Jump to content

Door card removal + speaker sizes


Recommended Posts

I've come to the conclusion that the factory fitted speakers in my Superb are crap. For a car like this I think its pretty poor.

They can't handle any decent levels of bass and distort easily.

I therefore want to upgrade them so that they sound better than something you might have bought in Tandy in 1990 - Binatone or Amstrad perhaps?

Soooo....... Is the procedure for removing the door cards anything like the MkII Octavia as in starting off at the tweeter grille and going from there? Or is it a completely different method?

Also, I could do with some info on the factory Tandy spec speakers namely diameter and depth, then I can save the hassle of dismembering a door twice.

I might also do something with the tweeters as they are a bit too bright.

Cheers.

Dan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, the doorcard is handy enough to remove.

If you start by removing the insert where the electric window controls are by gently instering a flat head screwdriver and prisibg apart, its well put together so dont be afraid to really push it, it wont break its really tough.

When this has been removed it will reveal two phillips screws, remove these.

Next there are 3-4 phillips screws around the bottom of the door card, remove these.

All that is holding the door card on now are the push pins which will always snap apart when prising the door card from the so buy a handful of these to replace they are a few pence each.

Once the card is seperated you need to disconnect all the cables, from switches and lights then push the door card upwards to remove.

The speaker is held in place by thing which i think are called rivets, not screws so i think you will have to drill these out and then either re-rivet or replace with screws.

If you have any more problems give a shout back and ill help you out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for the good advice there, i'll remove the door card tomorrow and see what size the speakers are.

I have power drills and pop rivet kits so fitting them shouldn't be a problem provided they aren't an obscure czech size emoticon-0143-smirk.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi,

it is 18 inch speakers as the membrane but can be fitted 16 inch as the hole

It is no point to replace them as they not so bad as someone can say

I have thought to replace as well like one year ago to better ones

One pair of 16 inch speakers was for 150 Pounds price so in total was 300 pounds just for speakers, but after one speaker original was removed from the car and fitted to speaker wood box I have done comparison to say better ones.

the results:

1 I did not find 18 inch speaker in stock in the shop so I think 16 inch will fine as they fit nice in the hole but the problems with this:

a) 16 inch speaker have smaller membrane diameter so the bas was lost

b)they are more powerful to originals so before replace speaker I need to do door vibration isolation everywhere perfect to match the power of vibration

2 The sound quality did not find anything better at all because they are smaller so what I get from the power is the middle tones but none the base

3) the cost When in the shop I bought wow speaker for 300 pound I think they will take me away of the sound quality but as you see no - So returned speakers and now Im glad that did not spend these money

What I done is to fix door vibration problems + sound proofing the result less vibration + less sound from outside

maybe more base from the speakers

Next Upgrade will be fit the small wattage amplifier I mean proper one alpine or else

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Door card removal:

(thanks to Ciaran for pointing me in the right direction)

Remove the plastic grille covering the tweeter and surrounding lock/unlock switch. It is held in with plastic clips and pops out fairly easily.

Once removed you'll see a T15 Torx screw behind the door release handle:

Once this screw has been removed, go down to the bottom of the door card, there are 2 more T 15 Torx screws.

To remove the last 2 screws you need to remove the main door pull, it is held in with about 10 plastic clips and takes some effort to pull off:

(at this point, I haven't removed the crap from the door pocket!!)

Once the door pull is free you need to remove 2 plugs - one for the mirror control and the other for window control.

The last 2 screws are now exposed, they are T30 Torx screws:

Once removed, that is all of the fixings taken care of.

Next, you need to pull the door card away from the door, it is held in place by around half a dozen push clips, they are quite strong and I had to apply some welly to get the card off. I got started by removing the kerb/door open warning light. It simply pulls out, be careful with the plastic cover when removing. Once out, disconnect the plug in the back and use the hole in the door to get yourself started.

Work your way along the sides and bottom of the door card until it is free. The top of the card sits in a sill along the top and needs to be lifted upwards for removal.

Once you've got this far you can lift the door card upwards to remove it from the door, be careful as there are quite a few wires still attached! Again, there is a fair amount of resistance but it will come free with a little effort.

Once lifted clear, rest the door card on something soft like a cushion or a dust sheet so you can disconnect the remaining wires:

Red door LED

White door handle recess LED

Door lock switch connector

Tweeter connector

Once removed, you will also need to push the door release handle out through the door card rather than attempt to disconnect the door release cable, again, it is held in with a number of plastic clips and comes out fairly easily. Now you can place the door card somewhere safe. You are now left with this:

I gently wedged the door release assembly behind some wires to keep it out of the way.

Now you are left with the speaker - riveted in place with what looks like 3/16" aluminium pop rivets.

The speaker connector is easy enough to remove, the rivets drill out with no problems.

Some of the rivet heads will fall into the door cavity and are very hard to retrieve

NOTE: drill out the rivets with the window UP for obvious reasons.

Once drilled out - hey presto, the speaker is out:

To be frank, the speaker looks and feels cheap.

Two of the wires are from the head unit, the other two go to the tweeter:

Red: Tweeter positive

Red/Brown: Tweeter negative

Blue/Brown: Speaker positive from HU

Blue: Speaker negative from HU

The speaker cone looks like its 6.5" diameter, the overall speaker is around 7" diameter and the fixings are about 7.5" diameter but I need to take some better measurements later on.

Safe clearance at the back of the speaker is around 25mm from the mounting point of the speaker.

Refitting the door card is the reversal of above ensuring all connectors are secure and re covered with their foam jackets where fitted.

As for the door clips, there is a number on there which looks like the part number: 6Q0 863 243 but I haven't verified it. The door clips tend to break if you aren't too careful. They go back ok but I suspect they won't a second time round.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What are you going to put in there? I do not like my bass eighter, but I think it is the door and not the speaker...

I don't know yet, i've kept the speaker out of the door for the moment so I can consult some car audio centres for their opinion.

The speakers distort at moderate volumes with the bass levels set at around the mid level, this is not acceptable. In theory, the speakers should be able to cope with whatever the head unit throws at them. Clearly the factory speakers are incapable of this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great post, I've been planning to put some decent ones in mine, so very grateful of the instructions.

Not a problem, if you have any specific queries let me know, I'll keep this post updated as I progress.

Haven't tackled the rear cards yet but I am sure they will be similar. If there are any peculiarities to the rear cards I'll post accordingly emoticon-0148-yes.gif

I might try and do something with the tweeters to reduce their 'brightness' a little.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After some research. I may have found a suitable adaptor to mount whatever speakers I like, might consider a Pioneer 2 way component system with a passive crossover to control the tweeters a little better rather than just a cheapo capacitor glued on the back.

As for sizing, I believe the Columbus chucks out 4x20W RMS @4 Ohms so I will have to be careful when sizing the new ones as I don't want to be in a position like before where they distort badly at higher volumes or with heavy bass at moderate volumes. Conversely, I don't want massively under-driven speakers where the amp may 'clip' at the highest volumes when it runs out of puff trying to drive the coils properly.

Most speakers are rated at their peak power, not RMS or continuous or nominal power.

I remember having a 2x15W RMS OEM head unit driving a pair of infinity speakers rated at 50W RMS but it sounded fine most of the time unless it was really turned up high in which case the sound distorted due to the amp clipping.

http://www.caraudiod...r-adaptors.html

Just to clarify something here - I am not trying to create some chav wagon you can hear thumping away miles down the road outside McDonald's, I am after high quality levels of clean bass at decent volumes on the few occasions I crank the music up emoticon-0144-nod.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Excellent post. The door card clips are P/N 6Q0 868 243, just checked ;)

Cheers emoticon-0148-yes.gif The numbers printed on the side are absolutely tiny emoticon-0144-nod.gif

I think i'll order half a dozen for when I change the speakers. The adaptors will be with me tomorrow so i'll measure them up against the removed speaker and see what's what.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Right, the speaker adaptors have just arrived emoticon-0148-yes.gif good service from CarAudioDirect, arrived in less than 24 hours.

The plastic is good quality and very rigid with minimal flex when pressure is applied.

They match up almost perfectly:

You can see here, the rivet holes line up perfectly. the plastic rim is a little thicker but it doesn't look like it'll be a problem mounting on the doors if you look at the pic with the original speaker still fitted. The adaptor measures 165mm overall where the new speaker will sit.

The depth of the adaptor is also perfect.

I think i'll opt for a set of Infinity components with the passive crossover. I've had good results with them in the past. The tweeters come with some fangled patented OEM adaptor system so hopefully they'll fit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now made by Lego :giggle:

More like Amstrad...................

I've just ordered some Pioneer 2 way components http://www.pioneer.eu/uk/products/25/131/201/TS-A170Ci/specs.html

50w RMS so nothing too over the top. They also come with an external passive crossover so it should get rid of the excessive brightness the current setup suffers from.

I was temped by the Infinity Kappa 2 ways BUT they have 2 Ohm voice coils, despite Infinity stating it is perfectly fine to run 2 Ohm speakers from a 4 Ohm head unit I decided it would be safer to stick with a 4 Ohm system.

Popping the amp in the Columbus would be an expensive mistake and I do like to crank the volume up on occasions which isn't safe when running 2 Ohm speakers emoticon-0145-shake.gif

Watch this space....................

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Quick update:

I've fitted the speakers to the car and there is a very noticeable improvement in sound quality.

I managed to fit the tweeters into the OEM housings, the originals were held in place with a few drops of what looks like glue and a couple of plastic clips, the Pioneer tweeters sit in the housings but aren't a tight fit so a few drops of Araldite hold them securely in place.

The main speakers are a perfect fit for the VW adaptors and make them the same depth as the OEM speakers give or take 5mm. The diameter of the Pioneer speakers is 17cm. I also Araldited the speakers to the adaptors in addition to 4 fixing screws to prevent any rattling.

6 new pop rivets and a little silicon sealant and the speakers are fitted to the door, I drilled two holes into the side of the plastic adaptors to allow for the new speaker wires.

I mounted the passive crossover just below the main speaker as there is some spare room once the door card is fitted on. Its held in place with a double sided sticky pad and araldite to prevent it coming loose over the next pothole.

Everything is wired up and securely fixed to existing wiring to prevent any rattles. The old speaker connector is wrapped in foam and secured rather than mess about trying the strip out the old cables which would increase the risk of rattles.

Reassembly of the door cards and its job done, each door took about 90 minutes to complete.

The main problems with the OEM setup are the tweeters, they are way too bright and tinny, even with the treble backed right off they are still overpowering. There is also an issue with distortion, the vocals suffer from distortion in a song with a heavy bass line. The crude crossover is clearly the cause of this. A tiny little capacitor on the back of the tweeter isn't really up to the job and appears to allow too much bass through causing it to distort.

This has been completely eliminated with the Pioneer passive crossover which incorporates a nice big cap and inductor.

Photo to follow once i've pulled them out of the iPhone emoticon-0136-giggle.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Any more updates on this?, did you do the rears too and if so did the same kit fit ok? I'm about to order parts to do mine as my poor ears cant take it much longer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Door card removal:

(thanks to Ciaran for pointing me in the right direction)

<snipped>

Hey dstev2000, thank you for this post. Would you be so kind as to put it under the 'Technical Guides' section under Superb? Thanks in advance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi,

it is 18 inch speakers as the membrane but can be fitted 16 inch as the hole

It is no point to replace them as they not so bad as someone can say

I have thought to replace as well like one year ago to better ones

One pair of 16 inch speakers was for 150 Pounds price so in total was 300 pounds just for speakers, but after one speaker original was removed from the car and fitted to speaker wood box I have done comparison to say better ones.

the results:

1 I did not find 18 inch speaker in stock in the shop so I think 16 inch will fine as they fit nice in the hole but the problems with this:

a) 16 inch speaker have smaller membrane diameter so the bas was lost

b)they are more powerful to originals so before replace speaker I need to do door vibration isolation everywhere perfect to match the power of vibration

2 The sound quality did not find anything better at all because they are smaller so what I get from the power is the middle tones but none the base

3) the cost When in the shop I bought wow speaker for 300 pound I think they will take me away of the sound quality but as you see no - So returned speakers and now Im glad that did not spend these money

What I done is to fix door vibration problems + sound proofing the result less vibration + less sound from outside

maybe more base from the speakers

Next Upgrade will be fit the small wattage amplifier I mean proper one alpine or else

18" Speakers are you sure they arent 18 cm??

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Community Partner

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Welcome to BRISKODA. Please note the following important links Terms of Use. We have a comprehensive Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.