Replacing interior speakers?

[treverspence]

I have seen posts where people say you can cut cloth grill take old speaker out and top mount new one on my boat (01 SAN) the rear of the speaker is enclosed with a plastic cup so I can't remove old speaker from rear and on the front side the pvc surround (5") is smaller than the stock speaker(6 1/2") so how can you remove old speakers without taking entire vinyl panels off gunwales of boat?

[All4Jaidan]

I have an 04 SANTE and just finished replacing my speakers last night. I was able to get the bow speakers out without removing the panels. I just used a dremel and carefully cut up the speaker and took it out in pieces(easy). I did have to take the panels off the inside of the boat to remove those speakers. It was fairly simple just time consuming. I put in the polk DB651 6.5" speakers mounted from the front side. They fit perfect without having to remove the PVC. I must say it makes a huge improvement just in looks alone. Plus sounds great.

[crghou]

I could be wrong but i dont think you can. I am currently working on replacing the factory speakers in a 03 SAN 210. I dont think the cloth hole and factory speaker are 100% lined up. I am pretty sure you are going to have to pull the panels. I pulled out the entire interior in my boat in about 30 minutes. It is not hard at all once you get in it and start working. I am planning on replacing my speakers and leaving the cloth. this way my dumb friends dont poke the speakers. That is for the rear only...i am not doing the front.

[seth]

You cant get the old speakers out without taking off the panels. I have an 01 SAN also and just replaced the speakers with the Polk DB651's. I built L brackets onto the existing PVC ring that the old cloth panels are mounted onto and front mounted the 6.5's. The 6.5's fit perfect in the rings and it looks good. For the speaker under the drivers side I just left the stock grill and screwed the 6.5 in behind it. There is a thread on here that I based my install from, but unfortunately I cant find it.

[east tx skier]

I replaced my stock speakers with the DB651's without removing the panels or the rings. Just unscrewed the old speakers with a small screw driver. Criss-cross cut the grill cloth and top mounted the 651's.

[seth]

I replaced my stock speakers with the DB651's without removing the panels or the rings. Just unscrewed the old speakers with a small screw driver. Criss-cross cut the grill cloth and top mounted the 651's.

Did you have to cut holes in your interior to mount the 651's?

[east tx skier]

No holes cut. I think the upholstery offset the speaker enough that it fit in the pvc piece. However, it also fit fine on the kick plate with the pvc ring in place.

[east tx skier]

Just double checked. PVC rings still there.

[seth]

Huh, that is weird. They must have changed the way they mounted the speakers because I could not have done it like that. In mine there is a bigger PVC ring in the upholestery with a smaller PVC ring inside that one.

On another note is that a keg-o-rator cooler I see in that picture, or just a different drain??

[EarmarkMarine]

I know its a bit of work to move the speakers to the exterior of the coaming bolsters. Even though the PVC sleeve is relatively short, playing a speaker through a pipe like this really hurts the sound quality. The positive difference in sound after mounting the speakers to the exterior is dramatic and well worth it.

David
Earmark Marine

[east tx skier]

On another note is that a keg-o-rator cooler I see in that picture, or just a different drain??

The one on the far left is a cold plate jockey box for dispensing large kegs. I have another igloo ice cube that will hold two 3 gallon cornelius kegs. The two coolers on the right with the "Celebrator" rams on them are used as mash tuns (or at least the larger one with the ball valve still is).

As for the PVC rings, there is only one PVC ring in the speaker hole in my boat. It's depth is probably about 1/2", probably just to give some support to the pad where the hole is cut. It definitely sounds better having the speaker top mounted. However, I wouldn't exactly call it a "tube" and that reference causes me to suspect that the setup on the newer 210's may be a bit different than my 98 SN. That said, the depth shouldn't really make a difference since the diameter of the pvc ring closest to where the speaker is mounted is going to be the determining factor. The speaker diameter at greater depths is less anyway.

[All4Jaidan]

Mine were just like Seth says his are. I took out the bigger PVC ring and left the smaller PVC in.