Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2010 22:24:55 -0400
Reply-To: Edward Maglott <emaglott3@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Edward Maglott <emaglott3@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Cheap front door speakers sound Great!
In-Reply-To: <29525.61836.qm@web83603.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>
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Thanks Everybody for the tips. Sure looks glued in. I tried a
little screwdriver blade twisting down in there and it flexed, but
didn't come loose. Also found some items in the archives about
breaking the speakers out or using the dremel. I think dremel is my
next step. The frame of the actual speaker seems to be some sort of
composite/plastic material.
Edward
At 09:45 PM 10/13/2010, Richard Koerner wrote:
>If nothing obvious like glue, maybe there is a "lip" of metal on the
>speaker that engages in a snap-fit style...permanent snap-fit. (If
>I were designing it for rapid mass-production, I would probably do
>something like that.) So perhaps some gentle prying around the
>perimeter with a flat blade screwdriver would work, to fold the
>metal of the speaker rim back. Or...patient removal of the engaging
>plastic which produces the snap fit using the utility knife
>blade. Magnification with an eye-loupe (like my trusty 5X one I use
>for just about everything) would surely help; but that's another
>trip to Ace Hardware or somewhere to buy one if you don't have
>one. Just an idea....my old speakers went out with the trash so
>nothing to look at.
>
>Rich
>San Diego
>
>--- On Wed, 10/13/10, Richard Koerner <rjkinpb@SBCGLOBAL.NET> wrote:
>
>From: Richard Koerner <rjkinpb@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
>Subject: Re: Cheap front door speakers sound Great!
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Date: Wednesday, October 13, 2010, 6:23 PM
>
>Edward....my old Blaupunkts just "fell" out...literally...there was
>nothing holding them in, or whatever was had long since
>evaporated. But that doesn't help your situation. I read in some
>old archives that someone used a Dremel or something, and another
>guy used brute force and a handy knife. Of course, you don't need
>to worry about damaging the old ones, so I would probably go the
>Dremel if you've got one and the "brute force" method if you don't.
>
>Hope you like them! I do! Pretty cool for 15 Bucks!
>
>Rich
>San Diego
>
>--- On Wed, 10/13/10, Edward Maglott <emaglott3@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
>From: Edward Maglott <emaglott3@GMAIL.COM>
>Subject: Re: Cheap front door speakers sound Great!
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Date: Wednesday, October 13, 2010, 4:34 PM
>
>Well I "ran" right out and bought some of these and they are already
>here. How did you get the old speaker out of the enclosure? Mine is
>an 86 Wolfsburg and it looks like it has the speaker glued into the
>enclosure. The enclosure is held to the door with the big threaded
>ring. Seems like I've read in the past about people braking the old
>speaker to get it out? good/easy way to do this without damaging
>the enclosure?
>
>Thanks,
>Edward
>
>At 07:38 PM 10/9/2010, Richard Koerner wrote:
> >After the last few roadtrips, noticed that the front factory door
> >speakers (25 year old Blaupunkt) were sounding weak and fuzzy. I
> >have a second pair of 5 1/4" speakers mounted down by the footwell,
> >but the fuzzy speakers were annoying. Did hardly any research to
> >find 3 1/2" speakers for to replace the factory ones (I'm not a
> >serious audiophile...just want it to sound "pretty good"). Found
> >these Legacy 3 1/2" 120 Watt Co-axial speakers on Amazon; bought
> >from CarAudioDeals, $11.23 + $3.73 shipping.
> >
> >http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002M792S/ref=oss_product
> >
> >Removed old Blaupunkts...sure enough, the paper cones were
> >split. Installed the new Legacy's...NOW we're talking!!! I think
> >they sound really good, amazing actually. Plenty of base, good
> >highs, look like solid speakers....especially for under $15 for the pair.
> >
> >Some installation caveats:
> >
> >1. The speakers come with side mounting tabs.....no problem, just
> >fold these back.
> >2. The tweeter extends beyond the rim of the main speaker by about
> >1/4". The original speaker grills are slightly convex...but not
> >enough...the tweeter will rest on the interior of the grill. So I
> >made a "spacer washer" out of an old neoprene wetsuit, about 3.5" OD
> >and 3.2" ID, and used 2 layers of 1/8" thick wetsuit, glued
> >together. I epoxied this spacer washer to the mounting face of the
> >new speakers, and then applied more epoxy to the face of the spacer
> >washer and placed inside the speaker grill enclosure and let it cure
> >to mount the speaker in the grill enclosure. I think you can buy
> >spacer washers if you want; or, you could probably build up
> >thicknesses of cardboard or something to achieve the same
> >effect. Anyway, it all worked just fine, solid, no buzzing. And it
> >fits the factory plastic shell on the door panel. Of course no
> >problem with the window cranks either since using the factory grill.
> >
> >Very impressed by the sound...can really turn it UP if I want
> >to...and I do a lot of driving with windows rolled down. By the
> >way, my radio is from a Honda Civic that I got on ebay for about
> >$10...nothing fancy but a good unit, LCD display matches the
> >instrument cluster clock, looks "factory" except that it says Honda
> >on the cassette tape door (need some black paint and an artist's
> >brush to take care of that I guess).
> >
> >Extremely pleased with the final result....should last for years.
> >
> >Rich
> >85 Vanagon GL
> >San Diego
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