75ZT Community

One that have been wondering for a while,

I read somewhere that MGR lost the contract with Kenwood towards the latter days of trading, hence the change in headunits.

My old 54 plate ZT-T had the kenwood unit in it, and a loom behind it labelled "kenwood" I assume from this that the speakers would be kenwood also?

Reason I ask a friends 2005 05 Tourer has the later (I think its the VDO unit) and there's no depth to the sound at all! Was there a change in speaker supplier too?

Our new contemporary has the HK system in and what a difference!

Jake

Talking of speakers and the HK setup... Nick at Austin Garages also mentions a VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) change point where the factory-fitted HK setup changed from having good quality speakers to having (by comparison much poorer quality) standard speakers. I do not know if this also coincided with the change over you mention Jake or if the two are separate but you're post jogged my memory of this. Maybe worth having a look at the speakers in your Contemporary and seeing what they are.

I understand all about having a head unit that can drive the speaker it is attached to so it might be worth investigating to see if even a small improvement in speaker could lead to a big improvement in sound quality - regardless of make/model of head unit, so long as the pair are "matched".

Basic speaker system was made by Goodmans.
The Hk system of course had far better mid range and tweeter units.
The sub bass units were always pretty crap as they took their input feed from the output rather than through a pre amp out to the power amp for the bass.
The hi line sat nav system without HK if changed to a BM24 radio tuner amp had by far a Better sound quality than anything MGR installed.

My 2005 car had the better quality Harmon Karden speakers fitted so it would seem they were not deleted.

SpongeBob wrote:Talking of speakers and the HK setup... Nick at Austin Garages also mentions a VIN change point where the factory-fitted HK setup changed from having good quality speakers to having (by comparison much poorer quality) standard speakers. I do not know if this also coincided with the change over you mention Jake or if the two are separate but you're post jogged my memory of this. Maybe worth having a look at the speakers in your Contemporary and seeing what they are.

I understand all about having a head unit that can drive the speaker it is attached to so it might be worth investigating to see if even a small improvement in speaker could lead to a big improvement in sound quality - regardless of make/model of head unit, so long as the pair are "matched".

Now that is intereting (and depressing too if the truth be known) Our contemporary has a CD80 MP3 at the moment, I'd love to put a highline in it in a perfect world.

With regards my friends zt-t, I've got a symphony unit at home that it might be worth him trying (although I fear there is a wiring difference?) so perhaps not?

JohnDotCom wrote:Basic speaker system was made by Goodmans.
The Hk system of course had far better mid range and tweeter units.
The sub bass units were always pretty crap as they took their input feed from the output rather than through a pre amp out to the power amp for the bass.
The hi line sat nav system without HK if changed to a BM24 radio tuner amp had by far a Better sound quality than anything MGR installed.

Thanks John!

Goodmans - that explains it then.

I don't recall having heard a hi-line with HK, although Carl's 190 with just standard speakers was mighty impressive!

If my friend was to go about improving the sound system- what would you think the best way would be? I'm keeping an eye out for him, but HK Tourer set ups seem to be rare as hens teeth!

Jake

I used to have a Symphony (and technically still do... it's attached to the red car... ) and the sound quality from that is excellent. It's on a 2001 ZT if that's any help but nevertheless was a big improvement over the original factory-fitted Philips 'Harmony' unit. Plenty of tonal range and depth just by dialling in the equaliser settings.

My other cars got a HighLine setup fitted with (hopefully) nice speakers but I believe they were standard so I don't know what they actually are. All I do know is I have a BM54 tuner and the sound from that combined with the HK amp is awesome!

SpongeBob wrote:I used to have a Symphony (and technically still do... it's attached to the red car... ) and the sound quality from that is excellent. It's on a 2001 ZT if that's any help but nevertheless was a big improvement over the original factory-fitted Philips 'Harmony' unit. Plenty of tonal range and depth just by dialling in the equaliser settings.

My other cars got a HighLine setup fitted with (hopefully) nice speakers but I believe they were standard so I don't know what they actually are. All I do know is I have a BM54 tuner and the sound from that combined with the HK amp is awesome!

Cheers Simon!

I've read somewhere that you have to swap wires over when fitting to the later car, otherwise it thinks you're in a phone call!

Will suggest it to him and see what he thinks!

Yes the speakers on the standard setup were made but Goodmans, but not the company you are thinking of that makes bottom end consumer electronics in the far east.

The Company was Goodmans Loudspeakers Limited, also known as GLL, and made higher end speakers, including if I remember, Tannoy. Based in Portsmouth. Admitedly, the two companies were related at one time many moons ago, before the brand was sold off. I believe they went under in the early 2000s so maybe a change happened then.

The Harman Kardon were from Harman Motive who had been Elac, and are now Harman Becker. Still based in Bridgend South Wales and still doing audio.

The head unit makes much more of a difference than the speakers. I will be upgrading the speakers, but adding the HK amp, sub, and a decent BM54 radio have transformed the tourer that had an iovox thing previously.