I've been planning a speaker upgrade for my '03 base FWD Vibe equipped w/the Moon & Tunes package for some time now. I'm currently running the factory head unit and 200W amplifier, with my OEM Moon & Tunes speaker setup consisting of the following:
— (2) 6.5" Front Door Speakers
— (2) Front Door Tweeters
— (2) 5.25" Rear Door Speakers
After spending more time than I care to admit delving deep into the world of speaker and amp specifications to ensure ohms, watts, sensitivity, and door clearance were all non-issues, I opted to purchase a set of (4) 6.5" Polk Audio DB652 component speakers which I plan to pair with the OEM door-mounted tweeters in the front and upgrade the size of the smaller 5.25" speakers in the rear.
I tore into this project today, with my plan being to adopt the popular approach of gutting the OEM speaker shells in the front and leave them in place to use as spacers for the Polk DB652's — this should eliminate any issues with window clearance while also maintaining maximum sound clarity by keeping the speaker as close to the door-mounted grill as possible.
However, after gutting the DF speaker shell and removing the foam and plywood ring from around the outside, I found that the O.D. of the Polk DB652's frame is large enough that it will not fit inside the raised outer ring of the OEM speaker shell that sticks up past the flat surface slightly inside it. This would therefore add the 1/4-3/8" total thickness of the DB652's to the depth of the OEM speaker shell, interfering with the door-mounted grill.
I know I could explore using aftermarket brackets to gain the necessary clearance from the window, but would prefer to use the OEM speaker shell for sake of time savings as well as maintaining minimum distance to the grill in the door panel.
How have others managed this issue? I've read many, many accounts of people reusing the OEM speaker shells, but have never read of someone encountering this problem. Are all of the other speakers folks have used for this method small enough to fit inside the raised outer lip of the OEM speaker shell?