Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2010 13:13:44 -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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Here's an update part way through this project... My blaupunkts did
the opposite of "just fell out." I ended up using dremel to cut the
speaker frame close to the ring where it was bonded to the brown
housing. The ring that remains is just about perfect to provide
spacing so that the tweeter does not hit the grille. I have glued
the new speakers into the housing using "automotive goop." I'm now
going to apply some "peel and seal" type stuff to the inside of the
doors like people do when they are doing this front speaker
project. I found 2 products at Lowe's. The actual Peel and Seal 6"
x 25', and something called "Seal Tite" (or something very close to
that) 4" x 25'. I figured that smaller width would be easier to
apply inside the door and hopefully will do as good of a job
deadening the sound. Quite a bit cheaper per square foot, but not as
thick as peel and seal.
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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