2005 Scion tC - similar to Honda. This is the completed door speaker install. The speakers are Hertz Mille MLK-165.







Door empty and cleaned


speaker ring


Speaker ring covered in BXT II deadener for water proofing


3/4" Closed Cell Foam Weatherstripping installed around the upper lip of the opening to direct water around the speaker, then deadener over the foam for more protection.




12 AWG wire pulled through factory wire path



12 AWG wire with soldered disconnects and heat shrink

 

Door with probably 30 square feet of Raammat BXT II


Aluminum sheet metal to cover the hole


With a layer of BXT II on each side and a layer of 1/8" closed cell foam on the inside






for the top hole we also did a layer of BXT II on each side and CCF, here is that metal cut out


Door with holes covered, self-piercing sheet metal screws were used to secure the panels


Door with 1/8" closed cell foam covering all surfaces

 

I spent this past Sunday finishing the doors. For the past few months we had the Mille woofers installed without the holes sealed up (as seen in previous pages). They were powered by the head unit while we finished the amp wiring. They sounded ok (for a $850 speaker set). Now, when those Scion doors close, it sounds like a vault door. rap on the outside and it sounds like concrete. those Mille woofers have a TON of midbass and bass response now. They are now powered by the Audison LRx5.1k:


Tweeter install is next.

 

Thanks for all the pics and advice.

 

Is Ensolite the best sound deadeng material? I was looking at Hushmat. Any comparison?
I also thought the inside of the outside door was supposed to be deadened. What are your thoughts?

 

Ensolite is foam, not deadener. Foam prevents buzzes from plastic on metal.

Raammat BXT II and Second Skin Damplifier Pro are my top two deadeners.

We have 2-3 layers in the inside of the door skin.

I do a rap/knock test to find areas that need more deadener. Just knock on the metal and listen to the resonant tone and decay.

 

You had to have added 100 lbs of weight with all the noise deadening material! I always thought that you should just put some around where the speaker is and that would be good.

 

just some around the speaker doesn't do anything for you. if you want a sound system that gets the most out of the speaker, and doesn't sound like a speaker in a tin can, you need to deaden 100% of the metal. the entire door needs to be deadened and the holes sealed up if you want to get bass out of your door speakers. and eliminate that tin can resonance.

we bought 200 square feet at 1/2 lb per square foot. and not all of it is installed, so less than 100 lbs of deadener. we'll have 100 lbs in the sub, sub enclosure, amp, and amp rack, and speakers anyway. but if a reference quality sound system is your goal, this is how you do it, and you don't worry about the extra weight, it's like having a passenger in the car. if you just want to make noise and not accurately reproduce music, then no deadener is necessary.

that scion has so much low end coming out of the doors, that is shakes the seats, shakes the rear view mirror, etc. no audible rattles thanks to the foam and decoupling. no sub installed yet, but you'd swear there was a sub in the dash. his bass is in his sound stage, centered above the dash as if it was outside the car.

before we added more deadener and sealed up the doors, he had none of that. we had a lot of panel noise from the back wave pressurizing the panel. the extra deadener and seals made a night and day difference.

if you haven't heard a car treated like this, you're missing out.

 

i have also noticed a substantial increase in volume of my speakers and sub since installation of the deadner. The difference in the amount of sound coming from my trunk with my previous subs was from my rear view vibrating to my rear view moving from its position to looking straight up on the first bass note that hit.

 

everyone notices more bass after deadening the car, you waste much less bass energy from panel flex.

in my opinion, it's a requirement the same as wire.