mclark999

I thought I'd document from concept to finish my plan to install 8" three way speakers in the back of my xB. My plan is to mount them on the outside of the rear panel. There's no way to fit them in behind the rear panel.

I'll start posting pictures as I work.

The speakers are Lanzar VX830 VX 8-Inch Three-Way Speakers which I got at Amazon for $47 including shipping.

mclark999

As you can see from the picture, the grill opening for the stock speaker is only 5 inches.

mclark999

I will need to cut a 7 inch hole for the new speaker. You can see in the picture, it will just fit in between the upper bolts and the opening to change taillight bulbs.

mclark999

The speaker grill at 8 inches will overlap the opening for the taillights, but I can still open the little door, so no big deal.

mclark999

I believe the end result should look fairly stock. Certainly not outrageous. Have to wait until tomorrow the cut the hole.

Some people may ask why I don't just put in a subwoofer and put some nice 5 1/4" speakers in the back here. I don't really want to take up my little trunk space with a subwoofer and don't really want anyone to be tempted to steal it. Also, to install aftermarket 5 1/4" speakers, I have to remove the rear seat, that stupid anchor poll that holds them in, and the rear panels.

I believe the only real challenge with doing it this way will be getting the old speakers out. But we will see. I'm glad I have a Dremel tool with lots of attachments to help me out.

mclark999

By the way, this is what the rear qtr panel looks like with the plastic cover out of the way. I did not take my cover off to do the work. If you do take the panel off, you can do a lot more sound deadening than I'll be able to do. I'll be limited to what I can reach through the speaker hole and the little panel to get to the rear taillights. Still should be enough to stop the rattling/tinny noise from the larger speakers.

mclark999

I used a Dremel with a circle cutting attachment to cut the 7" hole in the panel. I taped a piece of cardboard over the grill to give a spot for the point of the tool to center on. Took about 5 minutes to get set up and cut the hole. You can see the ring that the cutter made here before I cut the last inch of the hole. Don't cut too deep. I cut about 1/4" total depth and just scraped the cable to open the gas door.

mclark999

Here's how it looks with the panel hole cut.

Three 10 millimeter bolts hold the old speaker in, plus a little plastic anchor that you need to pry out.

And a picture of the new speakers next to the old. Should be a bit more bass.

mclark999

The hole in the sheetmetal for the old speakers isn't big enough and in the right space to fit the magnet of the new speaker through. I marked it up with a Sharpie and cut it out with a sawzall. Took less than five minutes.

I also added some sound deadener on panel behind. Doesn't need much because the gas filler stiffens everything up on the drivers side. The passenger side needs a lot more. Put the sound deadening in BEFORE you cut the hole with the sawzall. That jagged edge isn't easy on skin. Now you can go ahead and wire in the speakers.

mclark999

Here is the finished product. I used three 2 1/2" long stainless screws to fasten the speaker to the sheetmetal and 3 more screws to fasten on the grill. The grill speakers hold the speaker tight to the plastic panel. I also used silicon caulk to seal the speaker to the plastic panel. No rattles. Hooray!

Altogether, took only around 45 minutes. Sounds great! I added some decent speakers in front awhile back and now, for the first time, I can hear a real soundstage in the car. I was expecting that this would add bass, but I didn't realize how much treble and mid-range it added. So much better. Doesn't have the crankin bass of a powered subwoofer, but way, way better than stock!!!

eignub

damn that looks good!

mclark999

I was really curious after the install of 8" speakers how much difference a good powered subwoofer would make.

So I took my Klipsch powered subwoofer out of the house and hooked it up in the car to compare. The Klipsch is a $500 200 watt powered subwoofer with a port and 10" dual voice coil speaker.

It was a good choice because it has adjustable power, crossover frequency, and phase shift.

I got the best sound with the sub turned up about half way and the crossover set at 90 hz.

I also experimented with different placement of the subwoofer. Having it in the trunk, no matter where I placed it, provided poor music quality.

Moving it to the floor behind the passenger seat made the best sound. THe subwoofer was way too big to put under the seat, so I couldn't try that.

As far as improving the overall sound of the system, the results were mixed.

With your typical 60s and 70s rock and roll, the sub added very little. Most recordings from back then just don't go that low. The same was true of most acoustic jazz recordings.

Where I saw a big difference was in modern electronica, and newer pop recordings and jazz recordings where electronic drums are being used. For example, Sade, who is a fairly low key jazz artist - with her new Soldier of Love, the subwoofer really added a kick down low.

I'm sure anyone that's into rap or hip hop would have to have a subwoofer. For me, the difference the subwoofer made over the 8" speakers isn't enough to warrant the purchase.

One last thing - the sound deadening that I put in the doors made the car so much quieter that I went ahead and did the back doors and the rear hatch. Doing the rear hatch made a big difference. Now when I drive with the stereo off, I hear wind noise instead of all the the road noise. Huge improvement. Well worth the time to do. I can't imagine going to the trouble of doing under the carpets. The car is pretty quiet now.

SuperDaveAPK

Nice write-up. I was thinking of putting some 8" mids in the doors and just forgetting about the rears but this post may change my mind

mclark999

I was originally planning on putting these speakers in the front doors. Someone else on this site has pictures of doing it. When I measured everything up, my speakers were about half an inch too deep to put in the doors with the door looking original. If I was willing to put the grills on the outside (like I did in the back), I could have fit them in the doors.

jadeT

Looks like a lot of work...though it looks pretty good.

mp3superfreak

Thanks for posting the build log and showing lots of pics! Also, glad it turned out well for you.

mclark999

With the right tools, its actually pretty easy. Took less than an hour.