Ugh

This has been a car audio nightmare week for me (starting last week).

The speakers I bought and hooked up (infinity 6000cs) might not fit into my car, which is a 4dr. So right now I am driving around audioless because the speakers are hitting the door panels.

I also noticed something up with my sub. The box I had made, I put some paneling on the outside of the box and was going to add stained wood trim, instead of carpeting. Well, for whatever reason the sub pushed itself right out of the box, and took the front paneling with it.

At this point I think I am going to just carpet the thing and mount the sub again.

I've got no clue what to do with the speakers themselves, except to maybe grind down the door some where the speaker hole goes, which is something I really don't want to do. I've already drilled 3 sets of holes on the driver side, none of which worked. Can anyone think of anything adverse from grinding down that speaker hole, such as weakening the door strength (side impact collision?).

And to top it off, I have interference comming through my tweeters, that can only be remedied by turning the gains pretty low, which means the speakers are not as loud as they could be, or as I would like them to be.

Hopefully I get a chance to look at everything and get it fixed this week, but I'm not feeling too confident.

issed: :Noooo:

[mikegett]

If you are looking for a classic wood look to the sub, try vaneer. I don't know how familiar yuo are with wood working ( one of my favorite hobbies ) but vaneer is thin sliced wood that can be glued on to a surface. Most common vaneers are long slices of the trunk that can range up to eight feet by four feet and are 1/32 thick. However, my favorite is 1/16 to 1/8 burl cuts. These are the cuts made from the trunk of a tree and have the knotty appearance.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...7334253731&rd=1
You can find good prices on ebay and make a very nice sub box. As long as you have a router and use a double contact cement (found at wal-mart) you are good to go.
As for your speakers. It is hard to suggest a fix without knowing exactly what you are encountering. Can you take a pic of what you want to cut?
What type of sound is coming from your tweets? I am assuming you are refering to the new components. Where did you put the crossovers? Are they in the doors? If you have the door panels off, then pull the wires coming from the crossovers to the tweets away from the door. Did the noise go away. If so, you are getting electrical interference. I wrap my wires in aluminum foil (the two foot long sheets) and ground it to the door frame. This acts as a shield from interference. Another issue may be the HU preouts. If your amp excepts a lower input voltage than what your HU produces it can easily get a pre amp "humming" that only goes away by decreasing the gains. What is your HU out put and your amp input rated for? If it is too high, you can purchase a line level attenuator from sound domain. It reduces the voltage of your HU to match the amp. I have to use one on my older eclipse amp and nakamichi amp with the 8 volt HU's.

[mike2002]

the reason your speaker is hitting your door panel is because the speaker needs to be at a angle to clear the door panel. im not sure on the exact part number, maybe someone can chime in. but there's a plate made for older gm's, like 96 cavileers or somthing that will mount the speaker at a angle. try pm'ing "formulanerd" i think he had the same speakers. there are also a few other tricks. i put the speaker grilles on, so it made the door panel bulge a little so it helped clear it.

even with the adapter it'll still hit. yeah... i think the only way is with the speaker grills or cutting the door.

[jamcllw]

Originally posted by hubcaps@Jul 6 2005, 07:06 PM
even with the adapter it'll still hit. yeah... i think the only way is with the speaker grills or cutting the door.

Quoted post

I have the exact same speakers he's trying to install and I didn't have to cut anything. I used the adapters. I got them from best buy they are for a 95 Cavalier. It took me a couple of hours to find the right spot where they didn't hit anything.

I do have the adapters for the speakers, I got a set off ebay which are made for 99 (i think) and up grand ams aleros and cavs.

One problem has sort of been resolved. I found out the major interference is infact comming from the LOCs because I unhooked the sub LOC and 90% of the noise stopped. I thought it was partly because I crossed a wire with a power wire, but I fixed that and I still get the sound.

I bought a aftermarket LOC, one that I believe uses a ground wire, but I havent opend it yet. I'm not really sure what approach to take to solve the interference from the LOCs.

I also think that the cause of the speakers cutting out was just a bad connection at the speaker with the speaker wire.

jamcllw - when you installed these speakers, how did u keep trying new locations for the speakers? Did you drill tons of holes? Also, was the final location just the speaker adapter on the door, as in no angling using some sort of shim or anything?

I've got 2 pics here, of stuff I was thinking about cutting off to make room for the speaker. I think the door panel pic is the best idea because I don't think it would affect anything.

correction:

Either the connection is still bad, or that wasn't the problem because the speakers continue to cut out. It happens mostly when braking, but other times while stopped as well, such as when sitting at a redlight.

The speakers were (I think this stopped) cutting out when I would shift from Park.

[mikegett]

I don't think I would cut out the door post. Since it is the corner post and located right at the source of the speaker vibrations, you door will rattle with every beat. It is hard to say what could be causing the speakers from cutting out. Just try to be logical about your approach. If there are multiple speakers affected then look at the amp. Does the power light flash on or off indicating a poor ground, power, or turn on wire. If it seems fine, your HU ground or power may be coming loose. If you ground to the frame of the car (I suggest against this for reasons of noise) then check it for a loose connection.

I don't think the problem is the amp, because I didn't have a problem with this when I only had the sub hooked up. The sub had always played fine (it is unhooked right now as I am fixing the box) so it's only the speakers that do this sporadically.