Done the front, suppose I'll do the rear as well (speakers)

[spud350]

OK, so like a sheep I followed the rest of you and bought some JBL GTO628's for the front. Fitted them yesterday and like everyone says there is a marked improvement over the muffled rubbish standard speakers.

As there is a noticeable difference I'm going to do the back as well. As the JBL's seem reasonable quality Vs cost I'll get the GTO8628's. Before I order them has anyone has experience of these, i.e are they a straight forward fit? Or shall I be the guinea pig?

Cheers Spud.

[jaylee]

I say go for it..! I am also interested in a rear replacement using the GTO8628's, but would like to keep the original grills...

Don't forget the pictures...!

[spud350]

I hope you can keep the original grills they came in the post today.

[M 80NGO]

I feel some more jiggery pokery coming on

[jaylee]

I hope you can keep the original grills they came in the post today.

Top drawer.! i look forward to seeing the end result...

Just thinking back about 3 years when i installed a cheap set... (I had no rear speakers, but the loom was there!)

This may give a little help when i removed the rear grills...??



I cut the centre out for the tweeter..

Googling the GTO8628 & looking at the speaker profile i wonder if the speaker could be bolted to the back of the panel hole so the bolt head sit in the recess on the lip of the grill then the grill sits back on...??



Though these cheapys were alot smaller & i made a plate out of MDF for em....

I feel some more jiggery pokery coming on

So do i....

[Dodgey]

I put 16.5cm speakers in the rear cavities - You could just trim the existing grilles to make sure you have clearance for your new cones, but if your new speakers are anything other than a perfect oval fit then you will have huge "air leaks" round the sides of your new speakers. Hence people (as above) make MDF templates.

Speakers need fit fairly sealed from inside to outside or you won't get any bass at all. It's pretty much the same as holding a car speaker in the air and listening to it - zero bass. You'll get some if you fit a round speaker in the oval Bongo hole, but not much. It's why home hifi speakers are in boxes.....

The easiest thing to do is grab a bit of MDF, cut it to cover the existing hole entirely - just cut a rectangle a bit bigger than the oval, enough to fit screws through to fix it down. Measure out and cut the hole for your new speaker in the MDF so it will be central to the existing oval (for neatness and acoutsics) . Install the speaker in the MDF, screw the MDF to the car panel. Done.

Now you have a mostly sealed installation (you could be super thorough and seal the MDF panel at the edges - though the whole panel is not exactly an air tight fit! so it's not really worth it). p.s. this is why even the stock front speakers give good bass (good for stock speakers in a giant van) - they are really well sealed - the door has a plastic seal internally.

p.s. there is loads of depth room behind the rear grilles.

If you have a Jigsaw this is a 15 min job. If you don't have a jigsaw you really should - they are cheap and so so useful!

[spud350]

So after reading the replies after I'd got the speakers I was dreading the jiggery pokery increase over the fronts which were a bit of a PITA.

The weather is fine so I geared myself up for it. After pulling back the panel it was obvious the whole thing has to come off to make it an easier affair so out came the rear seats.



The side panel just pulls off after removing the rear seatbelt bolt.



Disconnect the switch connector,



and the cigarette lighter connector and pull off the panel.



Take a picture of your new speaker box like so...



There are just 4 self tapping screws holding the nasty old speaker in place so unscrew them and disconnect the speaker connector.



Make a little wiring loom to connect the mazda connector to the new speaker and screw in place. Simples.



And behold the new speaker in place. The beauty is when the panel is reinstalled the is a few mm's gap between the grill and the tweeter. No cutting required.





Refitting is the reversal of removal. The quality is fine and yet again a great improvement of the muffled junk the originals play.

Easy as pie. No mess, no fuss, just screw and go. err

[winchman]

Could you just confirm for me the speaker size?
I want to fit some rears but dont want to remove the kitchen to fit them just yet, so will buy now whilst I can get them cheap and fit later

[spud350]

All the info you need? .... http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j& ... CA&cad=rja

[winchman]

Thanks, going to fit the same as I fitted in the front and mount the tweeters on the ceiling I think
https://www.soundmasterscotland.com/bla ... 19101.aspx

[M 80NGO]

Could you just confirm for me the speaker size?
I want to fit some rears but dont want to remove the kitchen to fit them just yet, so will buy now whilst I can get them cheap and fit later

What kitchen do you have, is it side or rear ? i have a rear kitchen and to change my rear speakers over i just removed the rear folding seats unscrewed the little storage bins, part unclipped the panel to gain access to speakers, put a 4" (100mm ) block of wood behind the panel to hold it away from the side then undone the 3 bolts (13mm i think) holding the speaker housing ( 2 at top 1 at bottom) and removed the whole housing and speaker complete, unplugged the wiring and swapped them over for the new 5 x 7's on my bench, with the speaker wire supplied with the new speakers i made link wires to plug into the origional mazda wiring block then refitted in reverse of removal, took about an hour to do

[winchman]

Could you just confirm for me the speaker size?
I want to fit some rears but dont want to remove the kitchen to fit them just yet, so will buy now whilst I can get them cheap and fit later

What kitchen do you have, is it side or rear ? i have a rear kitchen and to change my rear speakers over i just removed the rear folding seats unscrewed the little storage bins, part unclipped the panel to gain access to speakers, put a 4" (100mm ) block of wood behind the panel to hold it away from the side then undone the 3 bolts (13mm i think) holding the speaker housing ( 2 at top 1 at bottom) and removed the whole housing and speaker complete, unplugged the wiring and swapped them over for the new 5 x 7's on my bench, with the speaker wire supplied with the new speakers i made link wires to plug into the origional mazda wiring block then refitted in reverse of removal, took about an hour to do

Thanks mines a rear, I will give it a go as I dont want to remove the kitchen just yet

[jaylee]

One small question Spud..




The cheap speakers i currently have in the rear i fitted a couple of years back on account of no factory speakers... Though wiring loom was strangely there..

My memory is not so good as to what's behind the panel... Was there a bracket for the factory speakers on yours? Or did they screw directly into a designated space on the framework behind the panel...?

Difficult to see on the photo's...

Nice installation though!

[spud350]

If you look at pic 6 you can see what the speaker screws to. It's the rusty thing and is a bracket held on with 3 bolts. It was already there and almost certainly from the factory. I'm not sure how better to describe it than the pic. At that end you can pull your panel partially away and just peek down to see if yours has them.

[Dodgey]

FYI - My Bongo had no rear speakers, and consequently didn't have the rusty brackets. If I were to mount oval speakers I'd make an MDF mount , much like I did for the round speakers I used - you don't want an air gap between the speaker and the hole/grille or you lose a lot of your low frequency sounds.

If I had the metal bracket I'd ensure that the speaker perimeter pushed nicely against the plastic panel, to give a reasonable seal.