Oh Come Now, It's Not That Bad
Apr 05 '00
After perusing through the other Epinions in this category, it seems that other reviewers are hesitant to install their own speakers. Nay, I say. Just as with anything else, it's easy as long as you follow certain rules and laws. Essentially, what it comes down to is this- either you spend $30 to have a shop do it, or you spend an hour and learn how to do it yourself. The latter is the obviously inexpensive cost, plus you will have the knowledge to diagnose any problems. A shop doesn't guarantee a quality job, either. A friend of mine had a local shop install his speakers, and soon developed sonic problems. We popped off the front factory grilles in his Saturn, and found a cursory install job- the right side speaker wasn't even properly baffled against the metal. An hour later, his speakers sounded like never before, particularly in the bass department.
First off, and I know this sounds crazy, buy speakers that fit. I've had a lot of customers buy 6 x 9s in a search for deep bass, but only had 6 1/2" openings. You don't need big speakers- 5 1/4"s or 6 1/2"s will give ample bass, particularly when amplified.
When doing the actual install, make sure of a few things to prevent short-circuits. 1) Make sure no metal on the speaker is touching any frame on the car. This will sharply affect the impedance, and will strain your amp/ deck to the point of failure. If contact is necessary, coat the metal frame with electrical tape. Also, make sure no wire is exposed, for the same short-circuiting reason. Wrap any wire in electrical tape as well.
A tight seal is essential, particularly for bass. Make sure your speaker drops nicely into the location you're putting it, and screw it in tightly. This area is one that often causes a lot of problems, but is easily remedied. A lot of times, the factory speakers have a tiny magnet with little depth. Aftermarket speakers usually have beefier magnets, particularly on 6" sizes and bigger. If the magnet is too large, it may impede the placement in the factory location. This was the case with my friend. It's quite easy to solve- make a wooden baffle ring. Cut out a ring of a thickness that will give the magnet adequate travel room. Make it so the speaker rests on the ring firmly, and have the ring be wide enough to extend to at least the edge of the speaker. Line up the holes, get longer screws, and screw the speaker and wooden ring right onto the factory location. This will offer both proper elevation and tight sealing.
With coaxial speakers, placement isn't too important (or easy to change), so just look for speakers with motile tweeters that you can aim at yourself. For the best sound, grab a component set, which offers a separate tweeter and midbass, as well as external crossover. If you must place the midbass in a factory location, at least try to get the tweeter in your kick-panel area. Kick panel installs are fairly easy- drill a hole, and run some wire- and offer great imaging (when the distance from speaker to your ear is equal on both sides). If you can manage to get your midbass down there as well, even better. Q-logic makes custom- fit kick panels for many applications (we, cough cough, sell them) that offer spots for 5 1/4 midbasses, and 1" tweeters. I have them in my Ford Explorer, and they sound incredible- they are firm enough to offer deep bass, and angled in such a way to direct music at the driver. Quite a nice design.
As with most car stereo installs, speakers are made out to be more difficult than they are. Just like anything you do, slow, steady, precise procedures will make the install perfectly clean and nice sounding. If you have further questions, you can email OpenRoadCustoms@aol.com for technical help- I get quite a kick out of helping people with this. Otherwise, get your tuckus out to your car and start measuring. There are speakers to be purchased.
-Neil
Sneil_IV
OpenRoadCustoms.com
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Epinions.com ID:
Sneil_IV
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Member: Neil Janowitz
Location: Rochester, NY
Reviews written: 93
Trusted by: 192 members
About Me:
Holy halibut, weekly humor columns at www.neiljanowitz.com . Join the mailing list, son.
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