speakers

General Discussion Forums MX-5 Chat
2

 Hi chaps,

Any opinions on which speakers to fit in the doors.

Mine have had it and would like to replace them.Do you think a set of component speakers are best or a 2 or 3 way coaxial type speaker.

Any ideas or recomendations appreciated.

Thanks,

Mel

1 Like
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Got two way coaxials in the doors in mine. Only thing to watch out for is that the centres don’t stick out too far or you won’t get the trims on. Best thing I ever did was to fit a pair of 5 way 6 x 9s in the parcel shelf. Makes the sort of noise you will never get from door speakers however much you pay for them. Paid £20 for mine and it sounds superb. EC-16697 Easy Touch speakers on clearance from Maplin. Sadly no longer in stock. Managed to pick a second pair up on eBay which I used to replace the single way rear speakers in my neice’s Mini Cooper. Blew her away as much as they did me.

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I fitted 6.5 inch Focal coxials in mine, they cost about 65 from Car Audio Direct (very good price at the moment) and they are lovely sounding speakers and much better than JVC etc. 

I also remanufactured a parcel shelf out of mdf and have a pair of Focal 6x9 in that shelf. 

I would recommend replacing the door speakers first with something good, give them some time to bed in, and then decide whether you feel you’d like to add rears or not.  A good set of front speakers and some well placed sound deadening in the doors will add quite a bit more bass and quality than some people realise is possible and will give a huge improvement on what you have already. 

 

5

I recommend builders flashing tape from B&Q for sound-deadening. Much cheaper than Dynamat etc.

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6

 thanks for the reply. Can you tell me… ,how did you fit the speakers to the parcel shelf/

7

 Where does the sound deadening material go please?

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In answer to your first question, this is my response to a similar query a couple of months back…  

"It was a real pain of a job if i’m honest! But thats mainly because I’d not seen it done before or any explanation of how to do it, so it was trial and error until I got it right.  If I do it again, which I will be as my brother is on the hunt for an MX-5 at the moment, then I have made templates of the right shape that I now know that fits.  

So bascially, what I did was.  

- Remove the parcel shelf carpet, and the seat belt towers, which is quite straight forward. 

- Remove the metal parcel shelf which is held in with about 14 bolts if my memory serves me correct.  You will now be left with the cavity around the front and sides of the petrol tank, this will act as a perfect sound box for the speakers.  The parcel shelf is angled, it’s one flat piece that lays on top and another flat piece that fixes across behind the seats.  What you are looking to do is bascially replicate this from thin MDF, which is pretty easy to do once you know the shape and size (which I can provide).  

- Now this is where i’d actually advise NOT using 6x9 speakers.  I have because I bought them first and then tried fitting them after, which in hindsight wasn’t a clever idea, as they don’t quite fit in at the same angle on each side, one has to be mounted on more of a slant.  Now if you’re sub-mounting them under carpet thats not such a problem as you won’t see them, but I wanted to mount grills over them and cut the carpet to fit them, but I can’t do that now as it’ll look silly with wonky speakers.  I tried just laying the original carpet over them but even without the sound deadening it sounded so muffled it was pointless as the carpet is a plastic backed affair which can’t be split.  So what I did was to manufacture a new parcel shelf carpet from acoustic carpet and lay this over the speakers so you can’t see them, obvious problem with this is I don’t have the press studs for my tonneau cover now, which I’m trying to find out how to resolve as we speak. 

If I did this again I would mount 6.5" speakers in the shelf (same as the front doors) as then I could keep the original carpet, and mount the speakers properly with the grills.  This way would be MUCH easier!!..In fact I am thinking I may just go out and blow another £100 on some more speakers becuase it’s the easiest solution!  

I could take some pics at some point if it helps, and if you would like a copy of the template then let me know.  I may even do a proper build thread but that would mean taking it apart to take pictures…"

In answer to your second question, sound deadening should be used on the inside of the outer door skin, so an 8inch square (double layer thickness) directly behind the speaker.  Careful not to cover the drain holes in the bottom of the door.  I also make a gasket, bascially a ring cut out of the sound deadening that then fits between the door and the speaker. 

If you’re doing the rear speakers too, then when you take the parcel shelf out you are confronted with your fuel tank and the metal body of the car.  For the best sound I would cover as much of the metal as possible with a single layer of sound deadening material here before you put the parcel shelf back on, this will redeuce resonance and rattles and improve the general response of the speaker drivers. 

I have a pattern drawn out for the shape of the parcel shelf with all the relevant bolt holes etc, so let me know if you need it and I can send a paper template in the post. 

 

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Beanoir has gone far further than I did. I kept the metal panel rather than making an MDF shelf. The panel is smaller on the driver’s side so this is why he has had to angle that speaker. I took a different approach. The Passenger side speaker fits in well front to back, i.e. 6" across the car, 9" front to back. I marked the cutout on the metal panel and it goes in a treat. I then marked out the driver’s side one just the same although it doesn’t fit! There is about an inch and a half deep arc at the back of the panel. I cut this section from the piece of car bodywork at the back. A bit tricky to get in to but I did it with a jigsaw, file and a bit of bending and butchery. My speakers came with spring clips that go onto the bodywork that take the self tapper type screws for fitting. I cut the carpet to match up with the panel hole, fitted the clips and mounted the speakers and grilles on top. I’ve lost two press studs for the hood cover but it still goes on OK and doesn’t flap too much even at motorway speeds. Although the metal panel is very flimsy it doesn’t rattle at all. In fact it’s probably more solid with the speakers fitted than before. Speakers in the parcel shelf have effectively got the whole boot area as a sound box so you will get far more bass than from the door speakers. Does blast the sound out a bit with the roof down though so have to be careful with music choice if I’m in town. Smile

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 Thanks very much.I would like the template if possible.Please let me know if you would like me to send you a self addressed envelope  and what size.

Thanks,

Mel

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I don’t mind posting the template, PM me your address and i’ll try and get on to it tomorrow if I have time.  

Cheers 

Nick 

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