Now... how do I fit these speakers? <groan!!>

I haven't actually recieved my new cd player yet (see my other thread on the

10th), but I forgot to mention that I'm also getting some new speakers with it. They're coming with the unit, as a bundle.

Obviously they won't be top of the range, but I just want something to play music at a decent level! :)

The specifications are: "2-way speaker set, 8" bass + tweeter + wiring, nominal power output = 120 watts, maximum power output = 200 watts, 4 Ohm, SPL 87dB/1W1m, 20-25000 hZ"

(whoosh!)

So anyway, I gather that I'll have to mount them on the parcel shelf, using some MDF for it. Other than that, I have no idea.

Is it a really fiddly job or should I just get (as Dan405 suggested!) a man (a professional anyway!) to do it? (well, it would be a mechanic, unless I can get one of my mates to do it..)

Anyone know where I could go to get it done? do general garages fit them? and how much should I expect to pay? (for fitting both the CD player AND speakers, or just the speakers if it's gonna bump up the price a lot doing both). I live in Darlington btw, if anyone can recommend a specific place. Oh yeah, and my speakers that I have atm (just factory ones, at the front) have a loose wire or something in them, the left one doesn't work most of the time, unless I go over a bump in the road and it knocks it, then it works for a min or so... how's that for DIY! ;) I gather that's an easyish job to fix, so would it be worth asking them to do that too?

Or am I just gonna have to do it all myself? *grin*

Thanks, Rachel (novice-girl-person)

Hello Rachel

Dont know if you want my advice :)

But anyway, dont bother mounting 2 way speakers in the rear parcel shelf, best either get some 6 x 9 - 3 way ie kenwood/alpine etc or do what most people do and seperate the sound, you want a sub in the boot up and front you want tweeters and midrange. same for rear doors, if your getting a 3 door car then you wont need the rear door ones,

Speakers in the parcel shelf are just asking to be nicked unless you stealth them, but even then people aint stupid and know what acoustic cloth looks like.

Just buy a nice amp to run it all and job done

Ronny

A Darlo lass, eh? You're just up the road! There is a place in the industrial units behind Morrisons (Morton Park) that we (Orange) use for car kit installs who AFAICR do audio installs and stuff too.

Fitting speakers into a parcel shelf is a doddle though. They'll probably come with a template. You measure and draw a line (on the bottom...) of the shelf which divides the shelf in half, lengthways. Then measure along that line and split it into quarters, marking each place. Place the template so that the centre is aligned with the leftmost mark and draw around the template, marking the speaker cone outline (the large hole) and any screw holes. Do the same with the righmost mark. Then cut them out using a jigsaw or a Drimmell or something. Drop the speakers into place and screw them down using the screws and things provided.

You now need to wire them up, so attach the speaker wire to the speakers and fit the shelf into place. Now, depending upon whether your car has two or four speakers, you may need to run the wire to the front of the car. You'll need to do this if you have two speakers at the moment. It's easy! If you open the door and look along the edge of the opening near the sill, you'll see some trim which holds the carpet down; you need to hide the wires behind trim like that and run it to the front of the car so it ends up behind the dashboard. Then attach to the relavent connections on the head unit.

If you have four speakers in, you may as well just use the existing wiring to the rear speakers; locate it and unplug from the rear speakers. Run the new speaker cable to the existing cable, cut it to length and then join to the new cables using a soldered join or crimped connection.

Then, get some black gaffer tape and use it to neatly stick the speaker wires to the underside of the shelf to stop them hanging down into the boot. Run the rest of the cable down behind the trim on the back of your rear seats or somewhere unobtrusive.

If you want to be able to remove the shelf, cut the wires where they bend to go behind the rear seats. Crimp some bullt connectors to the wires and join them back up. So if you need to take the shelf out, you just unplug the speakers here.

Easy; should take half an hour or so! Not the most professional install and I'll probably get flamed, but since you're not running anything high spec my suggestion above will do the job and all the wires will be neatly tucked away.

It's a pretty simple job to DIY. You'll need to get access to the back of the radio to connect the wires to it, left rear, and right rear, each will have a

+ve and -ve lead. Same with left and right on the front speakers. Speakers that turn on and off when you slap the card / corner hard are usually a loose connector.

These two wires will need to go from the back of the radio to where the speakers will end up, i.e. into the boot / underneath the parcel shelf. You can bodge this easily by lifting the carpet or shove the wires in under the plastic centre console / under the rear seat, depends on the car. To fit the speakers, you need to have holes the size of the cutouts that the box says, clearance under the shelf, if you cut big holes in the shelf you won't be able to change them back again so be sure you are ok about this first. If the parcel shelf lifts out this is much easier.

If the shelf is all floppy then you may decide to stiffen it up with MDF but don't feel it is compulsory.

Then just bolt the speakers in, and connect the wires to them. A good tip is to wire up the radio with the speakers and check it is all working right before you try and fit the bits into the car. Cigar lighter sockets have a handy source of +12 when the ignition is on, last time I needed a quick +12 I was in a field and used a small carrot with the wire coiled on the end to get +12 and another on the side to get an earth. Worked ok. A proper plug is probably better.

Because it is so easy, while many garages will do it thats overkill and driving to a motor mechanic who charges a fairly low hourly rate is easiest and it's hard to see anyone with any sort of pretensions to competence getting this sort of job wrong.