Door Speakers: ICE

[keithTVR350i]

My 350i has a speaker grill on the passenger side door (no speaker grill on the drivers side).
I removed the grill and surprise, surprise no speaker, just access to the power window drive. Did any wedges have door speakers as standard ? And has anyone retro fitted them ? Currently I have a 1990 (original ?) JVC tape deck and some tired 6 inch pioneers in the usual place.
Has anyone done an upgrade which has been successful in developing additional bass ?
Thanks
Keith

[skyrocketship]

my wedge has a speaker grill on the passenger side (with no speaker) but not one on the drivers side too...... hmm yes, useless information........ anyway, saw a wedge with the 2 speakers in the usual place either side behind the seats, plus 2 more larger ones facing forward flush fitted on the back....

[Andrew_W]

It appears a previous owner tried fitting 6inch speakers in the doors of my 400, but the plan went tits up as he obviously cut the holes in the door panels without checking what was behind, i.e the window motors!!! Fortuantely the job was made good by using 10cm speakers offset in the holes covered with the 6 inch grills. Intitially i bought new 6inch speakers to put in but realised they wouldnt go and so bought some Sony 10cm speakers. The upshot is check you've got enough space behind the speaker before cutting holes!!!
As for rear speakers after much head scratching and worrying about cutting holes in the car i eventually and reluctantly cut two large holes in the rear panel between the cockpit and boot and installed some Sony 6x9's. I used 6mm MDf on the boot side to beef the panel up a bit. The speakers are a little too close together for my liking because they have to fit inside the roll-bar that i have.
I've got a sony cdxm630 head unit. It sounds brilliant - as for bass almost too much with the 'loud' on!!! I think i would prefer a more conventional unit though as the hinged panel is'nt really practical. Oh and another down-side - there is no pause button on the unit so you cant pause while driving through tunnels! Seriously, i've had this kit in a month and only used it twice - i'm just so addicted to the exhaust note!!!
Andrew

[redwedge5]

My 1990 350SE has got 4 alpine speakers, one in each door, lower front bottom corner and one in each side panel behind each seat. I think this is the original set up. It has also got the speaker panel on only the passenger door. Quite funny to hear other cars have got this. I thought it was where someone had bodged up the fitting of a speaker!

[jmorgan]

Ditto mystery speaker

[tvr350i]

Probably standard in most if not all of them for possibly air circulation or more likely cabin pressure problems in certain situations...

[Gavinr]

I originally put new small (4in?) speakers behind the seats on the parcel shelf. I was also woried about cutting holes in the doors/rear panel. In the end I decided this wasn't good enough with the roof down on the motorway. So a friend and I built a box to go on the shelf housing a pair of Sony 6x9's. Originally this had the speakers hidden under the carpet, but has since been re-built with the speakers on the top of the carpet. I wired it in through the side speakes on bullet connectors, so if I need the space (it's my only car) I can leave it at home.

Gavin and 350i

[davidf]

Yep. I have a mystery passenger door speaker too.

[danny hoffman]

I seem to remember someone suggesting it was an air vent, to stop the cabin pressure building when the roof was up. Obviously we all know how well the hood seals and appreciate this would be a major problem!

[david010167]

Not the same car, but a Griff. I recently upgraded the speakers in my car, and have both better bass and much better stereo image. I can now also hear the stereo with the roof over at 50mph.

I wrote my experience up here, and do intend adding photos, but time as they say gents "is a factor".

www.david.hughes15.btinternet.co.uk/default.htm

David M5 TVR

[keithTVR350i]

It looks like a lot of 350's have the bizarre passenger speaker grill (with no speaker), is there any good reason why I can't cut one in the drivers side and then add speakers ?
(skyrocketship, was this indeed useless info ?)
Keith

[jonknight]

I fitted a couple of 6" Kenwood speakers in the doors, in the inside top. I actually did this when I had problems with the passenger side electric window motor, so it fitted perfectly.

Once I'd fitted the motor... hey presto, you can "eject" the speakers when you put the window down. I presume it's because the left & right window mechanisms are not symetrical

There still there, but I've disconnected them now.. the other problem is the lousy window seals on the outside of the door (see loads of other threads!) so when it rains all the water runs into the door cavity and screws up your speakers.

There's a good chandlers in Poole that sells waterproof thin speakers for boats..... worth a try ;-)

[jmorgan]

quote: I thought it was where someone had bodged up the fitting of a speaker!

Probably a mark on the only tech drawing on the back of the fag packet and no ones pointed it out

[jmorgan]

Simular subject
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=5511&f=12&h=0&hw=speaker

[wedg1e]

There is space to fit speakers towards the leading edge of the door, rather than the trailing edge (where the vent grille is). The early cars did suffer from rain ingress shagging the cones (techie term ;-) so the later ones included a drip rail above the speaker orifice to divert the rain away. Supposedly.
My 390 has lived outside for amost of the tme I've owned it and the speakers still work, so maybe it's not a total waste of time.
Apart fom the two door speakers, my car has a pair mounted in the side trims behind the seats. Not the best location as the panels are a bit flimsy.
The head unit is a Sony LJKHYTEYOIUPCVBVC-9868647654653 or whatever with integral 7.5W PAs (about 0.000001W RMS then ;-) and is audible at over 80, allowing for some deterioration due to pipes, wind etc.
I never use that silly 'loud' button, just optimise the tone controls for an even delivery (as it was meant to be) and sing along.
Too much power/ bass boost leads one into Nova/206/Fiesta terrritory....

:-D

Ian

[gf350]

quote:
There is space to fit speakers towards the leading edge of the door, rather than the trailing edge (where the vent grille is). The early cars did suffer from rain ingress shagging the cones (techie term ;-) so the later ones included a drip rail above the speaker orifice to divert the rain away. Supposedly.
My 390 has lived outside for amost of the tme I've owned it and the speakers still work, so maybe it's not a total waste of time.
Apart fom the two door speakers, my car has a pair mounted in the side trims behind the seats. Not the best location as the panels are a bit flimsy.
The head unit is a Sony LJKHYTEYOIUPCVBVC-9868647654653 or whatever with integral 7.5W PAs (about 0.000001W RMS then ;-) and is audible at over 80, allowing for some deterioration due to pipes, wind etc.
I never use that silly 'loud' button, just optimise the tone controls for an even delivery (as it was meant to be) and sing along.
Too much power/ bass boost leads one into Nova/206/Fiesta terrritory....

:-D

Ian

My 350i s2 has them in the front of the doors just below the wood strip and they don't hit anything. If anyone wants photos or measurements email me. The speakers in mine had some plastic sheet behind them to seal them in (not the best thing for acoustics but stops them getting wet).
GF.