Rear speaker install

[jnorion]

After five months of owning this car I finally got around to installing my 6x9's in the back deck. I was originally planning to cut the holes larger to fit them, but I decided instead to cut spacers so they would sit below the hole a bit. While I had the deck taken apart, I put down a layer of Dynamat Xtreme that I had leftover from my last car. The 6x9s are replacing a pair of the ****tiest 10s in existence, and after months of being without them the difference is like night and day. The 6x9s low-passed produce more bass and sound a lot cleaner. I'm happy with the install because it sounds good and the speakers are hidden under the stock plain 6" grilles so unless you are looking really closely you won't notice they're there.

Pics.
1) The stock speaker that I removed
2) The spacers
3) My assistant
4) The deck with dynamat
5) How the speakers look buried underneath the deck

[jnorion]

One question that I need help with: the center brake light rattles quite a bit when I get up to higher volumes. I dynamatted the **** out of it underneath and inside but I can't get it to quiet down. Has anyone else experienced this, and did you find a good fix?

[MazdaRacer]

it's probably the plastic outside cover rattling agaist the plastic lens inside. those push/clips may also be culprits. use some thin double sided carpet tape (home depot) and layer the inside. Worked for me and i had 3 10s w/ 600watts

[jnorion]

When I take the outer cover off it still rattles... there's a silver plastic piece (the actual reflective housing) and a black plastic piece (the part that goes against the window) left. When I push the silver part against the black part the rattling stops, so I put dynamat strips on it holding it together. It still rattles. Are you saying take those pieces apart and put the tape between them?

[blue LEDz]

glad you are happy with it

i dunno about your car, but i know the 3rd gen's brake light rattled like hell against the back window. weather stripping or double stick tape works wonders on parts like that

[Nitrous]

the first gen rear brake light doesn't tough the window... mine doesn't at least, and mine also doesn't rattle for some reason, weather it was 1500 watts or for now 425 watts.

[txkprotege]

Yeah, there's about a half an inch of space between it and the rear window. I've never had a rattling problem either, but all I have is two 6.5 inch woofers (tweeters separate) totalling around 300 watts maxed, being way underpowered with 100watts

[D323]

I was gonna guess against the back window itself..... other than that not a clue.

[Kevin]

joel.. dynamat is going to eliminate resonance along a metal panel... not necessarily stop it from vibrating entirely. what i noticed with my protege.. to kill the back dash rattle, i took off the plastic cover, unbolted the back piece and unbolted the sheet of metal that secures itself into the rear dash metal itself. i threaded each bolt with a little bit of dynamat to act like a dampening washer, i applied weather stripping to the bottom of the plastic cover, applied weather stripping to the bottom and front of the brake light lens housing itself, bolted everything back together and put dynamat around the push pin clips that hold the plastic cover on. i'm not sure if you follow all of that, but 2 10s getting 500 watts yielded no rattling from the rear brake light after i finished.
kevin

[Kevin]

also.. if you have enough left.. dynamatting underneath the rear dash also helps.

[jnorion]

I think I understood... I got about half that done already. I put some on a couple of bolts but didn't have time to do it to absolutely everything. I don't think I'm going to waste the little dynamat I have on a second layer underneath the dash right now because the only thing rattling is the light. And BTW, as everyone said, it doesn't touch the back window.

[Nitrous]

Just wrap it up in clear packaging tape j/k.

[protégébob]

With the 6X9's mounted like that does it look like there is room for a rear strut bar???

I don't have the brake light problem...... but i also don't have a third brake light back there anymore, finally hooked up the brake light in the spoiler.

[jnorion]

I don't think the speakers would interfere with the strut bar but I'd have to look in daylight to be certain. As far as the brake light goes, I was at the junkyard today and noticed a Jetta with a brake light that mounts at the top of the back window, and I think I might take one of those and fit it to my car. I was planning on re-carpeting the back deck anyway, and so it would cover the hole and eliminate the rattling problem.

[goodorange]

One question that I need help with: the center brake light rattles quite a bit when I get up to higher volumes. I dynamatted the **** out of it underneath and inside but I can't get it to quiet down. Has anyone else experienced this, and did you find a good fix?

I'm not sure about the 1st gens but i had the same brake light problem, until i took it out since i have a light on my spoiler, and another rattle that i couldn't hear before came from that location. in my car theres two bars that tie the trunk assembly together and those tend to rattle alot, im not sure if your car has that but its worth a check if you do. otherwise i use weatherstripping and silicone to dampen the rattles, worked thus far.