Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Audio Door Panels and Speaker Location?

I have not had the panels off my car yet and after looking at them real good I have some qeustions for those of you that have. Is the speaker really where the cutout is in the panel? If so doesnt the panel itself cover about 1/3 of the speaker? Does someone have pictures of the doors with the panels removed? Could you post them? Unless I'm mistaken I dont see how any speaker could sound its best with that much of it covered up! What about the position of the speaker in the door? I cant believe it, while driving around I have to put my leg in a very uncomfortable posistion not to be blocking the speaker and muffling the sound. I know some of you guy's have had these panels off more times than I've took my pants off, so come on! share the info. PLEASE!

Well, I don't have any pics of the panel removed but I can tell you that the mesh panel covering the speaker doesn't come off by itself, the whole door panel has to be removed. And the speaker is located right behind where the cut out is in the panel, but there are tiny holes in the panel that mirror the shape of the speaker. I can see my entire speaker through the little holes (pioneer 6x8's) if you look at it just right in the light. I know what ya mean about having to situate you leg so it doesn't block the sound. Sometimes I can feel the bass on my leg if it is too close and it does distort the sound a little. Oh, and by the way, the factory's are only 5x7's.

Thanks for the info. but the panels on a 97 must be different than on a 2000. The cutout behind the mesh on my doorpanels does not uncover the entire speaker. It only uncovers between 1/2 and 2/3 of the speaker. I dont understand it, it makes no sense. My door panels start to curve out to blend in with the dash where the speakers mount which I believe makes the problem worse. I dont know, I just dont see how I'm going to get any decent sound out of there.

It doesn't make any sense. I didn't think that there would be that much of a difference between years. My panels start to curve out there to meet the dash also... I'm positive I can see all of my speaker through the little holes, it appears to be centered in the series of holes to me, at least in the front doors. my pioneer's are a pearl color w/ silver tweeters and they are noticable sitting in the drivers seat looking at the front passenger door. I'll check again in the morning just to make sure. I'll let ya know, might have to snap a pic just to clarify what I'm trying to say. Not too sure about the back doors though. I haven't replaced them yet.

The 2000 front door panels do, indeed, suck. And yes, they do cover about 1/3 of a 6x8.

Ok, I snapped a few shots of my speaker panel There is a tiny bit that is covered, but I don't think that it is a 1/3 covered.

Thanks for the picture there indeed is a difference in the door panels. The way the opening in my doorpanels is situated is look at your speaker opening. Now rotate the speaker[use your imagination]up to where the oval of the speaker is straight up and down, then move the entire speaker straight up the door panel until aproximately 1/3 to a little less than 1/2 of the speaker is covered entirely by solid doorpanel. Yes I mean up completely out of the area that has the speaker grill or mesh or whatever you want to call it. It looks to me that there is no way to fix this without butchering up the doorpanels. This is BULL****!!!!

C'mon guys do I have to beg?

Well, you're not goinf to get a speaker to sound its best in a car environment anyway. If you are worried about any sound going through the door panel, then mount some tweeters elsewhere. Midrange will not suffer as much as high frequencies.

I agree. Unfortunatly I don't know what to say about your problem RedSVT. One more thing to add to the list of what ford should have made better. :rolleyes: The sound has to have enough opening to escape the door or it's just bouncing around in there getting all distorted!