Protecting Aftermarket Speakers from Water

[DarkKilla]

Hello Everyone,

I will be installing new speakers in my doors this weekend (Finally after having them in boxes for over a year), and I would like to get your thoughts on what to do to protect the speakers from water in the door?

Is it really necessary? What are the best methods if it is?

Thanks:D

[bluntman]

You can buy baffles for the speakers or you can use duct tape around the spider. The OEM ones don't have either; the same goes with my aftermarket speakers which I've had installed since 2004.

[DarkKilla]

Nice, thanks bluntman I will probably use duck tape as I already have it. I dont want to wait for shipping those foam baffles delaying my speaker install. If anyone else has any ideas let me know

[baymoe]

Taping the spider shut will cause the coils to overheat. What's more, will affect sound quality negatively. They're meant to used in the door of a vehicle, nothing to worry about.

[DarkKilla]

I was planning to only tape the top half, would this still cause overheating and affect sound quality. If so I will ditch the whole idea completely, i was told the OEM speakers do have the top half covered, due to mazda's poor design of the water channels in the door. Can anyone confirm this? I haven't taken apart my door as yet to check.

[cwp_sedan]

I've never used baffles to protect my speakers from water and I've never had a problem *knock on wood*. I've been running speakers like this for over 10 years and never had a problem.

[Noisy Crow]

The OEM speakers do have a plastic bit along the top to keep water out.

When I upgraded my speakers I didn't put any sort of rain guard. Worked okay until winter.... enough salty water managed to sneak by the window seals into the door that I had intermitent problems with the front speakers. Pulled them and used foam speaker baffles - no more problems. I cut the baffles down so that they bascially ended up being a shield above the speaker - no back and no bottom.

[zoom]

My speakers also got water damaged; Im going to need to replace the front passenger speaker. Any suggestions on where to get some foam baffles locally? The duct tape sounds risky to me due to heat issues it can possible cause.

[zoom]

I was planning to only tape the top half, would this still cause overheating and affect sound quality. If so I will ditch the whole idea completely, i was told the OEM speakers do have the top half covered, due to mazda's poor design of the water channels in the door. Can anyone confirm this? I haven't taken apart my door as yet to check.

Yes the oem top half is covered with a plastic piece. I personally dont think that taping the top half will cause overheating issues, taping around the whole speaker will. The problem that I can see with taping only the top half is the tape will eventually come off because of the water.

[Flagrum_3]

It may not be 'absolutely' necessary to protect the speakers, but, for the measly price you pay for speaker baffles, it's well worth the investment to protect your speakers from water that may enter your doors OR if you plan to oil-spray your vehicle yearly!.Plus they do help with sound quality, both with low frequencies and resonances that may occur, therefore cutting down any chance of rattling.

You don't have to purchase them online, I didn't, unfortunately it was so long ago I can't remember where I got them....You could check out custom sound shops for instance.

I purchased the cup style which would completely cover the speaker, however I cut a hole in the back of the baffles, about the size of a quarter maybe slightly larger to help with air flow....So far almost six years of blasting them often, and no issues with my speakers.:)

_3