[unavol]

The bass/midrange speaker in the front driver's side door of my car is starting to develop a buzz and I need to replace it. It has a component speaker system with a 6.5" bass/midrange speaker in the lower part of the door and separate tweeter at the top of the door. I can not find specs for the audio system in this vehicle anywhere. I don't want to take the door apart until I have the replacement speaker in hand, if possible.


Do I need to get just a 6.5 inch woofer component or should I get something like a 3-way speaker? Or does it matter? If I just get a 3-way speaker wouldn't the crossover send the proper bass/midrange frequencies to the 6.5" speaker and the proper treble frequencies to the separate tweeter even if the 6.5" speaker has a built in tweeter? Are there any potential pitfalls to doing it this way? It's been close to 20 years since I've replaced a speaker in a car, so any help/tips/tricks you can offer is greatly appreciated.

 

[joseb552]

Have you tried www.crutchfield.com ? They have a section called "Outfit my car" where you enter your vehicle details and they break down the sizes of any items that will fit. That will at least help you figure out speaker size / mounting depth options.


Not sure I can help much on the speaker selection as I am in that same boat right now lol.


Good luck, let us know what you find out about the speaker size, I'm sure someone else here will have an idea on what speakers are decent.

 

[unavol]

Crutchfield was how I found out that I need a 6.5"/6.75" speaker. Before I start trying to decide what brand I want, I need to determine what type of speaker I need. Does it makes a difference if I get something like a Rockford Fosgate component speaker system or can I get away with something like a Rockford Fosgate 3-way speaker ...which is about half the price of the component system.


I know this sounds strange, but I don't want to replace the factory tweeter. I really like the way it sounds. It gives me a nice, detailed sound without being too bright.

 

[cubdenno]

I would replace it with a woofer that will fit rather than a coax or triax.


Make sure you know the depth. That way you won't have to make a baffle to allow a deeper speaker clearance.


I would buy 2 speakers. replace both sides. That way speaker impedance is taken care of. you won't have a 6 ohm and a four ohm etc... Matching efficiencies and so on.


Look at partsexpress.com. they have sales all the time. Here is one that does a nice job if it will fit. And super hard to beat the price.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...n=%20Flyer_10B



Keep the factory tweets if you are happy. If they ever blow tweets are easy to come by.

 

[unavol]

I do plan to replace the speakers in both front doors...maybe back doors too. I haven't decided on that yet.


Would the parts express speaker you linked be OK in a car? Isn't that a regular home speaker? Does that matter?

 

[TFCommanderBob]

Any 6.5" speaker set should work, though I'd probably replace both sides rather than just one, simply because it will not blend nicely.


If your radio (which I assume is stock) is set to crossover allowing only mid to low frequencies, using a 2way/3way speaker (6.5" with a tweeter or two mounted to it) will give you no added advantages. Hard to say whether that is true or not of any particular stock stereo.


Stock speakers are paper-coned junk. I believe mine weighed in under a pound each, though I lost the pictures of the scale and threw the speakers in the trash a while ago. Anything should be an upgrade, and there is no harm in using a speaker without "car" in the name. It'll do the same thing and likely hold up just as well. Infinity Reference series are a decent set for cheap on ebay. Crutchfield is great for info, but often too pricey.


Door panels generally come off with a few screws in at the handles and pulls, sometimes at the bottom corners. After that its just getting a grip on it and popping all the clips that hold the edges tight and lifting it up off the top edge of the door (generally speaking). Check out a forum dedicated to your car model for DIY's with pictures if you are uncomfortable. I would also check that forum to see if you will need an adapter to line up aftermarket speakers with factory holes- otherwise you'll need to use self-drilling screws to make your own holes in the panel.


If you do buy from parts express, pick up some foam gasket tape. It will be an excessive amount for what you are doing, but will help to provide a better seal with the door or adapter plate. If you don't buy from there, I probably wouldn't bother ordering it separately. They kill ya with shipping.

 

[unavol]

Thanks for clearing that up for me TFCommanderBob. It is the stock radio but I don't know how the crossover works b/c I can't find any documentation on the unit. I've looked in car specific forums, but they are not very active...that's why I posted on AVS. I knew I could get some help here, even if it was one of the more obscure sections.


I've seen some pretty good deals on the Infinity Reference speakers and I was leaning toward picking up a pair of those before the PartsExpress recommendation came up. I'm going to try to go by a car audio shop to see if I like the Infinities. If I don't love them, I may try the PartsExpress route.

 

[cubdenno]

Great recommendation TFCommanderBob!! I never remember to recommend the gasket tape. Also, I use airconditioner foam for window units as a gasket for door panel to door skin. I glue it around the speaker. Makes a big difference in sound.


Those Peerless 6 1/2's will sound great in your doors. When you pull of the door panel, think about closing any holes in the doorskin. You will get better bass response, better midrange and less rattling.I used expanded metal with Raammat on both sides. I have seen just deadener, aluminum tape, screen material, sheet metal etc... It does make a huge difference though.

 

[unavol]

I listened to some Infinity speakers today & they had a decent overall sound, but didn't have the bass response that my stock speakers do.

It may have been due to the setup (at BestBuy), but I'm afraid I'd be disappointed if I went with those...unless they had significantly better bass response in my car than they did in the store. What are the chances of that?


The PartsExpress speaker has a 3" depth where most of the car speakers I've seen have a depth around 2". Will that cause me a problem? What are the options if the replacement speakers are too deep?

 

[unavol]

Curiosity got the best of me today so I took the door panel off to get a look at the speaker. Taking the door panel off was surprisingly simple. It was exactly like TFCommanderBob described. After getting in there and seeing where the speaker is housed, I think the suggested speaker from PartsExpress will probably fit. At least as far as the added depth of the speaker goes. Lining up the screw holes will be another issue.


The problem I ran into was disconnecting the speaker from the connector. I just couldn't get it to let go. I didn't put too much pressure on it because I didn't want to break it. I'm attatching pics of the connector to see if anyone knows the trick to disconnecting them. Will I need to try to keep these intact or do I just cut them off and crimp new clips to wire to connect to the new speaker? The car is a Mitsubishi, if that helps.

 

[TFCommanderBob]

Well, as for bass response, they never have as much in the stores as they do in the doors. A retail display is as crude as cutting a hole in a board and screwing the speaker into it. They are open air behind, and allow for no added resonance. You will get more low frequency response when mounted in a car door. Whether it will be what you want or not, that I cannot say. Just remember- your stock speakers are trash. If you were shopping in a store you wouldn't take them even if they were free with the purchase of a large cola. Anything will be improvement.


Sound deadening like cubdenno recommended is definitely an option, although for the very limited scale improvement that you are reaching for it might be overkill. If you are willing to spend $30 on some deadening material, something like eDead or Raammat (non commercial versions of Dynamat) would definitely improve things as he described.


If your speaker is too deep, you can use wood (plywood, mdf, whatever is handy) to make a spacer to effectively reduce the depth into the door. You can only build out so far though, because the door panel has to fit. Chances are it won't matter, unless it gets in the way of the window when lowered. The car speakers were designed with the mounting depth in mind, unfortunately the home audio speaker would never dream of 3" being too much

I had an eclipse which I replaced all the speakers in, but I don't remember a connector like that. Perhaps the center tab pushes downward rather than outward? You just have to fiddle with it until you see how it disconnects, I can't see any obvious tabs in the pictures. You can always just cut the wires off, since you will probably be soldering the leads to your new speakers anyway.


You'll figure it out

What model/year is your mitsu? I'm sure a couple minutes on google can clear things up. I'd be happy to help if I can.

 

[unavol]



Quote:
Originally Posted by TFCommanderBob /forum/post/18275864


Well, as for bass response, they never have as much in the stores as they do in the doors. A retail display is as crude as cutting a hole in a board and screwing the speaker into it. They are open air behind, and allow for no added resonance. You will get more low frequency response when mounted in a car door.

That's good to know. I liked the sound of the Infinities, except for the bass response being a little weak. If that were better, I'd probably just get them and quit worrying about it.

Quote:
Whether it will be what you want or not, that I cannot say.

I'm not expecting them to sound like a 12" sub. Just adequate bass.

Quote:
Just remember- your stock speakers are trash. If you were shopping in a store you wouldn't take them even if they were free with the purchase of a large cola. Anything will be improvement.

Good one.

Quote:
Sound deadening like cubdenno recommended is definitely an option, although for the very limited scale improvement that you are reaching for it might be overkill. If you are willing to spend $30 on some deadening material, something like eDead or Raammat (non commercial versions of Dynamat) would definitely improve things as he described.

I can see where this would be useful, but like you suspected, I'm not doing any critical listening in my car. I just want decent sound on my drive to work and back.

Quote:
If your speaker is too deep, you can use wood (plywood, mdf, whatever is handy) to make a spacer to effectively reduce the depth into the door.

Good suggestion. I didn't think about that.

Quote:
I had an eclipse which I replaced all the speakers in, but I don't remember a connector like that. Perhaps the center tab pushes downward rather than outward? You just have to fiddle with it until you see how it disconnects, I can't see any obvious tabs in the pictures. You can always just cut the wires off, since you will probably be soldering the leads to your new speakers anyway.


You'll figure it out

What model/year is your mitsu? I'm sure a couple minutes on google can clear things up. I'd be happy to help if I can.

It's an 01 Montero Sport. You (and cubdenno) have been very helpful and I do appreciate it. Whenever I get around to changing it out, I'll let you know how it went.

 

[TFCommanderBob]

Just a link from the first page of Google hits.

http://www.mitsubishiforum.com/forum...ad.php?t=33494


Gives a creative way to take the adapters off the old speakers and reuse them. It appears to use the Infinity system though, which means if yours is non-Infinity it may look a bit different.

 

[unavol]

I ran across the Mitsubishi forum you referenced, but I didn't see that thread. Thanks for pointing that out. That forum isn't very active when it comes to radio/speaker stuff unless you are looking for a radio code. There are hundreds of posts about radio codes.


I do not have the Infinity system & mine doesn't have that metal plate behind the speaker. Mine looks exactly like the one on this site. AutoToys DIY However, this page doesn't show how to disconnect the clips that I had trouble with. My remaining obstacles are:


1. Getting the clips disconnected (I'd like to avoid cutting them off if possible),

2. settling on a set of speakers, and

3. getting the speakers aligned with the mounting holes.


Hopefully, I'll get to look at it some more this weekend.

 

[unavol]

Finally, no more buzzing in my car. I ended up getting some 6.5" Alpine woofers online for $25 and I got them installed last night. I had to use the adapters that came with the speakers to get them to fit. It was a tight squeeze but they went in. I also found a speaker harness that let me just plug the factory wires into and not have to cut or solder anything.


The Alpines definitely sound better than the stock speakers. Now the clarity and detail of the mids are as good as the tweeters. They don't have much authority in the lower range, but the bass is adequate. I bet they'd really sound nice with a new head unit with more power. I might have to replace the speakers in the back too...especially if I can get another pair for $25. It's been 15 years since I've swapped out any car stereo stuff and I forgot how much fun it was. I've actually enjoyed messing around with this.


Thanks for the advice guys.