Properly Install Door Speakers
The doors are far the most common place to mount your aftermarket parts brand new speakers, since the manufacturer might give you a place to put them. If you want to get the most from your investment, but you can not just swap out your factory cheapies and call it day. There are tricks you can do for your door to make a big difference in sound quality of your system.
In my Tundra, I want to midbass big impact in advance, so I decided to install a dual-6 ½ “drivers on the factory door locations with plenty of power to drive them. The techniques shown here can be used to greatly improve the sound from each speaker upgrade , even a simple swap from the factory to coaxials aftermarket speakers. The key is to prevent air leakage and vibrate at the door, making the door acting like a cage. You’ll be surprised how much better overall sound quality you will after this process is complete.
Here is the stock Toyota Tundra door panel. This particular truck has a factory JBL speaker systems, with the midbass and midrange in the door with the tweeters in the upper corner
Door panel removed, revealing the speaker and vapor barrier underneath. Panel doors are easy to remove simply by taking the three screws and comments from the clips.
Here’s the factory speaker arrangement, with the 7” midbass and 3” midrange. I decided to go for maximum midbass impact up front, so I went with dual 6 ½” Alpine Type X drivers in each door. To fit these, it was necessary to cut some metal out of the door, so the area was marked with a Sharpie. The metal was cut using an air saw with a metal blade. Be careful to check behind the area you are cutting, since window gears and motors are very close to this area.
The area around the speaker hole is now ready to be pasted into the application of fiberglass. Use a good tape 3M Super 233 + great for fiberglass applications.
Aluminum foil is now spray glued over the tape to provide a barrier layer for the fiberglass. Use Super 77 spray glue by 3M, as it works well without providing an overly strong hold. The mounting rings that come with the Alpine Type X speakers can be used to make a custom mount for the door. Here, we’ve taken two of them and attached them with super glue. The edges are also ground down to promote good fiberglass adhesion. Now the dual mounting ring is attached to the foil on the door. Super glue works great for this; use small wood or plastic sticks to hold the rings in the desired location.
Fiberglass mat can now be applied to the edges between the rings and the door panel, creating a form-fitting piece. Four layers of thin ½ ounce mat is plenty for this application.
Once the fiberglass is dry, the panel can be removed from the door. Notice how the foil comes off with the fiberglass piece—this is why it’s important not to use an overly strong glue to hold the foil in place.
Next the panel is cut to shape with an air saw, and the edges are ground flush using an angle die grinder.
The piece is now test-fitted on the door. Notice how the piece fits perfectly to the door skin, making a tight seal that will ensure great midbass response.The panel is painted black, bolted in place, and the speakers are screwed in. Make sure to seal the panel to the door with gasket foam, and do the same thing with the speakers.
Cascade Audio damping material is applied to the back of the outer door skin behind the speakers to prevent ringing and rattling. More damping material is applied to the inner door skin. We’ve removed the factory plastic vapor barrier, replacing it with this one made of damping material.
A heat gun is used to warm up the damping material. Adding heat makes the material flexible, allowing it to conform to the door panel. In addition, the heat makes the stuff stick much better to the door skin.
Here’s the completed damping material on the door. Notice that all the holes and seams have been filled to make the door as airtight as possible. This will make the door act like an enclosure, providing much tighter midbass impact.The tweeter replacement is the easy part, as Toyota was kind enough to provide a metal bracket to mount the tweeter.The factory tweeter was unbolted, and the Alpine tweeter cup was bolted in its place.
Next, the Alpine tweeter was twist-locked into the cup, and the metal bracket was bolted back on the door. One nice little easy touch is to replace the JBL logo on the door grill with the Alpine one out of the Type X component set.
A custom project that looks the same at the end as it did at the beginning! That’s the beauty of this install—trick but stealthy. You won’t know it’s not stock until you crank up the volume control.
