Are Focal factory fit speakers any good?

LJamH

Active Member
Mar 16, 2022
17
4
I want to upgrade the speakers in my Ibiza 6J, However I would prefer as easier solution, I don't want anything crazy but the factory speakers are horrible, the speakers in my 20 year old Renault Clio were better tbh.
Is it worth paying the extra for factory fit focal speakers or should I just use an adapter plate and some pioneer speakers?
 

Tell

Full Member
Staff member
Moderator
Reckon factory fitted speakers in older cars were rubbish. I had a speaker project thread on the Altea:


The Altea original speakers were old fashioned cheap paper speakers... people said paper, I'd settle on that, the membrane wasn't of the plastic resin type of material these days, sounded terrible. They were built in their own mount. It was that fitting mount, adaptor you had to buy. They soId Golf ones. Found just some plastic had to be cut off to get them to fit flush in the speaker hole. They came with leads which you could use.

Part of the Altea issue was the incorrectly placed tweeters in the door. They needed changing. The Infinity speakers I fitted had their own tweeters mounted on the speakers as a 2 in 1. It was the useless crossover built into the car that made the speakers sound terrible. All was not lost since when you put the Infinity speakers in with the lead and plug that came with the adaptor plate you just snipped the lead and it silenced the tweeters, the crossover was down line to the tweeter you snipped connection out. Did all four doors.

Winding the clock forward from 2004 / 05 modern day cars make it difficult to get at the speakers so you have to take the door a part and rather than screws to hold in the speakers they are held by plastic lugs. Those lugs have to be drilled out, new speakers fitted and I believe plastic hot gun used to fit. You will see that on newer threads here.

Thus if you see in your car the speakers hiding behind a clip on cover, and held by screws, possible TX you are in luck. Reckon your car will be like that. I'd get the speakers out and look at them. See whether they are like the Altea ones in their own fangled built in plate mount, then look for an adaptor kit for them, that just mounts the speakers correctly in the hole.

Some people at the time just mounted the Altea ones wrong on flat mount rings (plate), I would not do that, I bought them, decided wrong and then researched the adaptor kits which is the purpose moulded plastic, with leads. Whatever the VW / Skoda sister car is will also give you a clue. At the time for me the Altea was so new nobody sold Altea mounts so I found the Golf one I named in the thread to be fine with the use of a saw on part of the plastic to get rid of the bit that stopped them bedding down.

Was this kit I used:


The thread that still links is this:


Whether the SAK 3103 is useable in your car, pass, you'd have to research, might be something better, might not be. Might be a hacksaw job.... or yours might be the new fangled mount inside the body of the car. At the time development of putting the speakers where you could not get at them hadn't arrived. They were just custom speakers which you had to buy an adaptor kit to mount normal purchased speakers into the door, not take the door apart, drill out plastic plugs, re-glue etc... modern car sound system.

Lastly I'd recommend Infinity speakers, they are very good part of the Harman Kardon group.
 
Last edited:
Genuine SEAT Parts and Accessories.