The Problem
Having had a crackling/popping mid-bass speaker problem on the passenger side, I wanted to replace it. I'm due to do a long trip and I don't think I'd be able to get a replacement Land Rover part in time, so I was in a bit of a pickle - long story short, I decided to fit a rather more expensive part that should work a little better than the original, albeit at an additional cost.

This replaces both the tweeter (in the top of the door near the wing-mirror) and the mid-bass speaker (lowest in the door) with aftermarket items, but retains the original amp and crossovers.

The Solution
The original speakers are 2ohms, which is a little unusual, most aftermarket speakers are 4ohms and will therefore sound less loud than the OEM speakers, causing them to need the amp to work harder. As this is part of a 14 speaker Logic7 on a 2011 4.4 TDV8 Vogue, this would have left me with unbalanced audio which would have been hard to work around with the OEM amp/dsp, so I needed to keep to 2ohms.

I found that a company called Focal do a component set with two mid-bass speakers and two tweeters, including passive crossovers for around 450 Euros, or 400 gbp. As I could get them quickly, I went with those. The passive crossovers are not used as the Logic7 system has crossovers in place for the mid-bass and tweeters already (according to my googling...).

Focal ES 165 K2

Is it just me or do they remind you of Madonna?

Disclaimer
I'm not an audio wizard, nor could I play one on TV. I've fitted them and they work great and sound a little better than the originals, but they've only been in a few hours at the time of writing - they may explode

Fitting
Fitting took me a few hours, probably 2 hours for the first door and then another 1 hour for the second. You'll need to do some soldering or crimping, depending on what you prefer.

Both door-cards need to be removed, but this is pretty simple; 4 bolts and some clips to unclip, about 5 plugs to unplug. The door cards aren't too bad on these vehicles, they go back on without looking like they've ever been removed so don't panic too much about that.

I didn't take a picture but the vehicle remains looking absolutely stock, you will never be able to tell this has been done.

Method
1. Remove the door card, unclip all the wiring harnesses, there's a YouTube video from PowerFullUKLtd which covers this, the MY2010 is a little different, but not enough to cause you any problems.

2. At this point you'll be able to remove the 4 screws holding the mid-bass speaker, remove them and hold the speaker whilst you do, so the speaker doesn't fall out.


3. The top part of the door, where it meets the A-Pillar has a separate plastic cover which houses the tweeter, there's a clip on the bottom which can be pulled apart and then the rest is held on by the door seal, wiggle it free. With the door open, you can leave it on the outside of the door (see last picture) whilst you remove the wiring for the tweeter.

4. Unclip the tweeter and remove it's cable from cable retainer, you'll need a small screwdrive to pop the clip, it's a bit fiddly but push down and it'll release - at this point you should be able to just unbolt the tweeter and remove it.

5. On to the workbench, fire up the soldering iron.

6. The mid-bass speakers sit in a plastic housing which we're going to need to retain. The foam ring will pull off (it's on with sticky tape). Now you can remove the screws holding the driver (speaker). The speaker will not be free at this point.

7. Flip over the speaker - top tip, use the foam lid from the Focal speaker as a base to rest the speaker on, the cutout is the right size and it'll protect the new speaker when you're re-installing it later.

8. You now need to unsolder the two wires from the driver that are soldered to the housing, you'll need a solder sucker for this probably, or just get it nice and hot and bend the prongs back, get them both free.


9. Now you can finally remove the driver from the housing, it'll be stuck in with some sillicon rubber sealant, gently prise until it comes loose.


10. Now you can seat the shiny new speaker into the housing - the easiest way is to place it upside down, you're not going to see it anyway and sound doesn't care which way up it is


11. The +/- terminals are switched versus the Harmon Kardon speaker, so we're going to need to solder our cables in a crossover fashion (not that kind of crossover, just crossed-over!). I dropped a little cardboard underneath where I was soldering just in case I had any drops, you don't want to ruin those shiny new drivers! The picture should explain...


12. At this point, your mid-bass speakers are done, refit them to the car, plug back in the original loom.


13. The tweeters, we need to chop most of the supplied cables off the new Focal tweeters, I left about 2 inches of cable and cut and fitted heatshrink to keep the job tidy.

14. Remove the original cables from the OEM tweeters, de-solder them from the tweeter itself. You *are* going to want to retain the entire section from the original tweeter as they contain capacitors to help protect the tweeter which we're going to re-use with the new ones.


15. The wire with the trace is the positive on the OEM tweeter, join them up to the "more red" of the two wires on the Focal tweeters and tidy it up - I used wire protector and a bit of heatshrink for the section without foam. This is now complete and ready to refit.


16. With the door open and stood in-front of it, I was able to pull the foam out from the plastic trim and feed the wire through - the tweeters sit perfectly in the foam housing with the original dustguards over them, it's a little tight, but I had no problems with rattling or anything.

Click image to enlarge

Great write-up!

Did you do any research on upgrading the sound further or expanding on the Focal ES 165 K2?

I am considering the Naviplus and want to upgrade the speakers at the same time. A full upgrade to the HK 1200 HD system seems to be around EUR 1.200 in parts plus a lot of work so any options/tips here would be greatly appreciated! RR Vogue 4.4 TDV8 - 11
Toyota Land Cruiser Prado - 02

LR Discovery 4 SDV6 -11 - Gone
RR Vogue 3.6 TDV8 - Gone

I was really looking to repair rather than upgrade, so I was looking for similar speakers rather than how to improve the sound drastically - it just happened that the choice of 2ohm speakers was quite slim and these worked out well.

There’s another set of Focal 2ohm speakers which are supposed to be better quality and about 150 eur more expensive - however, I had a feeling the tweeters wouldn’t fit without modification and I wasn’t really feeling like doing too much modification.

When you say HK 1200 I’m assuming you mean the Logic7 btw?

The Logic7 HD system I’ve never heard, so I can’t really compare this to that - for my money, most of what I listen to is stereo rather than DVD or surround sound, so I don’t really see how Logic7 HD is going to be any better off music aside from more speakers and more volume - but I have not heard it and I’m not an audiophile so... pinch of salt

The weak point in this system would be that I’ve only upgraded 4 of the 6 front speakers and not touched the other 8, so when you move the fader backwards the audio quality isn’t as great. I think upgrading the mids in the front doors would be the next improvement.

Then I’d think you’d want to swap the 4 speakers in the rear passenger doors.

Lastly I’d do the two in the boot and then the sub. The centre speaker in the dash doesn’t ever get used with Logic7 turned off so I wouldn’t bother with that at all.

Actually I’m a bit confused, my Logic7 is non-HD and I count 14 speakers, thought it was supposed to have 12, but anyway, whatever

Great write up 👍

Great write up, we used to supply Focal speakers for the home setup and all speakers require matching with head units, the source. B&W are also a great choice and worth a mention if you are doing upgrades, do the speaker cables where ever possible too, why put expensive kit in and connect it with cheap cable, you lose so much quality through interconnects and cheap cabling.

Cabling doesn’t have to be expensive to be good. It just need to be the right cabling for this distance

Thanks for the feedback, as I say I am not an expert so very happy to get advice!

I figured the original cabling couldn’t be too bad as I don’t suppose a company like Harmon Kardon would skimp on a few extra quid for cabling on such an expensive installation really!

I figured cutting and rejoining the cables to the original plugs was likely to have more of an impact than minimising the number of connections.

And basically I soldered anything I could rather than using push fit or spade connectors - even the focal speakers come with connections for spade connectors so it can’t be that bad

Actually, there is nothing wrong with well-crimped spade connectors either, the internet is dedicated to that topic as well. The car I rebuild had some horrid soldered splices causing 'gremlins' due to fatigue in the stress points. Something that is totally avoidable with a well-crimped connection.

Speaker wires, there are so many myths, but basically, get Oxygen Free Copper cable and ensure cable with the right resistance for the speakers used and the distance. The rest is big fat nonsense in this world and the biggest moneymaker.

Just discovered a new type of connector.

It’s basically a solder ring inside a heat shrink. You basically put a wire into each side, then heat it up, the solder melts, the heatshrink shrinks and bobs your mothers fathers son you have a soldered wrapped joint in one go. Dead easy. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
KIA E-Niro 4+
2021 Discovery 5 D300 MHEV commercial

i have been using them a little while now they are bloody grat and a very strong joint too 2012 Vogue 4.4 TDV8 - Current
2014 Navara V6 - Gone
2004 Vogue TD6 - Gone
Grand Cherokee - Gone
Discovery V8 (LPG) - Gone
Discovery TD5 - Gone

This might be the slowest follow-up to a post ever, but as I recently got a bit more serious about my audio tweaking and got myself a calibrated mic, this is what the RR looks like when tested with a calibrated microphone after the Focal speaker enhancements.

The orange trace is with the subwoofer turned up to full, the lower trace is with it at normal.




For me, this is a fairly good response, it'd definitely benefit from some EQ'ing but it's pretty flat.

I *think* I may have some issues with my door mid speakers (which in the Logic7 actually seem to be tweeters), as they're making a weird crackle when tested, but still, this is what it is