As some of you know... I'm a little bit into audio. Well I've dug pretty deep into the interior of my TT (to the point of having almost all interior panels removed and almost all wiring harnesses removed). Surprisingly, I haven't had to remove the front door panels yet (probably the only panels I haven't removed) mostly because most of the mounting points are concealed and the door panels are high profile (everyone sees them so if you screw it up... you've gotta deal with everyone noticing).

Well I'm getting ready to once again completely reconfigure my car audio setup and I'm going to set up a hybrid component set up front and need to pull the panels to get the focal utopias out of the front stage (the woofers and crossoversanyhow. the utopia tweeters are staying in the doors).
I am switching over to a completely competition style audio application (by competition style, I'm referring to the practice of completely removing the rear speakers and running only front stage speakers to ensure I get perfect sound.)
Believe it or not... by running four speakers, you actually degrade the sound quality of your audio system. a true high-end SQ system will only have a moderate sized subwoofer (8"-10") and a front stage mid-range/high component set. Now you cannot just go and take out your rear speakers and leave your front speakers as is and expect to hear an improvement. lol Here's how it works:
the true perfect sound as stated above will come from front speakers only. Car companies and caraudio installers... will actually install four speaker (2 front, 2 rear) and set them up to emulate the front stage pure sound. The reason four is often used... is because a true perfect audio setup requires extensive setup and configuration before it sounds right. With four... you can emulate the perfect sound and get it "close-enough" without having to configure anything. basically with four its very low maintenance and you dont ever have to adjust anything. You just set it and forget it. It makes for a very easy interface for the everyday end-user.

With the true perfect sound application... you actually have to adjust quite a bit: crossovers, graphic EQ, Time alignment, phase, sound imaging, etc... and it basically allows for the front stage to disappear as the whole setup creates a "Phantom Stage" that approaches the listener from everywhere. This way you do not hear the music from the front or back... the music actually does not come from any discernable direction in the vehicle. You hear the music as if it were inside your head, or all around you (not anything like surround sound though. surround sound actually utilizes many speakers and DOES approach you from a specific direction in the vehicle... it just approaches from quite a few directions)

first, here is my existing setup... followed by my proposed setup after reconfiguration.

Existing:
[ul][*]Head Unit: Alpine IVA-D310 7" LCD DVD / Alpine PXA-H701 Digital sound Processor[*]Front Stage: [Amplifier] Zapco ref 350.2 (Fibre Optic)/ [speakers] Focal Utopia 6½" 3-way components @4Ohms[*]Rear Stage 1: [Amplifier] Zapco ref 350.2 (Fibre Optic)/ [speakers] Focal Utopia 6½" 2-way components @4Ohms(tweeters not installed)[*]Rear Stage 2: [Amplifier] Zapco ref 350.2 (Fibre Optic) / [speakers] Four CDT ES06+ Mid-Bass woofers @4Ohms[*]Bass Fill: [Amplifier] Zapco ref 1000.4 (Fibre Optic)/ [speakers] Two Elemental Designs SQ10 - 10" Flat Subwoofers (2½" thick) @4Ohms[/ul]
Proposed "Perfect Sound" Front stage Pure setup:
[ul][*]Head Unit: Alpine IVA-D310 7" LCD DVD / Alpine PXA-H701 Digital Sound Processor[*]Front Stage: [Amplifier] Zapco ref 350.2 (Fibre Optic) / [speakers] Hybrid Components - Focal Utopia Tweeters (without crossover) and 6½" CDT ES06+ Mid-Bass Woofer[*]Bass Fill: [Amplifier] Zapco ref 1000.4 (Fibre Optic) / [speakers] Two Elemental Designs SQ10 - 10" Flat Subwoofers (2½" Thick)[/ul]
So my issue is this... How many places on the doors of the TT... are the door panels attached? I know you pop out the little aluminum trim "dome" to access one Torx screw, is the rest of the panel secured with those little triangular clips like the rear trim panels? I need details on what holds that door panel on so I can be sure that I have everything before I begin this task.

Thanks

 

There isn't much more to it than the Torx. The bottom of the door panelsits in a ledgefrom the inside of the door. I cant fully explain but you feel the panel slide down and fit in snug.

 

so remove than one torx... and the panel lifts up out of the recess and then you just disconnect the window and mirror controls and that should be it right?

 

I have an all-data printout somewhere at home, explaining how to remove door panels, and replace window motors. Im sure I can find it somewhere, and scan it for ya.

 

Nah, its okay. I got it. indiepunk's info helped me get it off. I already pulled it off, fitted it, measured the areas of the door that need cutting, and reassembled for now. Surprisingly, I figured I'd have a problem with mounting depth (these CDT ES06+ mids have a 4½" mounting depth. Friggin huge speakers for being mids), but once i got the door off... there's like 7½" of depth in there... so I'll just need to get the jigsaw, nibbler, and dremel to shave off a few millimeters of metal-stock, throw a spacer in FRONT of the Speaker's mounting frame (because this speaker is designed like a subwoofer, only 6½", I'll need a spacer on the front of the driver to prevent the cone from slapping the speaker's mesh cover),.... and mount it all.

Thanks for the help though