How to install new door speakers
Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2003 8:21 pm
for a while now i have been wanting some speakers in my rear doors but i didnt dare go to vw to get a price so while i was out today i saw some for a really good price (£62) here i will show you how i fitted them to my mk5 but the same technique is applicable to almost any car and can also be used in other places such as parcel shelves.
firstly the speakers
you will have to decide on some speakers that you want that will fullfill your needs and space requirements. in my case i bought the ones i did because of the price and on impulse
the speakers i chose were from the sony X-plod range and there model codes were: XS-1011 and XS-1711 (the Xs-1711 is also shollow mounting which helps)
firstly you will need to work out how they are ment to be mounted and if you are going to have any spacial problems
now it gets a little baffling
you couild just cut a hole in the door and screw the speaker to it but due to pannel flex and insecure mountings you would be asking for rattles and hardly any bass so you need to make some sort of support for your new speakers using the supplied template (x-plod users please note that the template is on the back of the box) you then need to trace the template onto a suitable material, i used 10mm mdf as it is cheep, versitale and readily available however when working with it please remember that the dust from it is carceniagenic (cancer causing)
here are mine all traced out
and then cut with speakers in them for test fitting and trimming
after cutting you also need to drill holes for the mounting screws so use about 1.5mm so that there is still plenty of "wood" for the screw to bite into
Next you have to work out how its gunna fiti had a rear door already partially stripped so i layed the templates (mdf baffles) onto the "inside edge" until i was happy with how it looked and then looked at the reverse of the pannel to see if there were any obstructions and if there were i relocated the baffles (dont forget the window winder cranks) . next came the real comparison where i went to the car and loooked at the door (stripped) and decided were i could fit them, with regards to mounting depth) checking that things like windows could pass
as you can see on the lower left corner there is plenty of space as the polo is available with rear speakers. you also need to concided where the speakers will be in relation to the rear seat as you dont want them presed into it as the seat will muffle the sound and possible dent the speaker grills
cutting edge
when your certain that the speakers will not foul anything then you will need to start chopping things i used pencil at first but in the light that i had available i couldnt see it so i used tippex (very little and almost dry as outer wise it will run all over) then take out your biggest and sharpect knife and take a swipe, nothing happens, let me add that i broke 2 stanly knife blades before i drilled a huge hole and then jigsawed it out, you must cut a little at a time and always cut inside the traced line as if you go too big then you will have to go out and get some bigger speakers (this might not be a bad thing then
)
here you can see that i used tippex and cut well inside the line and kept testing till i had a snug fit (i have also drilled some holes in the correct locations)
then assemble it all
now the next stage is to get it all together so trial fit your speakers and make sure everything fits right, then mark where your going to put the mounting scrtews through the door cards but for your sake make sure that the speaker is strraight (i.e. logos horizontal etc)
when i did my trial fit i couldnt get my speaker grills to fit flush due to a lip around the edge of sonys speakers so i pulled out my angle gringer (i dont have a dremel and i like over kill
) and removed the lip, the removed strength that the lip add will be compensated for by out baffles.
here we can see how the baffles are installed
note also that the writing is upside down as i wanted the terminals above the magnet to avoid any risk of shorts.
also note the huge foam block that has to be removed, the jigsaw will remove it inline with the speaker hole but to get the baffle in i used a combination of stanly knife and a large flat screwdriver
if youve got any fingers left
well your nearly there now you have to make sure that there arnt any fitting prooblems on the door so, check all your mounting screws are secure and go to your car and try it on
note if you have manual rear windows attach the winder crank as it pulls the trim towards the door
interiior shot - you can see that the larger speaker is fully exposed where as the smaller is half hidden, this is not so much of a problem as this will mainly produce trebble which is directional and i dont want the soundstage to be on the back seat so by blocking out a bit of the speaker we block out some of the directional sound meaning that the speaker doesnt dominate the acoustial positioning (i.e. if it were fully exposed then the sound would seem to come from the rear cushion which i didnt want)
im happy with the results all thats left is to wire them up (remember to keep them in phase +to+ etc) and do the other side but as you can see from the pics its been snowing and i was too cold
any questions or comments will be gladly answered and i hope this helps
firstly the speakers
you will have to decide on some speakers that you want that will fullfill your needs and space requirements. in my case i bought the ones i did because of the price and on impulse
the speakers i chose were from the sony X-plod range and there model codes were: XS-1011 and XS-1711 (the Xs-1711 is also shollow mounting which helps)
firstly you will need to work out how they are ment to be mounted and if you are going to have any spacial problems
now it gets a little baffling
you couild just cut a hole in the door and screw the speaker to it but due to pannel flex and insecure mountings you would be asking for rattles and hardly any bass so you need to make some sort of support for your new speakers using the supplied template (x-plod users please note that the template is on the back of the box) you then need to trace the template onto a suitable material, i used 10mm mdf as it is cheep, versitale and readily available however when working with it please remember that the dust from it is carceniagenic (cancer causing)
here are mine all traced out
and then cut with speakers in them for test fitting and trimming
after cutting you also need to drill holes for the mounting screws so use about 1.5mm so that there is still plenty of "wood" for the screw to bite into
Next you have to work out how its gunna fiti had a rear door already partially stripped so i layed the templates (mdf baffles) onto the "inside edge" until i was happy with how it looked and then looked at the reverse of the pannel to see if there were any obstructions and if there were i relocated the baffles (dont forget the window winder cranks) . next came the real comparison where i went to the car and loooked at the door (stripped) and decided were i could fit them, with regards to mounting depth) checking that things like windows could pass
as you can see on the lower left corner there is plenty of space as the polo is available with rear speakers. you also need to concided where the speakers will be in relation to the rear seat as you dont want them presed into it as the seat will muffle the sound and possible dent the speaker grillscutting edge
when your certain that the speakers will not foul anything then you will need to start chopping things i used pencil at first but in the light that i had available i couldnt see it so i used tippex (very little and almost dry as outer wise it will run all over) then take out your biggest and sharpect knife and take a swipe, nothing happens, let me add that i broke 2 stanly knife blades before i drilled a huge hole and then jigsawed it out, you must cut a little at a time and always cut inside the traced line as if you go too big then you will have to go out and get some bigger speakers (this might not be a bad thing then
)here you can see that i used tippex and cut well inside the line and kept testing till i had a snug fit (i have also drilled some holes in the correct locations)
then assemble it all
now the next stage is to get it all together so trial fit your speakers and make sure everything fits right, then mark where your going to put the mounting scrtews through the door cards but for your sake make sure that the speaker is strraight (i.e. logos horizontal etc)
when i did my trial fit i couldnt get my speaker grills to fit flush due to a lip around the edge of sonys speakers so i pulled out my angle gringer (i dont have a dremel and i like over kill
) and removed the lip, the removed strength that the lip add will be compensated for by out baffles.here we can see how the baffles are installed
note also that the writing is upside down as i wanted the terminals above the magnet to avoid any risk of shorts.
also note the huge foam block that has to be removed, the jigsaw will remove it inline with the speaker hole but to get the baffle in i used a combination of stanly knife and a large flat screwdriver
if youve got any fingers left
well your nearly there now you have to make sure that there arnt any fitting prooblems on the door so, check all your mounting screws are secure and go to your car and try it on
note if you have manual rear windows attach the winder crank as it pulls the trim towards the door
interiior shot - you can see that the larger speaker is fully exposed where as the smaller is half hidden, this is not so much of a problem as this will mainly produce trebble which is directional and i dont want the soundstage to be on the back seat so by blocking out a bit of the speaker we block out some of the directional sound meaning that the speaker doesnt dominate the acoustial positioning (i.e. if it were fully exposed then the sound would seem to come from the rear cushion which i didnt want)
im happy with the results all thats left is to wire them up (remember to keep them in phase +to+ etc) and do the other side but as you can see from the pics its been snowing and i was too cold
any questions or comments will be gladly answered and i hope this helps
