1997 Combing pad speakers - improving sound with enclosures?

[SilentSeven]

Couldn't find anything via search...guessing I can't be the first one to deal with this.

The speakers in the combing panels on my 1997 are open air - have no enclosures - and, as one would expect, lack depth of sound.

What sort of simple enclosures or baffles have been installed to improve the sound quality?

Thanks!

[s_kelley2000]

These are what forum member Mikeski used on his SN and he said they worked well for him. I am planning to use them as well.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[SilentSeven]

ah...that looks like a reasonable and fast solution. Post a note here if you get them installed; I will do the same.

[Mikeski]

Yep, easy peezy.

Top load the speakers and sandwich the baffles behind the speaker mounting ring. Trim them before you mount them. I cut a 1" slice in mine to run the speaker wires through and allow them to vent a little. I ended up with an extra pair (hit the 1 click buy button one too many times). Too bad you are not closer or I would just give them to you.

The longer path you can force the sound wave coming off the front of the speaker travel before it meets the sound wave coming off the rear of the speaker, the better the bass will sound (unless it is tuned so they meet when they are back in phase, port design). This is the theory behind an infinite baffle.

[SilentSeven]

Thanks. I had ordered a couple pairs right before you posted this. Familiar with general speaker theory and it was pretty obvious that the factory open air setup left something to be desired. These look a like a great, simple solution - just what I was looking for.

"Top load" means?

Did you put any batting in your baffles?

What sort of improvement did you see?

[bhectus]

"Top load" means?

Top loading is just dropping them in from the front. I believe from the factory they are mounted from the back. At least that's how they are on my '02 SN.

[SilentSeven]

ah...got it. My speakers are currently rear mounted. Thinking it through, I can see how this would be a problem in connecting the baffles to the speakers - you need a way to sandwich in the baffle flange and speaker. A car door works nicely for this....topload by design.

How hard is it to topload the speakers?

I guess another option that avoids toploading would be to build a custom wooden ring that screws to the back of the speaker frame and sandwiches in the baffle flange? Have to stick my head under the gunnel and see if that's even doable...

Nuts. More work than expected here.

[s_kelley2000]

If your boat is set up the same as a 99 then this is pretty easy. On the backside of the combing pad there are PVC rings held in by 4 screws that the speakers mount to on the backside from the factory. I think those are the speaker mount rings that mike is referring to. Put the baffle on the back of the combing pad and then screw the pvc ring over it. And for the top loading there is a thicker PVC ring on the front of the combing pad under the vinyl. Drill your holes and front mount your speaker onto this PVC ring. I think that is what Mike did, at least that is what I am picturing in my head. My combing pads are off my boat so I can post up a pic later if you want so you can see what the back side looks like.

[SilentSeven]

If your boat is set up the same as a 99 then this is pretty easy. On the backside of the combing pad there are PVC rings held in by 4 screws that the speakers mount to on the backside from the factory. I think those are the speaker mount rings that mike is referring to. Put the baffle on the back of the combing pad and then screw the pvc ring over it. And for the top loading there is a thicker PVC ring on the front of the combing pad under the vinyl. Drill your holes and front mount your speaker onto this PVC ring. I think that is what Mike did, at least that is what I am picturing in my head. My combing pads are off my boat so I can post up a pic later if you want so you can see what the back side looks like.

Thanks. Helpful. A picture would really help bring it altogether.

[Mikeski]

Pull the nets and the PVC rings and the speakers should drop right in from the front (top load = front load). When I replaced the speakers on my 1995 I did them from behind and it was more difficult. These days everybody expects to see the speakers so I would just go ahead and mount them out front.

Nothing inside the baffles.

I also changed all the silver speakers to the black speakers (with lights).

[s_kelley2000]

Here are some pics of the back side of the combing pads. I think it's 7/16 nuts that holds them on but I can't remember for sure. The back of the nuts should be a little easier to get at on a direct drive then a v-drive but it's not too bad.

[SilentSeven]

ah....picture helps! Thank you!

I get it now. I think I will plan to sandwich the baffles between the PVC ring and the pad. Not sure that I want to top mount the speakers (yet). The rings are not glued on right, just screwed?

[s_kelley2000]

Ya mine were held in with 4 screws each, but the previously owner had already changed out the speakers before I got the boat so perhaps they were originally glued in but I don't think so.

[SilentSeven]

OK - did this this weekend. Not a 100% happy job. The PO of the boat had some less than quality work done here that I had to recover from. Here's what did / learned.

- my spacing rings behind the combing pad where gone. You need them to fit a 6.5 in speaker; won't flush mount to the pad. Had to make new ones from wood. Size of the rings is key. Must fit tight to the speaker yet be slim enough to fit into the cutouts in the gunnel. Not easy to fabricate rings this size unless you have a really good saw setup and jig.

- kept the backmount/cloth set but replaced the grill cloth. Not happy work. The factory did a combo glue/staple to attach the fabric to a plastic front ring that mounts in the pad. It was absolutely impossible to restaple the new fabric into the plastic ring. Incredibly hard stuff. Even with a big pneumatic stapler. To get it to attach, I had to pre-drill four micro holes around the edges and used some mini screws to hold everything in place. Really painful work...

- working under the gunnels can give you lots of fiberglass splinters. Not fun.

- the foam surrounds work pretty good as baffles. I added in secondary quick disconnects to the wires so you can unplug the speaker wire from outside the baffle.

New sound is much better and the new grill cloth looks tidy.

I have a few pictures I will add when I have a minute. Appreciate all the help in the planning!