How-to: replace B5 front speakers without visible changes
#1
03-15-2012, 04:46 AM
How-to: replace B5 front speakers without visible changes
I had to get a little creative with my broken Bose front speakers when I replaced them in my B5 S4 and am really pleased with the results, so I thought I'd write up the steps and share this how-to for the next person who scours these forums searching for hints on how to do this.
The S4 sound system uses 4" Bose speakers in the front. The mounts are thick and made out of a combination of rubber and plastic. Within the mounts the speaker fits in snugly in a weird triangular shape that no normal 4" speaker will mount into neatly.
You can ditch the entire mount and figure out a way to install your new speakers directly to the door. You might even fit 6 inchers in there (I think I found some posts from people about that before). However, if you want to be a bit more conservative with your doors, don't feel like doing woodwork, or just don't want to make any visible changes to your interior, my solution may work pretty well for you. Another advantage is that you get to reuse the thick rubber mounts. I haven't compared them to any alternate mounting solutions in this car, but I think they're pretty solid and with the new speakers, I don't hear any annoying resonances from the doors. Designing a better mount from scratch may prove harder than reusing these.
Summary: take out the Bose speakers, tear them apart and cut/saw/hack up their plastic housings to use the front part of their plastic construction as a mounting bracket to fit the new speakers inside the assembly that goes into each of the front doors.
Step-by-step:
1. Open up the doors
Start by taking the door molding off (Step-by-step for this with illustrations can be found in ELSA. If you don't need images: There are small black philips screws near each of the bottom corners of the door window that you need to remove, next: pull out the little plastic part inside the door handle — it pulls down, and remove two more screws from inside there, then carefully lift the entire molding up and out). Disconnect all the wires from your door — if you're not experienced with this and are worried you'll break something, start on the passenger-side door as that has a lot fewer electrical connectors you need to dis- and reconnect — and then remove the cable that connects to the inner door handle (the little metal clips that seems like it's holding it in place is, and can be removed carefully by putting a flat-head screwdriver on one of the sides).
2. Remove the speaker assembly
Now, lay your door molding on a cloth-covered table, or some other surface that won't scratch it and gently pull away of the inner thin foam layer over the area where the speaker sits (no need to remove completely). Disconnect the speaker, unscrew the red philips head screws and pull out the speaker assembly. Move the door molding aside.
3. Destroy the old speaker
The Bose speaker itself can be disposed of, but not before we cut it up. We need to retain the plastic triangle that is used to screw it to the assembly we just removed from door.
Pictures from after the first hacking (sorry, forgot to start taking photos until I was a little while in):
This round triangle part, we reuse.
This former speaker, we ditch.
You'll need an x-acto knife or similar to cut the paper cone loose from the plastic frame and some cutting pliers to cut through the thick plastic struts that connect the permanent magnet to the part we want to keep at the top. Don't use the pliers too close to the circular mount, the plastic tends may bend a bit before you actually can cut through, and you may damage the mount.
4. Finish the mounting triangle
File until it's slick, test for fit occasionally
We need to sand down the inside of the triangle so it fits nicely around the new speaker. All the remnants of the struts we cut through should be filed away. I used Infiniti Kappa 42.9i speakers that fit particularly well (and I love the way they sound, but that's pretty easy compared to the paper Bose's), but any 4" speaker should fit. You may want to test fit every now and then while filing. I managed to get a really snug fit around the metal frame of the new speakers. The plastic is pretty hard, so a big, coarse file for most of the work is recommended, a smaller one can help with the finishing touches.
Snug fit
5. Assemble the speaker in the mount
The little mounting braces on the new speaker will be sandwiched between the base of the mount and the newly made mounting triangle.
Speaker in the assembly, showing braces cut to fit
You can tell from the pics that I had to cut off bits of the speaker's mounting braces to fit them in — NOTE: you don't want to cut them off altogether, because they play a role in keeping the new speaker in place. Bending won't work either, because anything that sticks up from the speaker will make it harder to fit the new mounting triangle on top of it.
Completed recycled speaker assembly
With rubber insulation
6. Reassemble the doors
Because we added about a mm of steel between the two layers of plastic, the rubber is no longer entirely flush with the frame. It's not a problem though, the assembly still mounts to the door just fine. Finally, wire the speaker back up to the original wires (or replace the wires if you're so inclined — I wasn't as adventurous) and put the door back together.
Enjoy, your premium sound system will sound a lot more premium now.
I did this on my car because one of my front speakers was defective and I refused to pay more for a replacement set of the same crap OEM paper-cones than I could get a good set of aftermarket speakers for. You may next want to replace the rear speakers because the front sounds so much better… be warned.
All photos here:
AudiForums.com - rundwark's Album: Recycling the B5 S4 front door Bose speakers to mount new 4" aftermarket speakers
The S4 sound system uses 4" Bose speakers in the front. The mounts are thick and made out of a combination of rubber and plastic. Within the mounts the speaker fits in snugly in a weird triangular shape that no normal 4" speaker will mount into neatly.
You can ditch the entire mount and figure out a way to install your new speakers directly to the door. You might even fit 6 inchers in there (I think I found some posts from people about that before). However, if you want to be a bit more conservative with your doors, don't feel like doing woodwork, or just don't want to make any visible changes to your interior, my solution may work pretty well for you. Another advantage is that you get to reuse the thick rubber mounts. I haven't compared them to any alternate mounting solutions in this car, but I think they're pretty solid and with the new speakers, I don't hear any annoying resonances from the doors. Designing a better mount from scratch may prove harder than reusing these.
Summary: take out the Bose speakers, tear them apart and cut/saw/hack up their plastic housings to use the front part of their plastic construction as a mounting bracket to fit the new speakers inside the assembly that goes into each of the front doors.
Step-by-step:
1. Open up the doors
Start by taking the door molding off (Step-by-step for this with illustrations can be found in ELSA. If you don't need images: There are small black philips screws near each of the bottom corners of the door window that you need to remove, next: pull out the little plastic part inside the door handle — it pulls down, and remove two more screws from inside there, then carefully lift the entire molding up and out). Disconnect all the wires from your door — if you're not experienced with this and are worried you'll break something, start on the passenger-side door as that has a lot fewer electrical connectors you need to dis- and reconnect — and then remove the cable that connects to the inner door handle (the little metal clips that seems like it's holding it in place is, and can be removed carefully by putting a flat-head screwdriver on one of the sides).
2. Remove the speaker assembly
Now, lay your door molding on a cloth-covered table, or some other surface that won't scratch it and gently pull away of the inner thin foam layer over the area where the speaker sits (no need to remove completely). Disconnect the speaker, unscrew the red philips head screws and pull out the speaker assembly. Move the door molding aside.
3. Destroy the old speaker
The Bose speaker itself can be disposed of, but not before we cut it up. We need to retain the plastic triangle that is used to screw it to the assembly we just removed from door.
Pictures from after the first hacking (sorry, forgot to start taking photos until I was a little while in):
This round triangle part, we reuse.
This former speaker, we ditch.
You'll need an x-acto knife or similar to cut the paper cone loose from the plastic frame and some cutting pliers to cut through the thick plastic struts that connect the permanent magnet to the part we want to keep at the top. Don't use the pliers too close to the circular mount, the plastic tends may bend a bit before you actually can cut through, and you may damage the mount.
4. Finish the mounting triangle
File until it's slick, test for fit occasionally
We need to sand down the inside of the triangle so it fits nicely around the new speaker. All the remnants of the struts we cut through should be filed away. I used Infiniti Kappa 42.9i speakers that fit particularly well (and I love the way they sound, but that's pretty easy compared to the paper Bose's), but any 4" speaker should fit. You may want to test fit every now and then while filing. I managed to get a really snug fit around the metal frame of the new speakers. The plastic is pretty hard, so a big, coarse file for most of the work is recommended, a smaller one can help with the finishing touches.
Snug fit
5. Assemble the speaker in the mount
The little mounting braces on the new speaker will be sandwiched between the base of the mount and the newly made mounting triangle.
Speaker in the assembly, showing braces cut to fit
You can tell from the pics that I had to cut off bits of the speaker's mounting braces to fit them in — NOTE: you don't want to cut them off altogether, because they play a role in keeping the new speaker in place. Bending won't work either, because anything that sticks up from the speaker will make it harder to fit the new mounting triangle on top of it.
Completed recycled speaker assembly
With rubber insulation
6. Reassemble the doors
Because we added about a mm of steel between the two layers of plastic, the rubber is no longer entirely flush with the frame. It's not a problem though, the assembly still mounts to the door just fine. Finally, wire the speaker back up to the original wires (or replace the wires if you're so inclined — I wasn't as adventurous) and put the door back together.
Enjoy, your premium sound system will sound a lot more premium now.
I did this on my car because one of my front speakers was defective and I refused to pay more for a replacement set of the same crap OEM paper-cones than I could get a good set of aftermarket speakers for. You may next want to replace the rear speakers because the front sounds so much better… be warned.
All photos here:
AudiForums.com - rundwark's Album: Recycling the B5 S4 front door Bose speakers to mount new 4" aftermarket speakers
Last edited by rundwark; 03-15-2012 at 04:51 AM. Reason: improved formatting
#2
12-23-2015, 06:54 PM
Hi, thanks for this DIY, It work very good for me.
I search a lot to find these infinity speakers but seem to be discontinued.
I found 4in JBL GTO428 speakers, it fit very good in place and sound very good.
spec are : 2 ohms 35W RMS. work very good with the stock bose amp.
Note : -I cut the wire from the integrated twitter.
- You have to switch (+) and (-) the polarity big tab and small tab are inverted.
I search a lot to find these infinity speakers but seem to be discontinued.
I found 4in JBL GTO428 speakers, it fit very good in place and sound very good.
spec are : 2 ohms 35W RMS. work very good with the stock bose amp.
Note : -I cut the wire from the integrated twitter.
- You have to switch (+) and (-) the polarity big tab and small tab are inverted.
Last edited by jogtx16v; 12-23-2015 at 07:05 PM. Reason: pics add
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