Door speakers

Starbangledspanner · Post by **Starbangledspanner** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:41 pm

I find that the sound from the stereo at the front appears to be only coming from the left hand side as the speakers are so low down and I'm missing the higher frequencies that come from the right hand speaker.

I'm thinking of replacing the speakers with a seperate bass and tweeter along the lines of these http://www.caraudiocentre.co.uk/product ... duct=20256.

I made a tentative attempt to remove the speaker grills but they didn't seem to want to move and I didn't want to break them.

Anyone had theirs off or have any thoughts on the speakers?

Geoff

corblimey · Post by **corblimey** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 3:23 pm

I assume you a referring to the speakers in the front door panels.

If so, I think you need to remove the whole door panel. I had it off recently (and am now an expectant father

) and also removed the door panel to refit the door mirror. If memory serves me right you have to remove three obvious screws from the panel, one in the bottom of the door handle well and one the the door latch. Remove the latch, pull out the window switch and disconnect. Now pull the panel away; you'll have to give it a good tug to release the plastic clips.

Starbangledspanner · Post by **Starbangledspanner** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 4:17 pm

Cheers corblimey! I had a feeling that would be the case. Something to look forward to then.

corblimey · Post by **corblimey** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:33 pm

No worries.

As regards the speakers:

I'd go for a pair that drop straight in to the existing mountings. I would be inclined to go with the separate tweeter/woofer combo as you suggest. Since the treble freqs are highly directional this type of speaker arrangement is very likely to improve clarity in those ranges. Got to be better than firing them at your feet anyway!

Like all hi-fi, the resultant sound quality is highly subjective and unless you can hear a pair already fitted in a Bongo before you purchase I fail to see how anyone can predict how they'll react (so don't let them try).

Personally I'd pick a brand of quality (Apline, Infinity, etc), a pair that matches the specs (i.e. impedance and RMS power) of your head unit or amp and something that physically fits without having to take Stanley to the door panel. I'm pretty sure you'll get a 5.25", if not 6.5", driver in the existing mounts but you'd need to pull the door panel to check.

HTH

Cheers

Bongo and Tonic · Post by **Bongo and Tonic** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 7:41 pm

I replaced my speakers with 6" units. Bit of a tight sqeeze though.
There is no room to mount them inside the door skin like on a normal car.
In the end I took the mounting ring off the original speakers and added a bit to it from mdf to make it a bit deeper. The trouble then was that the speaker grills fouled the speakers and I couldn't get the door card back on.
So I removed the grills and cut away the strengthening ridges (not needed anyway) and made the hole in the door card bigger. Hey presto it now all fits back together and sounds a lot better.

The four mounting posts for the grills are simply pushed through holes in the door card and the end melted to form a crude rivet. This can be removed with a sharp chisel. when refitting the grills I used a hot glue gun to stick the posts to the door card again. Seems fine now.

dandywarhol · Post by **dandywarhol** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 7:46 pm

If the sound appears to be only from one speaker you might have a severed wire in the loom section between the door and body. Mine packed in last week - stripped back the wires and soldered the yellow cable - job's a carrot!

I find the standard setup to be pretty good coupled to a Sony X Plode head unit

Starbangledspanner · Post by **Starbangledspanner** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 8:14 pm

Thanks for the replies guys. The speaker still works if you isolate it with fader and balance, it's just too low down.

I have a Sony GT 300 or something similar that allows me to plug my iPod in. I find that I have to turn it up to near max to get it loud enough, but the sound hardens up quite a bit at full volume. I did have it in our old Mondeo with two power amps and the sound was fantastic. I had 2 6"x9" speakers in the parcel shelf that the Sony configured as bass only. Quite likely to buy one of those under seat powered subs in the future once the sound stage is sorted. And a four channel amp once I have found a place to stick it.

Bongo and Tonic. You stated you fitted 6" speakers. I take that they were round not oval as the installed ones are. Why not go with 6"x8"?

Geoff

dobby · Post by **dobby** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 11:17 pm

I've got a DSO function on our sony head unit it 'lifts' the sound. Seems like smoke and mirrors but it works?

bigdaddycain · Post by **bigdaddycain** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 12:15 am

I replaced my front speakers with sony x plod 6 inchers, with a sony gt 310s head unit,i left the rear speakers as standard, because they are only "rear fill". I intend to fit a pair of "tune up" tweeters high up on the A pillar in the next few weeks to lift the higher frequencies. The beauty of tune up tweeters is that they can use an existing signal source i.e. your front speakers, without buggering up the sound of your 6 inchers. Tune up tweeters typically have a suppressor fitted to filter out low/mid range frequencies,without having to run a crossover. Alpine ones are discreet and sweet...

Starbangledspanner · Post by **Starbangledspanner** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 6:16 pm

I've tried the DSO feature and it helps a little but not good enough.

I like the idea of the extra tweeters though, they may just do the trick. Any suggestions folks? I have a dig around on the interweb and see whats out there.

Geoff

Timnz · Post by **Timnz** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 12:55 am

I have had good success with just adding some tweeters, and keeping the original speakers in the doors, just ran some wires from the stereo under the dash to the corners of the dashboard, and mounted the tweeters in the corners. easy!

You'll need to do a little crossover wiring, so your aren't getting too much overlap of frequencies with the original speakers and new tweeters.

I put a 3.3 uF capacitor and a 1 ohm resistor (or 1.5 ohm depending on the loudness of your tweeters) in series with each tweeter, and a .05mH inductor in series with the orginal door speakers, and this gives a nice balanced sounding front stage.

You've Been Bongod · Post by **You've Been Bongod** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:25 am

i have just put a nice set of kenwood components in the front and as bigdaddy says i have put the tweeters as high up the a panel as could and they sound absolutly fantastic i have a sony cdx-ca 900 which has an auxillary on as well so i can put my dvd player on surround sound i also have a massive 15" mac audio sub & matching amp to finnish it all off

i also am intending to change the rear speakers as they are poo and sound rubbish

if anybody wants a standard set of front speakers and are goin the wirral meet pm me and they are yours

you've been bongod

Starbangledspanner · Post by **Starbangledspanner** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 5:30 pm

Timnz wrote:I have had good success with just adding some tweeters, and keeping the original speakers in the doors, just ran some wires from the stereo under the dash to the corners of the dashboard, and mounted the tweeters in the corners. easy!

Did something similar as a trial before laying out much cash. bought a set of tweeters from Maplin for £10 which had built in crossovers. Have them "no nailed" to the dash at the moment and they have improved the sound no end. Have reasonable stereo now.
I also have a power amplifier for the front speakers and use the front out from the head unit to run the tweeters.
In the back is a 10" powered sub woofer box than can be whipped out if space is required.
Looking to buy 6" component speakers for the front but will need to modify the mounting holes. Will do that when I put in a remote control for the door opening but that's another thread.

Geoff

Timnz · Post by **Timnz** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 9:06 am

For the separate tweeters to sound good, you need to put an inductor across the original speakers, then you don't need to buy components!

. I couldn't find any components for sale in NZ which would fit the shallow depth of the bongo mounts, only cheapie 2 way speakers would fit. All the component speakers have massive magnets, and huge power handling, and I'm just using a 18w rms/ channel head unit so no need for huge power handling.

Starbangledspanner · Post by **Starbangledspanner** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 1:19 pm

Timnz thanks for the info regarding inductors on the original speakers but with their power handling of only 25 Watts they have got to go before I blow them with the 50 Watt power amp.
I shall be making a new baffle mounting for the speakers from MDF to replace what is there now. I think I remember someone saying they had already done this with success so mounting depth shouldn't be an issue.

Geoff

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