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Detailed Front Speaker Installation w/ pics

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151K views 92 replies 40 participants last post by  Foryota  
C
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I just pulled out the Infinity Kappa 652.5i speakers out of my previous car and transferred them to my Rav4 and thought I'd include some pictures for those of you who plan on installing front speakers some day. Now, I was able to get a lot of information from RPM on his post: http://rav4world.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15062 so I must give RPM credit on showing me the light, but I thought I'd just include some additional pictures and some additional useless info and comments since my post is primarily just the front door speakers, specifically with my good old Infinity Kappas. Hope this will help those of you considering replacing front door speakers on a 4.3 Base Rav4. Here goes...

As we're all aware, the sound quality on these factory speakers are truly lacking. I just keep telling myself, "it's ok. it's just easier not having to do anything." But seeing how my old Infinity Kappas were wasting away in my previous car, I had to pull them out and do something/anything with it! It wouldnt cost much to swap them so after reviewing RPM's post, the speaker trade looked simple enough and I began the process.

I start popping out the interior door switches with a nylon pry tool. I do a terrible job as I always do even with electrical tape taped all over the pry tool, I end up scratching up and chipping some of the plastics
Image


There's 2 plugs you need to unplug after pressing each respective clip. 1 is for the door lock and the other is the window switch.
Image


The arm rest and door release cover come off easily as described in RPM's post. Then you have to remove the side view mirror cover. Pry 1 edge and simply pull off. This clip seemed to be a softer/easier one.
Image


Then there's the door cover. Just feel your way around to find a couple of the clips with a pry tool and pop those plastic clips out. I didnt think this part was that easy. Make sure your pry tool is cushioned with electrical tape so you dont scratch off any paint searching for those clips (bare metal= rust). Use the pry tool to get 2-3 clips off, then use your hands to pull off the rest in a quick jerking motion. On the door, you'll see some of the clips (white small circles) actually stuck to the door. That wasnt supposed to happen.
Image


It's ok. Just use the pry tool and pop them out, then slide them back onto the back of the door cover. All is well.
Image


After removing the door cover, everything is exposed, including the speaker. I used a 11/64 drill bit to drill off the rivets. You might need pliers to hold the rivet so it wont spin with the drill bit.
Image


The front of the rivets are gone but some plastic inserts hold the back of the rivets in place so just use pliers to pull those off and the back rivets come off easily.
Image


Here's the culprit. The factory no-brand speaker woofer. Heck, even my previous nissans had factory Clarion or Onkyo speakers. But not Toyota, they're too busy allocating funds into the cup holder inserts or something. Cant complain too much, my previous cars were foam surrounds that ripped easily, Toyota was nice enough to use cloth surrounds on a paper woofer (which will eventually rip too).
Image


Then on the back you have this cute little magnet. Yeah, that metallic part is the magnet. From the back you can see why you need speaker brackets. Basically, Toyota made their speakers in a triangular frame and that frame is mounted to the door. There's no separating the speaker from the frame unless you want to make it a project to somehow make it fit by ripping out the factory woofer from the frame (needs more time). You cant buy speakers with triangular frames so you'll need a separate speaker adapter bracket.
Image


My Infinity Kappa 652.5i's make their 2nd debut. If you look at all the Infinity Kappa's in the same series, you'll see that they're all the same except newer model numbers (652.5i, 652.7i,652.9i). They all have VERY similar frequency response and the Plus One CMMD woofer, unipivot tweeter, rubber surrounds and external crossover. So if you have a pair of old Infinity Kappas (or any old but good speakers), bring them back to life. It'll cost nothing and is very green for the planet!
Image


Ahhh.. here's a real magnet.
Image


And it fits too! Just need that bracket.
Image


I pick up a 1/4" thick MDF board from the local Home D and start tracing. I thought I'd double up on it to make it thicker (because the 1/2" board cost $2 more and is harder to cut!)
Image


I dont really have the right tools so cutting this MDF was a B@#$%.
Image
 
C
#27 ·
CASPER could be right! My front right Infinity speaker is mysteriously starting to sound distorted. I will find some time in the spring to pop the door panel open and inspect the speaker for any possible cause. Secondly, I'm most likely going to add a 2 channel amp (I had in the basement lying around) to power these Infinity's. Word of advice, if you ever upgrade to aftermarket speakers, you're most likely going to need more power to feed the larger magnets. It's starting to bother me that I have to turn the volume up to 50 or 55 to listen to my music comfortably on a daily basis and since my bro left me an amp in the basement, I'll put it to good use. I'll be back to update...
 
A
#28 ·
casper/others - what is the solution proposed here wrt water not damaging the MDF. would the thick plastic sheet need to be fabricated? OR there is an insert available.

am looking for just replacing the front speakers (and the tweeters, if needed to). what would be a good speaker that would not be deprived of the power by the stock HU
 
C
#29 ·
abhijitz- I plan on using a thick sheet of plastic and simply mounting it over the round opening such that the plastic would curve in a tubular fashion. It would simulate the Toyota speaker bracket that was removed. "Thick" is a relative term so what I was considering was something easy, like those plastic folders (stationary item) that I would cut up and screw onto the MDF speaker bracket. (I'll post an update w/ pics when I complete this project come Spring)

in regards to a "good speaker that would not be deprived of the power by the stock HU"- that may be hard to come by as all/most aftermarket speakers use a larger magnet.
 
C
#31 ·
(RAV4world changed their page layout and the pics all ended up as broken links. Here’s a repost to fix them!)
I just pulled out the Infinity Kappa 652.5i speakers out of my previous car and transferred them to my Rav4 and thought I'd include some pictures for those of you who plan on installing front speakers some day. Now, I was able to get a lot of information from RPM on his post: http://rav4world.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15062 so I must give RPM credit on showing me the light, but I thought I'd just include some additional pictures and some additional useless info and comments since my post is primarily just the front door speakers, specifically with my good old Infinity Kappas. Hope this will help those of you considering replacing front door speakers on a 4.3 Base Rav4. Here goes...

As we're all aware, the sound quality on these factory speakers are truly lacking. I just keep telling myself, "it's ok. it's just easier not having to do anything." But seeing how my old Infinity Kappas were wasting away in my previous car, I had to pull them out and do something/anything with it! It wouldnt cost much to swap them so after reviewing RPM's post, the speaker trade looked simple enough and I began the process.

I start popping out the interior door switches with a nylon pry tool. I do a terrible job as I always do even with electrical tape taped all over the pry tool, I end up scratching up and chipping some of the plastics
Image


There's 2 plugs you need to unplug after pressing each respective clip. 1 is for the door lock and the other is the window switch.
Image


The arm rest and door release cover come off easily as described in RPM's post. Then you have to remove the side view mirror cover. Pry 1 edge and simply pull off. This clip seemed to be a softer/easier one.
Image


Then there's the door cover. Just feel your way around to find a couple of the clips with a pry tool and pop those plastic clips out. I didnt think this part was that easy. Make sure your pry tool is cushioned with electrical tape so you dont scratch off any paint searching for those clips (bare metal= rust). Use the pry tool to get 2-3 clips off, then use your hands to pull off the rest in a quick jerking motion. On the door, you'll see some of the clips (white small circles) actually stuck to the door. That wasnt supposed to happen.
Image


It's ok. Just use the pry tool and pop them out, then slide them back onto the back of the door cover. All is well.
Image


After removing the door cover, everything is exposed, including the speaker. I used a 11/64 drill bit to drill off the rivets. You might need pliers to hold the rivet so it wont spin with the drill bit.
Image


The front of the rivets are gone but some plastic inserts hold the back of the rivets in place so just use pliers to pull those off and the back rivets come off easily.
Image


Here's the culprit. The factory no-brand speaker woofer. Heck, even my previous nissans had factory Clarion or Onkyo speakers. But not Toyota, they're too busy allocating funds into the cup holder inserts or something. Cant complain too much, my previous cars were foam surrounds that ripped easily, Toyota was nice enough to use cloth surrounds on a paper woofer (which will eventually rip too).
Image


Then on the back you have this cute little magnet. Yeah, that metallic part is the magnet. From the back you can see why you need speaker brackets. Basically, Toyota made their speakers in a triangular frame and that frame is mounted to the door. There's no separating the speaker from the frame unless you want to make it a project to somehow make it fit by ripping out the factory woofer from the frame (needs more time). You cant buy speakers with triangular frames so you'll need a separate speaker adapter bracket.
Image


My Infinity Kappa 652.5i's make their 2nd debut. If you look at all the Infinity Kappa's in the same series, you'll see that they're all the same except newer model numbers (652.5i, 652.7i,652.9i). They all have VERY similar frequency response and the Plus One CMMD woofer, unipivot tweeter, rubber surrounds and external crossover. So if you have a pair of old Infinity Kappas (or any old but good speakers), bring them back to life. It'll cost nothing and is very green for the planet!
Image


Ahhh.. here's a real magnet.
Image


And it fits too! Just need that bracket.
Image


I pick up a 1/4" thick MDF board from the local Home D and start tracing. I thought I'd double up on it to make it thicker (because the 1/2" board cost $2 more and is harder to cut!)
Image


I dont really have the right tools so cutting this MDF was a B@#$%.
Image
 
C
#32 ·
Here's where I gave up. Cutting the outside with a hacksaw already took long enough, now I had to cut the inside circle? Then I'd double up on this so I'd need 2? Then I'd need another 2 for the front door on the other side! If you had the right tools, I guess this can be done easily, but i didnt.
Image


So I spent $22 (shipped) on eBay for these bad boys. 3/4" thick MDF speaker brackets, made perfectly and shipped very quickly.
Image


And they fit too!
Image


Side view
Image


Now back outside to install those Infinty Kappa crossovers. They fit snugly behind the existing Toyota tweeters which DO actually produce sound. I never even noticed that the car had tweeters until I took off the door panel. I'll consider these mid-range speakers now that my Infinity's will be producing the higher highs off it's dome tweeter, so in a sense, I have 3 way speakers on each of my doors now. The crossovers are held by 2 zip ties that are pulled tightly with pliers and tied to the existing Toyota tweeter brackets.
Image


The speaker leads out from the crossover are dropped down behind the MDF speaker bracket and I used a 1” #10 machine screw and a nut to hold the speaker bracket to the door. Finger tighten the nut from the back.
Image


Then a monkey wrench and a flat head to finish it off.
Image


Connect speaker wires to terminals then screw on with a ¾” #8 metal screw.
Image


This is the Toyota speaker connector. I was going to splice it but if I can avoid it, i prefer to. So I just wedged in the connector into the leads that go to the crossover. They went in perfectly. I tried alternating the polarities and either way, they sounded the same to me and the balance and fader was unaffected.
Image


Electrical tape to prevent the connector and the leads from separating.
Image


And the finishing touch, zip ties on each end of the connection to further prevent the connection from separating.
Image


Step back and everything looks ok. No smoke coming from the engine. No blood on the floor. We're almost there.
Image


Reconnect the door release lever to the door panel. Just hook the door panel back onto the door and make sure the clips match all the holes. Let the window and door connectors hang out because you need to reconnect it afterwards.
Image


Pound it gently with the bottom of your fist everywhere there was a clip and it should go in easily.
Image


That's it. Just do everything in reverse now and you're about done with 1 side atleast. I tested out the window and it opened and closed fine. Repeat everything for the other side and you're set. The only thing with the driver side is the plug controlling the window and door lock is slightly different. Put your thumb on the clip like shown in the pic. Then insert a flat head screwdriver to the little crease on the right. Wedge it left and right to lift it then it comes off easily. This pic shows it coming off.
Image


I don’t have any plans to change the rear speakers yet but that’s because I know factory speakers (as crappy as they are) still produce some decent bass. Replacing the front speakers lessened the bass but increased the clarity of my music for me to hear. Replacing the rear speakers would further lessen the bass and may make me bass-deprived! That would just trick me into getting a sub and then an amp, then more wiring (which is more $$ and work at the end). So far, after the installation, the music is exactly how I like it, especially with toyota’s existing tweeter (mid-range) still in place. Something else that stands out is that larger magnets on higher end speakers definitely require more juice. I find myself turning up the volume up to 45-55 just to listen to my MP3 CDs now which I don’t recall doing before when I had stock speakers in the front.

I guess that’s all for now. Happy Rav4’ing!
 
C
#34 ·
I got mine at eBay. Just search for "rav4 speaker adapter" and you'll get some hits. It looks like the MDF ones that I used are currently not available; I see plastic now and I think they should hold up as well. The MDF ones I got from eBay are an entire piece. I was going to make my own with the template I drew out but I gave up pretty quickly because I didnt have the right tools.
 
M
#35 · (Edited)
My version of a speaker install

I found this thread very informative, so I thought I'd give something back.
Not trying to hijack, but figured this was better than starting a different thread.

Here, I installed a set of Kicker DS65.2 component speakers.
Their sound response is significantly different from stock.
Because of this, I will also do the rear doors with a pair of regular coax DS65's.
The crossovers have a switch on them to set the db attenuation of the tweeter at 0, +3 and +6 db.
I have mine set at +6, but will reduce it when I get the rear door speakers installed.
EDIT: I installed the rear door speakers and ended up leaving them at +6.


This is the pile of materials I used in the project. Foam insulating tape, a
plastic jug (after I empty it), 2 dollar cutting boards from Walmart, 3m VHB
double sided tape, 10/32 bolts, and a kneeling pad.. which I have not used
yet, and may not. I had planned to add it as a surround around the lower
speaker between the speaker and the door panel, but I was loosing light and was in a hurry.
Image



Here we have the old tweeter cut from its mount with a coping saw.
I saved the tweeters electrical connector and discarded the tweeter.
Image



Here is the bracket, all cleaned up with a scary sharp wood chisel.
Image



and here is the tweeter installed. It is a thru the hole design with a big plastic nut on the back.
Image



Here is one of the poly cutting boards clamped to a drill press with
a hole cutter chucked up. You cannot do this with a hand drill. I found out later that you can buy mounting adapters for about 20 bucks :wall

This is still cheaper for me though.
Image



A 5 1/2" hole has been cut @ 200 rpm
Image



Here, the outside cut was made for the outer ring on the drill press almost
all the way through and finished on the bandsaw
Image



After some careful measuring, the remaining adapter is cut.
The 3 mount holes are 4" from the center of the speaker, but form an isosceles triangle, not an equilateral
Image



3m VHB tape is applied to one surface, and the rings are stuck together.
Image



Now we see what the plastic jug was for.
Image



The speaker is dry fitted and the water shield double sided taped in place.
Notice the dado cut in the base of the speaker mount for the wires to pass through.
Image


Image


Image



Here the mount is installed. Foam insulating tape was applied to the door mating surface before
bolting it up.
Dielectric grease was added to the connectors due to the exposed nature of the install.
Image



And the tweeter gets installed in the door. The crossover is foamed and
zip tied to the tweeter mount
Image



Here is a closeup of the connector removed from the old tweeter.
It is soldered to the crossover.
Image



and its all finally installed.
Image
 
B
#36 ·
Wow Michael503, that's an amazing amount of effort.

So did you build the speaker bracket to the exact same height as the factory bracket? I'm guessing that you want to raise the speaker out of the door as much as possible so that the window doesn't hit the speaker. It also looks like the foam ring of the factory speaker rests against the door panel. Is that something you want with the aftermarket speaker. Should the rubber ring of the after market speaker press against the door panel?

I'd love to the know the answers to these questions, as it seems you have to get the speaker bracket just right to use 6 1/2" speakers (Crutchfield lists mostly 5 1/4" speakers).

Did you see these brackets:

PVC Speaker Adapters - CNC Machined - In Stock or Custom Made
PVC Speaker Adapters - CNC Machined - In Stock or Custom Made
 
M
#37 ·
benmills said:
So did you build the speaker bracket to the exact same height as the factory bracket? I'm guessing that you want to raise the speaker out of the door as much as possible so that the window doesn't hit the speaker.
Click to expand...
That was the idea. the whole stack ends up being about 5/8" thick before I bolt the speaker to it. It is not the same height, but it does clear the window for sure. The speaker is also better protected from water

benmills said:
It also looks like the foam ring of the factory speaker rests against the door panel. Is that something you want with the aftermarket speaker. Should the rubber ring of the after market speaker press against the door panel?
Click to expand...
The stock speaker fits against the door panel, which has a cylindrical section molded to it that mates with the speaker surface. It may be to isolate the front of the speaker as much as possible from the back of the speaker. I originally planned to cut the foam kneeling pad to size and use it to fill that space. With my adapters, the speaker lacks about 1/2" of contacting the door panel. I don't think it needs the pad.

benmills said:
Did you see these brackets:

PVC Speaker Adapters - CNC Machined - In Stock or Custom Made
PVC Speaker Adapters - CNC Machined - In Stock or Custom Made
Click to expand...
Good find! I would have bought them instead of making them. :wall

After checking the site however, The tweeter mount doesn't look anything like the Rav4 mount on my 2011 so I don't think its a fit.
Also, when I try to order a set, I get this from the site...

"We apologize for the inconvenience.
Due to our business stoppage, we are unable to complete this request."

I don't know if that means holidays, or they went bust.:shrug:
 
M
#39 ·
Thx. I just installed the Kicker 6.5 coax speakers in the back, the same way as the front. With some minor Parametric EQ adjustment, they sound great, even at low volumes. Boost 50hz +3 out of 7, drop 500hx -1, high at zero

The Kickers are particularly efficient, rated @91 db/1W/1Meter. The are also shallow which helps the fitment.

No sound deadening was used as I do not hear any panel resonation and do not plan to run them at a volume that causes it. Like I said before, I'm just looking to make it sound better, not perfect.

I think they sound great. I am using a Clarion Nav unit to drive them, 19W/channel


When installing the rear speakers, I desoldered the wires on the stock speaker, removed the connector block, and soldered the Kicker wires to it, making a harness adapter. It can be put back, but the stock speakers sound so crummy that I don't know why I would want to. A buddy of mine who has dealt with music and acoustics for decades looked at the stock speaker and said the design was for efficiency, not quality. The larger the cone size in relation to the driver size makes it louder for a given input. Apparently this was to make the system loud. Perhaps the stock amp is rated fairly low. It is also cheaper to do. Cheap speakers like this don't need a monster amp to drive them, so you build a smaller amp to go with it.

It may also be purposely mediocre sounding to sell you the JBL system, which does use a different speaker, white polypropylene I think. The JBL system adds a good bit to the dealer price. Like most accessories, its way overpriced. It also probably comes with the limited.
 
M
#41 ·
avanti1960 said:
michael, nice work and thanks for posting! just out of curiosity,

did you lose any bass or richness with your new speakers?
Click to expand...
Nope, gained it. The stock speakers are muddy at best.

avanti1960 said:
is that the original toyota tweeter crossover (the white one)?
Click to expand...
There is no crossover, stock. There is an electrolytic capacitor built into the stock tweeter. That white block is a 4 pin electrical connector, that's all. Power comes in and goes out to the woofer. Its big (relatively) because it is a 4 pin connector. It is Toyota's version of a Y connector in the harness. I just used it so I wouldn't have to cut up my harness.

avanti1960 said:
you didn't wire that in with your new tweeter and crossover did you?
Click to expand...
Yes, its just a connector.
 
#44 ·
Cococola: If you're still around, thanks for the excellent photos and instructions.
Michael, thanks for your input and additional information as well.

I've decided to give this a go as I'm not even sure the local car audio shops would be able to do this type of job. Two car audio shops and Best Buy have quoted me $105 to switch out the two front door speakers. After seeing all the work involved, I'm wondering how good a job I would get from them.

I ordered Focal 165A1 speakers that have 6.5" main speakers and separate tweeters with a crossover. The choice was between JL C2-650's and Alpine SPR-60C's. I chose the Focal because I have heard them before and they sound great, but also because they have the highest SPL sensitivity at 92db and this will help with the low power out from the stock head unit which I don't plan to replace for some time.

I checked out the link to Car-Speaker-Adapters dot com, the company that makes the adapter plates and they only list plates going up to 2008. They have a good set of photos here, but they are for a 1996 and they don't show the tweeter install. I just talked to the owner and he is going to check out the two threads on this site.. the other one is here.

I also can't find anything on Ebay that handles the adapters newer then 2008, like the Scosche adapters which only list 2000-2005... Will these plates work in my 2010 RAV4 Sport?

Michael503: I'm wondering how the tweeter fits on the panel? As you showed, replacing the factory tweeter with the new one using the existing bracket doesn't look that hard, but how does it look on the door installed.. how does the grill fit to the panel opening?

My 2010 RAV4 Sport tweeter grill is 3" in diameter and fits a recesses in the door panel sitting flush to the surface. Will the new tweeter grill fit this, or will the existing grill cover the new tweeter, or what? Same situation with the lower speaker.. it has a grill that is 7-3/4" in diameter and it too is flush to the surface of the panel.. will the new speaker use this grill or will the new speaker grill be the same diameter and fit the 7-3/4" panel hole?

Any help appreciated.
 
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#76 ·
doane2u said:
I've decided to give this a go as I'm not even sure the local car audio shops would be able to do this type of job. After seeing all the work involved, I'm wondering how good a job I would get from them.
Click to expand...
That's my thought exactly! Can anyone comment? Are we not giving the pros enough credit? Do they go the extra mile to cover the new speaker with a piece of plastic so it doesn't get ruined from water entering with a high pressure car wash?
 
#46 ·
I got my Focal 165 A1 Access speakers yesterday and checked them out this morning.. the 6.5" speaker grills are about 7.5" diameter, so they can't replace the stock 7.75" grills and the tweeters are only about 2" in diameter, so they too will not replace the stock 3" diameter grills. Looks like I will be mounting them behind the stock grills. I am now waiting for the 6.5" adapter rings from car-speaker-adapters.com. The owner, Michael, answered me quickly and said that they will work up to 2012 models. Will then see if everything is going to fit behind the panel grills.
 
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#47 ·
Another approach..

Thought I would share my installation based on what I learned here and then applying a different approach and method to get what I wanted. I bought the Focal 165A1 set I mentioned earlier along with the PVC 1/4" adapter rings from Car-Speaker-Adapters.com When I got the panels off I discovered the 1/4" adapter will work, but aren't thick enough to isolate the speaker. Speakers need to have the front isolated from the back and the factory design did that nicely with a foam ring on the speaker pressing up against the speaker grill door panel ring. See the next two pics:



Image




Image


The following pix show the 1/4" adapter ring I bought and the 1/2" duplicate I made from plywood. You may notice that it is the same shape as the piece that attaches to the door... there is no reason to make it just a ring like some of adapters shown in earlier posts by others as it will fit fine behind the panel with no problems.

Image



Image



Image



I was going to follow the earlier method used by Michael503 and mount the Focal tweeter behind the existing grill and attached to the door bracket, but then I decided to mount it in the existing grill itself. Because it is smaller in diameter and left an air gap around it through the existing grill I made a foam baffle ring which seals it off and hold it in place, see below:

Image



Image



The following shows the finished 6.5" speaker mounting

Image



Image



Image

The following shows the wiring and crossover mounting. I left the tweeter bracket in place as it also helps support the door panel. I mounted the Focal crossover unit just below it using two sheet metal screws after drilling two holes into the door metal. The four wires that were attached to the old tweeter connector were removed and attached to the crossover.. the neg and pos input and the output attached to the mid out on the crossover. These existing mid wires were dropped down into the door with a small hole in the plastic to be joined to the new lower speaker. When the panel was installed the wires from the new tweeter were attached to the tweeter out of the crossover.

Image


Here are the final shots showing the mid range mounting and installed project completed.

Image



Image



Image



Image



This took a lot of time as I had to figure out how to do it this way, but I'm happy with the results and it sounds great. The existing stock radio/amp is having no problems handling these speakers which are very efficient rated at 92db at 4 ohms.

Hope this information will help some others considering similar installs.

Cheers.
 
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#48 ·
nice job on the install. the tweeters look kinda funny to me, but hey if you like it and it sounds good then that's all that matters. i did a full install of front, rear, sub, amp, and headunit a couple months back. i didn't add foam around the speakers at the time like you did, but the sound is amazing so i don't think i'll take the doors apart again just for that like i originally planned.
 
#49 ·
The tweeters look "funny?" If it were a factory install you would probably think it looks cool. I saw tweeter grills like this on a very expensive sports car a few years back at the Concours show.. I really like the looks of it, oh well. :shrug:
 
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#50 ·
doane2u, great stuff. I bought the same adapters online, but I haven't started the project yet, so it's great to see how you can build up the adapter and add a foam ring to press against the factory grill. I have a couple of questions for you:

1. What did you use for the water shield and how did you attach it?
2. What did you use for the foam ring?
3. Did you consider the tweeter adapters from http://car-speaker-adapters.com? I bought them and I'm wondering if they are going to be useful.
4. Did you have any concern at all about the depth of the speaker interfering with the windows?

Cheers,
Ben
 
#52 ·
benmills said:
doane2u, great stuff. I bought the same adapters online, but I haven't started the project yet, so it's great to see how you can build up the adapter and add a foam ring to press against the factory grill. I have a couple of questions for you:

1. What did you use for the water shield and how did you attach it?
2. What did you use for the foam ring?
3. Did you consider the tweeter adapters from http://car-speaker-adapters.com? I bought them and I'm wondering if they are going to be useful.
4. Did you have any concern at all about the depth of the speaker interfering with the windows?

Cheers,
Ben
Click to expand...
Thanks, Ben.


  1. I used exterior grade double sided tape to attach the shields which are notebook divider sheets that I cut strips out of 11" long. They are some sort of archival plastic about the weight of greeting card stock.
  2. The foam rings are 1/4" door weather strips. Once you remove the liner on the sticky side they bend around the speaker curve quite nicely.
  3. I saw those but I decided I wanted to have them mounted as shown, I just thought it would be neat and I like the looks of the Focal tweeters which use a cone design. I also believe the stock tweeter brackets are still needed to add support to the door panel, whether you mount the tweeters to them or in the panel grill like I did, so I'm not sure about those other SAK009 tweeter adapters. It looks like they don't use that stock bracket and would place the tweeters further back from the grill introducing another air leak to the speaker box (the door chamber) through the uncoupled tweeter grill opening.
  4. Not a problem at all, especially after you fur them out 3/4" like I did with the 1/4" adapter plus the 1/2" ply. They would have worked if I had only used the 1/4" adapter too... I checked by putting the window down first and measuring how much depth I had. But, like any speaker design that's done right, you need the isolation from the front of the speaker to the back or you get all sorts of weird distortion, muddy base, etc.
On the stock setup the distance from the door metal surface to the contact edge of the door panel grill isolation ring is what you have to work with and I measured it using the stock speaker with its felt ring. From the back of the stock speaker adapter unit to the speaker face is 1-1/8" and the felt ring adds another 1/4" for a total of 1-3/8"

My install uses the 1/4" PVC adapter, a 1/2" piece of plywood identical to the adapter for a total of 3/4" The Focal speaker ring with gasket adds another 1/8" and the speaker itself adds 1/4" plus the 1/4" foam strip. I end up with the same depth dimensions as the stock setup so I know that the speaker will seal properly against the grill isolation ring and prevent standing waves.

Incidentally, that company also sells a 7/8" version of the PVC adapter, 1/8" thicker then what I came up with, but it would probably work fine and save the work I did. Problem was I had already bought the 1/4" version before I disassembled the door and figured out how it was all going to have to work.

best of luck with your project and let us all know how it comes out.
 
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#53 ·
I did use the NVX deadening panels directly behind the speaker where most of the back waves hit but I didn't try to box off the door cavity area in any way.
I was surprised that these speakers play as well as they do with the stock radio which is probably only about 5-10 watts?... it's a credit to how efficient these Focals really are, but I will have to be careful about turning the volume up too high as amp clipping will fry just about any speaker. Tomorrow really tempts me with a bunch of Labor day sales, so I might go out and look at a decent replacement radio that has at least 20 watts RMS out.

For an inexpensive (if I ignore the many hours I spent on it) speaker replacement I'm really happy with these.
 
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#59 ·
Turbo5upra: I hope you're right about the power problem, would hate to have to replace those tweeters after all the work. I usually don't turn the volume up excessively, so it should be OK till I get a better power source.

Ben: That's interesting, the 7/8" one is two pieces? That's sort of what I ended up with. It should work fine unless your speaker rings are really think. When you put them together use a good quality bathtub caulk or some other weather proof glue to eliminate any vibrations. I caulked the ply piece to the PVC piece and the PVC piece to the door when I put mine together.

I have my Focal crossover set at -3db and it sounds pretty nice to me, but my hearing at the high end isn't as good as it was when I was much younger. You have the option of setting it at 0db or -6db as well. The tweeter sound from these is quite nice for a fairly inexpensive speaker. I can't really compare them to your other one as I've never heard the silk ones.

Thanks for the Alpine suggestion, it has really good FM sensitivity too. I'll write it down and look for it when I go out today. I wish these would come with a built in steering wheel setup, you have to spend an extra $50-60 on that.. at least some of them, like this one, have the Bluetooth built in. Would I be able to use my existing Toy Bluetooth stup with it's already installed mic and dash buttons?

One suggestion you all probably know.. really keep track of your speaker phasing for both drivers and left to right, it can get confusing as Toy uses weird color codes. Main point being to keep positive and negative wires all the same so your speaker motors are all moving in the same direction at once.

Thanks everyone. :thumbs_up:
 
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#60 ·
Iirc I run the driver side mid ou of phase and the tweeters out of phase- seemed to give me the furthest listening position... Aluminum and silk both have pros... After jamming out in my daily at 115+ db yesterday for an hour or so I acuttally have new respect for the hertz space tweeter... The German maestros in the old ladies rav are aluminum and they do snares and cymbals wonderfully.
 
#61 ·
Turbo5upra: That's interesting.. it would make the sound stage seem wider, or actually, less localized, because you loose all sense of image placement and the lower frequencies from each speaker are going to cancel each other out so you will have less bass. Maybe your sub woofer is making up for the bass loss?

There are some good tone tests and music tests with phase in and out at this link. If your speakers are now out of phase, they will sound like in phase when you play the out of phase test. I would be interested in what you think when you play them... maybe your setup is actually in phase?
 
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#62 ·
I set relative volume then phase- quick tune as the new amps are on the way... Why I don't use the amps I bought for it is beyond me but what the hay....

After relative volume I went back and turned off tweeters and subs as the mids play most important cues from 53 on up to 4k... I used a few music tracks I know well to center it up roughly... Started out center in the left door with them in phase... Flopped right mid and it moved center to the horn button... I used ta to move it to center... Did similar with the tweeters...

Sub is on the dash- center is dead center. Height is about 3-4" above the dash but I'm 6'5...


I played the iasca disk the other night and it was in phase... The 7 drum beats need a bit of work- slightly off.

Going to give tuning with just the narritive from the MECA disk a try per a friends suggestion- center and tonality that is.

Reginal finals are 2 weeks away- I gots me some work to do!
 
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