probably a cheap model."

So thats the information I have, but the measures are not that exact. Does anyone have any more precise measures and/or recommendations for speakers that fit and sound good. I do not really understand what he means by a speaker "having" 13.3 watt respective 12 watt, but I assume its what the speakers can handle at most?

Any comments or suggestions highly appreciated!