Door Speakers

[petevick]

Hi,
looking at putting a couple of speakers in the door panels on my BGT - any thing I should be aware of, and how has anyone who has done it, routed the speaker cables?

Thanks

Pete

 

[tony barnhill]

Later MGB's had them, no big deal....you can even get door panels with holes already cut in them for speakers.

 

[aerog]

The speaker wires go through the front of the door and come out sort of in the front fender. If you don't have holes there already, just punch a small hole in the front of the door and line it with a rubber grommet, then punch one in the frame about an inch lower or higher than the one in the door, and line it with a grommet. Just route the wires with common sense after that. The holes should be offset so the wire tucks itself into the gap between the door and the frame, rather than move in and out of the holes.

You can just see the wire on my door in this picture - the hole in the door is about an inch higher than the one you can see.

 

[petevick]

Hi,
thanks - will give it a try

Pete

 

[Tullamore]

My car had a set of speakers in the door just forward of the door handles, last night I replaced them with brand new speakers and have found that on the passenger the mechanism that operates the window hits the speaker on the way down.

So basically make sure that you mount your speaker (if it is deep) low enough that it will not interfere with the window. I may post a picture later of where mine are so that you know to put them lower than that.

 

[Tullamore]

My car is also a BGT and here is where the speakers are on my car. The speaker here is a new one I put in last night in the place one of the POs had put a speaker. The problem here is the speakers are too deep so that the speaker on the passenger will need to have spacers to bring it out about a quarter inch. I used the wires that someone else had put in, they run through the hole for the hinge.

 

[aerog]

So basically make sure that you mount your speaker (if it is deep) low enough that it will not interfere with the window.

That was the biggest problem I'd heard of (BCF would have been nice back then /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif )

Pete: I did a lot of research before I bought my speakers. My door panels had the speaker area marked on the back, but they weren't cut out - so I started with that measurement for the speaker diameter, then I measured the dimensions of the internal door structure, followed by the depth to the window and/or mechanism to the external surface of the door panel. The final installation was in the "stock" position on the door panel. The GT might be a little different:

You can fudge the depth a little by putting spacers behind the door panel or behind the speakers. I've seen some doors with massive wooden platforms for deep speakers. If you're within 1/8" or so you can probably fudge it without showing the gap by putting 1/32" spacers behind the door panel, and 1/32" spacers behind the speakers.

 

[tony barnhill]

That's a nice photo, aerog!

One other thing....newer cars with speakers in the doors have plastic 'rain caps' over the top halves of the speakers that keep water from running down onto the speakers from the window area....if your speakers don't come with them, visit your local salvage yard & grab a pair....actually, I've found you can get some pretty nice speakers (Bose, for example) out of late model wrecked cars in salvage yards for pennies!

 

[aerog]

Thanks Tony... You can also get rear enclosures for speakers to moisture-resist the speakers. My speakers aren't paper so I wasn't overly concerned, but I did put the speakers in a loose layer of plastic (essentially zip-lock bag type material). It gets the job done without causing any additional depth/clearance problems. I haven't noticed any sound problems with it either, but YMMV /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

 

[Nunyas]

I second the weather proofing idea. Even if the cone is made of a water proof material, you'll want to keep the moisture to a minimum, corrosion can still happen in the magnet assembly.