Stereo problem help! Speakers?

ScottP · Feb 14, 2005

I have a 99 D with Infinity. 3 of the 4 door speakers vibrate badly every time the bass hits. Definitly coming from the speaker itself (took one out of the door and watched it.) Can someone more versed in car audio tell me if it's more likely a speaker problem, amp problem, or head unit problem? It started with one speaker, and gradually "spread" to the others within a few weeks (unless I just didn't notice them right away.) I tried to connect another speaker to see if it did the same, but could barely hear it. Have since learned the Infinity's are 2-Ohm speakers (!) Any advice on how to tell what's broken and not replace things that aren't? Thanks!

Scott

DurangoPaul · Feb 16, 2005

Common problem with the stock speackers, the speaker material separates from the frame. Some have had luck using silicone sealant to repair them but I went to www.crutchfield.com and bought replacements at a reasonable price. I put pioneer three ways in the rear doors and JBL 2 ways in the front. Sounds great and have lasted a long time.

Mexican Durango · Feb 16, 2005

I had the same problem. The stock infinity speakers are crap. When I looked at mine after I replaced them the flexible material joining the speaker cone to the frame was crumbling. I swear that they must be designed to self destruct after a set number of days as I'd expect speakers to last longer than four years (I have a 2000 D.)

Big Al · Feb 16, 2005

Had the same problem with my rear speakers back in Sept and successfully glued the cone back to the frame with a bead of "contact cement" around the edge. Last week I noticed the left front speaker has now started vibrating the same way and plan on repairing the front speakers this weekend.

As was pointed out above, I also found the original glue they used to attach the cone to the frame had "disintegrated" into a fine powder (the cone was still completely intact!) If you have some mechanical skill, it's fairly easy to take the front off the speaker and apply new glue but, on the rear one's, you do need to be careful not to pull out the wires going to the built-in tweeter element.

DetroitD · Feb 16, 2005

How long?

I play my stock Inifinity system loud more often than soft - with a fair amount of bass. No problems with speakers falling apart yet, but it's an '01.

Where do you learn the speakers are 2ohm?
Are replacements from Crutchfield compatible with the Infinity system amp?
And how easy is it to get the door panels off front & rears?

And for those who have amps in the rear of the truck, did you run all new power wires from the front or are there a decent gage power & ignition wires to tap into?

Jackseric · Feb 16, 2005

I had one up front and one in the rear go at the same time just a few weeks ago, too. (same issue - foam surround separated from the speaker frame) I just yesterday pulled them out and am now staring at the replacement speakers wondering how I'm going to get them to mount to these damn spacer/brackets. Anyone have suggestions? What a pain in the ass? why would they design these things with no easy way to attach a different speaker?

Also, I have read many places that the factory speakers are 2ohm. I can verify this because I pulled out the woofer from the 2 speaker front door, and the coax from the back door and tested both with my digital multimeter. They both tested at 2.1 Ohms of resistance. Since most aftermarket speakers are 4 Ohm setups? I'm suprised there isn't a problem with just swapping them out. But since there are many, MANY posts on here of people doing so? I'm just going to do it and see how it turns out.

for what it's worth? I got XR series JL Audio 6.5" speakers for replacements. I listened to a bunch of different models, and NONE of them had anywhere near the bass and mid-bass output with as clean of highs as these. Pretty freaking sweet for such small speakers!

DurangoPaul · Feb 16, 2005

I bought mine through crutchfield on sale and they came with both the mounting adapter and wiring adapter. Made it simple as pie to replace.

Big Al · Feb 16, 2005

Well, for the rear ones?

Use a small flat-blade screwdriver to pry the plastic tabs on the adapter away from the metal tabs on the speaker body (where the screws go thru) and then use a second screwdriver to start separating the speaker from the adapter. The problem is they attached the adapter to the speaker using a "sticky goo" (sorta resembles the tar they use to patch roads) so just releasing the tabs won't let the speaker come lose!

BTW, don't try to rush it but work on getting one part of the speaker lose first and then it's easy to work your way around the edge and get it completely separated from the adapter.

Of course your replacement speakers will need to be pretty much "exactly" the same as the OEM one's (i.e. same diameter, same mounting tabs in same locations) in order to fit them into the OEM adapter so it may not be worth the trouble to do this!?!?

toddjb123 · Feb 24, 2005

Big Al said:
Had the same problem with my rear speakers back in Sept and successfully glued the cone back to the frame with a bead of "contact cement" around the edge?

Wow, this is great to hear (wish I'd have read it 2 days ago!) I just went through a speaker replacement attempt and what a pain in the ass it was.

Question - you said you fixed the factory ones with contact cement? Do you think clear silicone would work? I'll work on something- I guess you need to have a solid seal all the way around, right? My cones are seperating as noted.

3 of my 4 speakers rattle like crazy and sound awful. One still sounds great. I like good sound but am not a total audio snob, so I'm pretty happy with the sound of the factory Infinitys in my '99 D.

I actually bought some replacements from Crutchfield (6.5" pioneers) that sound much worse than the Infinitys and the speaker bracket that came with these was nowhere close to the "plug and play" solution (which was advertised.) I'm amazed that speaker resellers will always tell you that anything will be better than the stock speakers that you have. Well, I was surprised how much better sounding and how much more bass I get out of the factory speakers than these replacements. Granted I got them on sale for $50 a pair and could surely get better ones, but I'm not looking to upgrade any additional equipment. (amps, etc.)

If the silicone/glue fix will get rid of my rattle, that's my weekend project!

Thanks for any help and the tips I have already read.

-todd

(btw - LOVE the look of the new forum. I used to use the old forum quite a bit and finally just got fed up with the forum software and stopped coming by. Glad to see you're using a mainstream forum program. Nice work!)

Jackseric · Feb 24, 2005

toddjb123 -

I have used silicone adhesive/sealant on speaker cones in the past with mixed results. Usually you have to get REALLY good coverage in order to actually complete the seal. But if you use too much? then the silicone actually limits the movement of the cone. It doesn't have TOO terrible of an affect? it just reduces the bass output of the speaker slightly. So to use the gluing method as a temporary fix while you shop or save for new speakers? it's great. But long term? you're definitely giving up sound quality.

Try it and good luck!
Eric

Big Al · Feb 24, 2005

What you need is something that's very flexable once it's dry so it won't cause a "dead spot" where the cone attaches to the metal frame.

A good silicon caulk would probably work if applied in a thin film but, when I couldn't find any place local to buy the actual speaker cone glue, I decided to go with contact cement because it's a lot more "liquidy" than silicon. This makes it easy to apply and it naturally "flows" onto an area giving a nice even, flat, coverage unlike silicon which stays where it's been applied unless you squeeze it around with something like your fingers - not such a good idea when working on a speaker cone! I used a "small" model paint brush to apply it around the front edge of the cone right where it touches the frame.

As for the quaility of the OEM Infinity speakers, I agree completely!

When I upgraded my own audio (JVC KS-FX434 Tuner/Tape deck/CD Controller & Alpine ERE-G180 equalizer in the dash with a JVC CH-X99 12 Disc Changer in the center console) I fully expected I'd also need new speakers because of all the posts I'd seen on the old forum claiming they were crap! However, I was very surprised to find that, once I'd properly adjusted the equalizer, the stock speakers put out some really awesome sound (including a good strong bass beat

)

toddjb123 · Feb 24, 2005

Big Al said:
? I decided to go with contact cement because it's a lot more "liquidy" than silicon. This makes it easy to apply and it naturally "flows" onto an area giving a nice even, flat, coverage? I used a "small" model paint brush to apply it around the front edge of the cone right where it touches the frame?

Thanks for the tips. Can you give me a brand or type of contact cement to look for in the hardware store? I have seen several different ones (gooey and liquid) and want to pick something that'll work good with the fabric - not too thin that it gets absorbed and doesn't hold strong and not too gooey that its a chore to apply.

Great info. Thanks!
-todd

tomk · Feb 24, 2005

Jackseric said:
Also, I have read many places that the factory speakers are 2ohm. I can verify this because I pulled out the woofer from the 2 speaker front door, and the coax from the back door and tested both with my digital multimeter. They both tested at 2.1 Ohms of resistance. Since most aftermarket speakers are 4 Ohm setups? I'm suprised there isn't a problem with just swapping them out. But since there are many, MANY posts on here of people doing so? I'm just going to do it and see how it turns out.

Oops. Bad science.

Resistance isn't the same as impedance.

In the case of single speakers (without crossovers etc), the measured resistance is *always* lower than the impedance.

grantos · Feb 24, 2005

What are the shape of the speakers?

I have replaced the foam surrounds on my infinity home speakers in the past. Yout can get re-foaming kits from various places around the country. Try typing in "speaker foam" into eBay search.

I think the last time I have done my speakers was a good 5 years ago. It's tedious and a little time consuming but worth it if the drivers are worth anything.

aloha,
g

Jackseric · Feb 24, 2005

tomk said:
Oops. Bad science.

Resistance isn't the same as impedance.

In the case of single speakers (without crossovers etc), the measured resistance is *always* lower than the impedance.

That's true? though I believe I have read in a few places that the difference between resistance and nominal impedance is almost always 15% or less. That would make the impedance for those speakers approximately 2.4 ohm? and since impedance varies with frequency? I'd think it could easily be considered a 2 ohm load. I know it's not exact? but close, no :?

Big Al · Feb 24, 2005

I used the Loctite pictured below (got it at Wal-mart for a few bucks)
<img src=http://www.loctiteproducts.com/common/graphics/products/loctite/productshots/Item_1682.gif>
It's water & heat resistant, bonds quickly and has a thick gooey consistancy about like pancake batter. It comes with a brush in the cap but it's much too large to use for this purpose.

loudrango · Feb 24, 2005

Jackseric,you could cut off the lead from your factory speaker and put it on the aftermarket one.nice and painless and it plugs right back in.the wire with the black stripe is negative just in case you didn't know.just for my fellow D owners I went to the iasca (int'l autosound challenge assoc.)world finals this past november in kentucky.out of 400 entrees I had the only D there and I placed 6th in my class.overall I'm 13th in the world in stock 3 class and this organization consists of 26 countries so far.not too shabby for a first year competitor!!see me in the march issue of performance auto and sound!!will be top three this year!!

FSTDANGO3 · Feb 25, 2005

Great Job!

And we get to hear that Awesome system at Carlisle in July!
Steve
VP DOC

ScottP · Feb 25, 2005

Since I started this, I though I'd update with results. I decided to take the contact cement/craft brush suggestion. I discovered that both rear speakers were COMPLETELY detached from the frame, just "floating" there! I used a razor knife to cut away the cloth front of the speaker and remove it. Then gently pushed the edge of the speaker up from the back with a finger and used a tiny brush to apply the contact cement beneath it, then let go and moved to the next section. I let it dry for about 20 minutes and reinstalled. Result: success! No vibration, good bass has returned, and cost $3! Thanks to all for the suggestions; you have saved me a bunch of money.

Scott

loudrango · Feb 25, 2005

Steve,my new setup is even bigger and louder than the one I competed with at finals!!this way I can keep my word about being top three this year.I'd be glad to let ya hear it!! :mrgreen:

Stereo problem help! Speakers?

ScottP

DurangoPaul

Mexican Durango

Big Al

DetroitD

Jackseric

DurangoPaul

Big Al

toddjb123

Jackseric

Big Al

toddjb123

tomk

grantos

Jackseric

Big Al

loudrango

FSTDANGO3

ScottP

loudrango

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