Commercial speakers are built down to a price, not up to a quality. The market for loudspeakers is a highly competitive one and manufacturers often take the path of least resistance to achieving sales - low price. As a result the parts you see on the outside look expensive whilst the parts you don't see on the inside are purchased on the tightest possible budget.

So you can usually upgrade your speakers just by replacing many of the internal parts with higher quality components. These won't change the specification of the speakers at all - you can still keep true to the designer's blueprint - but you will improve the sound. Bear in mind that you may invalidate the manufacturer's guarantee as they don't like the idea of users 'modifying' their products. On the other hand the only bits in loudspeakers that can fail are the drive units and most manufacturers will honour the guarantee if you send a faulty drive unit back for replacement.

Before you start thinking about components you need to find out exactly what is inside your speakers. The first thing to do is to carefully remove the drive units. Drive units are normally held onto the front baffle by screws. These may be wood screws or they may be bolts that screw into nuts held on the other side of the baffle. The bolts or screws should be tight, so be careful when you choose a tool to undo them. Use the correct size Hex key for hex headed bolts, or a screwdriver with the correct head for Pozidriv or Philips cross head bolts.

With the speaker on its back locate the tool firmly in the screw or bolt head and undo with a firm but light downward pressure. Make sure you don't slip or the screwdriver may puncture or scratch the drive unit surround or diaphragm. If you are undoing a bolt then do not apply too much downwards force or you may push out the nut fitted to the inside of the baffle. These 'T' nuts have spiked collars which hold them on to the baffle as the bolt is tightened but easily push out when the bolt is being undone.

After having removed all the screws you may find that the drive unit lifts out easily if you are lucky. Usually, however, the drive unit is a tight fit in the baffle and the gasket between the drive unit and baffle may be slightly sticky. Don't be tempted to try and lever the drive unit out using a screwdriver around it's edge. One slip with the screwdriver and you will damage both cabinet and drive unit!

Often the simplest way of removing a 'sticky' drive unit is to put two bolts into opposing screw holes and tilt them sideways whilst lifting. In any case you should be able to lever some tool or other into the screw holes which will enable you to lift one edge of the drive unit so that you can get your fingers underneath it. Don't get frustrated at this stage, just take your time and think about what you are doing and you will get the drive unit out cleanly and without damage.

Place the drive unit on a piece of card on the baffle whilst you remove its connecting wires. These may be connected using push-on tags or they may be soldered. Be careful when removing wires from treble units as the tags are usually held in plastic mouldings. These easily break if you apply too much force, or easily melt if you apply too much heat with a soldering iron. Some tags are of the 'lockable' type and you can remove these by using a small screwdriver with a fine tip to lift the locking strip which locates into a hole in the centre of the tag.

Make a note of which colour wire goes to the tag marked with a + or red spot on the drive unit. When you re-connect the drive unit later you must make sure you connect them with the correct polarity.

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