The car is currently totally stripped out, waiting for it's new interior to be fitted, so the prospect of laying wires and drilling holes is no problem - that's actually why I want to get this sorted out ASAP, before the new carpet goes down.

Cool, then it should be fairly easy.

Do you know (roughly) what I'll need?

It depends on how many speaker locations you've got, and what their sizes are. And if you're willing to cut holes for new/more speakers. I've seen some neat installations where they cut extra holes in the door panels to add speakers under upholstery, for example.

You also need to decide if you have space for a subwoofer. If you can swing it in that tiny car, a subwoofer will give you the greatest sound quality improvement for your buck (or fiver or whatever you Brits call Bucks over there).

When building a stereo system, I always like to say "start with the speakers and work backwards from there." In terms of sound quality, the speakers are the most critical component, and the amplifier is the second most critical component. The third most critical component is the wiring between the amp and the head unit. So spend most of your money on speakers.

So, all in all, what you're going to need are:

- Speakers to fit the desired locations.

- If you get a subwoofer, you will need an enclosure for it. I recommend getting the enclosure and the subwoofer speaker as a matched set, making sure the speaker and the enclosure volume are correct for each other.

- An amplifier with the correct number of outputs for the speakers and subwoofer you just got. Make sure that the amp RMS wattage ratings fall within the recommended RMS wattage range of the speakers. (Note that most speakers and amps report "peak" power in huge print but RMS power in fine print. The peak power is meaningless, only look at the RMS power.) Make sure the amplifier has an adjustable gain control, and preferably some built-in crossover functions. I am now running two Jensen amps with these features and I am happy with them.

- Two sets of RCA cables to connect the Empeg to the amplifier. Get shielded cables that are designed to reject RF noise interference, and make sure to route these cables on the opposite side of the car from any power wires. And buy them a bit longer than you think you'll need them, there's nothing more frustrating than having your RCA cables come up short in a wiring run.

- Heavy-gauge power wire to connect the amplifier directly to the battery. This will also require a waterproof fuse block and a connector to get it hooked up to the battery terminal.

- Heavy-gauge ground wire for the amp and a good solid connection point for the ground. (Sorry, "Earth".)

- A light-gauge wire to connect to the Amp Remote activation lead. (When the empeg turns on, it lights up this wire telling the amp to turn on.)

- Speaker wire. The more wattage you run to a given speaker, the heavier the wire needs to be.


Should I bother with tweeters?

That depends on your current speaker locations. If they are fairly high up (such as in the dash or high in the doors), then your stereo imaging will be good as-is if you get decent speakers with separate tweeters.

If your only speakers are behind you, or down low in the doors, then you might want to consider putting some tweeters up high, yes.

One final note:

Since you've got the carpet stripped out, you might want to consider applying some Dynamat to the exposed areas to reduce the car's body resonance. Dynamat is just a thick clay-like rubbery material that absorbs sound. It comes in big sticky-backed sheets to apply to flat metal surfaces. Most new cars are already very well soundproofed and Dynamat is a waste of time for them. But your old MG probably has no soundproofing at all and would benefit from Dynamat. Your doors, too, are a good candidate for Dynamat, especially if the speakers are mounted there.

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Tony Fabris
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Tony Fabris