HOW TO: correctly install Mazda 323 / Astina door speakers.

[Fhrx]

Hey there guys, a few people have asked me over email and PM about how to get decent speakers into 323 / Astina doors. So without further ado, this is the procedure for doing the doors correctly.

Step one: Take one original door complete with factory moulded plastic base speaker. Take plastic off and remove residue.



Step two: Apply sound deadening to outer skin.



Step three: Add diffuser panels behind the speaker.



Step four: Run aftermarket speaker cables through modified door plug socket. In the 323 where the cables are all used we simply use a single 6mm hole above the main wires and run the cables through there. We also prefer to buy the plugs in from Mazda to avoid damaging your factory ones.



Step five: Sound deaden inner skin and remove air bubbles. Seal spacer onto door. Leave enough clearance for door handle and lock control rods to move freely. Also leave a little deadening around the top of the speaker hole to act as a 'roof' against water when it rains.



Step six: Make sure the midrange has a gasket because there is little use in going to all this trouble and then having no seal on the door itself. Solder the trimmed speaker wires onto speaker. Don't use crimp terminals because their two best traits are falling off and creating resistance.



Step seven: Heat shrink around the terminals to protect them. Unlike electrical tape, heat shrink will not begin moving after a couple of months.



Step eight: Create the spacers. These should be drilled to match up with the doors factory holes ensuring you don't damage the car by drilling holes).



Step nine: Screw speaker onto spacer. Make sure you seal around the baffle and place a gasket between the speaker and the baffle in order to keep the bass strong.



There you have it; one 323 door done, Fhrx Studios style.



We take photos of every car we do and hence all the above images come from different installs.

[mcwilly]

thats the best install i've ever seen makes everything else seem very dodgy and cheap. how much does it cost for this kinda install

[DB0984]

Hey some of those pics are from my install. notice the 2 different type of speakers. Mine are the Boton Pro6

[Fhrx]

That's true Dean.

Mcwilly, that is how we do all installs. For pricing etc please email me.

[jordy]

Jesus that's one tidy install. Makes me feel like a dork for just screwing the new speaker in

[Dogo]

Thanks Marty

This is the BJ but its the same basic idea for other Astina models. I think most of our cars have 5x7 holes?

[Melbastina]

Originally Posted by jordy

Jesus that's one tidy install. Makes me feel like a dork for just screwing the new speaker in

Same here...

[Astina Andy]

How much for something like this?

[chipa]

Astina Andy, see Marty's (Fhrx) previous post. PM him for pricing.

But unless you are heading down towards Sydney you might be better off looking at someone a bit closer to home...

[Garbo41610]

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has installed JL Audio 5x7s into their car???

I am running two JL 12w3v2's at the moment and not sure if their 5x7s sound any good. any suggestions on other brands welcome.

cheers

garbo

[chicaboo]

I had JL 570CSX or something in my car for a short time, and sold them to Marcs_SP20 because I couldn't get matching rears. They sound great in his car, and he hasn't blown them like he had been before with other brands...

Gav.

[RustyKaos]

I have the JL Audio 5x7's in the front and I have to say they sound really good. When I first got the car back from the install they sounded crap at high volumes but after changing all the speaker cable to 16 gauge it sounds a lot better now.

[Garbo41610]

sweet, cheers guys

[Garbo41610]

Would it be a good idea to put up a similar post for the BJ rear doors??? i know i found them a pain in at @rse to get off to install my speakers

[chicaboo]

Hmmm, if I was doing the rear door speakers again I would just get decent 6" so I didn't have to cut and trim to make things fit. Most guys suggest the rear speakers are only there for "fill" anyhow. But I don't see the harm in putting nicer 6" speakers in the back atleast...

Gav.

[TStar]

that's a pretty clean install, well done Fhrx.

a few additional thoughts...

1) re-using the oem rainguards for the speakers is not a bad idea..in opposite to aftermarket protectors (e.g. some water repelling foam or so) they will safely protect your speakers from the water that IS factually running down in the doors during a rain...

2) to create a completely closed volume you can lead the rods (for door open and door lock handle) through a silicon tube. this silicon tube can be totally fixated/surrounded by the deadening or dampening material and the rods can still move freely.

3) if you buy cheap plastic (=hollow) speaker adapters,you might consider filling them up with putty before installing..makes them sturdy and heavy, a good support for the speakers installation.

4) if you want to use silicone (instead of e.g. acrylic) for filling the gaps between the speaker adapters and the door plate, use -neutral- silicon, NOT acetic based silicon...acetic based silicon supports corrosion on metals, something you don't want.. besides that it stinks like hell. neutral silicon costs 1$ more and it's well spent money.

5) installing new speaker wires is not useful/necessary with any aftermarket speaker/amp combination.
if you don't consider putting significantly more than a 100 wrms to a single speaker, the oem wires are perfectly fine.. the dissipation loss from small wires is commonly overrated, and heavily overrated.

besides that: enlarging the diameter of a wire only makes sense, if it's done the whole way through, from the current giver to the receiver/user. and the user is not your speaker terminal. look at the small wires that go from your speaker terminal to the inside of the speaker, providing the coil(s) with power (=the actual user) and then you know what time it is...

just an extreme example:
here you can see a subwoofer rated with 200 watt of continous power handling.. see the small wires that come from the terminal? THAT is the diameter you need to feed the device properly,no more...

[outbakoz]

Originally Posted by TStar

5) installing new speaker wires is not useful/necessary with any aftermarket speaker/amp combination.
if you don't consider putting significantly more than a 100 wrms to a single speaker, the oem wires are perfectly fine.. the dissipation loss from small wires is commonly overrated, and heavily overrated.

I don't think the wire size is the only problem but all the spade connectors and other crap that it links through. One nice clean run of wire from amp to speaker (with it soldered to the speaker) does make a difference and while you do that may as well do a McDonalds and upsize

My rear 6.5" JBL's are a testament to that.

[Dogo]

ust an extreme example:
here you can see a subwoofer rated with 200 watt of continous power handling.. see the small wires that come from the terminal? THAT is the diameter you need to feed the device properly,no more...

That wire is fine for a short distance. And for most users that wire would be fine all the way from amp to speaker.

The reason that car audio enthusiasts use thicker wire is due to thinner wire having a higher resistance over distance. Thin OEM wire ( say 16 guage ) has more than twice the resistance in ohms per foot than average 12 guage. In reality the difference isn't big, but when you're spending hundreds to thousands on speakers , you want the best signal to reach the speaker that you can.

[Aaron]

Originally Posted by Dogo

That wire is fine for a short distance. And for most users that wire would be fine all the way from amp to speaker.

Second reason is that OEM wiring is generally laid in place when the car is new and then abused by owners over the years. They get pinched, nicked, tugged and hacked at by wanna-be installers for the life of the car. Or like stinky, three or four different wires/grades are used to get from headunit to speaker, via joins of dubious quality with electrical tape holding them together...

Then there's the OEM Loom joins, ofwhich there may be 3 or 4 to get from the headunit to the speakers, each of these can affect signal quality and reliability.

If you want to do a nice job you lay a nice fresh single line from Amp (or headunit) to the speaker, solder at the speaker. It's not thatt he cables expensive - basic Jaycay Medium Speaker cables has a lowish resistance, a tough jacket and is about $30 for a 30m spool. They sell heavier, but the medium stuff is easier to work with getting through smaller holes...

[TStar]

here's a real world calculation for wiring up an amp, the very same principles work for the speaker wiring.

assume:
- the wiring material is copper (0,018 Ohm*mm²/m @ 20°C celsius).
- the amp would deliver a continous 300 RMS.
- cable length would be 6,5meters / 21.3 feet.
- chassis resistance will be ignored to keep the calculation simple.

diameter: 6mm² (about 9gauge):
cable resistance = 0,0195 Ohm
voltage drop @ 35A = 0,7V
dissipation loss = ~24 Watt = 8%

diameter 10mm² (about 7gauge):
cable resistance = 0,0117 Ohm
voltage drop @ 35A = 0,4V
dissipation loss = ~14 Watt = 3%

diameter 16mm² (about 5gauge):
cable resistance = 0,0073 Ohm
voltage drop @ 35A = 0,25V
dissipation loss = ~9 Watt = 1,7%

diameter 25mm² (about 3gauge):
cable resistance = 0,0046 Ohm
voltage drop @ 35A = 0,16V
dissipation loss = ~6 Watt = 1%

diameter 50mm² (about 0gauge):
cable resistance = 0,0023 Ohm
voltage drop @ 35A = 0,08V
dissipation loss = ~3 Watt = 0,5%

practical example:
you wire up a amp for proper subwoofer support, 300rms continous output (in reality, even with fully turned up volume, it's always a lot less than that, because after all you're listening to music and not a permanent sine wave and your amp's components will lower that as well).
the % difference of loss from a 6mm² vs. a 16mm² = 3%
the % difference of loss from a 10mm² vs. a 25mm² = 5%

fact: you need about twice the power (=100% more!) to achieve an audible volume change of +3db.
and now you can put the 3 or 5% difference into the right perspective: absolutely negligible. the amp internal's component diffusion has more impact on the output+loss than the wiring...

i know we all like the colourful cables and the idea that we actually somehow "improved" the wiring, but please: keep in touch with reality.
upgrading a speaker wire from e.g. 1,5mm² to 2,5mm² is de facto no upgrade, it's a waste of time and money. better pay attention to the things that are really imporant, for example a proper installation like the one fhrx did, THEN you will experience a gain in quality and volume.