Worst. Car. Audio. Install. Ever. - Pictorial

[Timdog1650]

So I bought my car in November, thought that the audio setup sucked but just chalked it up to being an STi. Didn't come stock with a sound system and I just assumed the previous owner had gone budget with his speaker choice. It suited my needs, i.e. producing a sound that did not cause migraines, so I never really thought twice about it.

Now, for the last couple of months I have noticed every once in a while that there would be some sort of wood chips/shavings on the carpet next to the door jams for the front seats. I assumed I was being careless about tracking crap into my car because I do sometimes run on a chip trail for exercise. Despite being careful about cleaning my shoes; however, the mess continued to appear.

Fast forward to this morning. After 5k miles of living with the normal Subaru creaks and groans I decided to yank my door panels and see if there was anything I could maybe make more secure in order to prevent some of the annoying taps and rattles. What follows is just absolutely horrifying...



I started with the driver door panel. Upon removal, I immediately discovered where the wood shavings were coming from. This speaker was being held on by 1/2 a screw head. Otherwise, it was just lodged in the door between the metal and the door card.



I removed the speaker, the spacer, all the hardware, taped off the factory wiring for later (when I replace all this garbage) and removed this device that was just sort of hanging from its wiring in the door.


This device had several wires coming into/out of it. 1 set was the factory speaker wire for just the speaker going into it. There was a tweeter setup DUCT TAPED to the inside of the door card. Then there was the main speaker tapped out of it. That means that both the main speaker and the tweeter were running off of 1 input, instead of using the factory tweeter input.



On to the driver side rear door. This was pretty straight forward. There was some kind of haggard speaker installed (looks like maybe an OEM front speaker). It used the factory wiring and little slide on clips, so I wasn't too worried about having to secure any live power sources. This was held in with 1 wood screw.



The passenger rear door was the same, except this side has Dynamat all over it. Instead of removing the metal frame on the inside of the door to place the Dynamat, whoever did this just slapped it all over the framework, covering over wiring, nuts, and whatever else is on the door. Again, the speaker in this door was only held in with 1 wood screw.



The front passenger side door also had Dynamat stuck on willy-nilly, as well as a totally non-functional spacer "holding" the speaker in place. In reality, the speaker was just lodged in between the door and the door card. The tweeter on this side looked like it had been expoxied to the door but had fallen off and was just dangling by its wiring inside the door. There was another one of those junction boxes inside this door as well, this one was held in place by some epoxy. Lots of wiring is covered over by the Dynamat in this door



Now for the best part...EVERY SINGLE ELECTRICAL CONNECTION in the front doors were a simple twist and tape affair. There was not one soldered connection in this entire setup. There was not even a wire nut anywhere to be found. It was a total mess and probably part of the reason why the sound was so horrible. Most of the connections didn't even require any force to separate, I just tugged gently and they pulled apart.




This setup was just horrible and so now I'm in the market to replace all this stuff. I wouldn't call myself an audiophile by any means, so I'm not looking for the top of the line stuff, just basically stock-like replacement parts that will be easy to install without any serious custom fabrication required. Any recommendations would be appreciated. I have a good Pioneer Premier head unit, so that's not an issue. The car audio place that installed that said that the factory head unit wiring was all good and in tact.

~Tim

[ScoobVee]

This device had several wires coming into/out of it. 1 set was the factory speaker wire for just the speaker going into it. There was a tweeter setup DUCT TAPED to the inside of the door card. Then there was the main speaker tapped out of it. That means that both the main speaker and the tweeter were running off of 1 input, instead of using the factory tweeter input.

That's the way most components work, some times you have to use the factory wires for the crossover input because running new wires into the door can be a mofo (or impossible without drilling). That xover will take the input from the amp and send only high frequencies to the tweeter and mid range to the driver.

Edit: If they're not damaged, you have a pretty sweet set of speakers there. If you get em properly installed I'm sure you'll be happy. I'd also suggest you pick up a decent amp for them bc most head units just don't have enough power for a good set of components

[Speedette]

Ouch! What a shoddy setup. It's amazing how careless some people are. Nice find though!

[jcaputo]

Oh my god. That is horrendous. Still have contact info for the previous owner? I'd call him and yell at him for being an *******.

Good luck with the replacement. I can't actually offer any advice, just wanted to offer sympathy.

[Timdog1650]

Edit: If they're not damaged, you have a pretty sweet set of speakers there. If you get em properly installed I'm sure you'll be happy. I'd also suggest you pick up a decent amp for them bc most head units just don't have enough power for a good set of components

I was told this on Nasioc. I still have the crossovers and the speakers and tweeters look like they're in okay shape. I just need something for the rear doors and like you said, possibly an amp. It wasn't so much the components, I don't think, just the way they were installed/wired.

[wrx686]

what the hell is that crazy box thing. it looks like a traking device...

[efmd3]

what the hell is that crazy box thing. it looks like a traking device...

how old are you? 15, 16 maybe?

its a crossover.

[wrx686]

how old are you? 15, 16 maybe?

its a crossover.

ha joke is on u im 19. sorry im not to familiar w/ audio components, that what my dad does and i have no intress in it so i dont pay attention. sorry for not knowing.

[efmd3]

ha joke is on u im 19. sorry im not to familiar w/ audio components, that what my dad does and i have no intress in it so i dont pay attention. sorry for not knowing.

[wrx686]

Sorry i dont know what that is i dont have one on my thing, but if your trying to say that i cant spell, I already know, i accually have a learning disability that i have had since i was younger and no matter how hard they tried noone could teach me to spell. But the wonders of technology allowed spell check to correct all my problems, but i dont have one on here so...

[Integra96]

Tim: that's astonishingly bad. Wow, it's almost impressive in a bad way.

To everyone else in this thread: wat

[02_Rex]

Ok... first of all, yank everything out...
second... look into polk audio speakers... There not really expensive, and they sound great...
third... If your going to install it yourself make sure you take your time and do it RIGHT! lol..
If not, take it to a certified shop...

[TOOFAST88]

Ugh...what a headache..that sucks!

[Timdog1650]

Tim: that's astonishingly bad. Wow, it's almost impressive in a bad way.

I know, my feelings exactly...I was actually kind of laughing while I was ripping it out, that's how amazed I was.

[Ying]

WOW! Why'd he even bother mounting them. He coulda just thrown them in the door. Hope that wasn't the car from one of the guys in the ITT Tech commercials.

On a high note, those tweeters and the crossover are great components. Pun intended. MB Quart makes some great gear. I don't know enough about them to say the door speakers are also MB Quart but I'm assuming they are since the rest of it is. If they're salvagable I'd keep em and definitely amp them up.