Installed a new head unit and upgraded speakers this past weekend in my 1997 Disco 1 SD7. It's the base model, so whatever sound setup it had was old and probably not great to begin with. Thought I'd share in case anyone else was curious in upgrading their sound and the Disco 1 (at least the base model) has very limited options without spending a lot of money on custom installation and enclosure fab.

Long story short, the installer managed to jam Focal 4" CA1s (~$165/pair) in the front doors and 4" CV1s (~$190/pair) in the rear cargo area. The factory tweeters and cargo door sub are now disconnected. They had to trim some liner in the doors/rear and some door metal in the front. The CA1s have a 53mm install depth and are touching metal in the rear which is not good. I think I'm going to upgrade to CV1s which they swore wouldn't fit since they required an extra 2.5mm of depth. Doesn't seem like much, but I disassembled, and swapped a rear into the front to check the fit today.

I willl need some custom 1/4" spacers between the grills and the door panel to get the CV1s to fit, but they come out of the box with custom foam baffles covering the magnets so they don't touch door panel metal. Seems like a worthwhile upgrade for the extra $25 cost and a few bucks for spacers (hopefully I can find a cheap "hack" at Home Depot).

I'm might also try to fit 5 1/4" CV1s in the rear holes since there seems to be enough room. You'd think at least. They can also handle more power and the bass would improve. This should require a custom mount adapter and some more interior liner cutting, but no metal cutting.

The sound is 200% improved. Granted this is no high end custom audio system. I laughed when the audio sales guy suggested I spend $2,500+ for a "basic" system -- for my $5K 10-yo Disco. Still Focal's are high end Euro speakers and it was worth every penny spent (a little of $1K 0% financed over 2 years including $400 in ripoff installation nickle and diming). Even if it doesn't improve the offroad performance any it will make getting to the trail all the better and my wife might complain less about my "beater" now that it sounds nicer than her four year old Audi A6 (other than the bass). The Disco lost a little bass with the factory sub out of service, but I'll make up for that with a removable aftermarket sub in the near future.

The other win is the Alpine CD player head unit (~$290) with aux input and direct 5G iPod with full iPod controls on the dash. Its better iPod integration than I've seen in most brand new $70K BMWs and Mercedes. Even comes with a remote so I can control my iPod "jukebox" without leaning over.

 

So I had them upgrade the fronts from CA1s to the higher quality Polyglass CV1s. Still 4" stock sizing. They got them to fit by removing the rubber magnet boot, but I think I'll have some spacers made so I can replace the boot. I don't like metal on metal.

I was considering upgrading the rears to 5.25" or 6" CV1s, but the speakers cost an extra $100/pair and roughly $100 to install them with custom cutting and brackets. At some point, maybe I'll upgrade them, but I decided to put that $200 into a 10" JL Audio 10W3v2-D4 sub and JL Audio A1200 monoblock amp. I had them mount the amp on the sub box so I can pull a few wires and leave the sub/amp in the garage when I need the cargo space.

I'm done for now. The sound is too much with bass heavy tracks. I listen to a very wide variety of music, so I'll need to dial in the sub a bit. That amp has lots of dials and switches to get things under control. I had the "sub level" on the head unit down to 1 (out of 20) and it was still too much for my modest bass requirements.

Happy to provide pics or other details if anyone is interested. I'd definitely recommend this setup for non-DIY types looking to get a big sound upgrade without completely breaking the bank installing lots of custom mounted stuff. Also welcome other folks feedback on their Disco 1 sound upgrade experiences.

 

I am interested in seeing pics of your installation. I too was disappointed in the stock system and used some of my fabrication skills to design some products for the Disco, including a removable sub enclosure. Production of the enclosure is not complete but should be soon. My webmaster put the site up a little prematurely so feel free to check it out. www.landroverenclosures.com

Duc