Speaker Upgrade

[tau166]

I finally got around to upgrading my stock speakers this past week. First I have the 6 speaker moon & tunes package. Also, I'd like to give credit where it's due. Thanks to cohocarl for his speaker install thread http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=785 (great picutres). Also thanks to JustinVGT for his thread on installing the Polk EX3560 http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=1363 . Finally thanks to ilquikgtx for taking the doors off of Triton GT and myself's cars at the Michigan meet to switch the door handles. It's always helpful to see someone else taking the doors apart first. So, on to the install...I ordered a set of Polk EX3560s from Crutchfield ($150). They are 6.5" seperates with 1" tweeters. Crutchfield kindly sent plastic brackets (see pics below) to adapt the woofers to the doors and wire harness adapters for free. I already had a set of Polk EX602a 6.5" speakers I pulled out of my Cherokee before trading it in for the rears so I paid for an extra set of brackets ($8) and wire harnesses ($5). Unfortunately the plastic brackets didn't fit the rear speakers. They were about .25" to .5" too small for the speakers, but alas the openings in the rear doors were about .25" too big to mount the speakers right to the door frame. So, I perused McMaster-Carr's website and decided on some 3/8" thick phenolic composite board and made my own brackets for the rear using the ones that didn't fit for the outer dimensions and the handy template Polk included with the speakers for the inner dimensions. See bracket pics below. Anyway, the homemade brackets worked great. I mounted up the both rear speakers in ~1.5 hours. I did the fronts in ~2 hours. I mounted the tweeters to the factory tweeter mounts with some 3/8" long bolts, nuts and lock washers. As JustingVGT did I used my rotary tool to widen out behind the stock tweeter grills since these tweeters are a bit bigger. Other random notes: I used some vibration deadening insulation between my custom brackets and the door frame to prevent rattles. I mounted the front cross-overs inside the door just under where the tweeters are mounted. I mounted them with velcro so if I ever have to take the door panels off I can take them off the door quickly (otherwise the door frame and panel are connected via all the darn wires).My impression of the sound. 1. It's a bit quiter. The stock speakers are 2 ohm and most aftermarket speakers are 4 ohm. Just have to turn it up a bit louder. 2. Sounds amazing. Honestly I thought the stock speakers sounded great. I only decided to upgrade because I already had the rears and I'd been looking at these fronts for a bit and couldn't pass them up when they dropped in price from $230 to $150. With that said, the aftermarket speakers sound sooo much better. The most obvious difference is in the high range. These tweeters are much better. I also immediatly noticed that the mid-range sounded a bit fuller as well. The bass is also slightly improved. Generally just a better balanced fuller sound. Much crisper high end.I'm sure I forgot some stuff, so ask questions if you want otherwise enjoy the pictures. I also ordered a new shift knob and lighter while I was at it http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=4794 Brackets from Crutchfield: My custome brackets for the rear: Rear speakers: Front woofers: Front tweeters:

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front bracket

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rear bracket

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rear speaker

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front woofer

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front tweeter

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