Improving the Beats system. This will be an on going thread with mods.

[ruggedbert]

I just finished trimming the tweeter hole, and I am so glad I did this free mod!

I have a 2016 Abarth with the Beats system, and my 4 sub wires at the connector consists of 2 white and 2 black wires. In the original post, it shows the wires to be multi colored. Is it normal for the 2016 models to have only black and white sub wires? I wanted to confirm this before switching the wire order.

Thank you!

Haha! I hear you on that. Even Bose systems sound better.

I did discover the sub is out of phase with the door midbass'.

It was easy to unplug the harness at the sub box, and then switch around the 2 outer pairs. For example:

If this was the plug, stock would be:

1 2 3 4

and then the phase correct wiring would be:

2 1 4 3

The sound is much better in the midbass, with more warmth and punch.

It almost makes it listenable now.

I was planning on changing the stock amp with a JBL MS-8. I have one in my smart, and once you get it tuned right, it sounds AMAZING... but for now this sounds OK.

This is the plug you want to modify:

[Hermiabarth]

A-pillars are done. I'll be making a pnp harness to adapt the Helix DSP into the factory wiring harness.


Attachment 28051Attachment 28050Attachment 28052

I realize this is an old post, but I admire the A-pillar mod you did to fit the new speaker. I wonder how you did it? have you created a new speaker grill? Any pics?

[mattsnapz]

I realize this is an old post, but I admire the A-pillar mod you did to fit the new speaker. I wonder how you did it? have you created a new speaker grill? Any pics?

no its good to keep this info alive. it really helped the op, me & a few others.

when/if i get back into an abarth its the first thing i'll be doing! well, after driving the a$$ off it.

as for your question, ive no clue

[nkt]

Looking to do this to my (new to me) 2015 Abarth. Will report back.

[steve500]

Looking to do this to my (new to me) 2015 Abarth. Will report back.

Reviving this old thread-

How did it go?

My 2017 fiat 500e comes with the base audio system with the 5" uconnect system. While the tweeters and speakers sounded decent, I yearned for more and installed the factory beats subwoofer and carpet trims along with my own compact amplifier- wow, sounds really good. Shakes the mirrors and can feel the bass in my hair. More bass could be desired at highway speed but I'm still impressed. We've then picked up a 2015 abarth with the beats package and I do agree with most people here, it's very lackluster. Muddy highs, plenty of mid, and terrible lack of bass. Playing with the EQ settings to compensate and then turning up the head unit sounds okay only to a certain point until the head unit starts limiting top volume bass. So far, we replaced the factory head unit and that really actually woke the system up but yet to try swapping subwoofer wiring phase or knock out the tweeter holes, excited to try that and will also report back. Does anyone have a proper wiring diagram of the beats audio amplifier harness? Changing the subwoofer wiring pins on the amp would probably be even easer than pulling the trim off of the subwoofer to access the harness.

[map]

As a suggestion, try replacing the factory speakers with a mid-cost set. The factory speaks are rugged but low quality. Combined with some sound deadening covering openings in the doors, a pair of decent dual cone door speakers makes a big difference. For the quarter panels, a matched set of single cones are fine, and a bit cheaper.

[mattsnapz]

If the owner doesnt want to pull the a-pillars I'm pretty sure he's not going to want to go through the whole rigmarole of changing out all other speakers...

Try the tweeter mod and pull the cover off of the amp & take a look at the wiring. It's a lot simpler and my highs sound much brighter now. Good luck.

EdIt**

Before you do anything - I know this is old school, but put a CD you know well in the deck and listen...

Even though my standard stereo isn't sounding too bad when connected up and playing Spotify, you may be surprised at the clarity of a CD.

I was lol. It sounds perfect on the 'crap' stock speakers. Who knew

[Dernt]

I'm sure this has been answered already but I'm not in the mood to read through 16 pages: Is the factory sub (#05091809AA) actually only a 7"? I have my eye on a few used ones that include the sub and before I spend the money, I want to make sure my sub will fit. Thanks