I installed the front Polk 5.25's yesterday. I just used the factory
speaker as my spacer. I recommend it, so much easier to do than to
make your own spacer. Took me no more than 35min to do one side.



here's what my factory speakers look like in the trash...well, not the
plug.


backside... salvaged the factory plug.


What it looks like installed... perfect fit. I just cut one of the two wires.
going to the tweeter and e-taped it over.


The sound vs stock is much more refined. for the price, nothing beats
Polk coax's. total price spent... $90. Polk's doing a buy one get
second pair 1/2 price, so id recommend you do the rear speakers too if
you're planning to wire up a sub like the BassLink and be tapping the rear
speakers anyway.

 

Nice job! I'm searching out alternatives to improving the audio in my 05 mcs non-HK without installing an amp.

Do you still use the oem hu?

By eliminating the component tweeter, you've sent the highs down to floor level...presumably this is no problem?

hs

 

I did Alpine in the front, haven't done the rears yet.

One tip, while you have the panels off, put some Dynamat in there, makes all the difference in the world!

 

Hey Bald Biker Guy - where exactly did you apply the Dynamat? Thanks

 

hugh- Thanks. yah, im running the stock HU. The Polks have enough high
dispersion.

baldbikerguy- my mids are coming from the Polks and factory rear,
the bass from the BassLink... so the Polks do not need to pump out
much bass at all. so no real need to do dynamat in my case as there
isn't much vibration from the speaker anyway. 525's dont move
nearly as much volume as 650's.

 

Nicely done ... neat trick to "modify" the original speakers.

BTW for other people - you can get an adaptor to fit 6.5" speakers in the doors; bigger surface gives you more options and should be better sound.

When I had GBMINI upgraded, Jamie put Dynamat everywhere! Check out my weblog entry and Gallery pics ... for example:

 

GBMINI- thanks yeh, im kinda on a budget right now so just went with
the 525 coax's... the rear factory speakers and Basslink fills up the
frequencies pretty well.

dang, the glass clears the crossovers there, huh? wow nice

 

I've got the H/K and suffered with the obligatory vibration of the grills against the spekers bezels. While doing the stick felt mod, I put damping material EVERYWHERE (see GBMINI above) and the difference was day and night. Made me finally feel like the H/K really was an upgrade!

Dynamat can be expensive. I've doen several cars with alternate brands and have had god success with FatMat. You can google for their site, or check eBay. There's a vendor there that sells 50 sq ft for 60 bucks. That's way more than you'll need for your dors, but you'll have plenty if you get into the rear speaker cavities and have some left over to do a friends car.

I also know peoople who have had good results with Bitchethane type roofing products sold at Home Depot. Some of these may have strong odors after installation, so use at your own risk, but many claim good results with little or no odor (and it usually dissapates) with some brands.

I would never consider any install complete until the environment the components are in is optomized. It really made a difference with my H/K. I think I might actually keep it!

Steve

 

Ian, what's that mounted inside your door?

 

As Kenchan said above, it is the crossover for the component speakers in the doors (separates low/high frequencies to the low/high speaker drivers).

And yes, it does clear the door glass ... just

 

when I replaced the fronts with 6 1/2" Infinity's shallow mounts, I used coaxials but I also left the stock 1" tweeters working too and didn't have to use any different crossover or wirings....just plugged 'em in....I like the extra brilliance

 

I did the same thing with a set of JL XR series. Dremel out some mounting notches and it works like a charm. My crossovers are mounted right next to it and they sound amazing.

 

cool. :smile: yeh, this is so easy to do. I have a dremel but was too
lazy to go get it so just took my snippers, made the
slot markings vertically on the lip, and just took my pliers and broke
off the lip. Smoothed it out with my knife. very quick and easy.

(for those that want to try, we are talking about the area where the
Polk's screw bracket area protrudes past the factory spacer's outer lip.
Also, there's a little plastic notch that sticks out inside the spacer where
you need to cut it off/dremel it too. You'll know what Im talking about
as the speaker will not line up correctly without removing that part off
because the speaker frame/basket rubs against it)

 

Great minds think alike

I did the same thing with my Audiobahn ABC525T's...I used a dremel by the way.

 

cool! nice job.

That factory speaker is such a waste to just toss in the trash,
so it's great to fabricate it into a spacer!