Speaker Installation

[DieselDawg]

I am replacing the stereo in my 02 Ski Nautique. The previous owner removed his upgraded system from the boat prior to selling the boat to me. The reason for the removal was because the PO wanted to keep his stereo equipment for his next boat. I am trying to return the stereo to more of a stock configuration. I have a Sony marine receiver and four Sony marine speakers that I will be installing. After installing three of the four speakers, I ran into a small problem. I am having trouble mounting the last 6.5 speaker into the kick panel, down and to the right of the steering wheel. The hole in the kick panel has not been molested as far as I can tell. I found a large 7" black plastic ring that had fallen down behind the kick panel speaker mounting hole. The kick panel hole does not seem to be a perfect circle as the speaker will not fit into the hole or at the top of the hole and touch all the way around its circumference. I must be missing something here and I am hoping someone can lead me in the right direction. If someone has replaced their kick panel speaker will you please send me a picture or two and a brief description of how you mounted it?

Thanks,
Matt

[Chexi]

I'm going from memory of a post I think saw about this a while back, so take it with a grain of salt, but I think if you are going to surface mount to that spot, you need to build a mounting ring that is thicker on one side than the other in order to get a circle to mount to. That hole is at an angle, so you need to adjust for that angle with your mounting ring... I think.

[ers906]

Chexi is right re: the hole being at an angle, I actually mounted mine behind the hole and reupholstered the felt covering. I have seen people make all sorts of cool speaker grills to fit including stainless steel and starboard with the N logo, etc. I just liked the less complicated approach. But that being said, the mounting ring needs to be angled

[DieselDawg]

Thank you very much for the help! I did not get a chance to work on my boat today, but after reading these replies I have a few ideas to try. I think I will first try the reverse method and try to attach the speaker from the inside of the mounting hole. I have looked at all the pictures I could find of the stock speaker installation and I can't for the life of me see how the speaker attaches. Hopefully if I stare at it long enough something will click in my head and I can figure something out!

Thanks again,
Matt

[74green]

mounted from behind like the factory one was. you have to remove the kick panel to mount it. used original mesh grille on front, removed the cloth and added a custom touch.

[74green]

this is the best one of the original i can find at the moment. the orinal speaker was screwed in from the back side into the "pvc" piece. i mounted the new one the same way.

[ers906]

I will take a picture of my original cloth install when I get to the boat soon, but the AIR pic is what I was talking about with a custom flare, maybe even covering with a carbon fiber look

[Chexi]

If you do want a surface mount, it will likely be more complicated, but the angled mounting ring I mean would look like a right triangle from its profile. Think of a race track with a high banked curve. This will change the angle that the speaker faces. I think you would mount the thick end of the ring towards the top, which would result in the speaker turning more horizontal (like the other speakers in the boat) and less vertical. I can draw a picture and post later if this is not making any sense.

[DieselDawg]

I may have to try to do a surface mount. I messed around with the speaker this afternoon. I was able to get the speaker behind the kick panel but I was unable to get it into the correct position. I may have to go and get a piece of 6" PVC and cut and file to the correct dimensions. The only problem that I can't figure out is how the speaker is going to mount to the PVC?

Thanks again for the help,
Matt

[Chexi]

You will probably need to make "L" brackets out of metal strapping. Tack them to the inside of the PVC where the screw holes in the speaker line up, and then bend them in and cut them so they leave just enough to make a bracket to screw into.

Alternatively, you could make a slightly wider flat ring out of a small, thin cutting board, epoxy or PVC glue that to the PVC wedge-ring, and screw the speaker into the cutting board ring.

Whatever, you do, take pictures and post them. I'll end up doing this same thing some day I'm sure.

[DieselDawg]

Well......I have gotten nowhere with my speaker mounting problem. I've looked at it, taken a break and looked at it again. I even bought a 4" to 6" PVC reducer to try and figure out a mount. What size is the PVC ring from an original installation? I really want to try to do a back mount for that clean look. I am really struggling with the 6.5" speaker and the <6" hole. I may have to fabricate four 90 degree hangers, attach them to a PVC ring and then attach the speaker to the hangers. Hopefully I will get something worked out soon. Thanks for all of the help I really appreciate it!

Matt

[Chexi]

Can you post pictures of what it looks like taken apart? I haven't opened that particular one up yet, but if I can see what is going on, I might be better able to think of something.