HDog

Would these instructions also apply to a 2005 sc 430?

CSX4909

I had tremendous success repairing the speakers by gluing the foam surrounds back in place using a rubber adhesive.

You still need to remove the speaker from the car. Then the plastic ring held in place with four torx screws each located just under the foam. I then applied a bead of rubber glue around the torn edge of the speaker. You then smooth the glue with your finger to fill gaps and make a nice consistent layer around the edge. See attached pic - clear glue around edge before I smoothed it.

I chose Shoe Goo adhesive. Sold to repair sneakers, it had the consistency I liked for this task. Silicone was too thick and other choices too runny.

Let it set overnight, reinstalled and the speakers sound great.

SteadyEddy

iTrader: (1)

Thanks to all who have made this thread what it is. Dating back to 07. I guess some information is "priceless"

kevmc

Thanks ZGone for the post. I just "repaired" the driver side with glue while awaiting new foam surrounds. I have a couple tips to add for the next person to tackle this.

1. The window control panel (window and door lock controls) prys off at the rear as shown bt ZGone - once it is pried up you slide it towards the rear of the car. The front clip is L shaped and slides into the door panel - take a close look at the left side of the window control in the photo (I accidentally broke the clip).

2. The plastic clips at the front of the door are easily removed without breakage. Just depress the center of the clip and it easily pulls out. It only depresses about 1/8". To reinstall push the pointed end all the way out, insert the clip without pushing on the center then press the center until it is flush.

The first 2 photos showing how the clip is designed.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/images/attach/jpg.gif
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/images/attach/jpg.gif

3. After everything is removed in ZGones post you need to also remove the tweeter cover to allow the door panel to come off. The tweeter cover is removed by prying it away from the door at the top then slide it upwards. Here are photos of those clips (photos 3&4).

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/images/attach/jpg.gif
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/images/attach/jpg.gif

And here is a photo of the clips on the plastic pieced behind the door handle. It prys off as shown by ZGone. (photo 5)

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/images/attach/jpg.gif

4. The door panel comes off by lifting it upward. It is a pretty tight fit though.

Note that there are 2 connectors and 2 cables to remove - 1 at the bottom rear for the door light, 1 at the top, and 2 cables. The cables come off by first sliding the cable jacket (there is a fitting on the end of the cable) from the plastic door fixture and then removing the cable as you would a bicycle brake cable.

kevmc

Ordered new surrounds through Amazon. They arrived quickly and the re-furb went smoothly. Definitely a good way to go , sound is back!

editordz

This is such a great thread! Does anyone know the rear speaker maximum mounting depth?

SleekCat

I agree that this is a fantastic thread. I just completed replacement of 2 door speakers and rear subwoofer. It was much easier having these instructions.
I do want to comment on Kevmc's post regarding 'A few more tips' : Very useful tips and great pictures! I do find that his suggestion #4 regarding removal of the cables has a significant shortcut.
Just remove the single screw (on the backside of the door panel) that holds the door handle / door lock cable assembly and you can lightly pry the housing (from the cable side) and the whole assembly pops out in one piece. It is even easier to replace because you just align in into the door panel (it has foolproof alignment tabs), snap it into place and replace the screw.

In my experience - much simpler.

By the way, I used the 6x9 and 8" speaker surround replacement kits from Simplyspeakers.com - they were awesome to use. I repaired all three speakers for less than $50 and they sound factory fresh!

mandyfig

Bump this is the most comp that I have seen as a DIY for the audio...wish I had done my own detailed search when I did mine.

kevmc

Well, the subwoofer finally went. I tried repairing the surround but apparently the bearing surfaces in the suspension wore unevenly as the speaker went bad and the repair didnt work. (I used the glue approach as mentioned elsewhere as a sanity check.) The cone would not smoothly move back and forth. So I looked around for a replacement.

I found this speaker on Amazon: Pyle PLPW8D 8-Inch 800 Watt Dual 4 Ohm Subwoofer. It costs less than the repair kit. At under $20 i decided to give it a try. It has dual 4 Ohm voice colis so I wired the coils in series to retain the 8 Ohm impedance. The Pyle speaker has a much more robust structure compared with the Levinson and a more massive magnet.

Install was easy - I pushed the old speaker out of the plastic mounting housing. The new speaker was a tight fit but it does fit. I left off the ring shown below. I cut off the connector wire at the old speaker and reused it. The plastic grill cover required a little trimming of the foam on the new speaker (or you can just compress the foam as you reattach the grill - which is what I did).

What a difference! This 8" speaker really moves. I can actually feel the bass in the driver seat. I've only used it for a couple weeks so far - will see how it lasts. The reviews on amazon are positive.

Seattle SCone

Thanks to this thread, I have successfully gotten my SC430 2002 sound back.
I had expected the subs to fail long ago, but only recently has the dreaded bass rattle occurred. Pretty amazing given mine is a 2002 with 167,000 miles on the odometer. Granted, its all single owner and I never to that loud with the music.

1. Replaced old Martin Logan 8 inch subwoofer that had a torn surround. About 6 inches of torn foam along attachment of surround to frame. Wow the foam was fragile to the touch. A series wired Polk Audio db840DVC 8-Inch Dual Voice Coil Subwoofer now takes its place. Took a while to cut the new subwoofer's metal frame to fit the stock mounting plastics, but it works very nicely despite being a 8 ohm load. No amplifier shut downs despite feeling thumps INSIDE my chest from the bass.

2. Replaced foam surrounds of both 6 x 9 door woofers. Those amazingly had not yet torn, but the foam was definitely fragile along the outer edges when I removed the existing surrounds.

Took about an hour each to clean the old foam and glue, but otherwise the Simply Speakers refoam kit was easy to use.

I was tempted to upgrade the door midranges, but never could find a good replacement driver. Doesn't look like anyone here has done that either.

Onward to 200K with good sound....

wlb009

After reading many blogs on this and other forums, I came up with an economical solution to replacing the door bass speakers. These speakers are 6x9 as I'm sure you know. But if you attempt to buy them your looking at $200.00 plus per, so I found a fantastic solution, I bought 5.25 8 ohm home speaker replacements and a 6x9 to 5.25 bracket converter, both on ebay. I scheduled a install appointment at my local Bestbuy and sure as the sun rises, these babies work beautifully. Total cost is $26.99 for both speakers, $16.00 for the brackets and $70.00 for Bestbuy's time. I'll post the pics of what I bought on e-bay. BTW the OEM 6x9 speakers are about as whimpy as they could be, the magnets on the speakers I used replace them are 3 times bigger. They sound very good, especially since the one's I had replaced were blown.

ZGone

WOW. It's been a while since I check back on this and I am happy that this information has been helpful. Just to let everyone know, my wife still has the car and the sound system still sounds as good as when I did the upgrade.

Cheers,
ZGone

Jabberwock

Just replaced my door speakers with 6.5 inch 8 ohm midbass speakers by Rockford Fosgate ($110 pair) sourced on ebay. Purchased 6x9 to 6.5 conversion templates on Amazon for $17.

Also installed a new subwoofer ($46) by DVC (Daytonaudio) sourced on ebay. The new sub is an 8 inch with dual voice coils rated 8 ohm per coil so wired in series it runs as a 16 ohm speaker.

The existing OEM ML factory door speakers and the sub worked but rattled due to cracked/torn foam surrounds. The OEM ML drivers are quite obviously very cheaply made so I could not see spending money to repair them when there are much better replacement speakers available at lower prices.

Replacing the three OEM ML speakers cost apprx $175 and the sound is much improved, the replacement drivers match existing ohm rating requirements, and the higher quality replacement speakers will last and sound great for many years.

MLindgren

I recently repaired the foam on my ML 6x9 speakers as they were both rattling in the doors. One of the repairs worked fine, the other not so much. It still spends much of it's time buzzing so I think it has other problems.

Can wnybody knowledgeable recommend whether or not these would be suitable replacements to replace the 6x9s.

https://www.parts-express.com/tang-b...oofer--264-837

Thanks!

moerbeck

Best thread ever. Installed front door speakers and have removed seats to get the sub installed tonight. Already sounds much better. Parts Express has a great 8ohm speaker for the door for a very low price - the brand is PRV for those who would like to order it.

I replaced the subwoofer with a Goldwood woofer and if it doesn't sound great, I am going to buy Dayton's once they are back in stock. I really didn't want to mess with the original sound system and I am glad I didn't.