Door Speaker Pockets
Difficulty
Credit
Evilution
Cost
£20+
For
Old Style 600cc For2
Old Style 700cc For2
Old Style 700cc For2
Door Speaker Pockets
The standard speaker setup is rubbish, the upgrade is better but the sound all comes from the front, it needs spreading out.
The standard speaker setup is rubbish, the upgrade is better but the sound all comes from the front, it needs spreading out.
Many people want to fit speakers in the door pods to help with the ailing sound of the original setup. The two main ways of doing this seem to be to either buy a a set of pre-made speaker pods or mount speakers in the hard pockets.
Pre-made pods are expensive and although the hard pockets look good they are too flexible to mount speakers in unless you beef them up a lot with wood or fibreglass, even then they will be open at the top like the standard storage pocket.
In time honoured tradition let's make our own, it's very easy and costs less than £10.
The minimum you need is a sheet of 15mm MDF, wood glue, a drill and a jigsaw.
If you have a router with a straight bit and a round over bit then it'll knock a bit of time off.
Take off your door pods or pockets, lay them flat on the MDF and draw around them.
Cut around the outline with your jigsaw. Tidy the edges up with the router or a rasp.
Here are mine, decide what speakers you are going to use and use the template to mark the holes. Drill a hole and use the jigsaw to roughly cut out the speaker hole, tidy the edges. Look at the above picture and mark the same pencil lines across the the pods.
Cut along these lines and glue the 2 parts back together so they have a slight angle.
If you hold the 2 parts against the door you will see the angle you need,
just pack it with wood glue and sawdust and clamp it until dry.
Here is one of the pods cut and glued at the right angle, sand the joint for a better finish.
As you can see, this 16cm speaker fits nicely in the pod and doesn't touch the door
when fitted, you will have to check the maximum depth you can use as it depends
on what thickness MDF you use.
Mark where the screw holes are by putting the old pod over it and marking
through the holes with a pencil. Drill the holes out with a sensible size drill
bit and fit temporarily to the door.
This is the fiddly part, you have to make a template for the bit of wood that closes the pocket off. It will have to follow the line of the door card.
Use a thin bit of card and scissors to get the best shape and fit.
Once you are happy with the fit, transfer the shape to a bit of MDF and cut it out.
Mark where it goes, remove the speaker pod and glue the new part in place.
Here is the completed speaker pods covered in fake leather. Covering was harder than making them. I would recommend using a stretchy material and spray adhesive.
All you need to do is fit the speakers and grills, attach the pods to the doors and run the wires through the doors to the stereo.
If you follow these instructions and end up with something
that isn't rubbish, please send me the pictures.
Readers Attempts
Oli
Well, to prove that people do follow my guides and end up with a good finished article, here are some pictures of a set made by a Canadian chap called Oli.
As you can see, they look amazing. Let's see what they looked like in the making.
Oli has used a technique known as 'cheating', he has covered the area in clingfilm and used resin to get an exact finish, this saves having to cut the wood template perfectly.
Remember, you cannot do a good job unless you make a hideous mess getting there.
Gord
Another Canadian works wonders with the speaker pockets, check these out.
They are beauties, extemely well done Gord.
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