Date:         Mon, 20 Sep 2004 11:41:17 -0700
Reply-To:     Markus Mumper <mumper@USA.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Markus Mumper <mumper@USA.NET>
Subject:      Re: Blaupunkt speaker grills
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

------ Original Message ------
Received: Mon, 20 Sep 2004 11:04:46 AM PDT
From: rea <fliptop92@KNOLOGY.NET>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Blaupunkt speaker grills

> I have a Westy with the original Blaupunkt speakers that desperately need
replacing. I would like to reuse the original Blaupunkt speaker grills so here
is my question.. How do you remove the speaker grills without damaging them??
Do they pry off or is there some secret to removing them..?? The two in the
doors have metal covers and the two in the A/C cabinet seem to be made of

plastic..Any suggestions??
> 


IIRC - both the front and rear speakers have plastic grills ('87 Westy), the
grills are threaded onto the speaker itself. The front speakers unthreaded no
problem because I loosened the inside door covering, held onto the speakers
and unthreaded the grills.

The rear speakers spun when I tried to unthread the grills since I could not
get to the speakers themselves to keep them from spinning- I ended up prying
the grills out thus destroying the speakers.

I replaced the front speakers with 4" two way Infinity's, about $130 or so for
the pair - it's a lot of money but they sound great.

I'm still looking (listening?) for a good replacement for the rear speakers -
I currently have a pair of three way speakers (something like 6", 3" and
tweeter) in their own enclosures mounted by hangers at the original rear
speaker locations. They sound OK and were cheaper than the pair of 4"
speakers. One good thing about this set-up is that I can remove the enclosed
speakers from their hangers and put them on the floor of the van pointing to
where my wife and I are sitting outside (I left the speaker wires extra long).
This way we can keep the volume down and not bug any adjacent people. I don't
know if I'll keep this set-up though.

To answer your question though, it would take some work to retain the original
grills with new speakers since no after market speaker I know of would thread
into the existing grills.

FWIW.............., Markus.