Do your front doors "rattle" with the stereo on?

[Gary04GT]

My 2003 GT has the AM/FM stereo/6-disc CD changer with the 6 premium speakers. Whenever I have the stereo radio on or a CD playing my front doors resonate ("rattle")--usually with songs having deep bass and with the volume turned up to a moderate or high levels. My front component speakers appear okay. I have isolated the problem to the doors. My solution will be to have the door panels/speakers "dynamated" (audio insulation). Are there any other things that might be helpful in eliminating this problem? Thanks.

[links]

I rented a pt and the speakers rattled in the door [xx(][:I]
Then i got a 03 pt and think the speakers do the same ???????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????

[Dalite]

Mine is bad about causing whatever is in the door "pockets" to rattle. I haven't cleared them out to see if it the problem goes away. The door panel is held on by screws at the bottom, torx head screws through the arm rest and spring clips. You may be able to put some self-adhesive felt on the door panel edges around the spring clip locations and see if that fills the rattle gap. Also, if you pull the panel, check to see that all the speaker mounting screws are tight.

[Gary04GT]

Thanks for the info, Dalite. [8D] I may try it, however, also considering up-grading the four front component speakers and installing an amp. The thinking of my local "car audio experts" is that DC's "premium speakers" on the PTCs ($150 more MSRP) are only as good as entry-level after-market speakers. I have been told that adding an amp will produce the most improvement in sound quality. Recommendation is to keep the rear speakers and up-grade the front four. I like the DC stereo radio/CD changer and it is not likely to be stolen by the thieves.

[bigdogdad]

Hey Gary,

My stock stereo sounded fine even at loud volumes. Even though, with my sons input, I repladed the head unit and all speakers and have no regrets. The new sound is great. As you mention about keeping the rears and changing the fronts, I heard alot about that too. You can go that way first and if you think it needs more go for the back. A little at a time, no big deal and could end up saving you some money. Lets us know how things turn out.

[Dalite]

The rear panels are almost a lost cause. There is not enough baffle room for the bass to resonate, so no matter what you put back there, it won't sound as good as the same speaker in a different location..

I am thinking of looking at the hatch lid as a possible speaker location. The ammount of air space behind the panel that covers the hatch may yield a better speaker location than the D pillar.

In the front, the dash speakers are supposed to be tweeters. There is no cross-over; they are wired in parallel with the door speakers, and have a "bass blocker" installed (Axial - NPO - [Non Polarized Capacitor])

Installing components, with a 6 3/4 woofer in the doors, 3.5" midranges in the dash and 1 to 2" directional tweeters at the top of each A pillar may be an alternative that would give good results. The internal space/volume in the door panel and the 6 3/4 speaker opening is a good combo for bass response up front.

[Gary04GT]

quote:I replaced the head unit and all speakers and have no regrets.

bigdogdad:

I thought about replacing the head unit also, possibly with an Alpine with a removeable face-plate. However, after thinking about all the damage that would be done to the car--door/window, dashboard, and the hazzle to get things made right again I decided against it. My son has had his vehicle broken into three times in recent years (his vehicle is loaded with great audio stuff) and the bad guys [}] leave a big mess and usually are never caught--they just "walk"----such a shame. [V]

[bigdogdad]

Gary03GT

I replaced mine with the Alpine with removeable face and Boston Acoustics all around. If I park somewhere other then the garage I remove the face and no problems. My dealers service department may suck but my neighbor is fairly descent.

[ElectricBlueGT]

Guys,

If anyone is looking for a more secure radio install, buy the dash kit with the small pocket underneath the radio. Why? It allows you to install the deck "IsoDIN" style. IsoDIN is used primarily by Japanese auto manufacturers. The radio is secured by the side screw holes and you don't need to use the metal cage or sleeve. The beauty of this install is there is nothing to grab ahold of to forcefully remove the deck from the dash, particularly if the radio has a removeable faceplate.

My two cents,

Scott

[Gear_Head]

I have replaced all 6 speakers in the cruiser. I used a pair of direct replacement 3 way coaxial 3 way pioneer (6x8) speakers in the rear piller. One thing that I did to enhance the base in the rear is to use some fiberglass (soft) sound insulaton to pack the plastic grilles befort resnapping them into place. There is enough air space there for decent base, but there is no sound seal between the speaker and the plastic grille. It made enough difference in the base response to have to seat some sponge foam weatherstripping in between the interior light assy & the headliner, because when I cranked up the volume to windows down level the light assy rattled slightly. No rattle from the speakers though. In the front doors I too had a rattle from the stock premium speakers. I relaced them with a direct replace pair of 6 3/4-6 1/2 pair of pioneer 3 way coaxial speakers. I used a foam baffle in the speaker opening before installing the speakers. The speakers are mounted on an adapter ring (supplied w/speakers) by 8 short metal screws. This makes the speaker mount extremely rigid. With the baffle under the speaker mount & the 3 screws holding the speakers to the doors, there was no rattle at all. I also put some of the same fiberglass sound insulation in the doors just to be safe, although I don't think that it was necessary. The last mod that I made was to remove the dash, and replace the tweeters with a pair of Kicker DX35 midrange/super tweeter units. (this mod was not made using the stock head unit, so I cannot vouch for how it sounds w/stock amps. However I have heard from others that there is enough oomph in the stock amps to drive all without a problem) These were SUPPOSED to be direct replacements. They were not. Removing the dash is fairly easy for most. Unfortunately, I have 3 gauges in chrome cups mounted on the dash above the console. This made the task more difficult. Anyway, the speaker baskets are round, and the mounting holes in the dash are not. It was time to get out the dremel tool. BTW this is not for the faint of heart. It was not really difficult to modify the mounting openings, as the dash is comparatively soft plastic and was easily filed w/the dremel. I used a pair of 800Hz base blockers to effectively eliminate unwanted base. These speakers made a HUGE difference. The soundstage moved up from being too low (in the lower doors) and the mid to high transition was much smoother. IMHO the separation between the factory dash tweeters and the door speakers is too just far, and tends to make the transition seem disjointed and choppy. I did have to redirect some front to rear balance to the rear to get a good blend, but that was expected and the adjustment was easily achieved. I am running a Kenwood MP922 head unit with 3 amps and 2 12" MTX Thunder seriesII subwoofers in the rear. All of the amps are MTX amps (120 watts front) (120 watts rear) and (800 watts to the subs-2-ohm load). I installed and designed the system myself after a long period of sound evaluation (of the stock system) I have run the 4 speaker replacements (mentioned above) and the stock head unit with very good results while designing and building the rest of the system. I didn't mean to ramble on. The speakers, baffles, and all other parts of the installation were purchased from crutchfield. (I should own stock) The most bang for your buck,for overall sound improvement with a minimum of fuss is to replace the factory speakers w/either coaxials, or components (personal choice) and use some inexpensive fiberglass sound insulation wherever you can. Do not replace the door speakers without a pair of slim line baffles to protect your speakers from the elements, and to provide a less harsh sound reflection. The baffles are fairly inexpensive and will help your speakers last longer and sound better at the same time. ($ 9.99 per pair) Sorry this is so long winded, but I get carried away sometimes. Hope some of this helps.
[8D]
Alan