Post subject:C1 12 plate, speaker vs head unit upgrade

Looking to upgrade my c1 sound, not sure the best way to do this, it has door speakers and dash tweeters at the moment. Can I remove the tweeters and add speakers? Or is a new head unit the easiest way forward

Post subject:Re: C1 12 plate, speaker vs head unit upgrade

The door speakers and dash tweeters are meant to be part of a balanced component set. The doors ones provide the bass and the dash the treble. They are linked with a crossover* and should be considered as one system, not two separate speakers. In other words, simply replacing the tweeters with a speaker would not be suitable.
You can buy component speakers that you can use to replace both the door speakers and dash tweeters (the wiring is such that it isn't quite as simple as a plug and play if you want to do it properly - but it's not that hard either). There is also the option of adding rear speakers (either in addition to replacing the fronts or without doing so). The standard HU can be adapted fairly easily to have rear speakers attached. The unit already supports them, it's just that the wiring is not there. Replacing the HU is, of course, also an option and dashboard adaptors to allow the fitting of either a single or a double DIN unit are available.
*'A crossover is an electronics device that takes a single input signal and creates two or three output signals consisting of separated bands of high-, mid-, and low-range frequencies. The different bands of frequencies feed the different speakers, or “drivers,” in a sound system: tweeters, woofers, and subwoofers.' - Crutchfied

Post subject:Re: C1 12 plate, speaker vs head unit upgrade

Other than the parcel shelf is there another location to mount the rear speleakers? Would a head unit improve the existing speaker quality?

Post subject:Re: C1 12 plate, speaker vs head unit upgrade

People often go for 4' speakers in the dash acting as front speakers and 'rear' speakers in the doors. However, that would usually be with cars that only have front dash speakers to start with, not components like you have. You could do that, of course, provided you wired them as separate speakers acting as front/rear.
There may be other suitable locations for rears but I haven't really looked into it. I've done two with rears in the shelf. There is an OEM shelf with speakers available so I guess some cars must have had rears fitted like that. It's quite pricey though and the standard shelf has two flat bits at the side that are pretty much the right size for 16cm speakers anyway.
A HU upgrade should improve sound quality but it's best to do it in conjunction with upgrading the speakers too, of course.

Post subject:Re: C1 12 plate, speaker vs head unit upgrade

Enjay has covered everything really, I take it you have the usb/bluetooth stereo in your C1, so as he said it has fancy crossover wiring, which I personally have never seen a diagram/explanation for, so just be easier if replacing speakers to unplug and run new wires. Any new dash speakers you get will have different connectors anyway, so for me new wiring would be easier and leave the original factory fancy crossover wiring unmolested, incase you want it back to standard when/if you sell the car.
Like most I fitted rear speakers to the parcel shelf, but some have fitted rears to the rear side panels as well and if not already there fitted or replaced the front door speakers as rears and dash speakers as the fronts, so a few options.
Maybe Enjay can answer this, but has anyone fitted rear speakers to the usb/bluetooth C1 stereo circa 2012, cos think I heard people had issues and to get rear speakers to work needed dealer to code/upgrade the stereo?
Just so you know we have a 2008 107 with normal standard stereo and I fitted upgrade dash speakers and rear parcel shelf speakers running from the standard stereo for years, I have since fitted upgrade stereo and added amped front door speakers, so alot of options are possible.

Post subject:Re: C1 12 plate, speaker vs head unit upgrade

It doesn't have to be the fancy Bluetooth unit to have speakers like that. Mine is also a 2012 C1 and it came with component door speakers/dash tweeters and the original unfancy, non-Bluetooth head unit. It did take me a while to work out which wire went where when I replaced the fronts though (particularly with respect to the wires going to the tweeters). I did figure it out eventually to the point where I was able to use the existing wires with my new speakers and crossovers (I think I posted about it on here somewhere). It might have been easier just to run new wires though.

Because neither of my cars had the Bluetooth unit, I don't know for certaiin. I've seen people saying that they had to get the rear speakers activated by a dealer and I've also seen people say that they bought a unit off ebay and that the rear speakers were already working. Perhaps the unit came from a car where the speakers had already been activated?
For info, in my 2012 C1, I replaced the front door speakers and dash tweeters (as already described) and put 6'x9' speakers in the parcel shelf. I also changed the head unit... twice. I first put in a single DIN unit then I decided that I wanted a double DIN touchscreen one so I did that. That swap was pretty easy because I'd already set most things up for the single DIN after-market unit.
In 'my' 2008 107, it's really mostly my son's car and he wanted to keep the original dash appearance. So, we upgraded the 4' dash speakers and put 6' speakers in the rear shelf, wired to the original HU. In the old style HU, wiring in rear speakers is as easy as buying a standard ISO connector, plugging it in to the existing HU and then running new wires from the connector to the rear speakers. The unit is already set up to drive rear speakers as well as the dash ones so there is no need to activate anything. It already works. To me, the result isn't as good as a proper HU replacement because the original HU isn't that great but it sounds OK and it kept the look he wanted so, job done I guess.
@Dmk39, if you're not sure if you have the standard of the Bluetooth stereo, here we go...
Bluetooth unit:
Standard unit:

Post subject:Re: C1 12 plate, speaker vs head unit upgrade

Yeah the updated CD player came with the 2012 facelift...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_C1
So it may be that earlier 2012 models didn't have it, I don't know.

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Post subject:Re: C1 12 plate, speaker vs head unit upgrade

Mine is a 2012 facelift, but from quite early in the run of the face-lifted ones, so it probably just missed out on getting the fancy HU. Or maybe the HU was an option that not everyone went for, or maybe it was only available with certain trim specs?

Post subject:Re: C1 12 plate, speaker vs head unit upgrade

My best guess is that you just missed out on it. Shame, chances are that with the OPs car being a 12 plate he has the original non Bluetooth CD player as well.

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2019 Smart Fortwo Prime Premium Cabrio A453 Turbo 900cc 90hp
R-Link Evolution Sat Nav/DAB with Android Auto, Bluetooth, USB, SD & AUX
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Rear Parking Sensors
White with 15” Alloys

Post subject:Re: C1 12 plate, speaker vs head unit upgrade

Thanks Enjay, yep thinking about it, having looked at late model 2013/14 C1s and 107s earlier in the year, the C1s had the fancy usb/bluetooth but the 107s had standard unit, and as you say they sure they both had the dash tweeters/front door woofers setup, so as you say both must had the fancy crossover wiring.
I'm with your son on this one, the original standard stereo with dash speakers and then adding rear speakers is sooo much easier, standard ISO and all, manufacturers love complicating things, so much for progress. I wouldn't mind if we were getting a quality speaker set up, but it's cr*p. I have some aftermarket component speakers in my Mondeo and the crossover with that has got loads of electronics in a little box, impressive, but bet the C1/107s are cheap and cheerful.
Got me thinking, wonder if they updated the Haynes manual wiring diagrams for this new stereo crossover/speaker set?, be handy if they did, at least give us a fighting chance of seeing whats what.