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just realized the door panel is raised

2K views 14 replies 4 participants last post by  zameus 
#1 ·
I noticed after my install that the door panel of my sedan is raised up a little bit because the diamond audio mid is too deep for the door... strangely, the speaker is the same depth as the stock speaker... anyway how do I cut the sheet metal on the door to accomodate the speaker? Is it dangerous to do myself?
 
#3 ·
the Diamond audio is mounted right onto the stock location on the door panel. There is a circle with 3 posts to screw in the speaker. I put it in the circle where the stock speaker was.

Ron, you have put diamond audio mids in the sedan doors w/o modifications? The sedan door is so damn shallow!

Thanks
 
#5 ·
Did you remove the factory fit spacer ring ?

Not clear from your original post but when you remove the original driver, there's a small plastic reducer/spacer which seals the front gasket to the door card. Has this been removed ?

On the string idea... wouldn't use it myself. It won't last as long as a ply or MDF baffle. Seems a shame to spend all that money on some high quality drivers then compromise on the installation - biggest cause of dissatisfaction imo for people that have ivested sometimes huge amounts in their product is through poor install or setup.

Also, around the factory fit driver, there are a lot of gaps where the fabric and plastic trims are inter and overlapped. Sealing these with some Dynamat or even some polyester gel coat helps improve the mid bass tremendously. You could go the full hog and glass the new baffles in thereby sealing them fully and at the same time contimuing it across to strengthen the panel a bit more....

The door pockets resonate where the liner is sperate from the actual trimmed outer skin...but you need to dampen the rest of the door a lot to get to that level of pickiness.
 
#7 ·
Hey Delirium,

I got those L-Pads on the Diamond tweeters and the volume is perfect. Still thinking about moving them to the doors though. they're still a little bright for my taste and I think it may improve imaging. I started a new thread on that to see if anyone else has tried it.

Are you sure that door skin is metal? It sounded like ABS or something when I tapped it. I'm curious about this as well. I'm tempted to cut it to get an absolutely perfect fit but I'm nervous about water getting to the speaker.

I really don't see how the 6.5" diamond driver could possibly fit perfectly without either mounting to the outside of the panel or shaving/cutting that door shell a bit.

As far as the spacer ring goes, I think that's only the HK speakers. I'm pretty sure the stock speakers have it molded into the speaker and the grille design.
 
#8 ·
Hmmmm . .may only be there on the coupe but is not HK dependant as I've removed both setups and the spacer ring is the same.

Just checked the parts disk and it's there on both - described as cover part no. 51418257287 - idenitcal part on both coupe and saloon.

You may want to check it's there and if so, remove it (simple pull off) to allow another 10 mm of mount depth.
 
#9 ·
Hmm, ok I'll have to check that out.. is it attached to the factory speaker? There is a bracket/ring that is attached to the factory speaker....


spr0cket said:
Hmmmm . .may only be there on the coupe but is not HK dependant as I've removed both setups and the spacer ring is the same.

Just checked the parts disk and it's there on both - described as cover part no. 51418257287 - idenitcal part on both coupe and saloon.

You may want to check it's there and if so, remove it (simple pull off) to allow another 10 mm of mount depth.
 
#11 ·
But on both the coupes I've worked on (one HK and one non) once you've removed the factory driver (complete with it's mounting flange with 3 tabs, there's an additional trim ring (simple circular piece) which push fits onto the plastic trim / grille housing.

It actually presses hard against the factory drivers flange to seal it, between the foam surround and the steel chassis ring.
 
#12 ·
I've gotta take a look at that. Maybe it's there and I just didn't notice it. That would be killer. I could use another 10mm of mounting depth in the midbass location. I think that would be just enough to get the magnet away from the door shell and get a better seal.
 
#13 ·
Ok, I better re-check to see if its still in there. Is it pressed hard in there or does it just fall out? Nothing just fell out of it.. maybe I have to pry it out?

spr0cket said:
But on both the coupes I've worked on (one HK and one non) once you've removed the factory driver (complete with it's mounting flange with 3 tabs, there's an additional trim ring (simple circular piece) which push fits onto the plastic trim / grille housing.

It actually presses hard against the factory drivers flange to seal it, between the foam surround and the steel chassis ring.
 
#14 · (Edited)
It push fits on - not too hard but it wouldn't fall out.

If you look at the door card rear, with speaker removed, you should see a whole load of plastic pins and plastic welds around the grille - if they are not totally visible, then the spacer (cover) is still in place.

Sounds confusing but all will become clear once you've lifted it off... and smacked your head on the desk a couple of times ;)

And for anyone who's considering the idea, you can actually remove the plastic welds at this point (around the rear of the circular spekaer grille)and drop the original grille straight out - leaving a sizeable hole in the door card which you could fabricate a baffle to and perhaps even do so without any modifications to the factory trim - allowing return to standard at a later time and as much moutn depth as you could ever want.
 
#15 · (Edited)
Unfortunately the sedans do not have the spacer ring. Either that or I removed it already and forgot about it but I don't think that's the case.

I had my doors off to relocate my tweeters so I took a look. Took some picts while I was at it.

http://photos.e46fanatics.com/showphoto.php?photo=1831

http://photos.e46fanatics.com/showphoto.php?photo=1832

http://photos.e46fanatics.com/showphoto.php?photo=1833

What's worse is I realized that the lip the driver front is pressing against could be cut down a bit to gain more clearance. That's a bad thing only because if that piece get's screwed up during the surgery it's all one piece and the doorpanel mounting clips depend on it. I'd say I'd just order a couple extra but I'm not even sure how it attaches to the panel, epoxy?
I'm tempted but I don't want to make things worse.
 
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