I have a 98 EB with the Mach audio system. The cone on my subwoofer has separated. I tried to remove the speaker by removing all the screws holding it in, but it won't come out. It will rotate, but something seems to be holding it still. Is there some trick to getting it out?

Second question...is there a suitable third-party replacement for the speaker or am I stuck with the factory (and I'll bet very expensive) part?

 

I've seen this post before.....
Click the link.....


http://community.webshots.com/user/tj_tyger

 

Thanks for the link to the pics. This really helps. A couple more questions....

Any tricks you need to know to remove the trim panels and the large plastic cover over the wheel well.

Any special tools needed.

Which Sony xplode speaker did you use?

Does the factory power amp for the sub kick it up as loud as (or louder) than the factory?

 

Nothing special. Just retaining clips on the trim, and a couple of screw things in the rear panel. Oh....if you want to remove the seat belt, you might want to have a set of Torx bits, or drivers. Not necessary, but would make it easier.
The plastic box for the speaker is just a couple of bolts into the body panel...(3 I think).
The factory amp isn't gonna blow away the car next to you, but you will notice a big difference in the sound on the inside with the new speaker. I used the 8" Xplode. I don't know much about it, but it sounds good, and it was free....

 

Thanks for your help. Earlier today, I called Crutchfield to see what their recommendations were for a replacement speaker. They had several recommended speakers for this application. I settled on a Kicker:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-zrDRNCo...sp?i=2063C8VR4

It's got pretty good specs and, with the dual voice coils, gives some flexibility in the wiring choices. I had read in another forum that the factory subwoofer has two voice coils, wired in series for a total of about 2.6 ohms. I'm going to research further, and if this turns out to be true, I'll wire the two voice coils in parallel for a total of 2 ohms and it should work pretty well.

I'll let you know how things turn out. It will be here Thursday and I've got the holiday weekend to get it installed.

 

I got the replacement in from Crutchfield today. It took exactly one hour to do the replacement. The Crutchfield instructions for taking the required panels apart are extremely helpful. The job turned out to be a lot easier than I had expected.

The replacement I got is a Kicker and can be seen at this link:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-PrIAIT3...sp?i=2063C8VR4

It turns out that the speaker is slightly too deep to fit in the enclosure. Other folks who had tried other brand speakers had run into the same problem. This one was pretty easy to workaround. There's a rubber gasket that runs around the rim of the speaker. It's thicker on the top side that underneath. By taking it off and re-installing it so that the thick side is underneath, it fits perfectly. Another item which needs to be done is that the previous speaker had a bolt through the back of the enclosure which prevented you from being able to remove the original speaker by just removing the front 8 screws. Removing this bolt is necessary to remove the factory speaker. This leaves a hole in the rear of the enclosure which needs to be sealed. The enclosure has to be air-tight for proper speaker operation. It turns out that the original bolt has a metal washer and rubber gasket included. All that's needed is to find a nut which matched the threads on the bolt and use it, with the two washers to seal the hole. I think the nut is a 1/4 - 20. All the original eight screw holes match up for mounting the speaker. It's acutally pretty simple to get it all back together.

The wire coming from the amp to the speaker is black and has grey dashes on the negative lead. You have to cut the spade lugs off and strip about 3/4" of insulation off to make the connection. It's a good idea to use some solder and tin the wires to make them strong for the connection.

This speaker has dual 4-ohm voice coils. I checked the factory speaker with an ohm meter and it gave a DC resistance of 3.8 ohms. I started out with only one coil active and put everything back together. I listened for a while and my impression is that the bass was about on par with the factory speaker. I then removed the eight screws and pulled the speaker out (man, it's nice not to have to disassemble everything like you have to do to get the factory speaker out...that dang bolt on the back...). I then hooked up the the other voice coil in parallel. This gives an effective DC resistance of two ohms. I've read in some other forums that folks have successfully run the sub amp with a two-ohm load so I decided to go for it. The result was that I got better bass response than with just one coil. I'm pleased with the end results. Note...if you're wanting a sub that will rattle all your neighbors' windows, this will not be your setup. The factory amp just doesn't have enough oomph for that. However, I'm not wanting that kind of performance. I just want good smooth bass response on rock, jazz and r&b.

The other speaker suggestion from Crutchfield was a Kenwood, which can be seen at this url:

http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S...=0&cc=01&avf=N

It's a little more efficient than the Kicker, but doesn't give you the option of hooking up dual voice coils, so I'm not sure whether it would be louder or not.

As I said earlier, I'm pleased with the results and how easy it was to change out.

 

Update on the installation....

It turns out that the factory amp is not capable of sustaining a 2 ohm load with high output. It will run fine for about 5 minutes, but then it starts to thermal cycle on and off. As long as you keep the volume down, it's no problem, but when you "crank it", the amp is getting too hot. I find that, with one voice coil, the subwoofer is not quite loud enough for my tastes...it was fine with both voice coils. Oh well, it looks like it's time for a new subwoofer amp or a more efficient speaker. I like the Kicker, so I think I'll check out what's feasible for replacement of the stock amp. I'll post an update when something changes.

 

After searching around for a suitable replacement amp, I finally decided it would be worth a try to get the Kenwood speaker, so I called Crutchfield about it. They shipped the speaker to me and it arrived in 2 days. Crutchfield is a great company to buy from. Their customer support is the best I've seen.

The Kenwood woofer can be seen at:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-6JNbgJu...=0&cc=01&avf=N

I installed it this morning. It is MUCH more efficient than the Kicker was. For the non-technical folks, this means that the speaker is louder, for a given amount of power. There is a significant increase in bass volume, compared to the Kicker. I'm a happy camper! Also, the Kenwood is $20 cheaper than the Kicker.

If you're looking for a replacement subwoofer, this is definitely the one to go with.

 

Did you end up getting a new amp? My sub in my '97 shot craps this last week so I'm looking to replace it. I didn't know if I need a new amp as well or not. Thanks.

 

All right, since this got 'bumped' to the top, I'll tell my story. Last week my sub started making that 'blown' sound and it turned out that the outer foam seal came apart. I am wanted to just replace the sub but am not sure of the size of amp currently in it. I have the '97 EB with the Mach system. Can I just buy an 8" sub? If so, what should I be looking for as far as amps/ohms, etc...? Thanks all.

 

It sounds like your sub did the same thing mine did...the foam around the cone died. My suggestion...get the Kenwood speaker. I've had it in my Expy for five months and I'm very pleased with the sound.

 

That's what I'm leaning to Ken. I'm sure there is not that much difference between the 97 and 98, but I could be wrong. I did see that Crutchfield does not sell that speaker anymore so I'll have to find something similar. But you've had no problems using the factory amp?

 

what about this speaker?
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-65Uhv2s....asp?i=158L836

 

Not sure about that one. Here are the two specs you are most interested in. SPL and mounting depth.

What was great about the Kenwood was the SPL was 91db. This is an indication of how loud the speaker is for a given amount of power. The factory amp is plenty adequate for the Kenwood. It was not for the Kicker, which was rated at 83db. I found the bass to be inadequate on it. The Sony you're asking about is rated at 87db. It won't be as loud as the Kenwood, but may be adequate. The mounting depth on it looks like it will work in the Expy, as long as you can place the mounting gasket between the speaker rim and the speaker box. This helps insure that the speaker doesn't sit too far into the box (or it will bottom out). This is a problem with some speakers.

I did a search on epinions and found the Kenwood for sale at several places. Check out this link:

http://www.epinions.com/pr-Kenwood_K..._Car-Subwoofer


If you decide to get the Kenwood from one of the other vendors, I'll be glad to help you with some info about how to take the rear apart. It is actually pretty easy.

 

Ken,
How is the subwoofer working now?
HOw did you wire the speaker?
Thanks!