[Mk2] [NA] Speaker and door soundproofing

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Xavier R3V
Posts: 41
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2016 6:43 pm

[Mk2] [NA] Speaker and door soundproofing

Post by Xavier R3V »

Hi all. I'm planning on changing out my speakers with a plug and play equivalent as an experiment. But at the same time I wanted to put in a bit of soundproofing. something like Dynamat, Noico etc.

I've had a hard time find decent photos of what our MK2s look like behind the door panel but it seems there is a vapour/rain guard directly behind it. Apart from placing some material behind the speaker itself and where possible onto the outer skin where do we place the main section itself? Over the top of the vapour guard? Won't this get soaked? On more modern cars I've seen a different layer behind the panel that makes it simpler to do.

I'm a complete newbie at this so any advice and experience is welcome.

Cheers
Pauln
Posts: 850
Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 10:15 pm
Location: Cardiff, South Wales

Re: [Mk2] [NA] Speaker and door soundproofing

Post by Pauln »

You'll see a few photos of what lurks behind your door cards on this page in my profile if you scroll down a bit:

Changing the door speakers

In my case I wasn't just upgrading the speakers I was also converting the mirrors to folding types which among other things involves changing looms.

Choose your speaker with care. If you want, as I did, to go for a larger speaker it's likely that you will need to fit spacers to create the clearance necessary for the increased diameter and probably larger depth.

If you plan on sticking with the same size speaker, that shouldn't be necessary, but the mounting holes may not line up with the original stock ones. It just depends on the speakers you choose.

In either case you just carefully peel back the plastic sheet which is held by black "sealer" around the outside edge. I didn't fully sound proof the door just the area immediately behind the speaker to try to reduce any drumming effect.

On one of the final photos you can see what it will look like when you take the door car off.

Hope that helps.

Paul
madbasshunter
Posts: 2029
Joined: Sat May 16, 2009 11:23 pm
Location: Cullompton

Re: [Mk2] [NA] Speaker and door soundproofing

Post by madbasshunter »

My old post has a few pictures that might help

forums/viewtopic.php?t=120442&start=0&p ... c8d12aa676
Xavier R3V
Posts: 41
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2016 6:43 pm

Re: [Mk2] [NA] Speaker and door soundproofing

Post by Xavier R3V »

Cheers both :) Although I'm not sure how to find the photos you mentioned Paul.
Pauln
Posts: 850
Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 10:15 pm
Location: Cardiff, South Wales

Re: [Mk2] [NA] Speaker and door soundproofing

Post by Pauln »

Just click on the link in my previous post and work your way down that page until you come to the section about changing my door speakers.

I don't know how much experience you have of installing new speakers, so here's a very basic guide in case it helps.

Having removed the screws at the bottom of the door card gently unclip it from the door, and lift it upwards to detach it from the door. This will reveal the plastic sheet fixed to the door with black sealant like this.

Image

As you can see I've patched mine with brown packing tape to repair some of the rips in it. You then need to carefully peal back the sheet at the front of the door to reveal the wiring loom connections for the door speaker and the tweeter. It will look something like this, but with the stock speaker, tweeter and wiring.

Image

The tweeter is fitted to a metal bracket which you can unscrew. These screws also hold the mirror in place. In theory there is an additional screw just for the mirror, which should hold it in place, but it pays to hang onto the mirror when removing the bracket in case that screw is stripped, as mine was. The main speaker is held in place by three screws, as you can see I've reused the fixing points to hold my spacer in place. You should only need to fit a spacer if you fit a speaker that's larger in diameter than the stock one, or is deeper. Personally I think it's well worth going for a larger speaker, but that's up to you.

The white terminal block you can see behind the main speaker hole was temporarily fixed to the stock speaker wiring where it leaves the loom for test purposes. The black and white wires you see trailing down the door are for the new tweeter. The stock system does not use a crossover to split the signal between the "bass driver" and the tweeter, and just has protection fitted to the speaker to roll off lower frequencies.

How much sound deadening you choose to fit is up to you. In my case I simply fitted some inside the door behind the speaker area to reduce drumming of the metal work. But this should all be eventually covered by the plastic sheet.

How you connect your new speakers really depends on what type you are going to fit. If you are going to buy a speaker with a built in tweeter like this:

Image

All you need to do is unplug the stock tweeter, and connect your new speaker to the existing wiring for the stock "bass" unit.

If, like me, you go for component speakers with a separate tweeter, then you disconnect the stock tweeter wiring, and the stock "bass" speaker wiring goes to the crossover input, and you fit new wiring from the crossover to your new "bass" and tweeter speakers.

Hope that helps
Paul
Xavier R3V
Posts: 41
Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2016 6:43 pm

Re: [Mk2] [NA] Speaker and door soundproofing

Post by Xavier R3V »

Cheers mate, that's very helpful!
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