Good speakers
Written: Dec 19 '02 (Updated Dec 23 '02)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Sound Quality: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
|
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Reasonable price and sound good
Cons: The installation instructions could be more helpful
The Bottom Line: Alpine's suggestion was spot on regarding the appropriate size replacement speakers for my vehicle. These speakers do the job and do it well.
|
|
|
| plilikoi's Full Review: Alpine SPS-6939 Coaxial Car Speaker |
Background
I bought a pair of these speakers to replace the stock rear speakers in my 1988 Ford Bronco II and installed them myself.
Yeah, I've been procrastinating on this. The impetus was that I recently installed an Alpine head unit, a 7874 CD player. I figured I might as well use Alpine speakers to complement (and compliment) the Alpine head unit.
The "system Builder" section of Alpine's web site, www.alpine1.com, states that the 6939S are the appropriate replacements for the Bronco II rear speakers so I ordered a pair from HookedOnTronics through a bid that I placed on eBay for $66 plus shipping.
What you get
The speakers come in a box from which you can punch or cut out a screw template, destroying what little installation instructions there are in the process since these are printed on the box. This template was worthless in any case because it's way too flimsy. Also included was a generous amount of twin wire, one of which was striped, terminated on one end by a thick and a thin female spade connector which mated with matched male connectors on the speakers. There was also a care packet of two types of screws, sheet metal and regular threaded screws along with washers and bolts.
These speakers look high tech. They have distinct high- and mid-range dome units housed above the blue woofer cone.
Installation
After I removed the stock speakers and compared the 6939S I was skeptical that these would fit as the 6939S are considerably larger than the stock speakers. The stock speaker grill was rectangular, but smaller than the oval Alpine speakers. The hole that the grill covered is oval, however. So I figured that the Alpine speakers might fit nicely into the hole. Close, but not quite. The screw hole positions were the same distance apart, top to bottom, but the side to side distance between screw holes was slightly shorter in the Alpine speakers. I couldn't drill new holes because I'd be drilling between the existing holes and the edge of the oval cut out. I solved this dilemma by loosening the side panel in the vicinity of the speaker hole and then using a plastic spacer that Alpine thoughtfully provided with the speaker. I positioned the spacer between the Alpine speaker and the plastic molding of the Bronco's side panel. I used the existing two rear holes and screwed the speaker fascia against the plastic panel through to the spacer and thence to the speaker. The front screws didn't go through holes in the plastic panel but they did clamp the speaker components together in such a way that these gripped the plastic. I had to cut about one third off the top screws with a hack saw. If you do this be sure to thread the nut on before you cut the bolt. Subsequent removal of the nut repairs most of the thread damage on the bolt.
It's essential that the speakers be a very snug fit into the plastic panel. If they aren't snug they will vibrate or rattle when you play music with prominent bass. The back of the speaker is a very tight fit into the side panel. I had to use quite a bit of encouragement (i.e., force) to put the panel back into place.
I couldn't figure out which of the existing wires was plus and which was minus. It doesn't matter so long as they are consistent so I made sure to splice the same old wire to the same new wire on each speaker. I was replacing the front speakers at the same time so I followed the same wiring convention with these. I soldered the wires together and covered the connections with heat-shrink tubing.
I had to use Alpine's speaker grills as the factory grill was too small. One of the screw holes from the factory grill is just visible outside the new grill. Otherwise it looks like a perfect replacement.
I wouldn't say that this was a simple job, but much to my amazement the speakers fit and no new holes needed to be drilled. Kudos to Alpine for suggesting the correct speakers.
Sound
I compared the speakers when I had replaced only one. The 6939S are slightly less efficient than the stock speakers. In other words I need to turn the volume up a notch or two to hear music at the same sound level. The Alpine speakers nevertheless sound better throughout the entire frequency range. Sitting in the front, which is where I usually sit, the bass is noticeably more pronounced. For example, the heart beat in the background of Depeche Mode's "Somebody" is much more prominent. There's significant attenuation of the high frequencies between the front and back of the vehicle so there's not so much improvement in that department noticeable from the front. However, everything sounds better when I sit in the back.
The volume setting on the Alpine 7874 head unit goes up to 35 (arbitrary units). I rarely turn it up beyond 20 and usually have it set around 10. Set at 20 there's no sign of clipping (distortion) which means that neither the amplifier nor the speakers are being driven beyond saturation. These speakers perform admirably up to my pain threshold.
Somewhat to my surprise, however, the sound improvement from changing the head unit was more significant than from changing the speakers. I realise, in retrospect, that I ought to have done an AB comparison of these and the stock speakers with the 7874 head unit's BBE processor turned off. The BBE processor makes much less of a difference with the new speakers than it did with the old so I can only assume that the BBE processor was doing a good job of masking the imperfections of the stock speakers.
If you have an old head unit you'll likely get better value for your money by replacing the head unit and keeping your old speakers. There's not a huge price difference between buying, e.g., the Alpine 7874 head unit and replacing all four speakers.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 72
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
plilikoi
|
 - Top 1000 |
|
Location: San Diego, CA, USA
Reviews written: 76
Trusted by: 6 members
About Me:
Raised in Scotland, living in San Diego. Getting older and wiser daily, older for sure!
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.