Improving ES1-4 on a budget

[Aero Moose]

I bought my Aero second hand and never gave much thought to the sound system assuming that on such a good car the system should be pretty good anyway. However the ES1-4 is a very poor sound system

It looks like there's a space for a couple of 6x9's under the parcel shelf. Can you just wire these in from the existing small speakers? I don't want to start messing around with amps or anything - I just want to hear something from the rear of the car.

[TonyC]

Hi Aero Moose,

I agree, the ES1-4 is dire.

I looked into this before deciding to buy new & you can buy the upgrade to an ES1-7 from Elkparts.

http://www.elkparts.co.uk/product_info.php...roducts_id/1981

It's possibly more than you would want to spend, but the ES1-7 does sound pretty reasonable & would be easy to fit.

Hope this helps,

Tony

[Dave N]

I fitted a pair of 6x9s and used the connections from the existing puny speakers in the back shelf. They are if anything under driven by the head unit. something to do with how the amplified signal is split. It has improved the sound quality sufficiently for my needs, but if your a hi fi buff youll possibly not be satisfied.

You could also upgrade to es1/7 by buying the kit from Elkparts (or yout dealer, cos its not that much dearer if you take account of the postage you will have to pay Elkparts). Either way, it needs a techII setting changing to make the additional amplifier (which comes with the kit and will go under the front seat)recognisable to the car. The dealer may do this FOC if youve bought the upgrade from them.

The ES1/7 system gives you two additional speakers in the front doors and a single speaker in the centre of the dash in front of the SID display.

[LOVELYJUBBLY]

I tried upgrade on ES1-4 by using some 6x9, original speakers had a saab connector with 1 and 2 on them I guess + and - (not sure which way though). I spoke to Saab parts ,they do not sell these, they come on the wiring loom and the Saab Pioneer speakers. Anyway, I connected the wire from 6x9 and they sound even worse then the original speakers. Just incase, I had the +/-'s wrong way, I switched the cables round, same problem. I did fit them to the rear shelf, which was straight forward, but I can't understand why they sound so bad.

Speakers were Magnat Xtract 6930.

Any idea's?

[9000CS23T]

A couple of ICE specialists have tried this in Norwich and have had no luck. The 9-3 system is controlled by fibre optics. If you want to add speakers you need to add amps. These have to be connected via the fibre optics and the head unit told that they are there. This basically means that you have to buy the amps that saab use and have access to Tech2, otherwise anything you add to the car will be underpowered. The 7 speaker has an amp under the passenger seat and the 13 speaker has an additional amp in the boot.