Speaker install (lots o' pics)

[ProVibe]

Great tut but the pictures don't show up for me. I see a lot of red x's though. I can host them for you if you want. PM me for info.

[joatmon]

ask and you shall receive.looks like the pics are backcohocarl rules

[cohocarl]

Quote, originally posted by ProVibe »Great tut but the pictures don't show up for me. I see a lot of red x's though. O-Tay...It appears Charter changed the address of my pics. I have modified the addresses of the pics in this post, so they should be showing up now. I have a few other "how to's" that I'll have to fix also, so hang in there please.

[cohocarl]

Quote, originally posted by joatmon »looks like the pics are backcohocarl rules Thanks! I went through the speaker, H.U., sway bar, and hitch install posts that I had linked the pics to my I.S.P. and I think I changed all of the links, so the pics should be showing up now. I have no idea when Charter changed the address. I apologize for the red "X's". Even though I've dumped the Vibe, I wouldn't dump on my friends.

[HCguy]

Well cohocarl, you def convinced me to do the install myself. the only thing I need to know now is how to take off the door panel since I was a cheap ******* and went with the manual windows. Anybody can help me? it seems like it has a clip or is it just screwed on? thx

[glassman]

use a shop rag to remove the clip for the window crankslip it between the clear plastic spacer and window crank start from where you grab the crank to roll the window down and slide the rag in under the handle then twist it slightly and it will catch the clip and turn the rag untill you see the clip then grab iy and slide it out the pull the crank offhope that makes sense if not i can snap a pis and show you what i mean

[Salsa2004]

Quote, originally posted by Jahntassa »We in the audio forum don't have a lot of stickies, dunno why. There are a few good guides floating around.. Speakers. XM, radios.. all kinds of stuff. I think we depend on the search function...But you're right..that'd make sense!Yea, it needs one. I changed the speakers on my Vibe with MT and could have used the pictures.I also could have used the trick to reuse the base on the front hole instead of fabbing up a mount for them.I did see a thread on how to remove the panels, that was helpful.I took the opportunity to spray inside the doors with 3M rubberized undercoating then followed up with using Dynamat inside the cavity and the triangle space where the speaker mounts.But d@mn! It sounds good now!

[vibe-04]

I wanted to do a follow up to this great post to add how I did my speaker instal but with a slight variation. I gutted the front speakers with the housing shroud still riveted in the door and just screwed the new speakers in place. Simple and very quick.I used MB QUART DKE116 6.5 6 1/2 2 WAY COAX from Bass Sales on eBay http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAP...&rd=1 which were half the price for the same model from Future Shop here in Canada. Even with shipping, duties and exchanged I saved 58 percent!!! Great sound and they have 2.42 depth that fit without hitting the window.Abridged Steps: Front SpeakersPull the door skins and gut the front speakers while stil on the door. Do not removed rivets.Cut the ribs out and clean the area of any burrs. Pull off the foam ring from the face of the shroud.Remove the connector from the shroud and thread the wire behind the blue plastic wrap into the hole from the back. Attach with new connectors to the new speaker then mount the speaker to the face of the shroud with long screws.Steps Rear Speakers.To remove, use a large drill bit to remove the head then pop the rivets with the shroud intact. I'll be dropping the rear stocks back in on resale. Next time I wouldn't have bothered.The sound is fantastic but you need to put the new grills to get the full effect. The stock plastic skins hold back too much sound.Next a subwoofer!!

[B4snake]

I just finished installing new rear speakers with the help of your guide and I have to say it went perfect... Thank you so much for your help!

[kunkstyle]

So by drilling the factory rivets out, is it possible to put the original speakers back in (mine's on lease, and while I plan on buying it out at the end, I want to make sure everything is reversible if need be.)

[vibe-04]

Exactly, that is why I added theses pics to this post so others can see. The large drill bit will remove the "mushroomed" part of the rivet then pop it off, carefully as not to crack. Also make sure to cut back enough of the wiring to reattach later.Then when time to sell. Get some nuts and bolts to match the hold size and reattach. I would use some Locktite to make sure the nuts don't vibrate off. The front is a whole different story. Nothing can be done to salvage them.Good luck!

[CrunchyCookie]

Not to tire out a 5-year-old post, but CocoCarl does indeed kick (removed), and is a lifesaver besides. Thanks to those pictures on page 1, I now have infinitely better 6.5-inch Infinity Reference 6012i's standing in all four doors. The operation took more hours than I'd care to admit though, thanks to all the rivet drilling, new hole drilling, and screw size mystery solving.Tell me, do we have GM to thank for this sloppy, cheap, lazy-(removed) approach to car audio? I've never witnessed a pure Toyota product with such trashy speakers, or one with speakers riveted in (honestly, how much more would screws have cost... 2 cents?). Is the 03-04 Matrix the same way? How about the 05-07 Matrix, or the 93-97 and 98-02 Prizms?Another curiosity: if 6.5-inch speakers fit perfectly into the back doors (after removing the stock speakers AND their shells), what size fits perfectly in front? 6.75s maybe? FYI, Crutchfield says the Vibe uses 6.5s in both the front and rear. Which means that whichever way you look at it, they're exactly half wrong, eh?PS - For anyone swapping out the head unit (highly recommended), the Metra wiring harness number is 70-2003 http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb...0&y=0

[Sublimewind]

Wow, this is your first post..?!?!? Welcome to genvibe... Trashy speakers, welcome to the wonderfull world of stock.... 90% of stock systems look the same... Nice to see audio upgrades going on... Infinity wouldn't have been "my" first choise, but they are nice for the beginer...Still, it's gotta be a nice "one-up" over stock.... any plans on replacing the head unit? That would make a world of difference as well... Cheers,AaronQuote, originally posted by CrunchyCookie »Not to tire out a 5-year-old post, but CocoCarl does indeed kick (removed), and is a lifesaver besides. Thanks to those pictures on page 1, I now have infinitely better 6.5-inch Infinity Reference 6012i's standing in all four doors. The operation took more hours than I'd care to admit though, thanks to all the rivet drilling, new hole drilling, and screw size mystery solving.Tell me, do we have GM to thank for this sloppy, cheap, lazy-(removed) approach to car audio? I've never witnessed a pure Toyota product with such trashy speakers, or one with speakers riveted in (honestly, how much more would screws have cost... 2 cents?). Is the 03-04 Matrix the same way? How about the 05-07 Matrix, or the 93-97 and 98-02 Prizms?Another curiosity: if 6.5-inch speakers fit perfectly into the back doors (after removing the stock speakers AND their shells), what size fits perfectly in front? 6.75s maybe? FYI, Crutchfield says the Vibe uses 6.5s in both the front and rear. Which means that whichever way you look at it, they're exactly half wrong, eh?PS - For anyone swapping out the head unit (highly recommended), the Metra wiring harness number is 71-2003 (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb...0&y=0 ) It ain't at Fry's, Circuit City, or Best Buy.

[CrunchyCookie]

Having recently picked up a 2001 Prizm LSi, I can answer my own question (if anyone cares): yes, the Prizm's front door speakers were riveted in too (the rear speakers, OTOH, are screwed into the shelf). And this is at least partially the fault of Toyota, because supposedly the newer Celicas use rivets too. ARGH.PS - I found some guy's page of his 2007 Corolla underpinnings, in case anyone wants to compare/contrast. Things should look plenty familiar: http://2k7corolla.blogspot.com/

[spacemonkey]

Thanks for this tutorial, it is VERY helpful!I have a question, I noticed that the rear door speaker panel in the door is really only perforated in a 5.5" circle, and there are "fake" perforations out to 6.5", but they don't go through the plastic. I am putting in 6.5" speakers, how did you all handle this? I just drilled out the "fake" holes, so now the speaker holes go through, all the way out to 6.5"

[spacemonkey]

I got 4 Polk Audio db651 speakers and installed 3 of them tonight. The ones in back went in fairly smoothly, thanks to the great help here. I drilled out the grill, as I mentioned above.I got to one of the front ones and followed the instructions, but when I re-assembled, I couldn't get the door panel on without hitting the speaker. Didn't anyone else have this trouble? My door panel is hitting the lower edge of the speaker! Yikes! I can't see how any speaker that sticks up at all from its mount could clear its lower edge of the door. How did you guys get around this? Did you cut the stock mount down? Don't you have to use the stock mount or the window won't open??

[GranoblasticMan]

Thanks for this how-to. I don't really have the money to upgrade my speakers currently, but starting about a month ago, my driver-side speaker was making a buzzing sound. Turns out the foam bit around the edges was cracked from age and use, so I applied some super-glue and it's back to its old self Again, thanks for the great how-to and pictures.

[trystero777]

Hey--I know you posted this like 7 years ago but it still helping folks out. I just used your instructions to swap out my rear speakers and it went great. Thanks a million!

[cohocarl]

Quote, originally posted by trystero777 »Hey--I know you posted this like 7 years ago but it still helping folks out. I just used your instructions to swap out my rear speakers and it went great. Thanks a million!

[A Psycho Martyr]

Just read thru this for the first time....it answered SO many of my question.figured I'd bump it once

[scottstoked]

An old, but still very useful thread for those of use buying a used Vibe or Matrix!Question: If I don't re-use the speaker mounts and drop my speakers directly into the front door holes, will a speaker with a top mount depth of 1 5/8" be shallow enough for window clearance?I'm a little confused on that topic. Thanks!

[LarryKingsShoes]

I installed some Polk Audio db651s sets (with the help of this very insightful thread) in my front and rear using the thin brackets that Crutchfield provided. While I did end up replacing the brackets with some modeled after the factory mounts (about 7/8" thick), the Crutchfield brackets did allow for enough clearance to mount the speakers in the doors without running into space issues. I didn't swap them out because of window clearance, it was only done in hopes of them fitting the hole and lining up to the factory drill holes more appropriately.The db651s (shallow mount) set have a mounting depth of 1 11/16" (a hair deeper than what you are looking to mount). I doubt that there would be a problem mounting them directly to the door but having the little spacer made it much easier to install, regardless, because the tabs made mounting them on the door skin much easier. I don't have the Crutchfield brackets anymore but I'd guess that they were about 1/4" thick. There are much deeper speakers that people have mounted in the front (and the rear is much more forgiving in mounting depth) so, in the unlikely event of the window hitting the speaker, you're only an MDF ring away from fixing the issue and enjoying your new speakers! I really wish that I would have kept my old speakers and mounts around. The brackets that I've used never lined up very well so I've always had little gaps that, until recently, have been unfilled. Now I'm using rope caulk to seal them so it's not that big of a deal, but the install would have been much cleaner if I hadn't done all of that, though.

[spacemonkey]

My db651 (non slim) did not fit, and according to their specs they are 1 5/8" top mount.http://www.polkaudio.com/carau...db651/I mounted mine to the plastic on the inside of the door. Another option I've read is to stack a few of the speaker mount rings until you get the clearance to open the window.

[LarryKingsShoes]

Hmm, weird. The specs for the db651s and db651 mounting depth seem odd. Crutchfield and Polk Audio are listing the top-mount depth of the shallow version as 2", while the top-mount depth of the full sized speaker is only 1 11/16" (or 1 5/8" on the PA site). I hope that I'm just reading these wrong because it would be strange for the shallow-mount speaker to be deeper than the non-shallow counterpart.Regardless of whatever is up with that, having a spacer is probably a good idea and will save you from some potential grief when it comes time to install them.Edit: I did a quick search and it turns out that the difference in depth is because the tweeter on the db651 sticks out further than the db651s. If this is the case, then having the spacer is necessary for a proper fit. I guess my original assumption was wrong.

[spacemonkey]

Ah, interesting, thanks for the extra research.All i know is that the regular db651 speakers did not fit in the door without some kind of modification. LarryKingShoes is right, it didn't fit in back when mounted on the door, and the speaker stuck out too much in front when using the previous mount. Here is what I did:http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=38244One other note, the back door had a different problem. Since the back speakers were 5.25", the door had a plastic piece to fit that size speaker. That had to be cut off or it would have shredded the 6.5" speaker. And the door panels were only drilled to 5.25", so I bored that out as you can see in the link above.Good luck!

[scottstoked]

Thanks so much for the great info, guys. I'll be ordering from Crutchfield, so I'll assume the spacers they supply should allow enough clearance.I'm thinking of going with the Pioneer TS-G1643R speakers to save a little money. They're the same price as the Kickers (on Crutchfield Canada) but have a higher watts peak power . . . But are the Polks really significantly better?

[LarryKingsShoes]

Given the price difference, it could be expected that the Polk Audio db651 set will have noticeably better sound. I haven't listened to the Pioneer set to make a comparison. If you're running stock speakers right now, the Pioneer set should, at the very least, be a slight improvement. Some people don't need to spend a lot on car audio to be happy and those may be a solid choice.I will note that I have compared Pioneer and Kicker component systems at Best Buy (read: not the ideal listening conditions, by any means). The Pioneer set that was marked at $80 sounded significantly better than any of the Kickers that I demoed. In that regard, I think you're making a good choice going with Pioneer. I have never heard any Kicker speakers installed properly in a car so I don't want to trash their products. In fact, I love my Kicker monoblock amp. Their speaker display, however, left me very underwhelmed.Good luck with whatever you end up with! It's sure to be an upgrade from stock, regardless. It sounds like the fit won't be much of an issue so it just comes down to what you think would suite your needs.

[scottstoked]

Well, maybe I'll just fork out the extra for the 651s. By the amount of positive reviews, it doesn't really sound like I can go wrong with them. And Crutchfield has a (2nd pair for 50% off) deal right now.Thank you for all the helpful advice!

[LarryKingsShoes]

They had that going when I ordered mine. It was hard to turn down. Crutchfield doesn't offer the lowest price but, between that and the free installation gear they include, it worked out quite well. The customer service is top notch, as well.Hopefully you enjoy the speakers. I've heard (though I have yet to complete the project) that sealing the big holes on the door skin and adding some sound deadening goes a long way in making speakers perform better. It may be something else to consider if you want to get the most out of the Polks.

[stevehen]

For the front speakers, how do I remove the rivet looking things to remove the speakers, as pictured on page 3 of your demo?