LX speaker replacement without removing door panel (1 Viewer)

[CBinBC]

Hi All,
This thread is for replacing speakers in the Lx without removing the entire door panel or in the rear the plastic / vinyl quarter panel.
My front 6.5” ML went in 2017.
I removed the speaker covers and cut out the speakers.
I found some good quality 8 ohm speakers on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00K81OR4Q?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

They have been good speakers, the magnet was way larger than the ml they replaced. They sound better, for sure.

I basically created “backing” for small screws to re-attach the OEM speaker covers with. I drilled holes in each corner. I think they look good. Not stock, but stock is overrated.
I just don’t have the time or inclination to remove the whole door panel.m, to replace a blown speaker.
Call me old school but speaker covers should be just that. Removing the entire inner door panel when a speaker cover is right in front of me seamed crazy.
I recently did removed the rear drivers side speaker cover to replace the blown 5.75” sub
(I know how can a sub be 5.75”)
I read that they can be fixed, I found a shop that does speaker repair all after 2 electronics shops said they couldn’t do it and I should buy a new one.
It cost $60 + tax = $67 Canadian about $55US
It went back smooth and sounds good. I actually had to turn the bass down.
When I removed the speaker cover in the back I ripped the fabric, but I’m not bothered by the look.
I did break the factory plastic, but the small screw holes I drilled worked fine to hold the speaker cover on.

 

[CBinBC]

Here are some photos of the rear and the cover on the front speakers.

 

[dannyLX]

Hi All,
This thread is for replacing speakers in the Lx without removing the entire door panel or in the rear the plastic / vinyl quarter panel.
My front 6.5” ML went in 2017.
I removed the speaker covers and cut out the speakers.
I found some good quality 8 ohm speakers on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00K81OR4Q?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

They have been good speakers, the magnet was way larger than the ml they replaced. They sound better, for sure.

I basically created “backing” for small screws to re-attach the OEM speaker covers with. I drilled holes in each corner. I think they look good. Not stock, but stock is overrated.
I just don’t have the time or inclination to remove the whole door panel.m, to replace a blown speaker.
Call me old school but speaker covers should be just that. Removing the entire inner door panel when a speaker cover is right in front of me seamed crazy.
I recently did removed the rear drivers side speaker cover to replace the blown 5.75” sub
(I know how can a sub be 5.75”)
I read that they can be fixed, I found a shop that does speaker repair all after 2 electronics shops said they couldn’t do it and I should buy a new one.
It cost $60 + tax = $67 Canadian about $55US
It went back smooth and sounds good. I actually had to turn the bass down.
When I removed the speaker cover in the back I ripped the fabric, but I’m not bothered by the look.
I did break the factory plastic, but the small screw holes I drilled worked fine to hold the speaker cover on.

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I recently replaced my front passenger door speaker with the MTX Audio RoadThunder Extreme Midbass Speaker - RTX658. Overall, I thought it was a decent replacement from the Mark Levinson ones, but I honestly don't think the sound is better than OEM ML. I think that's partly because the Mark Levinsons were engineered to work with the factory amp and the foam surrounds provide for great bass response. You can test both speakers (OEM and AFM) by going into the audio settings on the MFD and bringing the graph all the way to the front and test both sides that way. For the price, and the fact that I got it fixed over a weekend, I think it was a great option but OEM is the way to go if you want the best sound with factory amps/stereo.

I also cleaned the speaker grill cloth on my LX. I've seen many people on the forums pry it out from the door as you did so I tried it on one of my doors (cause taking the door panel off is low-key a pain in the a**). The problem was that the speaker grill wouldn't fit back it properly as it breaks the cardboard type material the door panel is made out of. So over the weekend, I took both front door panels off, removed the OEM cloth (it's lightly glued on), and washed it in a bucket with a tide pod. I reglued it on with some Gorilla Glue spray adhesive and the results came out amazing, I also re-screwed the grill on from the back of the door panel so I could sit more flush. They look brand new. I would recommend this approach if anyone was considering buying the new OEM ones. I also like the idea of removing the cloth in entirety if you're going for a more utilitarian/offroad look.

What speaker did you end up replacing the subwoofer with? I read many places that OEM was the best option with the factory amp/stereo.

 

[nothappening]

Interesting method. I recently did a re-foam job on my front speakers and "subwoofer" using Simply Speakers foam. The door panel removal was maybe 10 minutes a side, and the rear trim removal to access the subwoofer wasn't much longer than that. I'm not sure the shortcut was worth the time savings as it also gave me an opportunity to service other things like the window regulators, add some Dynamat, etc.

 

[CBinBC]

I recently replaced my front passenger door speaker with the MTX Audio RoadThunder Extreme Midbass Speaker - RTX658. Overall, I thought it was a decent replacement from the Mark Levinson ones, but I honestly don't think the sound is better than OEM ML. I think that's partly because the Mark Levinsons were engineered to work with the factory amp and the foam surrounds provide for great bass response. You can test both speakers (OEM and AFM) by going into the audio settings on the MFD and bringing the graph all the way to the front and test both sides that way. For the price, and the fact that I got it fixed over a weekend, I think it was a great option but OEM is the way to go if you want the best sound with factory amps/stereo.

I also cleaned the speaker grill cloth on my LX. I've seen many people on the forums pry it out from the door as you did so I tried it on one of my doors (cause taking the door panel off is low-key a pain in the a**). The problem was that the speaker grill wouldn't fit back it properly as it breaks the cardboard type material the door panel is made out of. So over the weekend, I took both front door panels off, removed the OEM cloth (it's lightly glued on), and washed it in a bucket with a tide pod. I reglued it on with some Gorilla Glue spray adhesive and the results came out amazing, I also re-screwed the grill on from the back of the door panel so I could sit more flush. They look brand new. I would recommend this approach if anyone was considering buying the new OEM ones. I also like the idea of removing the cloth in entirety if you're going for a more utilitarian/offroad look.

What speaker did you end up replacing the subwoofer with? I read many places that OEM was the best option with the factory amp/stereo.

I just had the OEM repaired it’s a 12 ohm speaker. I couldn’t find anything similar online. It sounds good now.

 

[CBinBC]

I just had the OEM repaired it’s a 12 ohm speaker. I couldn’t find anything similar online. It sounds good now.

Very interesting it was only single voice (2 wires red and black) I had read online that it was a dual voice (4 wires)

 

[dannyLX]

I just had the OEM repaired it’s a 12 ohm speaker. I couldn’t find anything similar online. It sounds good now.

I miss my sub. My factory one blew out a year and a half ago after doing the re-foam job. I think all of the speakers in the car are single voice including the sub.

 

[gatormark91]

Removing the front door panels is literally 8 screws and a couple clips.

 

[nothappening]

Very interesting it was only single voice (2 wires red and black) I had read online that it was a dual voice (4 wires)

I miss my sub. My factory one blew out a year and a half ago after doing the re-foam job. I think all of the speakers in the car are single voice including the sub.

I think it varies based on year what you will find. I have a dual voice coil sub. Some have two 4 inchers. Some have single 6 inch single voice coil.

 

[ramangain]

I refoamed everything once. Then I redid the whole stereo. Refoaming was a waste IMHO, but now I have a full working set of the ML stereo collecting dust until I go back to stock before selling the rig.

 

[nothappening]

I refoamed everything once. Then I redid the whole stereo. Refoaming was a waste IMHO, but now I have a full working set of the ML stereo collecting dust until I go back to stock before selling the rig.

Why is refoaming a waste? It brings back a dead system to factory original for ~$50.

 

[suprarx7nut]

Removing the front door panels is literally 8 screws and a couple clips.

I'm cringing real hard at the idea of folks tearing out the grill. Eek.

Maybe I need to publish some footage I've got showing how to remove the door skin. I think it's 5 minutes total.

 

[ramangain]

Why is refoaming a waste? It brings back a dead system to factory original for ~$50.

Listen closely before and afterwards. All it does is restore midbass and "move" the general bass soundstage back forward. True, you can also listen to it louder too without the telltale aural signatures of blown surrounds.

Then, over time, you notice the bass signature is all wrong and things actually sound too muddy and thick. You want to listen to Dan Carlin talk about the Roman, Mongolian, and World Wars with the tonal accuracy it deserves, and you swap out speakers anyways.

 

[nothappening]

Listen closely before and afterwards. All it does is restore midbass and "move" the general bass soundstage back forward. True, you can also listen to it louder too without the telltale aural signatures of blown surrounds.

Then, over time, you notice the bass signature is all wrong and things actually sound too muddy and thick. You want to listen to Dan Carlin talk about the Roman, Mongolian, and World Wars with the tonal accuracy it deserves, and you swap out speakers anyways.

You're a bit highbrow for me lad.

 

[dannyLX]

Listen closely before and afterwards. All it does is restore midbass and "move" the general bass soundstage back forward. True, you can also listen to it louder too without the telltale aural signatures of blown surrounds.

Then, over time, you notice the bass signature is all wrong and things actually sound too muddy and thick. You want to listen to Dan Carlin talk about the Roman, Mongolian, and World Wars with the tonal accuracy it deserves, and you swap out speakers anyways.

I don't see why re-foaming would be a waste, if your doing it just because, then yeah maybe, but the foam surrounds on the other speakers in my car were completely deteriorated to the point where it was cringe to even turn the stereo on. I honestly haven't even noticed a difference from when the car was new to after doing the surrounds. I think it is genuinely the best option, as no replacement speaker at the correct resistance truly sounds as good as factory ML in the LX unless you gut the whole amp/stereo and so on.

If you're listening to podcasts, you probably wouldn't notice at all because the cone is barely moving, but with any other form of audio with bass, they sound terrible without surrounds. For $50 bucks and a couple of hours, I would think it's worth it if you want to listen to audio with somewhat of decent quality...

 

[gatormark91]

I bought a set of closeout Alpine separates off the internet. $39 and sound WAY better than the cheap old factory junk. The cheapest nane brand modern speakers are way beyond what you can get from 2 decade old factory bits.

 

[dannyLX]

I bought a set of closeout Alpine separates off the internet. $39 and sound WAY better than the cheap old factory junk. The cheapest nane brand modern speakers are way beyond what you can get from 2 decade old factory bits.

I bought this, MTX Audio RoadThunder Extreme Midbass Speaker - RTX658, and only replaced the front passenger and the rest of the speakers are stock (because my factory one blew out). I actually did a comparison where I went into the audio settings of the stereo and brought the graph all the way to the front and tested from driver to passenger, ML vs MTX. The mid-bass response on the ML was definitely way clearer whereas the MTX has this weird effect where the bass was there but it didn't sound/feel natural but rather kind of tinny. I don't know, maybe I got screwed on some crappy speakers, but with what some people have said on the forum about them, and the reviews that it has, I was hoping for it to be way better.

What was weird was that the physical quality of the MTX was way nicer; bigger/heavier magnet, tighter surround, sturdier cone, but the audio was meh. I can try and record the sound and post but I doubt anyone would notice the difference over a phone mic.

Also, do the secondary door speakers on the LX tend to go out? Maybe that's not working in my car?

 

[brauski]

I feel like this is a very Jeep way to work on a Land Crusier. lmao