451 Speaker Upgrade
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Cost
£50+
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New Style For2
451 Speaker Upgrade
Even the upgraded speakers on the 451 are rubbish, the system has a lot of potential so lets realise it.
Even the upgraded speakers on the 451 are rubbish, the system has a lot of potential so lets realise it.
What I am fitting here are a set of Infinity 6020cs. They are 6.5 inches and come with a 2 way
crossover and tweeters. You are not limited to just these, you can surface mount any speaker
you want up to about 7.5 inches. You just have to be careful when it comes to speaker depth.
Fitting The Midrange Speakers
Remove the door panels as seen
Inside you will find the weather shield. You need to get behind it to access the speakers.
Smart's answer to this is to cut an X through it behind the speaker and then tape it closed
whith duct tape when you have finished. This isn't ideal as access isn't great.
Over time the duct tape can break down allowing the water to get into the door.
One alternative is to cut a flap. Again you would reseal it with duct tape but even if
the tape fails, the water is much less likely to enter the door and damage the speaker.
The ideal method is to pull the weather shield to one side, when you are done you just fold it back.
Remove the old speakers, we will be making good use of the original connections.
This idea was invented by CubeFX from America.
Use a hacksaw to cut off the original connections.
2 cuts per connector and they are off, you will also have to desolder the original wires.
Solder on a short length of wire to each connection.
Solder the other ends of these wires to the speaker. Solder joints are better than using the
crimp connections. Ensure you wire it around the right way, the negative side has a stripe.
You now have decision on mounting. The first option is to rear mount them.
This option depends on the speaker fitting OK with no interference to the moving cone.
This position has the advantage of using the original grill for a stealthy fitting.
These particular Infinity 6020cs speakers came with a mounting ring that allowed the
speaker to be screwed directly into the original mounting points for the old speakers.
The other option is to front mount the speakers. The advantage here is that you
aren't restricted by speaker size plus you can use slightly deeper speakers.
Firstly you must remove the original speaker grill. Drill out the 6 mounting points.
Once that is done you can push the speaker grills out.
Depending on the speakers, you should be fine with just cutting the tabs off with a hacksaw.
I was lucky enough to have some sound deadening that had been donated by James.
I cut it into strips and laid it on the inside of the door. This wasn't totally necessary
but I already had a rattle from that area on one side with the original speakers.
Place your speaker mounting rings on the inside to ensure there is enough clearance.
Drill 4 pilot holes through the door for the speaker screws to go through.
Place your speakers into the mounting rings and screw them in place.
Push the speaker grill in place, this stops you damaging it with your foot.
Wire the speaker into the crossover if you are using them. I left my crossovers inside
the door. This made it easier for me to put the tweeters in the door too. If you want
to keep your tweeters on the dashboard then you may as well cut into the wiring
behind the stereo and put the crossovers up under the dashboard somewhere.
The remaining sound deadening was used on the inside of the door panel.
Clean the surface before fitting, roll the sound deadening down with some force.
Tweeters
I decided to add the tweeters that came with my speakers. The infinity tweeters come
with quite a few different mounting solutions so you can surface mount them
anywhere you like or do as I did and flush mount them near the handles.
Remove the handle, use a hole drill of the right size to bore a hole, be careful of the wires.
Clean the hole up with a blade, sandpaper or a file. If you look behind that hole you will
see a hole already there, this is a perfect route for the tweeter wiring to the crossovers.
Fit the tweeters in place and fit whatever fittings are supplied to keep them in place.
On the passenger side you may find it hard to access behind the tweeter so glue works well.
Refit the handles, switches and door panels and test.
It will sound so much better than the original set up.
Imro from S-Mann put the tweeters in the dash vents. I like this idea.
Glenn placed the in the roof just behind the interior light.
It'll sound better than standard but I'm not convinced about the stereo separation.
Message To Audiophiles - Not Interested
Before I had even finished writing this How2 I had already received a complaint.
Something about the placement of tweeters, speaker triangles and sound stages.
It was mentioned that this set up would not win any awards.
Shit, I could have told you that. The whole thing cost me £60 and I'm using the original stereo.
Factor in the price, the time it takes and how much better it sounds, I am happy.
I'm sure anyone who follows this info would be just as happy with the results.
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