Citsncycles XM

[White Exec]

...And do treat yourself to a smart new registration plate - the one in the photo doesn't do you justice!

[citsncycles]

A new set of plates is on the list, but fairly low priority - the plan is to get a set of 'Beacon Motors' plates made up for display , as they were the supplying dealer. Top of the list at the moment is the central locking, which has started playing up - it keeps unlocking itself when you lock it, which I suspect is a lock not moving it's full travel and tripping the system.

[White Exec]

Mike,
Check out the up-down locking buttons on each door. Can get obstructed and unable to move freely, which stops the mechanism from doing its proper travel.

[citsncycles]

Ah, OK, will look at those after work.

[russ92xmsed]

Middleton's are one of the main paint suppliers in the area, and will mix paint either to a code or to match a panel and put it in a tin or an aerosol. They're on the bypass to the west of the city.

Interesting Mike. Thanks for that.

[citsncycles]

True to form, the XM seems to have cured the locks itself for now - they worked perfectly last night through several operating cycles, and were again fine this morning.

[citsncycles]

Had some time before I needed to be in work this morning so went up to Middletons to order some paint. Afterwards I was still about 20 minutes early when I got to work, so had a go at fitting one of the speakers I'd bought to replace the knackered originals in the front doors. After some temporary connections were made up between the original loom and speaker (I'll explain why after the pic) the speaker screwed straight in with the original mounting screws etc.



After refitting the grill I fired the radio and MP3 player up and it works a treat with the 2 tracks the random feature picked - 'Bones' from Carnival of the Animals, followed by 'Danger High Voltage by Electric Six! I'll fit the other side after work before I go home, then I can decide whether to fit the crossovers and tweeters that came with the speakers. I've had a look at one of the original tweeters and it seems to be in good condition, and the new ones aren't a straight bolt in like the main speakers were, so will need some more time to install. I believe that the XM tweeters are like the ones fitted to BX's where they just piggyback the feed to the other speaker on the channel with no crossover, so if I can do it, fitting theothers will probably gove a better sound.

[Dieselman]

Are the new speakers 4 Ohm? Where did you get them?

[White Exec]

A piezo tweeter can be wired straight across (in parallel, observe polarity) a main speaker, as they naturally block everything except top end. If the output of a piezo tweeter is too high, then a series resistor (around 100R, or a 250R pot) can be added to control it.

Small paper-cone tweeters should not be wired in this way. They need either a crossover circuit, as you say, or, at minimum, a series capacitor to block damaging bass and mid.

IIRC, Citroen OE tweeters on BX and XM are the latter. If they have a cone, they definitely are, and may have a blocking capacitor built in as part of the OE spec.

[citsncycles]

Yep, they're 4 Ohm, I bought them from my local motor factors - I spend so much there on parts for the fleet they give me a frequent buyer discount!

I'm not sure what type the original tweeters are, but they look a lot different to the paper cone tweeters fitted to earlier BX's. I can't see a cone at all, as there's a plastic top on them with some holes in it. They seem to work well with the speakers so I'll probably keep it as it is for now. The only down side is that now I have distortion free speakers in the front I can hear how bad the rear ones are - oh well, that's another addition to the list then.