SlowTeg

After installing my own "system," I've noticed some vibration noises with bass notes that are mildly annoying. For the record, I installed polk db6501 components with the OEM baskets, and have the components amped via a 2 channel amp. I ran new speaker wiring through the doors.

On to the noise.. It sounds like a bit of a metallic vibration noise coming from the passenger side.. Over the weekend I played the stereo and opened the passenger door and sat next to it, but didn't notice the sound at all. Could it be the door/metal resonating making this sound? It's like a bit of a metallic buzz. Perhaps with the door closed, the vibrations have no where to go and translate into the buzz? Anyone that's installed dynamat in the doors had this same noise prior?

I'm seriously considering installing dynamat at this point, as it seems like this should eliminate the metallic buzz. Anyone else notice this sound in their stereo? To add, it's not a constant noise, and seems to make more the noise at certain frequencies, which makes me believe it's the door vibrations making the noise.

[DT]

Whew!

OK.

I should be working a little more today, but I've been f'ing around trying to finish up the stereo.

I got a terrific break with the tweeter mounts. They came with this bracket and just by drilling a new hole they mounted right in the factory spot, using the factory stand offs!

I wound up after reading about the "so-so-ness" of using the bolts on the rear brace as a ground doing it a little better (I guess). I disconnected the brace, and dremeled off all the paint/finish right on the frame, then put the ground connector down, then the brace, then snugged it up.

I stuck the crossover in the upper/forward corner of the door using some 3M velcro tape (so it's easy to remove).

I've got a couple of issues so far (I still need to finish the driver's side):

The door panel won't snap on the bottom fasteners, I'm not sure if it's contacting the speaker or if the new brackets are hitting the bottom of the door.

I've also got some noise, not sure if it's a grounding issue, noise from the speaker/RCA wire or something else.

[DT]

Well, I guess I didn't look ahead enough and the _drivers_ door is shaped different so no go for the crossover up in the corner - but, there's a great place for it in that plastic "pocket" in the lower/rear area!

The only thing that required was to extend the tweet wiring, so I cut off about 8-9" off my mid patch, re-tipped it, used some crimp down extensions and it's in!

The drivers door actually snapped down correctly, the passenger is making some contact at the very bottom so it doesn't quite snap down but closes just fine. I'll probably remove it, trim it down, repaint and re-install sometime in the near future.

I took a little drive with everything installed and it sounds pretty outstanding. I'm still getting a little noise at very low volume but it seems to disappear as you increase the volume (or kind of gets lost).

I think I'm going to relocate the passenger xover and extend the tweeter wiring just like the drivers side because my OCD is kicking in

I had a question about connectors: to simplify making the hookups, I picked up a set of 8-16g spades, m/f flat type connectors (the speakers needed a female on the wiring). They're just like ACE generic brand, I'm a little concerned that with all the good wiring and whatnot, that those introduced some resistance or noise?

ace123

I'm no expert on noise, but I can at least try to point you in the right direction. If I'm off base, hopefully some of our EEs and other experts will chime in. And FTR, I still have noise in my system that I haven't fixed. It's not bad, but I can hear it. My ground is the problem--I'm still running from a factory bolt. Maybe when it's finally warm... or maybe next summer when we have a garage instead of live in this apartment with underground parking...

Surface area in contact is one of the biggest things in allowing electric to flow along a length, and corrosion is one of the worst things to a connection. Gold, copper, etc. are very corrosion resistant. But for moving electric, 1/2" of aluminum is comparable to 3/8" of copper for lightning protection codes, so you can offset for conductivity with volume. But for short lengths, it's not nearly as important.

I don't think that your spades will introduce any measurable noise directly. If it introduces resistance, that will mean you have to turn the stereo volume up to achieve the same output without the bottleneck. Thereby it sort of produces noise since the amp is a bit noisier if you turn it up higher, but it's probably not much.

But I wouldn't worry too much about the spades. They aren't the best, but neither is a fuse if you want to look at it that way. You do have a fuse, right? I wouldn't pull that out. I used some kind of similar connections. No worries IMO.

If the spades bug you too much, pull em out. But I certainly wouldn't expect they're ruining your sound.

ace123

You may want to try pushing on it to see if it stops the noise. If it's any of the many plastic clips that hold it together, compressing them will stop the vibration, and dynamat won't fix it. If it's metallic, I would wonder if you have something in the door frame rolling around? Not sure. There isn't a lot of metal in there to rattle unless it's from the installation. Actually, if it's high frequency like a metal on metal vibration, there can't be too many locations, so maybe that will make it easy to pinpoint.

I have a few rattles, but they're just wires and plastic connectors that I didn't wrap in foam or otherwise subdue. Nothing terrible. If it were a real problem it's easy to pull the panel.

Dynamat is more of a noise insulator for road noise and such. Vibrations can be stopped individually by clamping whatever vibrates. There's no guarantees dynamat will stop those types of vibrations--it will stop them if it clamps whatever vibrates. If not, it won't fix anything. But if the road noise is annoying you and it's worth the money and few pounds, by all means throw it in.

Neutered Sputniks

I'd say it could be one of two things:

1: The tray is rattling on that side and wasn't terribly noticeable with the door open and you outside

or

2: The wires in the door are a bit long/routed "poorly" allowing them to rattle against the door (shouldn't happen, but depending on the jacket it's conceivable).


Best fix for the rear tray is to wrap it in a thin fabric - I used speaker grille cloth, $7/yd at Madisound...

SlowTeg

Thanks for the suggestions guys. It seems to buzz on non-deep bass notes and general music even at not too loud volumes, so at this point I'm leaning towards it being a plastic vibration causing the buzzing noise. I'll get a chance to take a look at it this weekend and hopefully it's a simple fix.

If the door panel is rattling, what's the "fix" for it? Is there an easy way to make parts of it more "secure?"

[DT]

Here's a few pics from my install, figured they might be helpful for folks routing wires, etc.

Power

[DT]

RCA and Amp Remote Wire

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Speaker wiring and connection test