Recently changed my megane (01) for laguna 2 (02) I am delighted with laguna except radio/cd.
Meganes were louder without distorting and had decent reception on the radio.
Has anyone got experience of changing head units for a more powerfull unit, but keeping the stalk control and display unit, and what can I do about the aerial?
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Remember that you can change the head unit all you like, but you are still going to have poor sound if the speakers aren't man enough for the job.
Faced with a similar problem in the leased (so I couldn't officially meddle) Rover 420 GSi that I had at the time, I spent £50 or so on a 4x40w Alpine amplifier and another £100 on some better speakers that fitted in the original mounts.
The difference in sound quality and level was vast, and stereo imaging came across much better, too.
When the car went back it took all an hour with a screwdriver to whip everything out without a trace save for where I'd cut the original wiring loom behind the head unit should anyone have dug around.
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Change the speakers. they are standard (13cms I seem to recall). Pioneers fit and sound good.
Assume you have a tuner list radio? there were a lot of complaints about aerials but mine is fine (its in the rear window of the hatchback or the side rear window of the tourer)
Sony radios can be supplied with an interface that allows the steering wheel controls and the information display to work normally.
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Chicken and egg situation re: is the problem with the speakers or the head unit? Also, I cant seem to locate a haynes manual for this car, so I am wary of taking the door panels off to change the speakers, ie. not knowing how hard to lever off x and where to prise off y without snapping something essential. This car is in showroom condition, and I want to keep it good, so i am very wary of doing some harm. I do appreciate the comments about the speakers though, and realise that good speakers are prob` more important than the head unit. Still dont know what to do about the aerial?????
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You dont need a Haynes manual. The speaker grilles just pull off (plastic legs on the grilles fit into rubber grommet things).
The speakers have 4 screws. Standard fit round 13cms, 30 quid (pair) pioneer units will transform the sound - trust me.
The head unit (amplifier) (if its the VDO tuner list radio) is actually quite good, when you over do the volume with too much bass it clips but up to that point is OK.
Nothing you can do about the aerial. Fitting another radio wont fix it, you could fit an external aerial but matching up the feed wont be easy.
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will change speakers on sunday, thanks for all you help, will report back findings after.
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Just done a double check to make sure.
13cms, two screw locations for the speaker, you may need to cut off a spare screw lug on the speaker frame
instructions here....
www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/product_overview.jsp?category...2
click "select the right speakers for your car"
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Ok, Changed speakers on the laguna for pioneers. Easy change over. Sound quality much better, but power not much better.
So, I am thinking to upgrade the Head unit. How can I find out which HU will work with the laguna`s stalk and display, as I really want to keep these. I understand that the stalk is not a problem, but the display?
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I had a Fiesta nearly two years ago and got a new cd player purely because all my music was on CD's.
Standard speakers but I spent a fair bit on this all singing all dancing Sony head unit. Absolutely transformed the sound. Really rich and powerful so God knows what it would be like if I changed the speakers.
The Halfords site has a facility where you put your car in and it tells you what you need. Another good site is Car Audio Direct.
I got my CD player from Empire Direct of all places for 100 quid less than Halfords but the ED won't tell you what accessories you need.
(Be prepared to pay a little - I had to fork out 50 quid for an "adapter" just so I could have a cd changer in my car).
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Like I said in my original post, change the speakers and stick an amplifier in. Even with the extreme el-cheapo head unit in my leaded 420 GSi that I was not allowed to remove, the transformation was huge.
The amplifier was about the size of two packets of 20 fags laid end to end and easily hidden behind the head unit.
In your case, as well as likely being much cheaper than a head unit upgrade there is no new steering wheel controls interface needed.
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As I said a few posts up, Sony* units can be fitted with an interface to use the existing display and steering wheel controls.
* not the very basic ones.
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Why go to the bother of an expensive head unit change, plus remote control interface, when a fifty quid amp will do a damned good job with little hassle? Even cheapo head units can sound surprisingly good with decent amplification and the better speakers that have already been fitted. Leaving the OEM head unit in is also probably less of a theft invitation.
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I'll second that.
My new Sony all singing all dancing stereo...er...got nicked.
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`The amplifier was about the size of two packets of 20 fags laid end to end and easily hidden behind the head unit`
Ok, so I`ve looked in halfords and the only amps I`ve are those mahoosive big things that power those bass boxes......I don`t think I can ram one of those in behind my head unit. I may be being a little dense, but what amps are you refering to, please.
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The amps SJB are referring to are small but the smallest I've ever seen are abotu an inch thick and the size of paperback.
However, a quick look here suggests that sJB knows his stuff. If I'm not mistaken, that first amp is abotu the size of two packets of smokes.
tinyurl.com/79248
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From the jottings in my car paperwork folder, my amp was 180mm x 70mm x 35mm with the upper surface being a lightly finned heat sink. I recall that I paid about £50 in a sale at my local in car entertainment outlet. Because the car was leased and I didn't want to draw attention to modifications I attached the amplifier with a couple of heavy duty cable ties to the dashboard sub structure, out of sight behind the head unit but with room to dissipate heat.
I then cut the head unit output wires about 4" from the head unit, terminating each end from the head unit with a "female" connector and each end feeding the speakers with a "male" connector. The corresponding inputs to the amp therefore had "male" connectors and the outputs "female". This method meant that when the lease eventually expired and I removed the amp, it was a simple matter of cutting two cable ties, unlpugging the connectors, and remaking them to join with their original selves.
Note my careful orientation (excuse the potential pun) of "male" and "female" connectors to ensure that if one of them came apart, the "powered" end was always "female" and therefore shielded from completing a circuit against any metalwork. I used good quality connectors and borrowed a professional crimping tool, so never had vibration induced loose connections.
Power was taken from a switched feed that I found, and grounding was done with a ring connector on an existing dashboard bolt that attached to grounded metalwork.
Thinking about it, I used the same amp in the Vectra SRi V6 Estate that followed the Rover, again because it was a leased car that needed more oomph in the stereo department. It also had remote controls like your Laguna that I wanted to keep operational without undue expence.
The Vectra had no passenger airbag so I removed the glovebox (four screws) and found a handy dashboard support beam against which to velcro the amplifier. The same wiring connection method was used, and four better quality speakers fitted. The sound quality improvement was huge, like the Rover despite a very humble head unit.
Have fun and good luck.
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Thanks all for all your advice and help. I am still trying to decide whether to change the hu or to use a supplimentary amp. I feel that the amp would be the most economic way to go, but I may just splash out on a top range sony, which, apparently, will give me full compatability. Thanks again for your comments
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