Fitting Door Speakers in a MK2 - coaxial or component?

[bpascua]

Hello,

I was about to get some new door speakers for my 97 MK2. I would prefer not to have have to make any templates and searching on the list the 17 cm Kenwoods from halfords (Kenwood KFC-1769S?) Seem to be suggested as fitting straight in and giving reasonable sound. I was about to order these when I noticed some alpine component speakers for not alot more (Alpine SXE-1750S 17cm) Can anyone tell me if its harder to fit the component speakers? is it a case of just takling the door car off and then unplugging the little tweeter and swapping it with the new one you get ? or is there extensive wiring to be done?

Thanks

Brian

[jrleech]

Components without a doubt. You want the tweeter as close to ear level as you can, sticking it in the middle of the woofer in the door card will kill the sound stage.

As the car already comes with component speakers, replacing them with ones the same size is pretty easy. All the tweeters are pretty much the same size and should fit behind the little triangle in the window corner OK, and the door cutout will take quite a range of speaker sizes, though you may need to make up spacers etc...

Cheers,
Jon

[Tommetalmonkey]

I fitted alpine 17 cm components in my doors. You need a spacer for the main speaker and the tweeter should fit in the space for the original one. You'll need to find space for crossovers though. I put these in the door pockets as there's not much space behind the door cards

[Rich j]

ditto to above, easy to install and sound great.

[bpascua]

Ok - I bought the Kenwood jobbies and I am going to have a go at fitting them this weekend. I dont suppose someone could give me an idea of how to get the door cards off?

Thanks

Brian

[DARRYN]

To remove the door card....
remove the small screw behind the door handle and remove the outer trim
take the cap off of the screw on the front edge of the door card (above and to the front from the speaker grill) and remove the screw, remove the screws along the bottom edge of the door card.
clip out the door pull by levering with a flat screwdriver (cover the end of the screwdriver with tape to protect door card)
clip out the window control unit using a flat screw driver , lift the front edge first (it's clipped in) then pull up and forward to avoid breaking the catches.
disconnect the wiring from the window control unit.
now pull the lower edge of the door card free from it's clips and continue to loosen all around.
remove the tweeter triangle cover by pulling back on the top edge to release the clip then pull free.
reach behind the card and disconnect the courtesy light wiring.
the doorcard should now be free to pull away with some wiggling.
Reverse this to replace.
Just done this twice in the last few days to add courtesy lights in the footwells.

[jim]

the doorcard should now be free to pull away with some wiggling.

I find this is much easier if you wind the window down fully before you remove the control switch panel.

[bpascua]

Thanks guys. I replaced the speakers on saturday and the new ones sound much better. One part of the door pannel I couldnt really get back on properly was the plastic bit that sits around the door lever on the inside (held on by a small screw). It doesnt seem to sit flush on either door anymore. Is there a trick to getting this bit back on? it was certaily hard to get it off in the first place.


Cheers

Brian