Something improtant to remember when installing aftermarket speakers in the 3

Hello:
Last October I had Circuit City install a sound system in my 3 & ever since that time I've been having a intermitten problem with my speakers cutting out & distorting. They recomended replacing the amp (in which I did) & checked wiring but nothing they suggested did anything to fix my problem. Recently I removed the door skins myself to look it over to see if I could notice anything unusal, the first thing I notcied that the speakers were dripping wet!! It seems that the stock 5x7's that came with a small plastic housing on the rear of them, they act kinda like a roof so it diverts water away from the back of the speaker and keeps them dry. Circuit City negelected to inform me of this and never installed one so my speakers have been wet now for that whole time. I don't know what kind of damage it caused them if any but the hassle and stress of spending a thousand dollars on a system and not be able to use it was worse & the whole experice was horrible.

What is needed is speaker baffles sold at Crutchfield for 8.99 a pair. It will protect the speaker from water and dust. If Circuit City would have known this and saved me all the trouble. Lessons learned I guess....

Now that the problem has been solved I just wanted to take the time to post my experiances here. I had to learned the hard way so I pass this along to everyone else in hopes that you will not have to suffer the misfortunes I did. If your going to install an aftermarket door speaker in any Mazda vehicle, please get some speaker baffles. They'll save you time, money & greef!
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-weAY434tcxz/cgi-bin/ProdGroup.asp?g=762&avf=N


thanks! (p5red)

How does water get into your doors again? (confused)

lumpy said:

Hello:
Last October I had Circuit City install a sound system in my 3 & ever since that time I've been having a intermitten problem with my speakers cutting out & distorting. They recomended replacing the amp (in which I did) & checked wiring and it was still acting up. One day I removed the door skins myself to look it over to see if I could notice anything unusal and the first thing I notcied that the speakers were dripping wet!! It seems that the stock 5x7's that came with a small plastic housing on the rear of them, they act kinda like a roof so it diverts water away from the back of the speaker and keeps them dry. Circuit City negelected to inform me of this and never installed one so my speakers have been wet now for that whole time. I don't know what kind of damage it caused them if any but the hassle and stress of spending a thousand dollars on a system and not be able to use it was worse & the whole experice was horrible.

What is needed is speaker baffles sold at Crutchfield for 8.99 a pair. It will protect the speaker from water and dust. If Circuit City would have known this and saved me all the trouble. Lessons learned I guess....

Now that the problem has been solved I just wanted to take the time to post my experiances here. I learned the hard way so I pass this along to everyone else so they don't have to suffer the misfortunes I did. If your going to install an aftermarket door speaker in any Mazda vehicle, please get some speaker baffles. They'll save you time, money & greef!

thanks! (p5red)

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Nutari said:

How does water get into your doors again? (confused)

Click to expand...

I was as suprised as you are to learn that water actually channels down from the bottom of every window (where the seal meets the glass) 'inside' each door, to the bottom and their it is released to the ground via 2 drain plugs. Just today I had my Mazda dealership verify that it is normal and all vehicles are designed this way. It just so happens the way Mazda is designed our doors is that water actually channels right over the speaker so the Mazda enginers (in their infinite wisdom) designed a small housing that covers the top half of the speaker & diverts it down to the bottom of the door & not on the speaker itself.

I thought I had door seal damage or Circuit City didn't install something correctly. I would have never thought that water channels through the door itself, but I guess it does.

Word, this is correct. I ruined a pair of temp 5X7's. I took the speakers out to put my new ones in and the Infinity's were rusted to hell. Water is a big problem in the doors of the 3, it especially gets under the doors onto the sills alot.

i actually went to Circuit City, and asked for baffles. the guy in the car audio department looked at me like an alien. not all Circuit City guys have no knowledge, but i even described it to him, and he just shook his head, no we don't carry that.

Gotcha, peace!

I did an old installer trick and used duct tape on the back of the speaker cage. I've seen this done by pro installers for two reasons. One it protects the speaker from water and dust. And two, it can add a little bass responce to those small 5x7s.

Lumpy, sorry to hear about the mishap, but I wish more people like you did this. I am about 2weeks away from upgrading the whole system and I'm new to this so there's no way I wouldve ever thought of this. Because of you I've saved lots of $$$ and grief. Thanks, and again sorry for your loss, but thanks for the preventative maitenence post.

PS-now if everyone would do the same w/ every type of mod there'd be alot more hooked up 3's and alot more confident tuners!!! (boom07)

Use plastic covers from original speakers

I used the plastic covers that were on the original 6x8 speakers. They are glued, just removed them using a knife and install them on your new speakers. Those covers are a perfect fit on my 6x8 Pioneer speaker, TS-A6857 (rear), but needed a little cutting to fit on my TS-D680R (front) because of the builtin crossover.

Best thing about those covers.... they're FREE!

plastic covers vs. foam baffles

Don Lockwood said:

I used the plastic covers that were on the original 6x8 speakers. They are glued, just removed them using a knife and install them on your new speakers. Those covers are a perfect fit on my 6x8 Pioneer speaker, TS-A6857 (rear), but needed a little cutting to fit on my TS-D680R (front) because of the builtin crossover.

Best thing about those covers.... they're FREE!

Click to expand...

The only thing I don't like about those stock plastic roofs is that although they keep the speaker dry, they do nothing to protect the speakers from dust. The foam baffles also insulate the speaker providing better sonic replication inside the cabin & a reduction of rattling from doors that is heard at high volumes from people outside the vehicle. Its only 18 dollars for all four speakers so for me its well worth a few extras bucks....

lumpy said:

The only thing I don't like about those stock plastic roofs is that although they keep the speaker dry, they do nothing to protect the speakers from dust. The foam baffles also reduce & insulate the speaker providing better sonic replication inside the cabin & a reduction of rattling from doors that is heard at high volumes from people outside the vehicle. Its only 18 dollars for all four speakers so for me its well worth a few extras bucks....

Click to expand...

You got a point there! ;-)

Unfortunately, Crutchfield does not ship to Canada.

Anybody knows where we can find those XTC foam baffles around Montreal?